Interview
Interview
Stage Times: New Found Glory
New Found Glory vocalist Jordan Pundik talks us through his gig memories, from dive-bar concussions to crowd-surfing on 70,000 heads
For over two-and-a-half decades, New Found Glory have stood as undeniable icons of pop-punk. Taking the genre from sweaty bars in Florida to festival main stages across the globe, their ear-worm hooks and unshakeable, voice-wrecking choruses have soundtracked an entire generation of first loves, first heartbreaks, and teenage angst.
Now, the four-piece are embarking on a new chapter of their career. As lead guitarist Chad Gilbert rejoins their ranks after a lengthy bout of illness, they’ve announced their new label home at Pure Noise Records, joining a stacked roster that includes both longtime friends and new-school torchbearers. Returning with all the relentless energy we’ve come to expect, their latest era has kickstarted with defiant single ‘100%’, an ode to perseverance and finding strength amidst adversity.
“Life isn’t always what you expect it to be,” frontman Jordan Pundik reflects.
“When you’re dealt something hard, you want to try and look at it in a positive way. Even if things are rough, you’ve got to give it all you’ve got. That’s what ‘100%’ is about.”
With more new music on the horizon and their first full UK tour in eight years set to kick off this October, New Found Glory are as committed as ever to the scene and the stages that built them. Finding inspiration in seeing sonic trends come and go and watching their peers evolve, they’ve been taking the time to reflect on where a band like theirs belongs in 2025.
“We’ve been around for a long time, but I still love hearing new music and discovering new artists. I don’t want to be left behind, so we try to keep our ears to the ground,” Pundik nods.
“For so many years, people have come up to us and said, ‘Your band has got me through a lot’. That has always been my goal. I’m so grateful that we’ve been able to do this for so long, and that people still appreciate us. That’s what keeps us grounded.”
As they gear up to bring a quarter-century of anthems back across the Atlantic, we caught up with Pundik to look back on some of the band’s most unforgettable live moments. From chaotic bar shows and collaborating with clowns, to dodging bottles and igniting festival crowds.
The one that made you want to play music
When I was 13 or 14, Nirvana were doing their In Utero tour. My dad worked for this multi-level marketing company called Amway, and his boss had a son around the same age as me. He had extra tickets, so I went with them. We were way up in the nosebleeds in this amphitheatre in Miami Beach, but I was like, ‘Holy crap, this is awesome’.
That sparked it off for me, and then I started going to more punk shows in shitty dive bars. The first ever real punk show I went to was The Queers and this other band called The Pink Lincolns. It was so crazy and sweaty, and that’s when I realised this is what I wanted to do. It set me off on the path of starting bands with friends, playing in garages, and going to shows. That’s when I met Ian [Grushka, bass] who lived in my neighbourhood. He had a band, and they had kicked out their singer so wanted me to sing. I didn’t know what I was doing, but the rest is history, as they say.
The first
It was in Miami Beach at this tiny bar called Cheers. We had an old drummer for the first couple of months as a band, Joe [Marino]. The roof was really low where you hopped off the side of the stage, and as we were about to go on, he hit his head and got a concussion. Everyone was so pissed, but he ended up being fine later on. I remember having the lyrics to the songs on the floor in front of the drum set, and I wouldn’t face the crowd. I had my back towards the audience the whole time. We didn’t even have a name before that show. Our friend Amy [Fleisher Madden], who had a record label called Fiddler Records, put out our first EP. She told us we needed a name, so we came up with A New Found Glory. Over time, that became just New Found Glory, and from there we started playing locally every other weekend. We were still in high school, we were so young, but it was dope.
The smallest
It was probably on our first tour, which was with Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. We’ve been friends since we were kids, and back then he had a band called The Vacant Andys. They came on tour with us, and it was super illegal as we had people sleeping in the back of the truck whilst someone was driving. We played a show on that run, and I want to say it was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was supposed to be at a church, and the promoter told us that Catch 22 were going to play. They’re a ska-punk band from New Jersey, and at the time we were buzzed that we were going to hop on a real show. We showed up, and it was just the promoter and her friend. Catch 22 were not there, and we ended up playing a show for those two girls and The Vacant Andys. We thought that maybe people would show up later, but no one did.
