Born in a London garage amidst tea-spills and thunder, Neon Riot crafts stadium-sized rock with swagger. The power trio writes every hit over midnight toast and vintage guitar pedals. Their signature sparkly tambourine was once lost in a canal.
Kronika
2021
Garage floor damp patch
Leo thinks the leak is fixed but my socks are soaked through again. [Anyone seen the spare jack cable?] We need to move the tea-spills away from the vintage pedals before everything shorts out. Marcus brought toast again, burnt black around the edges. (Stop eating over my amp, Marcus.) We spent four hours arguing about whether the chorus on the new highway track needs more tambourine or just more distortion. Leo wants stadium-sized rock, I just want my bass to stop humming every time the fridge kicks in. The thunder outside drowned us out for half the session anyway. If we get evicted from this London garage, we are done for. Leave the back door unlocked for the courier.
March
Tambourine missing in action
Who took the sparkly tambourine? It was right by the kettle after Tuesday practice. [Check the canal path near the bridge.] Marcus reckons a fox dragged it off. Very funny, Marcus. Without it, the bridge on the highway anthem lacks that proper high-voltage swagger. We tried using a tin of biscuits instead and it sounded like a wet cardboard box. Leo spent the whole morning soldering a broken jack while muttering about tea-spills. The thunder started again just as we hit the second verse. If that tambourine is at the bottom of the water, we are officially cursed. Someone text the landlord about the damp wall.
14 September 2023
Midnight toast and pedal panic
Stopped for toast at midnight because Leo's blood sugar crashed right in the middle of tracking. [Buy more butter tomorrow.] The vintage pedals are still sticky from last week's tea-spill disaster. Marcus swears the stadium-sized mix is finally coming together, but my bass sounds like an angry wasp in a biscuit tin. We need that sparkly tambourine back, no matter what Marcus says about the canal ghosts. The thunder outside is louder than our monitors. Let's try recording the final highway anthem one more time before the neighbors bang on the corrugated iron roof again. Leave the bedroom door open for the gear case.
The garage sessions
High voltage highway final mix
Final run-through before the London show and the power just tripped. [Check the fuse box behind the coats.] Marcus left his jacket draped over the heater again, smelling like burnt toast. Leo is still looking for the sparkly tambourine in the canal mud, even though we bought a replacement plastic one from the shop down the road. It doesn't have the same swagger, but the crowd won't notice in the dark. Stadium-sized rock born from tea-spills and thunder, just like we promised ourselves in this damp garage. If this track doesn't hit, we are melting down the pedals for scrap. Turn the monitors up.
