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VOA scores an interview with Neon Trees' Tyler Glenn


Neon Trees Band Members : Branden Campbell (far left), Tyler Glenn, Elaine Bradley, and Chris Allen (far right).
Neon Trees Band Members : Branden Campbell (far left), Tyler Glenn, Elaine Bradley, and Chris Allen (far right).
Lead singer and keyboardist Tyler Glenn, from the alternative rock band Neon Trees, sat down with VOA’s Larry London to promote the group’s highly-anticipated new album, Picture Show. In the interview, which aired September 3rd and is available online, Glenn talks about the band’s origins and how the drummer of The Killers discovered them, among other things.

"The drummer of The Killers [Ronnie Vannucci] got into us and came to some shows and saw we had something," Glenn said. "We were only playing for 10 to 15 people at the time in [Las] Vegas. In our home area we had started selling out shows but it was hard to go national and they gave us a nice break and let us open some shows."
Glenn also discussed the band’s Mormon background.

“We were all raised Mormon. Some of us aren’t any more, but I still am. We try to maintain a balance of faith and wanting to be in culture and everything. It’s very personal and I’m happy that I have that compass,” Glenn said.
VOA Border Crossings' Larry London with Neon Trees' Tyler Glenn
VOA Border Crossings' Larry London with Neon Trees' Tyler Glenn

Glenn is the author of 9 of the 11 songs on Neon Trees’ new album. He describes his composition process as unstructured, citing an airplane lavatory as one of the strangest places he has ever written a song. “A lot of the time, it’s like melody and gibberish and walking around. I like walking around; I don’t have a license. There are times when I have to get out of the airplane seat and run to the restroom and record [the song] on my phone,” Glenn said.

Glenn described his favorite songs off of the new album, Mad Love and I Am The DJ, as a combination of Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, and The Human League.

Neon Trees will return to play in Europe and Asia, picking up where the band left off in 2011. The complete interview and an article written by Border Crossing Larry London are available on the VOA website.
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