By the sounds of it Neck Deep’s self-titled fifth album didn’t come easy.
For frontman Ben Barlow, the path to finishing it meant scrapping everything they had, cutting the noise, and rebuilding from the ground up.
Speaking to Blunt Magazine ahead of the band’s upcoming Australian tour, Barlow opened up about the process — and how close they came to releasing something that didn’t feel right.
“We started in LA,” Barlow said. “But halfway through, we realised it wasn’t what we wanted. It felt like we were just going through the motions — trying too hard with all these tricks we’d learned.”
Despite the polished setup and studio sheen, something wasn’t landing. So, the band decided to throw the the entire record out.
“So, we made it ourselves,” he said.
The band returned to the UK and started again — this time under the direction of Barlow’s brother, Seb, who also plays bass and has long handled production duties behind the scenes. With no outside writers or producers involved, they stripped things back to their core.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was exactly what we needed,” Barlow said, the pride in his voice cutting through.
The finished album is rawer and more direct than its predecessor. It ditches the pop polish of All Distortions Are Intentional in favour of something more instinctive — heavier in places, looser in others. It truly sounds like a band stepping away from expectation and finding something closer to who they actually are.
The record arrives as Neck Deep gear up to tour Australia once again — a market that’s long backed the band with consistent energy. For fans down here, it’ll be the first time hearing the new material live — material that nearly didn’t exist in this form at all.
Neck Deep could’ve played it safe. Instead, they threw the manual out and trusted their instincts. The result isn’t just a new album — it’s actually a clean break for them.