Did playing shows like that ever knock your confidence at all?
I mean, at the time we were still kids. More than anything, we were just excited to not be at home! We were a bunch of dudes getting to do whatever we wanted, so it didn’t really matter if anyone showed up.
(Photo by Jason Squires/WireImage)
The biggest
It was probably in a stadium in Washington, DC. It would have been around the time of Sticks And Stones and Catalyst, and it was hosted by a rock radio station. It doesn’t really happen anymore, but the stations used to put on these huge festivals across the US, and the selection of bands would always be ridiculous. We’d play, Incubus would follow us, then Coldplay would come on, and the headliner would be someone like Disturbed. That specific festival was held at the stadium where the football team played though, and there were 70,000 people there, or maybe more.
Coming from a punk background, are those huge shows something you ever get used to?
I’m not sure you can ever get used to it. It’s been a long time, and we’ve played a lot of big shows, but it’s still different. Now though, we know what to do and what not to do in certain environments. We would always try to bring the punk energy to those big shows. I would get on the barricade, crowd surf, and hold the mic out to people. At the time, I think that helped us stand out a little bit.
The weirdest
The one that comes to mind was actually pretty recent. We played this beer festival in Atlantic City, and every year they get a different band to play. It’s on the beach, there are beer vendors all over this field nearby, and everyone’s just drinking beer all day. You get a pass to try all of the different beers, and it was just so random for us. When we got up onstage, we were sure it was going to suck, but it was the most fun we’ve ever had at a show. It was so goofy because there were circus performers at the festival, and we invited all the clowns up on stage. We changed ‘All Downhill From Here’ to ‘All Clownhill From Here’! There were people on stilts walking around too, and it was just a great time. Obviously, it depends on the vibe of the show, but we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously.
The worst
We played a festival called KROQ Inland Invasion back in 2002, and the line-up was filled with old-school punk bands. The Offspring and blink-182 were on it, but apart from them and us it was all bands like T.S.O.L. and X. They had one of those rotating stages, so whilst a band was playing the next one would set up on the other side. When it was our turn to play, I think T.S.O.L. had been on before us. They finished, the stage started rotating, and we were immediately getting bottles and cans thrown at us. They hated us, and before that I thought that reaction was just something you saw in the movies.
We’d already been a band for a while, but that was the first time I ever experienced anything like it. Maybe it’s because we were on MTV or something, but blink and The Offspring were there too, and they didn’t get it half as bad! I don’t know why we got the shit end of the stick, but we certainly did. All these punk rockers were flipping us off, but there were still people singing along to us in the front row. We only ended up playing four or five songs, then it was like, ‘Let’s get out of here’.
The best
(Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images)
As you can imagine, there are a lot. Recently though, I have to say our set at the last When We Were Young Festival. We were doing Sticks And Stones in full, and we played right as the sun was going down. It felt like we were Metallica or something, and there were people as far as you could see. Everyone was singing, going crazy, and jumping around. Also, I have to mention the Slam Dunk shows we came back and played earlier in the year. Those were crazy, and it was an awesome welcome back for us. I’m hoping those same positive vibes are there when we come back in October.
It must feel special when you play festivals like those which celebrate the past, present, and future of this scene. Not only are there fans who’ve been there since day one, there are now so many other bands on those line-ups that have been influenced by New Found Glory…
Seeing that will never stop being cool for me. I’m a pretty down to earth, humble person, and when I hear that we’ve inspired bands like Neck Deep and All Time Low… It makes me so happy. It’s special when people come up to me and say, ’You guys are the reason that we started a band’, and I love that they’re doing their own thing with it too. It helps that everyone we meet are always such cool dudes too. They’re down for the hang, and we love spending time with them.
New Found Glory kick off their UK tour in October. Find tickets here
Header photo: Adam Gasson / Getty
