Neck Deep: “We’re lucky to be here, so it’s just being aware of that and putting the band and fans first”

“We’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to be the best that we can be,” says Ben Barlow. “That’s definitely important, but sometimes beauty is in that imperfection.”

He smiles.

“I think that maybe Neck Deep isn’t supposed to be perfect.”

The last time the Wrexham pop-punk giants’ frontman spoke to Kerrang!, he told us that being in Neck Deep had never felt easier. Still the case a year on, as the band – Ben, guitarists Matt West and Sam Bowden, bassist Seb Barlow and drummer Matt Powles – kick off their Dumbstruck Dumbfuck UK tour in Birmingham, Ben has come to realise being a little bit of a doofus is actually pretty good.

Today, we join Neck Deep at the city’s O2 Academy on the trek’s opening night. Outside, a queue’s already growing despite Storm Éowyn blowing a brutally cold gale. Inside, the band are just wrapping the last bit of soundcheck with a run through of In Bloom. Boxes of uncountable bits of gear are strewn over the floor, and crew are moving wheeled containers across the space with a demeanour we can only describe as ‘locked in’.

Exiting the stage, Ben takes K! through the venue’s meandering passageways, testing various dressing rooms and crew areas until we find one quiet (and warm) enough to catch up in. We sink into the couch, get lost in chatter about his dogs, and delve into tour life.

Though he does feel a little nervous, Ben says there’s a beauty to the opening night. Wearing a rad cap that reads ‘Everything I want to do is illegal’ and having a casual vape, he explains, “You’re usually getting something sort of unique because there’s a bit of shaking off the cobwebs. We started practising [after Christmas] and I was like, ‘Shit, I’ve forgotten how to do this!’ But it feels good to get back into the swing of things.”

Tonight is one of seven UK shows, and finding a routine is key to keeping some normalcy on the road. With sleep being the trickiest element of touring that Ben has to tackle as a natural night owl, usually the guys keep active to fill their days.

“Most of the time we get to have a mooch about, it depends,” he says. “Sometimes you’re in the arse-end of nowhere. The UK is pretty good for it, but sometimes when you’re in Europe and America, you’re kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the boys go running, and we’re very into climbing at the minute as well. We’re smashing it because we’ve got fuck-all to do when we’re at home!”

Well, we’re in the UK’s second biggest city after all, and there’s much to explore – the Black Sabbath bench, the independent shops of Digbeth, or New Street Station’s 33-foot-tall mechanical bull structure, fittingly named Ozzy.

“Ohhh, is that what that was?” Ben laughs. “I saw that! I was looking at it like, ‘Damn.’ That’s actually sick, to be fair. I didn’t realise it was that big.”

Touring has grown into a vastly different system for Neck Deep since they first started out. Despite travelling the country on stylish buses with a much more complex technical rig and a larger core crew, roughing it in a grungy van still has a certain charm.

“We used to just be able to rock up and plug our stuff in and play a show, and now it’s very much a village of people,” Ben explains. “I still kind of long for something back-to-basics, easy and raw. Now we’re playing this huge show that’s so involved, the payoff is very nice, it’s great to see everybody’s hard work come together, and for us to sound our best is really cool. [But] I think I’ve always been a little bit of a rebel at heart, I still want to do things down and dirty.”

Neck Deep’s fortunes are well earned, though. Not only does their discography span five studio albums stretching across the 2010s into the 2020s, but just look at the achievements they made within the last year alone: two sets in a day at Reading & Leeds respectively, a grand tour of North America, and even a support slot with Sum 41 for the European leg of their farewell trek.

“They’re a formative band for anyone of our generation – especially if you’re into pop-punk,” Ben reflects. “We hung with Dave [Baksh] and Cone [Jason McCaslin] probably the most. Dave, he loves our song STFU. On the last show, which was a 40,000-cap, sold-out show in Paris, he wanted to come up and play it with us. They were awesome. To have people that we looked up to dig our music and give us that opportunity, it was a ‘good to meet your heroes’ experiences.”

