Reigning the pop punk scene since 1997, New Found Glory are the ultimate champions, mastering each album release they have ever released. With their eighth studio album, Resurrection, due for release this October, these men have always been known for their notable and infectious music with some noise pollution that’s worth the contamination. Needless to say, the youngins of today’s society really need to know this band because they have inspired the bands that exist in the pop punk genre at the moment. If I were you, I’d Google them right now if you have no idea who I’m talking about.
Jordan Pundik, vocalist of the band had many things to say, and he was ecstatic to say the least about the upcoming new release. I was intrigued behind the title of the album and wanted to know what fans could expect from the release. New Found Glory are a band that has garnered lots of positive reviews from their previous releases, trusting them with their upcoming release is a no brainer.
“Fans can definitely expect a kind of call-to-rise above any situation. And that was the thought process that was going into the record. With everything that’s been happening in the past year with our band, the ups and downs we all went through together in our personal lives, it’s kind of put across in the record where you don’t really realise what you have until it’s almost gone, and I think that’s why we named it Resurrection.”
As experts of the pop punk scene, I asked Jordan if the recording process was much easier and if writing the lyrics and formation of the music came naturally in the making of Resurrection. Candid features of a pop punk album can be fun but the whole process of making it can be tedious work.
“I said it before and I really feel that it really was an easier process. Because we had all gone through so much together and kind of committing to wanting to be a four-piece and knowing that we wanted to continue on this way. It was really one of those things where everybody had an idea, it just kept rolling and it was probably the first record we’ve done where we had everything finished before we went to the studio as far as like the songs go. And it was a really cool thing because it was definitely a confidence booster to know that we played the songs with four people before we went to the studio, and to be able to just record and not having to worry about it was great.”
The two tracks that have been released off the new record, “Selfless” and “Ready and Willing”, indicate that the band didn’t hold back on intensity or energetic vibes. I asked Jordan why this was the case and he had his reasons for it.
“I think the fact that why we made this record that way [energetic] was because we wanted to not stray too far from why people like our band. This record was such a cathartic process for us and I think that kind of shows through the making and writing of the songs and that’s one of the biggest reasons.”
Jordan’s Twitter cover photo, a photo of Coach Taylor and his wife, sparked my interest and led me to find out whether Friday Night Lightswas his favourite TV show.
“Yes, it’s one of my favourite TV shows and it’s very inspirational and I wanna be Coach and to have my wife be Mrs. Coach (laughs). I think that it’s kind of hard when you first tell people about that show and they’re like ‘Oh the football show? but it’s not even about that. It is a little bit but it’s more about the characters and their turmoils, and their relationships with each other. It’s like with any show, you start watching the first couple of episodes and you have to be introduced to the characters and start a relationship with them and you just you know, go ‘Nah man, just get through the first couple of episodes, it get’s better.’ It’s not a show just for teenagers. There’s probably like hundreds and thousands of like Wonder Year lyrics in those shows.”
As Soundwave 2015 contenders, Jordan was more than stoked about being part of the lineup and saw it as a balance of both a holiday and tour.
“All the time I’m excited to come to Australia, especially for Soundwave because the shows are awesome and huge and then you have a vacation straight afterwards. It’s pretty great.”
Nirvana are a band that have greatly influenced him; I was curious as to why and needless to say, his answer brought much nostalgia to frontman.
“Just growing up and being introduced to them, I had older friends that were into Nirvana, The Pixiesand Shudder To Think and all of these bands, were just kind of underground bands and really, that was one of the first bands I was ever introduced to that was like loud and abrasive and it sounded like Kurt Cobain had marbles in his mouth. He screamed and sang and then when you follow along, you begin to realise that man, this dude is fucked up. Coming across this music when I was 14, I felt fucked up and whatever, so yeah they were like a big influence and to know that they weren’t as good as musicians, you know (laughs), but then they went on into being one of the biggest rock bands ever. In my opinion, I thought that was really inspirational that they became so big coming from an underground scene.”
