![\"M-33-NEON-TREES\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-33-NEON-TREES.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nSuccess can exact a price. It\u2019s something alt rockers Neon Trees learned after scoring with their 2010 debut album Habits<\/i>, powered by their breakout single \u201cAnimal,\u201d and their follow-up two years later, Picture Show<\/i>, which included their first\u00a0Top 10 hit, \u201cEverybody Talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hitting it big brought unexpected demands for touring and promotion, and pressures for a follow-up album. At first, the band\u2019s frontman Tyler Glenn was seemingly prepared. \u201cFortunately, I just continued writing after our first record, so it didn\u2019t feel as though we were rushing to put out material,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were booking a tour and playing on TV as we were finishing the second record, so it was almost a continuum.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Glenn was not prepared for the mounting, unrelenting stress that comes with success. Eventually he had to take a break, canceling tour dates following the release of Picture Show<\/i>. \u201cIt never felt like I had a moment to step away to be Tyler\u2014not Tyler from Neon Trees,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how important that was for my well-being, as I do now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time off allowed Glenn to get his head together so that he and the band\u2014guitarist Chris Allen, bassist Branden Campbell and drummer Elaine Bradley\u2014could take on their new album, Pop Psychology<\/i>. Co-written and produced by Tim Pagnotta, the new record pairs the glossy synth pop of Neon Trees\u2019 earlier hits with Glenn\u2019s new,\u00a0more personal insights.<\/p>\n
Where did the title come from?<\/b><\/p>\n
The record was really written to my mental anxiety. It came from a time that I was shaky emotionally and mentally. I\u2019d asked to have a break, and we canceled some tours\u2014and ultimately put a halt on working on our last record so I could get better. I started writing songs during that time. I went back to writing songs to heal, something I used to do in my teens and 20s. Music was really therapy for me. The title summed that up gracefully. It\u2019s definitely the shiniest, most colorful record we\u2019ve done, so it goes with the imagery of pop art and the aesthetic we\u2019re going with. Everything we\u2019re wearing is very colorful, everything in the artwork\u00a0is very colorful.<\/p>\n
Do the lyrics reflect that anxiety?<\/b><\/p>\n
Since the band took off with our first record, I never gave myself time to breathe or step back. I was learning to perform who I was and things I wanted to say to audiences. I felt like I was playing catch-up with that. Finally it all came to a head, and I realized I wasn\u2019t a happy person, and I had to figure out what makes me happy. A lot of the record is about me running away from a serious relationship. I\u2019ve always avoided anything serious because I\u2019ve always used the band as an excuse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How was the band an excuse?<\/b><\/p>\n
Ninety-five percent of every year since 2005 had been consumed eating, sleeping and breathing Neon Trees. Writing music, touring and booking tours were all we knew to do. I didn\u2019t really have an identity outside of it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How\u2019d you find your groove again?<\/b><\/p>\n
It started with the label wanting us to write new music because I had canceled two tours. We never really told them about my situation, because I didn\u2019t want it out there. We were getting pressured to write for a new record if we weren\u2019t going to tour behind the record we currently had out. My writing partner and producer, Tim Pagnotta, encouraged me. He was like, \u201cMaybe we should just take the label money and go on a trip, and if we end up writing music, then we do.\u201d So we took a trip to Mexico and hung out for a few days, and actually started making music. It felt really good. Last January we wrote the first batch of songs together, and later we wrote another batch. It was cool to do it in our own time frame, without making an announcement that we were in the studio or setting a date that fans were looking forward to.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Did you have a direction in mind?<\/b><\/p>\n
Something that we really wanted to concentrate on was thoroughly sounding like Neon Trees. On our previous records there were moments where we nearly paid homage to artists, rather than taking things that we liked about those artists and making them our own. We wanted to concentrate on the really colorful, energetic side of our music.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your songwriting process?<\/b><\/p>\n
This record was so different because it started from a place where I was really uninterested in making it. A lot of the record was written with just Tim and me together, but we\u2019re a band, and it was important the record didn\u2019t sound like a solo thing. The band definitely took the songs and made them a Neon Trees record, even though there weren\u2019t too many moments with the four of us in a room writing together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s it like working with Tim?<\/b><\/p>\n
Tim discovered us. He got us early contacts and fostered a relationship with us. When we were about to make this record and choose a producer, I had written so much with him in the past, it just seemed right to continue the relationship. Now more than ever I feel like we co-produced this album. I feel 100 percent part of it\u2014the result of a good working and writing relationship. Some of the writing situations I\u2019ve had in the past haven\u2019t been as fair for me as they could be. But with Tim, I\u2019m writing all the lyrics, I\u2019m writing the melodies, I\u2019m putting my heart into it\u2014and he\u2019s helping with the music.<\/p>\n
How\u2019d the recording go?<\/b><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve started to recognize the role each of us plays in the band, and we did this record as an opportunity to learn from the previous stuff we\u2019ve done. There were moments where a specific band member wanted to play all over the song, and editing needed to be done and conversations needed to be had, but it was a pretty easy process once\u00a0the songs were written.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s behind the gospel influence on \u201cFirst Things First\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n
The original demo had an acoustic guitar and a beat, but it reminded me of \u201c(Sittin\u2019 on) The Dock of the Bay.\u201d It was more singer-songwriter-esque, but I always envisioned it as a big anthem. I don\u2019t know why, but Madonna\u2019s \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d always came to mind. I loved the use of the gospel choir on that record. We had wanted some choir on a song but never had the opportunity\u2014this seemed like the right opportunity. They were a professional choir, and it was very cool to sing in a room with a bunch of awesome gospel singers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Who sings \u201cUnavoidable\u201d with you?<\/b><\/p>\n
Our drummer, Elaine. She wrote the chorus but was thinking it was a little too teen pop, but I thought there was a certain charm to the idea of talking about the unavoidable outcome of falling in love. Everyone\u2019s personal experience with love is interesting, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s an easy topic to write about, because it\u2019s different for everyone. I don\u2019t think I was really in a place to write a song called \u201cUnavoidable\u201d because I was preventing myself from finding that. She had just been married and just had her first child, and there was a real sense\u00a0of honesty in that.<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n
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NEON TREES Time off to recharge leads to a new perspective and a colorful album \u00a0\u00a0 Success can exact a price. It\u2019s something alt rockers Neon Trees learned after scoring with their 2010 debut album Habits, powered by their breakout single \u201cAnimal,\u201d and their follow-up two years later, Picture Show, which included their first\u00a0Top 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[7401,7411],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12359,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions\/12359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}