Post-Punk Soul Reigns Supreme at the Mercury Lounge

When a quirky, young record company publicist tells you unprovoked before a show: “They’re on fire today, man,” with a drink in his hand and a surreptitious wink, you go into the performance ready for the worst, regardless of the band.

However, on that night, Jan. 14, the “Neon Trees,” the creators of a musical genre they’ve labeled “Post-Punk Soul,” amalgamating elements of modern rock, dance, soul, Motown and alternative, were indeed, hotter than anything in the Mercury Lounge in New York City, leaving a passionate and high-energy crowd with a first impression they were sure to remember.

They were hot indeed.

Nevertheless, the band wasn’t exactly burning with the intensity of molten lava the entire show, as many of their songs didn’t show off how hot they can be with some more experience and gas on their fire.

What they did manage to show during the performance however was that they have no qualms playing in front of a live audience and are hungry. With an already uber-catchy first single in “Animal” already under their belts, that may be plenty of fuel to get them to a second album where they can continue to develop as musicians and showcase their talents.

As of right now though, you have to like what you see-you’re just not completely in love with it, yet.

Consisting of Tyler Glenn (lead vocals, keyboards), Chris Allen (guitars), Branden Campbell (bass) and Elaine Bradley (drums, vocals), Neon Trees quickly invoke comparisons to bands such as Fallout Boy and The Bravery, but are quickly put to bed after a few songs. With Glenn’s booming voice, which feels bred from a healthy diet of Little Richard, John Fogerty, Bruce Springsteen and James Brown, he is without a doubt different from every lead singer in music today, thus making NT a more than intriguing entity as a whole.

He can wail- his band can play.

Charismatic, yet youthfully wild and playfully pompous, Glenn’s voice and his antics on stage are a delight and when combined with the impressive, yet quietly-superb guitar stylings of Allen, provide an excellent one-two punch. Campbell’s bass skills were also solid, especially during the band’s first single, “Animal,” where he showed a candid cohesion with Allen, giving the song everything it needed to rock.

Nonetheless, every rock band is defined by the skill of their drummer and in that respect, Neon Trees are in more than competent, if yet tiny, hands. Petite, yet bursting with the flavor of a strawberry starburst, Bradley kept the band in time all night and had a pair of soaking wet legs to prove it. Armed with an equally as potent singing voice as well, she backed up Glenn all night long, with no signs of slowing down.

In spite of their energy and musicianship however, the playlist featured this night wasn’t as enthralling as the glimpses of brilliance each member of the band showed at various points. While “Animal” has the makings of a sure-fire hit and showcases the talents of the entire band and “Calling My Name” was a catchy and fun tune, the rest of the setlist, aside from being fun and full of desire, wasn’t nearly as enigmatic.

Regardless, you’d be hard pressed to ask for more from a band that hasn’t released their first album yet and in the big scheme of things, it’s easy to see that this band has all the right pieces in place and nowhere to go but up.

Neon Trees’ album will be released on March 23.

Photo by Cynthia Spataro

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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