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“It’s only been ten years, you know? We don’t want to milk it.”
Ben Barlow has always been rather understated when it comes to Neck Deep, but even he has to crack a smile when trying to play down the impact that ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ has had not just on the band but on their career as well. A record that took them from the UK underground to the very peak of the modern pop-punk surge, all whilst still marching to their beat and their beat alone. A blueprint for the genre, a near-perfect embodiment of everything that it stands for, delivered in 12 three-minute bursts.
But the latter words of that sentence do make a lot of sense for where the band are right now. Despite the success of their second album, and how, a decade later, its sun-stained message of not letting the world get on top of you is still as inspiring and rallying, they are still working hard on their next chapter. 2025 has been another year full of successes, and as their attention turns to a new album in 2026, there is a power in only marking the record’s anniversary with a handful of, still massive, shows.
A true sense of celebration, with reconnection at the core.
“I understand why it’s such a special record for people, and it’s the same reasons as us,” Ben continues. “I don’t think there are any other records that sound like it and have that sort of message behind it. I think it’s a little time capsule for a lot of people, at least now it is. I think it’s become quite nostalgic. I wouldn’t say it’s our biggest record, but it’s certainly our most important.
“And where we are at now, the sound is coming back around a little bit, and the feeling that defined ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ is back in the mix. But trying to swing and write another record exactly like it, I don’t think we would be able to.”
He smiles again, letting the joy of the occasion wash over him a bit more.
“It’s more a reminder of what’s special about the band.”
THE SOUND
When Ben says that the band wouldn’t be able to make another record like ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’, much of that comes down to circumstance. Because you can only be 20 years old sitting in Florida with Jeremy McKinnon and Andrew Wade once. In not even being able to drink whilst making their first body of work away from home, with debut EPs ‘Rain In July’ and ‘A History of Bad Decisions’ and first full-length ‘Wishful Thinking’ being written and recorded in the heart of Wrexham and produced by now bassist Seb Barlow, the vibes fuelled everything. And in heading out with five or six demos they were stoked on and a few other ideas here and there ready to be shaped, so much of the new experience can be heard in the way the record shimmers.
This is a batch of songs that sound like a band at its most potent. The purest strain of pop-punk possible, the opportunity to live out every dream they had had up to this point, delivered with a razor sharp edge. From the thumping hardcore twinge that kicks off ‘Citizens Of Earth’ through to the blink-182 worship of curtain-closer ‘Rock Bottom’, every track bristles with youthful vigour. A purity that cannot be made up.
“We hadn’t been tainted by much at that point,” Ben remembers. “We hadn’t been stung by the industry and had too much bullshit to deal with. That’s why everything felt so pure and natural. It feels like it was made in a room full of people we looked up to, while also knowing we deserved to be there too. We’ve always had that air of humble confidence about us, so it felt right for us to be there.”
And in creating an atmosphere that fed off the joy of enjoying the moment, it also rubbed off on those who joined them, especially Jeremy McKinnon. Aside from putting his production stamp on things, something he has only done for Wage War and The Ghost Inside since, his voice can also be heard on both ‘Kali Ma’ and ‘Gold Steps’. Neither occurrence was planned, which is why they are never officially credited as a feature. They were quite simply ideas that felt good at the time, as spontaneous and special as they come.
“He doesn’t really do features, and I’m not really a feature guy either,” Ben remarks, confirming just how poignant it is. “It wasn’t even like we were trying to make it happen or get away from it, either. With ‘Kali Ma’, it was just a part that didn’t feel right coming from me. At the time, it wasn’t something that I would write myself, but he thought it was a cool part and said, ‘Well, I’m just going to do it. ’ Because everyone was so involved in the songwriting, it was a case of wanting to be proved wrong. Because so much of this was a learning experience.”
THE LYRICS
From the very beginning, Neck Deep have always made sure that heart is at the core of what they do. Proudly worn on their sleeve with sentiments that are big, bold and beautifully on the nose. Ben knows how easy it would be to be cynical about creating such an environment where clichés and motivational quotes go hand in hand. Still, the truth is that he knows that it helps. He has seen it helping.
“I remember doing Warped Tour and seeing how many kids were just depressed and bummed out,” he remarks. “There were a lot more cases than I would like to admit that were self-harming too, and they were saying that my band helped them to stop. There were a lot of intense encounters there. It made me want to be the band that stops people from wanting to do this in the first place.
“We’ve never shied away from being a bit cheesy and on the nose. But to be cringe is to be free. You have to say what you have to say, and this all felt like what our band could say and could be at the time. Because you know that somewhere it is going to speak to someone.”
For many bands, the pressure of providing that sort of solace and support for their listeners would crush them under its weight. Still, by just being themselves and continuing to ride the wave of the incredible situation they found themselves in, they kept doing what felt right. They were having the time of their lives, so they just injected that euphoria into the words they wrote.
That’s how you end up with the unburdening power of ‘Threat Level Midnight’, a track that shows how good it feels to say precisely how you feel, and the existential ‘Smooth Seas Don’t Make Good Sailors’, a reminder that sometimes you have to deal with the rough if you ever want to have a chance of growing.
