With a career spanning 20 years, Pop punk rockers New Found Glory are back with a new album titled ‘Resurrection’ (released October 10) and have released a new music video for their single off the same album, called ’Selfless’. Lead singer Jordan Pundik is feeling stoked about the new album and being part of Soundwave 2015, and remained cool about where the band are at currently as a four piece (after the recent departure of guitarist Steve Klein). Speaking from San Diego with Glam Adelaide’s Darren Hassan, Pundik is optimistic about the album but admits to pre-release jitters. “I’ve been living with the record for a few months now, and of course I want to hear what people think about it. It’s not going to be for everybody, but I hope people like it.”
Having heard an advance stream of the album, it still has all the angst and grunt you’d expect from a New Found Glory album, and is doesn’t lose a beat. Asked if the group consider changing tastes and what’s popular in music, Pundik doesn’t give too much thought to anything but what they are doing. “We never really think about that going into recording a record because we gained popularity based on what we wrote and what we say in our songs. It’s always worked for us and we have loyal fans, so we’re not trying to change anything other than to make the next record better than the last.”
Pundik’s songwriting comes from a deeply personal space, with angst aplenty as you’d expect from a punk group. “It comes from all things, we always write about human experiences and for me it’s kind of like what anybody’s going through (in the band), it’s always an influence on what we’re writing about including close friends. Being involved with our fans including social media helps us keep close, we love it when people get something from our songs or helps them along. Pundik of course adds that not every NFG song is a heart on sleeve anthem, they also like to have a bit of fun and just play around with things and just make up songs. “For the most part though, everything we write is from a personal space.”
Resurrection is the groups 8th studio album, and they are more than happy with their particular niche as pop punk rockers and with their label Unified/Hopeless records- this is a band that know who they are and what they’re about. They also don’t mind being compared to fellow punk buddies of the same era Green Day or Blink 182 although NFG are very much their own entity. “We all know each other, we’ve toured together & hung out although we’re from different scenes. For people that don’t know us, I’m happy to say that we’re similar to these guys.”
Pundik is once again looking forward to returning to Australia to play Soundwave 2015, which they’ve done previously, and says that they’ve been here almost every album. “We’ve done Soundwave a couple of times, it’s awesome because we’re there usually with friends in the other bands in the lineup. Plus all the days off in between are awesome, I’m stoked to be part of it again.” And good news- he admits to being a fan of Australian bands Gyroscope, Tame Impala and Silverchair. “ I first heard Tame Impala on some BlogSpot and thought it was experimental and cool, also Silverchair rock! ‘Diorama’ was a such a good record.” Nice to know that our guys are revered by their contemporaries overseas!
The theme of ‘Resurrection’ is about ‘coming out on top’, which for Pundik means rising above adverse circumstances. “Regarding the record’s title and the song titles, it’s about dealing with stuff in your life and rising above whatever’s been dealt to you. It’s kind of like a call to action for our fans as well as us. This album was a kind of cathartic experience, and with it coming out I feel we’re coming up above what we’ve been through in the recent past, what cards have been dealt to us.” No doubt that Steve Klein’s departure forms part of this, and understandably Pundik avoids discussing aspects of this.
Given that they’ve moved form being a five-piece to a four-piece, it’s a complete re-emergence and transformational period, as New Found Glory have lived up to their name quite literally. “I feel like there’s this new breath of life, it’s hard to explain because we’ve been writing the record through adversity and our own internal issues- so it really is about rising above shitty situations and coming out stronger!”
For now though, the guys from NFG are content to go with the flow and see where life takes them musically. Meanwhile, enjoy Resurrection when it comes out on October 10 through Unified/Hopeless records. Check out ‘Selfless’ here
Australian Exclusive Pre-Orders: http://www.24hundred.net/search/?search=new+found+glory
Worldwide Pre-Orders: http://hopelessrecords.com/resurrection
New Found Glory Soundwave Dates:
Interviewed by Darren Hassan
Twitter: @DazzHassan
More News
