The Return of Neon Trees: One on One with Tyler Glenn

In June, the multi-platinum, alternative quartet Neon Trees released their long-awaited, fourth, studio album, I Can Feel You Forgetting Me. With over 750 million streams, the album explores myriad of introspective themes including isolation, personal relationships, self-discovery, and fulfillment. It is set to the band’s signature sound and rooted with danceable beats.

Neon Trees first burst onto the scene a decade ago, releasing top hits like “Animal” and “Everybody Talks.” I Can Feel You Forgetting Me is the band’s first full-length album since releasing Pop Psychology six years ago. During the interim, lead vocalist Tyler Glenn says that he has undergone a metamorphosis. He candidly opened up about his sexuality, starred in Broadway’s Kinky Boots, and releasing a solo album titled Excommunication which was inspired by his coming-out experience and decision to leave the Mormon Church he was raised in.

OUT FRONT had the opportunity to catch up with Glenn and talk more about the album, how difficult it was to break away from the church, and how the band has evolved over the last couple years.

Hi, Tyler! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How have you been coping during these unprecedented times?
I am just taking it day-to-day, as I am sure a lot of people are. Just because there’s a pandemic going on, that doesn’t mean it absolve the day-to-day struggles that everyone goes through. So, I have to remind myself, like anyone, to get up and do self-affirming things. It’s been trying, but it’s been really good to sort of have time to be a little bit at peace. It’s been weird putting out a new album, and there is a lot of uncertainty, but I am trying to remain positive. I’m healthy; my family’s healthy. Those are the things that I cling to. It has been very bizarre.It has been very strange, but at least you are doing well, and congrats on the release of Neon Trees’ new album, I Can Feel You Forgetting Me. Can you tell us more about the concept and inspiration behind it?
I was heading towards the tail-end of a codependent relationship that I was in when I first started to write this record. Then, we decided to stop talking, and that’s when the other half of this record got written. I think as it was forming, I was writing about untangling myself from this relationship that I put a lot of energy into. So, the record is inspired by that, and it goes on to really sort of delve into themes of modern relationships with phones and how we have a codependency to those devices in our hands, as well as my own codependency to drugs, alcohol, self-medication, and the idea of needing someone to fulfill me.

I wanted to talk about those themes because I think a lot of us, especially people my age and gay men in the LGBTQ community, face this stuff a lot. We have all of these apps at our disposal; we have hookup culture; we have a lot of new ideas when it comes to relationships, and I wanted to express those themes. A lot of the visuals have bedsheet ghosts in it, and that’s sort of the visual we have been using to sort of represent this anonymous thing. It doesn’t have to be a person; it could be anything that’s sort of haunting you in your life. So, it’s 10 songs, and I think it’s very upbeat. I know that the themes sound pretty dark and cerebral, but the entire record is pretty upbeat.

Since the album explores several of these introspective themes, was the writing process cathartic?
Yes, definitely. A lot of it had to do with the support I had from my bandmates this go-around. I think we have been through a lot in our career and personally, so I really felt able to sort of say what I wanted to say without a ceiling, so that was nice. I also know that the person I wrote these songs about has heard them, and that also feels nice [laughs]. I have been able to kind of let go of that in the last couple of weeks. I can’t imagine not having something to put all my sh*t into, so I am very happy that songwriting is the thing I enjoy the most.

How has the album been received overall by audiences?
It seems great. I have no idea from a face-to-face standpoint because usually we would go on tour and play the record, but this is a rare time in my life where I actually enjoy going online and seeing what people are saying. I’m actually reading the comments; normally I wouldn’t. It’s been awesome, and it’s our first full-length record as a band in six years, so I feel very warmly received by our fan base. I think when you’re a band this long, you don’t know what your audience might be into 10 years from the time you started. So, it’s cool to feel like we’ve got our group with us still. It’s nice.

Since this is Neon Trees’ first album in six years, how would you say the band has evolved within that time?
I would say that we have all evolved as people. You know, I’m not 24 or 25 anymore. I’m 36, and I think in that way, it shows the level of maturity in themes. Also, I think musically, we have really continued to own our sound. We are still using sounds and sonic from the place that we usually go to, which is like the late 70s and early 80s mixed with modern music. I think that’s still there, but it’s even more focused, which I love.

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You have stated that coming out has brought you closer to Neon Trees. How so?
I think me being comfortable with myself is a huge thing. From my experience, when we first started and actually started to get momentum and have hits, the first  four or five years of my career with the Trees, I was in the closet. So, coming out, it can’t help but merge your life and let people in more. I was so in the closet and scared of being found out that there was only so much depth people could go to. So, it has helped me in that way for sure.

You decided to come out publicly when you were 30 years old, and some consider that to be relatively late in life. What made you want to take that leap?
I was going nuts. I was mentally not well. I think that is a lesson to anybody who is harboring a secret. Like, it’s going to eventually make you sick, and I think for me, it was doing that. It just took me going to therapy to just even talk to realize the thing that’s hurting you is the fact that you’re not living your truth.

When I interviewed you in 2014, we talked about how you had the intention to live life as an openly gay man, but also continue to follow your Mormon religion. That clearly isn’t the case anymore since you don’t affiliate at all. What happened?
I woke up. I stopped holding so much weight for a space that had no room for me. I quickly realized that the messages and doctrines were very anti-LGBTQ, and it was harming me. I think that I worked so hard to come out in general, I couldn’t stand being harmed anymore by the thing that I thought was true. My life is infinitely freer. I won’t say it’s, like, always happy because I don’t believe everything is always happy, but I am infinitely freer and feel infinitely more awake in my own life being outside of the Mormon Church.

How difficult was it for you to break away from the church?
Terrible. It’s easy to go, like, I don’t believe in that anymore, but then you start to question everything in your life. If you believe so long in one thing, you start to go, like, how did I believe that so fully? Also, that specific religion has its ties into your family life, the culture you live in, your friendships. It is very hard to sort of, all of a sudden, be this pariah in a way. Like, it was very emotional. I am still rebuilding my beliefs in what God is and all that, so it was a big existential sort of crisis.This experience also benefited you because you launched your first solo album, Excommunication. What made you decide to write that album?
I was writing a solo record anyway in 2015, and then at the end of 2015 was when I started to question my beliefs and really look at things. I had a crisis of faith, and instead of continuing on with some of the themes that I was writing about initially, I had to pour it all into that record. So, it became Excommunication. I’m proud of it. I look back at it, and what an opportunity it was to use music to help me get through a really hard time in my life.

Would you ever go back to the Mormon Church? Are you even allowed to go back?
I am technically on the record still. I wasn’t removed, and I didn’t remove it myself, but no. I would never step foot in one of those building ever again.

Do you have any other solo projects in the works?
No. I just did the theme song for Love, Victor on Hulu, and that was really fun. That was the last thing I’ve done under my own name. I have other ideas for future records, it’s Neon Trees world right now.

Another exciting thing you did was make your Broadway debut in 2018 as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots. How much fun was that?
It was crazy fun. It was scary; it was intimidating, but it ended up being a gift. It was just so joyful, and I am so glad I got to do it. Eight times a week for 13 weeks during the summer in New York, it was the best.

Would you like to do more Broadway shows in the future?
Yes, definitely. I also recognize that those opportunities don’t always come. I had a ton of fun. I never want to be the guy that presumes I could just walk on a stage and take a roll. If more opportunities came, I would definitely seek them out.

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It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic is not going to go away anytime soon. What do you think the future of concerts and theatre looks like?
I do hope that bands, performers, promoters, and venues find ways to put on shows. I know it’s not the same, but I like seeing the effort in trying to have social distance concerts. Like, there’s some new pod thing that might happen at certain shows or certain drive in shows. I just worry about the idea that you still have to have enough people to even make money. Do we sell ticket prices higher, or does that gouge customers? It’s scary for me, honestly, and I think it’s scary all the way up to like the biggest pop stars in the world down to the smallest performers. A big part of our marketplace has been stripped away from us. I won’t lie, I do worry about it.

Before we wrap up, are there any other projects or anything else you would like to mention?
Nope! Just stream our new album, I Can Feel You Forgetting Me.

Follow Glenn and Neon Tress on social media to stay up-to-date. You can also visit neontrees.com.

Photos Courtesy of Jen Rosenstein