Nothing Gold Can Stay Dookie.

Limited Edition Hoodwink Shirt

From Steve's Blog.

Site Update.

I have noticed a few minor problems with the site lately. I don't know if anyone else has, but I am planning on getting them repaired soon.

Awesome.

I was just over at Steve's blog and noticed he had posted a picture of the St. Paul MN show. The very show I attended. Well. Its a very blurry picture. But, both me and reidor make cameos in it. cool ha. Click the pic for a full sized look.

Rock For Diabetes Interview with NFG

http://rockfordiabetes.org/nfginterview.html

Go check out this interview. Its quicktime audio.

I got both colors of the tour split vinyl.

Brentlee and I went to the NFG show at the Myth last night. It kicked butt! Fireworks was not what we had hoped for, but everything else was kosher. NFG put on an amazing show. Chad yelled at some kids about not fighting, Jordan talked about White Bear Lake and their famous Bloody Mary's, and Cyrus looked extra thin, as did Ian.... except with a tattooed belly. Sleave had a beard. Their perfomance was one to be reckoned with, and will go down in our books as the best concert we've been to yet. This was their first show at The Myth, hopefully not their last. If they play the Myth again, I will personally buy Chad a grilled-cheese sandwich and pickle-juice at the Denny's right behind the club. Also as luck would have it, Brentlee and I had the opportunity to sing part of "Dressed to Kill" with Jordan. We both pee'd our pants slightly.

PunkDisasters.com Interview with Steve

Here is an interview with Steve.

Coming Home was a departure from your earlier sound. What made you go back to your roots with “Not Without A Fight”?

Well, I think every New Found Glory record, we try to capture a time period in our lives. And, I think, when we were recording “Coming Home”, I think, we were going through different things in our lives. Like, we wanted to do a more positive record, because a lot of us were getting married, and, a lot of positive things were going on in our lives. So, I think those songs came out for “Coming Home”. We don’t really sit down and say “This is the way a record is going to sound.” We just kind of sit down, write songs, and, however they come out is how they come out. I think with “Not Without A Fight”, again, we’re at a different part of our lives, two-and-a-half years later, and two of our guys have gotten divorced, and going through different things. So, I think it definitely leaned to more of an angry record. More of a darker record, like “Catalyst”, and stuff was. Our lyrics are kind of dark, but, still melodic and still happy in the end, you know what I mean? I think with every record, you’re going to get something different. And, I think that’s what keeps our fans still wanting more is cause, like, we’re not putting out the same record over and over again. We’re putting out different things, and, it keeps people interested. And, it keeps our band relevant, you know?

If you had to pick one track from the new album that means the most to you, what would it be? Like, one that you had the most input on, or the guitar riff you like the most?

Well, I always think the first song we write is always the most important song for the record, and, it’s cool, too. With the last record, the first song we wrote was “Oxygen”, and that was the first song on the record. And, with this record, we wrote “Right Where We Left Off” first. So, like, I was really stoked on that song, because it comes right off the bat, like, you know, “This is New Found Glory. This is the way we’re setting the tone for the record.” So, I was really stoked on that song when it was finished, the first song on the record.

Now, what gave you guys the idea to go with the whole fighting theme? Like, the UFC championship belt, and everything?

Well, Chad, our other guitar played, is really into UFC, and, um, we were thinking about ideas for the video for “Listen to Your Friends” and, um… You can do a video where it’s serious and it goes along with the lyrics, but that stuff kind of gets boring after a while. So, we were kind of like, you know, having a pow-wow and ideas, and Chad was like “Hey, I have this idea of all of us being UFC fighters, and us being different kinds of fighters and fighting each other. And, maybe getting some real UFC people involved.” And, we actually got Bas Rutten and the referee dude who does all of the pay-per-view fights involved. So, it was rad.

Coming from another established band, from blink-182, do you think Mark Hoppus, as an artist first, brought something else to the table when he was producing the new album?

Yeah, I think that’s one of the reason we used him. Not only does he have you writing amazing songs, he’s also a good friend of ours, for one. And, two, like, we really didn’t have a label when we recorded this record. So, he kind of, like comped it for us. He’s like, “Yeah, you know I’ll record this record for you, and, when you get signed, you can pay me back.” So it was more like it was a bro deal for us to work with Mark. Not only did he hook us up, but he was, also, an awesome person to have in the studio, because, you know, he’s always a good time, you know. And, none of us, in our band, takes ourselves seriously, and neither does he. So I think it was a really good time recording this record.

You guys have switched labels around the last few records. “Coming Home” came out on a major, then the [Tip Of The Iceberg] EP came out on Bridge Nine, and now you’re on Epitaph. What, specifically, do you guys look for in a label when you’re looking to put out a new record?

Well, I mean, we know, coming from a major label, what not to do. I mean, we’ve been on a major label since, like 2001, and it was a struggle for us the whole time. Because, like, we’re real kids, whatever, we’re real people in bands, and we’re not pushovers, either. So, we never really did what the label told us to do. We would always kind of do what we wanted to do. So, for us, it was more of a natural thing. Like, “Hey, now that we’re out of our contract…” Because, there were points where we wanted to be on a different label, but we couldn’t, because we were under contract. And, when the label’s telling you they only really give a shit about hip-hop and rap more than rock, it’s kind of hard to be stoked to be on their label, you know? So, when we got off, we were like “Fuck yeah, now we can, you know, release “From The Screen To Your Stereo Part 2” on Drive-Thru, do the [Tip of the Iceberg/Takin’ It Ova!] split on Bridge Nine” who were our friends from Boston who do amazing vinyl things, and we still work with them now. They put out the “Not Without A Fight” vinyl. And, the reason why we went to Epitaph, I mean, right when we got off Geffen, Brett Gurewitz {Ed. – Epitaph Records founder} came and saw us at Bamboozle Left, and came up to us and was like “You know, I’m really interested in you guys. I’ve been following your band for a long time and us at Epitaph love you guys.” And, then, um, we played the CD release party at Safari Sands in L.A., and, like, all the people onstage were people that worked at Epitaph. So, we’re like “Dude, it’s not like these people go to work and wear suits everyday. These are, like, real music fans and, they’re gonna put as much heart and soul into our music just as much as we put into writing it, and, you know, doing it.”

