Formed initially in 2005, Neon Trees were playing coffee shops and had released an EP titled ‘Becoming Different People’ before a line-up change and a Las Vegas show helped them to support The Killers and sign to Mercury Records.
That was five years ago, since then Neon Trees have released their début album ‘Habits’, which became commercially successful with its lead single ‘Animal’; a single gathered that much support, it was even performed by the cast of Glee.
However, Neon Trees are now playing their own UK headline shows showcasing their sophmore release ‘Picture Show’, as they prepare to embark as main support for Maroon 5 on their North America tour .
Fortitude Magazine caught up with them before their headline performance in London; this is what they had to say:
How are you all today? You enjoying London?
Tyler: Yeah we’re good. We haven’t got a lot of time to do things, especially with the weather. All the bike lots are taunting me ’cause they’re all full and I wish I could get one, but it’s freezing so it’s pointless.
Branden: We did spend two summers ago in Camden, playing the Roundhouse. Can’t not think of Amy Winehouse whilst you’re over there in Camden… she was definitely a favourite UK artist of ours.
Do you mind telling me how the band formed?
Tyler: Me and Chris were neighbours, neighbourhood friends in fact.
Chris: Did you just call yourself “hoods”?!?!
Tyler: Yeah, we were hoods. We started playing together and hit it off really well musically. So, we moved to Utah.
Branden: Where no one moves to start a band!
Tyler: He moved there because of school and I just wanted to continue making music with him.
Branden: I like that we are from a place that’s not recognised as a rock band. It’s not Seattle or Chicago, etc.; it’s Provo, Utah. It’s still a land of mystique. People don’t realise there’s cool stuff there, until you come.
Tyler: I don’t think mystique makes people think erm…
Elaine: It’s white bred; it’s very white bred.
Neon Trees is an unusual, but cool name, can you tell me how it came about?
Tyler: Oh that’s good (laughs), we think it’s silly, it’s a terrible story. It’s based on a burger joint in the West Coast, we grew up going there.
Elaine: It’s not based on the burger joint to clarify. There are lights, neon lights, in the shape of palm trees.
Tyler: A couple of us were hanging out there, sometimes. We picked the name ’cause we were playing coffee shops, we didn’t have a band at the time, and it sort of fit the style – we had an electronic drummer. We were like “that kinda works, yeah!”, but the stories really lame.
You became famous for the track ‘Animal’ in the UK. When you were writing it did you feel that it was going to be a hit?
Tyler: I think we didn’t know what a hit was ’cause it was our first record, we were still in vans and touring clubs booked by ourselves. I think we knew it was like, “wow, this is a song we’re going to want to sing along to”.
Branden: The only hint we had that it was going to be successful was that it was one of those songs you wake up in the morning and its stuck in your head.
Tyler: But I don’t think we knew… like how to go about making a hit.
Branden: The first sign was probably that we wrote a three minute song, all our other songs had been 5 minutes, etc.
Tyler: It opened the door to ourselves, writing more concentrated, focused songs. It made our writing a lot happier as well, but I do feel that darker music gets taken more seriously.
Elaine: You could apply that to life.
Branden: That could be our next album. Whatever it is, it has to have a hashtag.
Elaine: #hashtag
(Laughters around)
‘Picture Show’ is the so-called “difficult follow up”, are you please with how it’s been received?
Tyler: We are really happy with how it was received in America, our fans really loved it, and it helped us grow. I think that’s the point of putting out a record. I hope it’s received well over here, there are some more textual songs that are inspired by the bands we love from this side of the world.
Branden: We really looked to the UK for some songs, like ‘Trust’ and ‘Mad Love’. British influences are strong on those tracks. Someone else asked us if it was important to us to make it big in the UK and it is, because there are so many bands that we admire that come from here.
Chris: Yeah, it’s like when I was younger in music and all I wanted to do is open for your favourite band. That was a big deal, the biggest goal I could attain.
You spend a lot of time of the road, do you enjoy touring?
Tyler: It’s my favourite thing to do, I love playing shows. Sometimes the travelling can be a bit bad.
Chris: I love the routine of it, I love being on a bus tour and waking up, getting ready for the show. It progresses every time, gets a little bit better each time.
Branden: It’s not all glory, the worst part is being at the airport at 4am and no one likes doing that.
Elaine: We always like to say, the worst day of our job is the best day of a lot of other jobs. We can’t complain if we’re tired or hungry or whatever. It’s like well cry me a river, we can do what we love.
That’s a brilliant way to some up band life …
Branden: That’s because she quoted Justin Timberlake too …
Your shows are very energetic, did you stand in front of mirrors and practice your moves?
Tyler: I’m a very vain human being, getting angles and dancing; I’ve been doing that since about ten. But I guess I’m not vain, like looking at myself in the mirror all the time. We all love watching shows, videos, live performances…
Elaine: I think we love performing, I would get bored just practising the drums…
Branden: It’s an exchange with the crowd, like a conversation, with their energy you’re gonna push it back at them.
Elaine: Our most violent shows have been playing to crowds of about ten, which had nothing to do with us, we had to overcompensate. “You will like us!”
Finally, have you got any bands to recommend for our readers to check out?
Tyler: Twin Shadow.
Branden: Mine is, Garry Clark Jr, from Texas. He’ll melt your face.
Chris: Walk The Moon.
Thanks for the interview!
Check out Neon Trees’ ‘Everybody Talks’, which features on ‘Picture Show’, below: