New Found Glory finds talented friends to get tour on track
The name of the tour is “Punk Pop’s Still Not Dead,” but the tour itself nearly died. The Florida band New Found Glory was set to hit the road when coheadliners Simple Plan dropped out of the tour due to COVID-related concerns. Longtime friends Less Than Jake, headliners in their own right, jumped in with two weeks to go, and the tour is now on track to hit the House of Blues on Tuesday.
“It was definitely getting stressful,” NFG frontman Jordan Pundik said this week. “We were about to cancel fully, then Less Than Jake cancelled their own tour to join us. They’re so much the best that I don’t even know what to say. They’ve always had our backs, ever since they took us along for their first couple of big tours.” But thanks to the pandemic, the two bands won’t be doing any songs together or even hanging out backstage as much as they’d like. “Everybody’s staying in their little pod. But we can still stand outside the dressing room and shout at each other.”
The name of the tour may be a joke, but it’s also a badge of honor. All four bands appearing (including openers Hot Mulligan and Lolo) are fine with catchy tunes, slower tempos and the occasional love song — elements that initially set them apart in hardcore circles, but eventually helped them catch on.
“I’ve always been a guy that’s into hearing more of the weird stuff,” Pundik said. “We started in the hardcore scene in Florida and were always part of that world, those were the bands we toured with. It wasn’t until we crossed into the mainstream that the punk-pop term started rearing its head, after bands like Blink-182 and Green Day started coming along. We were always fine with it, and it’s always great to see new bands putting their own twist on things and getting insanely popular.”
The tour name also reflects how they feel to be playing after the pandemic. “We’re so fired up after sitting around so long, that we’d be playing these shows whether people showed up or not.”
He says they’re playing a greatest-hits set with only a few nods to their latest album, “Forever & Ever x Infinity,” though it’s gone over well with fans. Last year the album was reissued with some newer songs, including “The New Abnormal,” one of the rare pandemic songs that manages to be uplifting. “We’ve always tried to put things in a positive light, and a lot of people need to hear this kind of thing when they’re down. So it was more inspiring to be able to give them that.”
The songs on the regular album are largely about viewing relationships as a grown-up (Pundik is 41), and finding the old insecurities still apply. One tune includes the priceless line “You’re a ten and I’m a three, hope you can never afford lasik surgery.” Says Pundik, “That’s one hundred percent how I feel, especially with a really attractive person. I’m
always thinking that I’m not worthy.”
Pundik says there’s also a chance that the band will continue its series of covers albums, which have focused on guilty-pleasure movie themes. “We need a certain amount of those in our repertoire, so we can someday realize our dream of being a wedding and bar mitzvah band.”