Neck Deep

Support: Static Dress

Now Neck Deep have also awarded themselves the Oscar: February saw the release of "Heartbreak Of The Century," a new single from the Welsh pop-punkers, along with a self-deprecating video featuring the band in a dual role at the Academy Awards festivities. Singer Ben Barlow characterizes the track as a "classic-sounding Neck Deep song: catchy, fast-paced, powerful and a bit of a stranger." What started out as a simple idea turned into "a shitty Oscars, where we won the award for heartbreak of the century. We wanted to make a nostalgic, entertaining video. It features some of our best/worst acting performances to date and is one of our favorite videos." Nothing new, then, with Brits: Full energy, a lot of fun and, above all, punchy music. Even after the departure of drummer and founding member Dani Washington last year Neck Deep continue with solidly set riffs, melodic hooks and cool, but definitely political lyrics. Among others, this also applies to the previous single "STFU". It's about the next episode of "Living With The Trumps", the corrupt Boris, the superfluous drama in social media: "All that self gratification's more like public masturbation," Barlow sings and recommends "Shut the fuck up!" Neck Deep have now been taking aim at life in the UK in their ironic way for ten years. Most recently, "All Distortions Are Intentional," their fourth album, was released in 2020, and perhaps the new songs are harbingers of a new record that will hopefully be out in the near future. The Welsh pop-punk giants still borrow from their Californian counterparts without suppressing the British sense of understatement and subtle and sometimes cruder irony. In October Neck Deep will come to us on tour with new and old material.