Although not an avid Twitter user, Jordan criticised a few weeks ago about how music is better listened through a stereo rather than an iPhone or computer. I asked if technology tainted the experience of listening to music and he agreed.
“I definitely think so, and that was kind of like a tongue and cheek sort-of comment. Because part of that, I think it was right after we released “Ready and Willing”, and I was reading the comments cause you know, I had to keep up on stuff and I just wanted to know what people were thinking and saying, and people were like, ‘This doesn’t sound good like what is wrong?!’ And I went thinking to myself, first of all, you’re listening to a ripped stream of the song on your computer and so like you’re not gonna get the full effect of what the song is supposed to sound like when you’re not listening to the real thing on a good sounding stereo, so that was kind of like the reason for that comment. But going to your question, yes I mean, I’m not trying to say, oh vinyls have that because I had cassettes and tapes before vinyls. I definitely think that technology has taken the forefront of how you get music and how you can listen to it. I mean, you can be on your cell phone and listen to any song at any given moment at anytime.”
I then heated the discussion by saying that I felt like everyone took technology used in music for granted and Jordan had a strong opinion towards that statement.
“It’s kind of a bum out and I’m guilty of that too. I spent years and years curating tens of thousands of songs on an iPod. Now, it’s like I pay for a streaming service and I can listen to a song whenever I feel like it. It’s not like back then when you could trade songs and make mixtapes for people and whatever and I kind of miss that.”
Believe it or not, it is without a doubt the only reason why All Time Low exists is because of a lyric inspired by New Found Glory’s classic hit, “Head On Collision.” I knew for a fact Jordan probably got asked this question numerous times but having that sort of influence on a band is incredible to say the least and I couldn’t help myself but ask what he thought about this.
“Well, honestly, I think it’s a cool thing. I’m flattered honestly, especially when the band is full of cool dudes and you know, that they’re doing it [forming a band] for the right reasons. I mean, people can have their comments on All Time Low but those dudes are like the greatest dudes and they kind of did the same thing and started in a band and like you know, toured and played for nobody and they just kind of did their thing and how they wanted to do it. Whether it was leaning more towards the pop thing or the pop punk thing, they did it without caring what people said. I think it’s awesome. It’s always weird when I’m on some music site and I see a band’s name from lyrics of one of our songs and I listen to them and they’re like completely not what I expected and I think that’s really cool.”
I shared my view on tattoos and how I felt uncomfortable with their permanence. So, I asked Jordan why he enjoyed being a tattoo artist.
“Yeah, I mean that’s why so many people have so many bad tattoos (laughs). They don’t really think about what they usually want when they go in. I was always into it and I started getting tattooed when I was 18. I’ve always had a passion for art and I’ve always drawn. Like I designed album artwork for bands as well as t-shirts. I got the opportunity to apprentice with one of my good friends, who is a well-known artist. It’s almost like being in a hair salon; you get to talk to really cool people and give them something really awesome. I’m still trying to get good at it because I’m in and out so much and it’s hard, you know.”
New Found Glory have played an infinite amount of festival and intimate shows and I asked Jordan if he had any preference for either one. but surprisingly, he enjoyed both equally.
“I’m kind of like 50/50. I love big festivals because you’re like playing for a massive amount of people and even if those hundreds of people are new fans, to me that’s success. And on the other side, like playing in a club and the fans are up and close and stagediving, you can give people high-fives and sweaty kisses, and I think that’s the greatest thing too. I grew up going to both and for me to be on the opposite side of that, it’s like, I’ll take you as both.”
I couldn’t help but notice that his star sign was Libra which is symbolised by scales of balance. Maybe it was written in the stars after all.
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Be sure to check out New Found Glory on the dates below for Soundwave 2015!
Saturday Feb 21 – Soundwave Festival at Bonython Park, Adelaide
Sunday Feb 22 – Soundwave Festival at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Saturday Feb 28 – Soundwave Festival at Olympic Park, Sydney
Sunday March 1 – Soundwave Festival at Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane
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