Interview: New Found Glory

At the Rochester Hills, MI stop of the 2010 Honda Civic Tour, Alter The Press managed to sit down with New Found Glory front man, Jordan Pundik, for a brief interview.

Jordan spoke to ATP about: supporting Paramore and playing to a whole new generation of fans, previously co-headlining the Honda Civic Tour seven years ago, the 'new' pop-punk scene, the next New Found Glory record and more.

Alter The Press: How has the tour been going to far?
Jordan Pundik (vocals): Great, it's been easy for us, we've known Paramore for a long time, and we've been able to play to a lot of new fans. When we do signings (we do them everyday,) the lines are really long, which is great; we get kids coming up to us saying: “We've never heard of you guys before! This is our first time!” In my head, I'm thinking, 'Where have you been? We tour ten months out of the year, every year, for thirteen years!' It's cool though, because it's a whole new generation of kids getting into this kind of music.

ATP: Is it like, when you supported Paramore in the UK, in 2008?
Jordan: It’s kind of the same thing, but it's weird, because at those shows, a lot of our fans came out; we had a lot of killer shows on that tour.

ATP: How has it been, playing to the kids who have never heard of New Found Glory before?
Jordan: It's awkward at first, because we are so use to energy and feedback. At these shows, we try and keep it really interactive with the crowd, because they might know our lyrics or songs. I try and get in the crowd, give them high fives, hugs; they love that shit. It's been really fun in that sense, but when I say awkward, it's not a bad or negative thing. It's just different for us.

ATP: Does it feel weird that, seven years ago, you co-headlined the Honda Civic Tour?
Jordan: Yeah, it's weird, but we're a career band, so it's kind of like, you have your peeks. We've experienced that, like any band who has been around for a long time, like Green Day, Blink; except, they started in the late 80's, whereas we started in '97.

ATP: Would you agree that bands like yourself, Green Day, Blink-182, are getting more attention nowadays?
Jordan: I really think so; because people are missing that pop-punk nostalgia, especially people our age, that grew up with those bands. They want to see those bands still be big, in a sense.

ATP: You shot the video for 'Truck Stop Blues' a few months ago. You guys seem to be big fans of Rockstar Energy Drink!
Jordan: It's funny, because we are at the end of the record cycle (for 'Not Without A Fight'), so Epitaph wasn't going to pay for another video, because there was no reason for them to. But, we are doing this big tour, and playing for a lot of new people, so we had to put out something, so they gave us a bit of money, but not enough to cover it. We have connections that we've made throughout the years, so we called up Rockstar and they were like: “Sure. Put the drinks in the video and we'll give you guys money!” It was win, win, and I got like six pallets of drinks for free; and I can call them up anytime and ask for more.

ATP: Have you started work on the new album yet?
Jordan: Not really, a little bit. Chad (Gilbert, guitarist) has musical ideas and stuff, but it's so early to tell what direction the music will go in for the next record. I know we will probably start recording in January.

ATP: What is planned for the rest of the year?
Jordan: We do this tour until September 19th, go home for a while, then probably start recording in January. Then, in February, we go to Australia for Soundwave Festival.

ATP: What is your take on the ‘new’ pop-punk scene?
Jordan: I think it's awesome, because it's legit kids who know music. It's not like the pop-punk bands with the swooping hair, and the whole ‘look,’ who don't know anything about music. I think bands like Title Fight and Transit are legit music lovers, and are actually doing it because they love doing it. That’s how I feel. We just played with Man Overboard a few days ago, and they're really good.

ATP: Thanks Jordan. Anything else you would like to add?
Jordan: We don't know when we're coming back to the UK yet, but I want to say, when we do come back, bring the pain!

'Not Without A Fight' is out now on Epitaph Records.