Fil Thorpe-Evans’ scene is “watching movies”. The bassist for pop punk band, Neck Deep, explains: “I’m like a total movie guy. A lot of the other guys play video games and I’m not interested in that. I want to watch a movie. Every night I get into bed and I want to watch a movie or tv show, that’s my kind of thing. My all time favourite tv show is The Office. I also really love Arrested Development. Modern Family is another one. But The Office is my favourite.”
Though Thorpe-Evans’ musical knowledge and expertise read as if he has been immersed in punk music from birth, his love of pop punk was all self-discovered. He explains: “I’m from a super tiny little village in England. My whole family is really into horses. My dad was a jockey and then trained horses, my mom was into horses and also my sister, and I was like not into that at all.” Instead, Thorpe-Evans was into “all the kind of classic pop punk bands like Blink 182, Green Day, New Found Glory, Sum 41, that kind of era of pop song. But I was into a lot of other stuff too and some heavier music and you know things like Linkin Park. And then I got into heavier stuff but mostly Blink 182 and Green Day and that kind of stuff. So I found all that shit myself really; there wasn’t really any influence at home.” Family influence may not have assisted, but there was always support right from the start. Thorpe-Evans says his family “have been to a bunch of shows. My mum’s a huge fan. She always comes to the shows and loves it.”
Thorpe-Evans began his musical aspirations with friends, from guitar to bass, from hardcore to pop punk: “So a couple of the guys in Neck Deep were in a band before Neck Deep called Spires, it was a hardcore band. I was involved in that for a while and then it kind of fell apart and was then reborn as this new pop punk thing. We’d all been friends for a long time and we’d been in and out of bands together. And while it’s just another band that we were trying out, it happened to be the one that kind of worked out.[pullquote]”But it’s one of those things where the pros always outweigh the cons – for every one con for being on tour, there’s like five pros that totally kick its ass.”[/pullquote] I first played guitar for a very long time and once I became confident, and playing with friends, I thought the bass was not too dissimilar. And I was actually playing guitar in another band, and they said do you want to play bass in this and I said sure, should be fun, and this all happened. So then bass became the more serious.” Thorpe-Evans was inspired by “the obvious choice, Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. He made playing bass cool and gave it a real personality. I really looked up to him and I really enjoy their songs, I guess a lot of my style is from them.”
Neck Deep has been going from strength to strength. They have been touring extensively and the band won the Kerrang! Award in 2014 for Best British Newcomer, and the Alternative Press Music Awards (APMAs) in 2016 for Best Live Band. Of the APMAs win, Thorpe-Evans states: “It was mad because obviously that’s like such a crazy category to win. Best Live Band – I feel like there was a few people in that category that were like crazy big too. I mean it’s cool to win anything but if you could pick any category, then that’s the best one to win.” Thorpe-Evans continues: “Touring is good fun, playing shows is great. There are places I think are more fun or a bit fun when you’re on tour, and touring has its hardships like all the stuff that you already know from every other band, like being away from your family and all that kind of stuff, for a long period of time is hard, and it does get kind of tiring, and after a while it can get a bit frustrating. But it’s one of those things where the pros always outweigh the cons – for every one con for being on tour, there’s like five pros that totally kick its ass.”
As for some anecdotes on tours, diplomatically Thorpe-Evans states: “It’s hard to think of some of the crazy shit that happened on tour. It’s hard to remember them as well. But we’re just not particularly crazy people – we’re pretty chilled. Though, to be fair, last night we got really drunk in Hamburg and went to two different karaoke bars, sang like a bunch of songs. I sang a Good Charlotte song and a Taylor Swift song.” He adds with a laugh: “I love Tay Tay – she’s my babe.”
On returning to Australia, Thorpe-Evans states: I love touring Australia. It’s great there. The shows are always very good. There’s always a great atmosphere. I feel like Australian people are always down to party and have a good time. It’s just a fun place to be and I love the koala park, the animals, I know it’s touristy but I love it.” Thorpe-Evans continues: “We tour with All Time Low a lot; we’ve done a bunch of tours with those guys. I consider them my friends now. I love those guys. I think their music is great and they’re just need really, really, great guys. We’ll probably be playing some songs (Australian audiences) haven’t heard before; just songs we didn’t play last time we were there. And just a cool live show and a whole lot of fun.” [pullquote]In food form: “We are like we are like a pizza with nachos on top because everybody loves pizza and everybody loves nachos. Oh no, that’s terrible – there’s a lot of people who don’t like us. Let me try that again: We’re a pizza covered in Marmite or Vegemite, because everyone likes pizza but not everyone likes Vegemite. You either love us or hate us or you just kind of like us.”[/pullquote] Neck Deep will also be bringing their tour manager back home after poaching him during their first Australian tour. Thorpe-Evans states: “We did yeah. On our first Australian tour he was provided to us. And it was our first tour out there and it was really early in our career and we didn’t have a tour manager, so we just kind of decided he belonged to us after that. It’s been going on four years now.”
After the Australian tour, Thorpe-Evans and band are heading for the studio. “We’re doing a new album after this tour; we’re flying to the States to start recording. A little bit of writing on the road but generally the writing all happens in the down time when everyone’s at home. For this record, I’ve been doing quite a lot of writing. Generally, the way it works these days is everyone kind of writes instrumental stuff and bring it to the group and Ben will write his vocals or I’ll write the vocals over it. But me. personally, because I do both I’ll write a whole song. I’ll write the whole thing with all the vocals and everything and then I show it the group and then we kind of fine tune it. And that’s how it works.” As for the songs having a personal nature, Thorpe-Evans states: “Sure yeah. I mean obviously most of the best songs come from real experiences, and I definitely write from my real life experience. If I were trying to write about a difficult thing, that can be challenging but the fact that it is harder to deal with, makes it easier to write about. You know I kind of look at it as an outlet and then it come out pretty smoothly.”
Make sure you catch Neck Deep on their upcoming Australian Tour!
ALL TIME LOW With Special Guests Neck Deep and The Maine
Presented by Destroy All Lines, Chugg Entertainment & Hysteria
AUCKLAND
Wednesday 10th May – Powerstation (Licensed All Ages)
aaaticketing.co.nz
BRISBANE
Friday 12th May – Riverstage (Licensed All Ages)
ticketmaster.com.au or 136 100
oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
SYDNEY
Saturday 13th May – Hordern Pavilion (Licensed All Ages)
ticketek.com.au or 132 849
MELBOURNE
Sunday 14th May – Festival Hall (Licensed All Ages)
ticketmaster.com.au or 136 100
ADELAIDE
Tuesday 16th May – Thebarton Theatre (Licensed All Ages)
ticketmaster.com.au or 136 100
FREMANTLE
Thursday 18th May – Metropolis (18+)
oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
FREMANTLE
Friday 19th May – Metropolis (Under 18)
oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
For more information go to:
AllTimeLow.com
NeckDeep.co