Neck Deep themselves are pop-punk heroes, but there’s no inflated egos here. We ask if there are any spoken or unspoken rules that keep everyone in check, especially in snug conditions on tour, but there’s not much to it. They encourage each other to talk about anything that’s bothering them, but other than that, the motto is simple: don’t be a dick.

“We’re lucky to be here, so it’s just being aware of that and putting the band and fans first – you’ve got to think of the bigger picture, really… It sounds so convoluted and so fucking John Lennon: ‘We can bring people together through music, maaan,’” Ben says, mimicking a spaced-out hippy voice, “but it’s true. Big events like this where we’re having a shared experience, people actually are unified in something. Hopefully people walk away a bit more empowered, a bit more tolerant, and more understanding.”

As we head out to the main floor, the first few people run to the barrier. While the venue slowly starts to bubble with life, we catch fans in the merch line for a chat.

Alex and Lauren have both been listeners since the ages of 14 and 15 and are now in their early 20s. So, what does Neck Deep’s music mean to them?

“I think it sums up my teenage years and going from teenager to adulthood,” says Alex. “Growth.”

For Lauren, one track had a more specific impact on her: We Need More Bricks.

“It’s very political, and it’s made me think more about my political views,” she explains. “I [used to be more involved in politics] when I was a teenager and then I kind of stopped, and actually, I should be thinking about things like this.”

Nearby having an early-doors bev are partners Jason (who is aptly wearing a Kerrang! tee) and Jess. Jason has been following the band since 2017, and Jess more recently over the past two or three years. This is their first time at a Neck Deep show, and it’s one they describe as a bucket list gig. This music plays a particularly important part in their relationship.

“A lot of their stuff on [2020 album] All Distortions Are Intentional, but specifically, I Revolve (Around You),” says Jason. “In the song they mention [astronomer] Carl Sagan’s book, Pale Blue Dot…”

“That’s a big thing for us,” Jess continues. For their anniversary, she gifted Jason a print of a treasured extract from the book about Earth, and the small, precious magic of our very existence and connections to one another. The author writes, “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” And in Neck Deep’s own lyrics, they state, ‘If Carl Sagan was right / Pale blue dot in the night / Then what we’ve got is everything.’

How fantastic it is, then, that while we float on this blue dot as small specks of life, over 3,000 of us have decided that here in this room is where we want to be. And as Neck Deep burst out beneath their graffiti wall backdrop to Dumbstruck Dumbfuck with its lyrics that sum up that eternal teenage dirtbag spirit, it’s a night that constantly reminds us of our own small significance. It’s a sentiment later echoed in Go Outside!, and the vivacious Gold Steps, as the O2 Academy is coated in a honey cast of light.

The optimism further bleeds into an onstage speech from Ben as he discusses their small-town beginnings, and how there is no reason why you can’t go on to big things, no matter where you come from or how humble your starting point is. He goes on to encourage those gathered to start bands with their mates, before Can’t Kick Up The Roots explodes.

It’s over an hour of high kicks, guitar-wielding spins, and even higher hopes. As they say farewell with In Bloom, once thing is certain: Neck Deep are more than a band. Rather, they’re a reminder to fans that if you show up and do your best in life, you’ll probably be okay.

“I’ve always said that being in a band is like being in a relationship with four other people. It’s learning to respect other people, learning to listen, learning to work together,” Ben tells us. “It’s taught me a lot about friendship, a lot about shitty people. We’ve been fucked over so many times but we’ve also made some amazing connections and done amazing things.

“You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. It’s made us resilient, more emotionally intelligent, more empathetic. Neck Deep has taught us to stay grounded because we kind of came from nothing. We had a quick rise, and early on we developed this attitude of, ‘Well, you either join us or kick rocks.’”

Taking it all in again, he chuckles. “Neck Deep is my life. It is me, you know?” He pauses for a moment, shaking his head in gratitude and disbelief with a smile. “I mean, it’s given me everything.”

And there’s absolutely nothing dumb about that.

Neck Deep play Slam Dunk Festival this month – get your tickets now. This interview originally appeared in the spring 2025 issue of Kerrang!.

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• Neck Deep: “We’ve hit a point where we don’t have anything to prove, and we’ve still got room to grow – so we just keep doing it”