Neon Trees: a band that has come back time and time again with their relatable lyrics and danceable beats for the past 15-plus years. Their debut single, “Animal,” released in 2010, followed by “Everybody Talks,” released in 2012, cemented them as a defining band of my childhood.
With the release of their fifth studio album “Sink Your Teeth,” Neon Trees brings back a sense of nostalgia for the early 2010s while showing the clear evolution of their craft over time. I sat down with the band one-on-one at Newburgh Brewing Company to discuss their new album.
The writing process for the album began before their previous album “I Can Feel You Forgetting Me” was released in 2020. Putting out an album at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic versus now, four years later, proved to be a drastically different experience that allowed for more collaboration and reflection.
“I just needed to sort of pour out all of the sort of dread I was feeling,” said Tyler Glenn, lead singer of Neon Trees. “So songs like ‘Losing My Head’ or ‘El Diablo,’ which made this album, kind of started there, and then once we could start traveling, I just started to book sessions with a lot of songwriters and producers just to experiment.”
Lead guitarist Chris Allen added, “When it came time to track the instruments, we were just working with our main producer, Dan Book, and it felt like we could settle into that collaborative process and settle into his studio.”
The tracks on “Sink Your Teeth” speak to human experiences of living and enjoying life while also being faced with anxiety, toxic relationships and vulnerability.
“Heaven,” a dance-pop song, is true to the band’s roots and brings a sense of familiarity that a longtime listener can identify with the group. The song discusses the idea of living a perfectly imperfect life where friends, partying, sex and fun take precedence despite what others may think.
“It almost reminds me of ‘Sins Of My Youth,’ or it’s just kind of harkening to that mentality,” said Glenn. “The song ‘Sins Of My Youth’ I wrote when I was 25-24 and now I’m 40, and I’m still writing about a lot of the same themes because you realize you only have one body and one life. So the body keeps the score and you remember all that stuff.”
Another song deeply loved by the band members themselves is “Past Life,” a track that begs to be played at a club. “That one that actually reminds me of a Shakira track or something which I love,” said Allen. “It doesn’t have like a standard Neon Trees sound to me. I get to play like one of my leads is in there, and I feel like I get to say something in the song, and it’s fun.”
The past year has been and continues to be a busy one for Neon Trees – Releasing an album, playing festivals such as the upcoming Neon City Festival on Nov. 22-24 in Las Vegas and making plans for 2025.
Reflecting on their career, Neon Trees offered advice to young musicians and those looking to get into the music industry. “It’s important to support each other,” said Branden Campbell, bassist. “It’s easy to be critical of some that are having success with creative avenues that you don’t believe in. So it’s easy to be judgmental of that, but keep your nose clean, don’t talk about others … It’s easier just to build goodwill around yourself and your project, and that’s going to come back to you.”
Drummer Elaine Bradley added, “Be able to be honest about where you are and how good you actually are. There’s nothing worse than a person who has not looked in a mirror who doesn’t understand how to have any kind of critique be given, or how to have any understanding on what reality is. You have to be kind of delusional in your hopes, but you have to be absolutely grounded in your expectations.”
Catch my full interview with Neon Trees on Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. on WFNP The Edge 88.7 FM or stream it on WFNP.org on the NPMC Spotlight podcast.
