* En anglais uniquement
Melodic Welsh pop-punks
Neck Deep formed in 2012 as the D.I.Y. project of singer
Ben Barlow and guitarist
Lloyd Roberts.
After testing the water with a couple of self-released online tracks, they issued their first EP,
Rain in July, in late 2012. Part of the wave of pop-punk revival acts,
Neck Deep cited influences like
Fall Out Boy,
New Found Glory, and
Sum 41, offering an updated version of the genre's classic sound. Wanting to expand their capabilities,
Barlow and
Roberts enlisted friends from the local scene to complete their lineup. Matt West joined on guitar,
Fil Thorpe-Evans became their bassist, and
Dani Washington joined as drummer. Their second EP, 2013's
A History of Bad Decisions, garnered enough attention to bring them to the U.S. for their first international shows, where they caught the attention of several major labels.
Neck Deep signed with Hopeless Records in August 2013 and, just a few months later in January 2014, issued their debut,
Wishful Thinking. The album was well-received and they spent much of 2014 touring the U.K. and the U.S. supporting bands like
We Are the In Crowd and
Knuckle Puck, and joining the Vans Warped Tour for a stint. Their sophomore LP,
Life's Not Out to Get You, arrived in August 2015. The record garnered widespread acclaim, from both fans and critics alike, with particular praise from Daniel P. Carter of the BBC Radio One Rock Show. After promoting the record on a worldwide tour and a lineup change (
Roberts was replaced by
Climates and
Blood Youth guitarist Sam Bowden)
Neck Deep returned with their third studio effort,
The Peace and the Panic, in the summer of 2017. The next year, they joined the roster for Songs That Saved My Life, contributing a cover of "Torn," before
Thorpe-Evans left to pursue a production career and was replaced on bass by their former tour photographer, Joshua Halling. In 2019, in anticipation of a summer jaunt with
blink-182 and
Lil Wayne, the band released the singles "Don't Tell Me" and "She's a God." Early 2020 brought another line-up change and saw
Barlow bring in his brother
Seb in place of Halling. The lively singles "Lowlife" and "When You Know" were issued in the spring ahead of their fourth album,
All Distortions Are Intentional. ~ Timothy Monger