Neon Trees Frontman Tyler Glenn Delves into ‘Pop Psychology’

Stephanie Hernandez

It has been five years since the country first started its love affair with California-bred, Utah grown group Neon Trees. Their debut album “Habits” hit ears in 2010 and included their first hit single “Animal” on the track listing. Tours alongside The Killers, 30 Seconds to Mars and Duran Duran helped spread their name like wild fire, eventually giving them enough momentum to release their sophomore record, “Picture Show” in 2012. Scoring them another hit with “Everybody Talks,” it became clear this quartet was here to stay. Finally, in 2014 the group released “Pop Psychology” their first number one record. Currently on tour in promotion of their third album, Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn took the time to sit down with Entertainment Voice to talk the current tour, the group’s evolution of sound and what exactly keeps him from passing out after his energetic live performances.

Both you and Chris grew up in California before moving to Utah and eventually starting Neon Trees, why the move and what was it about that environment that encouraged the formation of the group?

Honestly, I don’t know! I don’t think we saw the future right away. I think Chris just wanted to go to school, he had gotten into a school up there, and all I knew was that I wanted to play music with him. Eventually I ended up in Utah, kind of begrudgingly. Then slowly discovered that the scene was really cool there in Provo, it’s a college town, so I was able to meet lots of musicians, and it started from there. I think the environment is different, at least from the part of southern California where we’re from; it was really not about art at all. Even in LA and San Diego, I feel didn’t feel had great scenes, it was either a style of music that just didn’t fit us or feel comfortable, it felt too spread out.  It never felt connected, never like one big scene, at least when we were there. In Utah you just felt a little more like something could actually happen, which is funny to tell people.

Neon Tree’s started off with five original members, which got narrowed down and eventually was joined by Branden Campbell and Elaine Bradley bass, How has the group’s chemistry changed? And what makes this lineup so special?

I think it’s because we were grown ass adults living kind of like teenagers. We decided to get a house, move in, and practice every day. Eat nothing because we didn’t have a lot of money, we really went all in, and I don’t think another lineup would have done it like that, I mean maybe. But it seemed like we were all in the same head space with the same goal in mind. It was a couple years before we really were seeing any great results, there were little things that kept us going, but nothing major. I honestly would have gotten out way earlier looking back on it, but we were all in it together and really wanted to make something happen.

You’ve toured with some pretty awesome acts from the Killers to Duran Duran, and have been on headlining tours of your own – What do you enjoy most about life on the road and how are you feeling about this current tour?

I love looking back, I swear we’ve been touring non stop for the past six years and then we were doing all our band stuff prior to that. I used to get pretty tired and excited to go home, but every new tour in the past few years has made me want to stay out longer. I don’t know if that comes with the joy of building a fanbase and getting to have great shows or not, but I’m enjoying it more as time goes on. I’m looking forward to so much this summer since we’ve been off for a while. We’ve been playing lots of like corporate events, which are cool for the bank account but for the band to keep going, it’s not as great for the energy and morale. We’re just having a blast, I love what happens to us on stage, how happy I am when we are playing music for people, there is just sort of something that switches on, and I love that feeling.

Neon Trees are known for your energetic live performances, does it get hard to keep that energy going night after night? How do you keep from just passing out?

Well we’ve only done a few shows so far on the tour; tonight will be our third one, so we’ll see! The first couple are the hardest; I’m still getting back in show shape. I think my lungs; I realize how many words I cram into our songs. So, you know it actually gets more fun as the tour goes on, I definitely get less winded. It’s definitely not fun when the crowd’s not giving you that energy back but we are really fortunate to not have that experience much anymore, it’s nice to rest easy.

Well at least if you get winded your fans know your music so well that you could just hold out the mike and they would sing the verse, “Hey guys you know this one” I can’t breathe right now.

It does get a little annoying though. I remember when we opened for 30 Seconds to Mars, back when we were nobody, nobodies. Jared did that on every song, and at first I thought that was so remarkable because the crowd was just screaming so loud, but I think after a while it got a little annoying. There is a nice balance between fan inclusion and you know they’re also here to see you perform and do your thing; I like to have a healthy balance between the two.

Your Debut album “Habits” was released in 2010 followed by “Picture Show” in 2012 and your most recent “Pop Psychology” – basically all hit making machines, how has your writing process changed from record to record and how does the group typically put together songs?

It’s changed a lot from album to album for sure. The first album, half of the songs we had been playing for years prior to you know getting signed as a band. I did some co-writes, which ended up producing a lot of our music with my friend Tim Pagnotta; he’s become one of my best friends and music partners. The second album, well really every album you put out is going to change because you’re changing. With this last record, Pop Psychology, I definitely made it in that space of wanting to write songs that sounded like pop hits from the eighties, I wanted to include modern production, I deliberately wanted us to look like a slick pop band. In some circles that may have backfired, because I think our alternative market was like, “oh, are they a pop group now?” But, for us I think we’ve always considered ourselves a pop band in the way that I feel The Smiths are a pop band or Weezer is a pop band. I just feel like it’s a new exciting thing for us each time we make a record and the writing process is always slightly different and that keeps it refreshing and fun for me.

Your album “Pop Psychology” is doing really well, what about the record’s sound or subject matter do you think has captured fans attention?

I really don’t know! I really think it was the first album where we sounded completely like Neon Trees, from the first song to the last song, it sounded very deliberate and it was what we were going for. I think on albums past, while it’s enjoyable and exciting, I think sometimes we played too much of other sorts of sounds. But, I think that just comes from learning what you want to sound like. It’s funny because in modern music, you can put one record out and your career could be made or could not be made, and I like to think of ourselves as a band that can grow from record to record not necessarily be known for the one thing. So it’s fun to continue to put out albums that change the course of our career a little bit. To keep adding to the catalog instead of just putting out the same sound, it’s good that it works.

Your evolution has been great! If you did put your albums side to side, they are all very different, but they still sound inherently like you. Which can get hard and even risky to do especially when there are so many people that would prefer you just sound a certain way all the time.

Yeah, and I get that too. I think there is a charm to a band that you fall in love with and you at least want them to sound like themselves, I get that and I think we’ve managed to do that. We’ve built our set in order of albums; we play selections from each record in order on these shows. Fans have actually come up and told us they like it that way because they realized how much we have changed, in a good way. It’s cool because it starts the show off a little more rocking, more aggressive, more the place we came from. Which is cool, I’m glad you don’t think we’ve totally changed!

Individually and as a group, Neon Trees have accomplished so much over the past few years, what is something you or the band collectively still has on the bucket list of items to accomplish musically/personally in the near future?

There is a lot of stuff I want to do personally. There are different types of music I still want to make, but I’m not in a crazy rush at the same time. I love this sound and what we’ve built with Neon Trees but I always want to keep pushing myself creatively. So there is definitely new music to be made, I don’t know if that’s Neon Trees taking a break or if that’s us incorporating new stuff into another record. I just want to continue to be inspired and not being afraid to take risks. I think that’s when we have the most fun, when we’re taking a bit of a risk, at least I’ve known that to be true in my life. We’ve definitely been talking about what’s next for this next year, what it’s going to sound like, it might be a non Neon Trees Record, it might be a new band I don’t know, but we are all in that creative head space where we want to continue to push ourselves and have fun with it.

Well, we will be looking forward to all the new sounds on your next Country album.

That’s exactly what I was trying to hint at.

Neon Trees will be performing at The Fonda Theatre June 11. Tickets available here.