When “Not Without A Fight” leaked, kind of early, I’m pretty sure it was Chad who wrote something about how he felt about it, but, what do you guys, as a band, think about the internet being a big part of the music industry now?

Well, you can’t really do anything about it, you kind of just have to let it happen. I think you try to keep it as long as you can, at least closer to the release date. That way, these kids can wait off a little bit to buy the record. Because, if kids stop buying records, it’s going to be hard for bands to be on labels and bands to write records. So, I think that real New Found Glory fans went out and bought the record the first week. And, I think, kids that maybe listened to New Found Glory before and they weren’t really sure if they wanted to buy the record, they would download it and think “Oh, this is awesome. Maybe I’ll go out and buy the record, go to the show or buy a t-shirt.” Anyway you can support the band, if you’re not going to buy their music, by going to a show and buying a t-shirt helps. For us, it’s like, you can’t really do anything about the downloading, it’s inevitable. Every band that comes out, their record leaks. And, you know, it sucks, but there’s nothing you can really do about it. People that like stuff will want to buy it, or they’ll buy the vinyl. I think that’s why the vinyl is having such a resurgence is because people are buying Mp3s and not really getting anything of substance, they’re not getting anything to take and put in their collections. It’s like, you lose your iPod, you lose the songs. That’s it, it’s gone. But, um, I think that’s why vinyl’s coming back, and, I think we’re gonna keep doing cool vinyl things.

When you guys record, what usually comes first: The music or the lyrics?

The music definitely comes first. Chad will write the main riff, then we’ll record it with drums, then I’ll take it back and write the lyrics and the melodies, then work on it with Jordan. We’ll all put our sense in. It’s like a factory, you know? [In] New Found Glory, we write the songs together, but I think, it all comes from one person, the different ideas and stuff.


As, literally, one of the best pop punk bands of all time, what do you guys think of this new crew of these dance pop-punk bands, with their flashy Day-Glo and everything. What do you guys think of that?

I don’t really listen to it. It’s not really something I’m going to pop into my CD player. It’s there. It’s mediocre, you know? Do you like it?

I don’t, but, I remember Jordan agreeing with something that Buddy Neilson from Senses Fail said about Brokencyde…

Haha. Those bands are horrible, I mean. But, the thing is, if you’re going to buy into it, then, that’s what your deal is. I’m not really gonna buy their CDs or go to their shows. So, I’m not really making them big. It’s your fault for supporting those bands, whoever is [reading] this.

What have you guys been listening to lately? Any bands you recommend?

I don’t know, I listen to a lot of weird stuff. I’m kind of jaded on music. I kind of listen to the weird indie rock. But, I know Chad just produced the new Fireworks record, which we’re all stoked on. It’s really cool. And, um, Bayside, Set Your Goals is coming out with a new record. So, this tour has been awesome.

You guys were in the U.K. a couple of years ago, and you had Gallows supporting you, kind of like a more punk band. Now, you’re actually on tour with Bayside, who’s more, like, maybe a little alternative, kind of not really the pop punk sound. Do you guys choose these different genre bands on purpose?

Yeah. We always like the show to be different, you know. We don’t want to try to take bands on tour that people are going to be bored and not want to see. So, I think one, we take bands on tour that we like. And, two, we like the show to be diverse. We like to take bands out that we know are going to put on a good live show. We kind of only really take our friends out, bands that we know we’re gonna have a good time with. Because, when you’re on the road for six weeks, you definitely want to be out on tour with people you like.

In an ideal world, where do you guys see yourselves in 5 years? Being around for this long, what do you guys want to do?

I don’t know. Keep putting out records. We’ve been around, like, almost 13 years now. It’s kind of crazy to think that I still feel young. We started this band when I was 15, so. I don’t know, I just hope we just keep on, you know, we’re on tour, and putting out records every two years and people are still coming to our shows. As long as people come, we’re going to keep writing music.

Those are all of the questions I have. Is there anything you’d like to add?

No, just check out our new record, “Not Without A Fight”. Thank you.

PunkDisasters gives a major thank you to Steve Klein for taking the time to sit down with us. Everyone should go pick up 3 copies of “Not Without A Fight”, it’s that good! Also, see New Found Glory when they play a town near you!

There it is. Thanks to PunkDisasters for doing this interview.

Yes.

Tomorrow is the day I get to see NFG. It has been awhile.

I haven't been updating lately. Work has kept me busy, and to be honest I have been pretty lazy. Playing alot of Super Mario 64 on my DSi. sad.

If you hadn't noticed, Chad has a twitter. I have had the link posted for a few days now. check it out.

No News Is Good News

No really. things have been slow on the news front. Now that the tour has started new is slow. Steve has been posting videos from the road, go check'em out over at his blog.

I have been sick the past week or so. It makes me hella lazy.

For the wax collectors out there. Here is some proof the split isn't a April Fools Hoax.

I don't know about you, but I was pretty convinced that the whole thing wasn't real when I first heard it.