In retrospect, Ben feels as though the reason that so many have clung onto these words is because they see themselves in him and the band. Even though they were now a worldwide touring band, signed to one of the scene’s most prestigious labels, they are still those same kids making music in their bedrooms in South Wales. There’s still a relatability to them, and a sign that if they are feeling things way despite the circumstances, and have found their way out the other side, then anyone can.
“You’re listening to a guy who has had some rough teenage years and has come to a place where they are living their dream,” he remarks. “As a 20-year-old or a teen, it must feel kind of inspiring to hear that, the fact that someone like you could turn things around and make them good for themselves. And ten years later, it can feel like an arm around the shoulder for people now. Whether it’s what you need to hear as a youngster or what you need to hear when you’re 30, it’s still a nice message, despite how naïve it may be. There’s not a record that gets away with it like that record does.”
If anything, the sentiments at the core of the album have only spread and intensified over time. A big part of that is the now yearly resurgence of ‘December’, a track that has become very much an unofficial non-Christmassy Christmas song for many. Even just this year, on the first day of the month, it notched up half a million streams across its three versions – the album’s original acoustic version, the acoustic version featuring Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba, and the full-band version featuring blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. On TikTok, the song was used in close to 50,000 videos on November 30 alone. It is as much a part of the furniture as ‘Last Christmas’ these days.
Though the song is a bit more tear-stained than the rest of the record, Ben still gets why it has struck such a chord.
“It’s weird the things that people pick up on, but I totally get it with this one. And you never set out to write a song like it, either. It was actually tougher to write than the rest. We were fucking around in the studio with it for ages. It’s always the stuff that you never expect to take off that does well, though. But it’s very much like that big hug, a reminder that other people have gone through something similar to you. I like that it’s found its place.”
That idea of similarity also comes through in a track like ‘Can’t Kick Up The Roots’, where, even though it is extremely specific to the band’s upbringing in Wales, it has resonated so much that it has become one of their biggest tracks. A song for everyone who has a weird relationship with where they are from, speaking to every generation that is finding their footing and realising that pride is starting to outweigh resentment.
“There’s always been that cliché of hometowns and pop-punk,” Ben remarks. “Generic pop-punk, you know? We have never shied away from any of that. But being able to flip it on its head and see where it goes, I feel, once more, that speaks to something different. Being unashamedly yourself, you’re able to revel in the sense of freedom that comes with it. It feels joyous and a celebration rather than sticking to the general tropes.”
THE ARTWORK
Sometimes you are just at the right place at the right time to make something incredible, and that was very much the case when it came to Ricardo Cavolo putting together the artwork for ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’. Now, he is one of the most recognisable artists plastering his work onto walls and into record stores; his trippy, vibrant, textured designs serving as the embodiment of Kaytranada’s album ’99.9%’ and appearing everywhere from his home country of Spain to the UK, with the band even stumbling on a piece on a wall near The O2 in London.
Who would have known that a simple DM on Instagram would lead to such an iconic link-up? Well, it speaks to going for it once more, because you never know what might happen.
Though the fantasy landscape we see adorning the cover today was initially a bit different. A bit wetter, to say the least.
“He sent us one draft, and it was a little bit nautical. A little bit too Easycore,” Ben laughs. “So we asked him to do something a bit less like that, and he came back with the fantasy aspect, and we loved it because we are all huge nerds. We just knew that we wanted him to paint a scene of some sort. We’ve always loved ‘Dookie’ and ‘The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show’, images with lots to look at. And he nailed it.”
You can gauge the success of an artwork for an album by how synonymous it becomes with the music. And the two still go hand in hand all these years later, an element of the package that Ben feels is another factor in why it has managed to live on as it has.
“You see that image, and then you hear it straight away. You listen to the album, and you see those visuals straight away. They are tied together very well. And it all came without knowing the sort or artist he would become.”
THE FUTURE
As odd as it is to see out a record cycle with a celebration of a completely different record from a decade ago, Ben is still enjoying the energy reverberating around the band because of it. Because, as mentioned, 2026 is the start of a new era, and with the lessons learned from 2024’s ‘Neck Deep’ and the reinvigorated emotions that have come back to the surface thanks to the focus on “Life’s Not Out To Get You’ all fresh in their minds, he is excited about what the next 12 months may mean.
“What we have planned will hopefully be bigger and better than everything we have done,” he concludes. “Hopefully, people walk away from these shows with a renewed interest in the band or just get stoked on what we have coming because of them. See an album they love, but also be even more excited about what may be next. And we are in a good position. We’re not too stressed out about anything, and things are going well. In terms of having things to write about, we are trusting the path that we are on.”
Though it’s in returning to the people they were a decade ago, checking in on what they were feeling and why they allowed it to make such a batch of songs, that is having the most lasting effect. That revelling in the positivity that dictated this vital moment in their history will continue to reap the same variety of rewards.
“No one is the same person they were ten years ago, but it’s still nice to take parts of that and get back to the elements of why that was so special with that new album in mind.”
Ben lets one more smile sneak through.
“It’s all pretty good timing, really.”
