Neon Trees

Biography

If you’re going to something, do it with all you’ve got. That’s how Tyler Glenn approaches  everything, from making music to living authentically to creating welcoming spaces for those around him. It’s also a sensibility that’s evident on Neon Trees’ fifth studio album, Sink Your Teeth, a follow-up to 2020’s I Can Feel You Forgetting Me. 

“Our last album came out during the pandemic, and it was a terrible time to put out an album,” Tyler says. “So I focused on what I could control. Most of us were out in orbit, spiraling, but writing music was something I could do. I wrote by myself, I wrote with other artists, and this collection of songs came from that. It taught me a valuable lesson in sticking with your gut. We could have released one-off singles or hopped on a trend, but as a band we’ve always done what we wanted to do and made the type of music we wanted to make. There’s a vein of honesty we’ve always evoked, but this album is as real and as honest as possible.” 

Written over the course of three years, Sink Your Teeth offers an opportunity for longtime fans to return and for new fans to discover the Provo, Utah band for the first time—proverbially sinking their teeth into the music. It also evokes a sense of bite and rawness in the music and lyrics that is compellingly relatable. For Tyler, the songs reflect a state of mind felt by many during the pandemic, but it’s not necessarily specific to the past few years. Like all of Neon Trees’ work, the album reveals a balance between the dark and the light. 

“The question was, how do I capture that energy and that feeling of anxiety, but not make it solely about a period of time in our lives or make people only reflect on that when they listen?” Tyler says of the album. “The songs do contain some of the anxiety and existential crisis I was feeling, but there’s also a thread of hope. It’s not wrapped neatly in a bow at the end, but there’s still a hopefulness.”

Tyler began writing in the fall of 2020, although a few songs date back to 2018. The album was recorded in two phases, the summer and fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023, in Hollywood’s EastWest Studios and producer Dan Book’s LA studio. Tyler felt an instantly synergy with Dan, who helped to channel the live feeling Neon Trees wanted to create in the recording studio. “I've loved everyone I've worked with in my career, but I hadn't felt that way since the beginning where the producer and the band really understood each other,” Tyler notes. “That flow and energy helped the best songs float to the top and made the process very cohesive.”

For the first time in the band’s career, Neon Trees feel their album truly reflects the dynamic energy of their live shows. Sink Your Teeth aptly merges the stage space and the studio in a way that showcases the strengths and musicianship of each member. They also brought in sax player Candido Abeyta, who has previously toured with the band, to augment that feeling. 

“It’s always been the joy of the process to bring the band in,” Tyler says. “It just cements it, and it becomes a Neon Trees song. This time we got to do it at our own pace and have the time and breathing room we needed. I love that we're at a place in our career where there's no ego left. There’s a real trust we’ve built over the last ten years. We’ve ended up in a really positive place as a collective. There’s such an understanding of what each person brings and the value of that.” 

Overall, the album has a notable duality, veering between moments of upbeat bite and more introspective, somber songs. “Losing My Head,” written in the midst of 2020’s uncertainty, is about finding yourself again through the chaos. It acknowledges that standing on the edge, the brink of self-discovery, can actually make you feel more alive. “Bad Dreams,” a boisterous rock song, showcases the band’s more upbeat side. On the other side of the spectrum, “Papercuts” leans inward as Tyler sings about the small moments of hurt that can add up to real damage in a relationship. “Leave Like You Mean It,” the album’s pensive closer, urges the listener to do everything with purpose—even separate from someone you care about. 

The album’s debut single, “Favorite Daze,” acts as a bridge between what Neon Trees has done on past albums and how they’ve since evolved. The track, which started as a poem, was a collaboration between Tyler and Joe Janiak, who also co-wrote “Losing My Head.” The song has a frenetic, fast-paced rock vibe with an anthemic chorus. “It was a perfect entry point because it sounds like something classic you would hear from us, but then the chorus explodes into a more modern, slicker vibe that we haven't always played with,” Tyler explains. “It feels like something new. But I’m also being really specific and explicit in the lyrics. I’m speaking honestly and directly to the listener, and I want them to feel that—not just on this song, but on the entire album.”

Over the past few years, Tyler has embraced being completely honest, both with himself and with others. His 2016 solo album, Excommunication, allowed Tyler to grapple with growing up in the church and also being gay. In 2017, he and Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds started the LOVELOUD Foundation, which aims to bring communities and families together to help create the opportunity for unconditional love towards LGBTQ+ youth. The foundation hosts an annual festival in Salt Lake City, which expanded to D.C. and Austin in 2023. 

“We’re trying to do everything we can to change things with the tone of love,” Tyler says. “Love is a great unifier, and music is a great unifier. That’s always been Neon Trees’ mission as well. As a band we want to create a space where people can leave their problems at the door and have a good time. Everything we do is meant to feel like a community where everyone can be themselves. The more I become truly myself, the more resonant that is.”

Since releasing their debut album, Habits, in 2010, Neon Trees have cemented themselves as a dynamic, engaging band who has consistently put in the work for over a decade. They’ve performed at major festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo, Life Is Beautiful and Bottle Rock, and opened for genre-spanning artists like My Chemical Romance, Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift, as well as headlined sold-out tours of their own. The band has amassed one billion streams and recently logged over 40 million views on TikTok, while garnering acclaim from Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and USA Today. With each subsequent release, Neon Trees have continued to push upward and onward. 

“We had success early on, but hopefully you’re always evolving,” Tyler says. “For me personally, that had a lot do with coming out as gay and taking a real look at the faith I was raised in. I wasn’t being myself, and it affected my relationships and the band. I had a great time burning it all down and rebuilding. That’s led to me being more honest and more open with the people in my life and the people who are listening to my music. Once you release a song it’s no longer yours—it belongs to the audience. With these songs in particular, I wanted to make sure that I was giving away a really honest snapshot and not a curated version of myself. Doing that heals me as much as it does the listener.” 

 

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