Last month we had the honor, privilege, and time of our life (pun intended) at the pop punk/emo/alternative rock festival that has taken the world by storm over the last three years – When We Were Young. The fest’s über-current presence in today’s music scene mixed with the appreciation-based nostalgia for the soundtrack of many of our youths is something we thoroughly enjoyed reporting on and something we are very, very, very thankful for.
While many of our local readers were able to catch New Found Glory play Catalyst in full at The Stone Pony just two months ago, the band had more up their sleeve, because they just played their breakthrough album, Sticks & Stones, also in full at When We Were Young Festival.
Yes, New Found Glory played the Las Vegas festival last year, but this year was extra special with every act on the bill doing album plays. (New Found Glory’s was one of our favorites.) The band delivered their Sticks & Stones set with the energy, enthusiasm, and (of course) humor. They made the day (and the weekend) their own just with their own nostalgic set of songs, which included those classic deep cuts, but also a handful of their greatest hits. They couldn’t resist showcasing one of their newest singles on stage either, which meant closing out their fantastic performance with their cover of”Part Of Your World” from Disney’s Aladdin.
We had the chance to sit down and catch up with the New Jersey-born vocalist for the band, Jordan Pundik, and drummer Cyrus Bolooki at the festival. We dove into the album the band was about to play, the Catalyst tour they’re currently on, songs new and old, and even got a behind the scenes look into how New Found Glory puts on a show.
New Found Glory and The Aquarian have a long history, so we’re feeling good being here and reminiscing on that, since it is When We Were Young Fest. You’re playing Sticks and Stones for your album play set. How are you feeling?
Jordan: Pretty good!
Cyrus: Yeah, we’re ready for it! Excited! The weather is playing nice. You never know with this festival. Last year was sweltering hot, the year before when we weren’t there because the first day was canceled [due to wind conditions], so my eyes have been on the weather the last couple of weeks, but it’s beautiful so far.
Jordan: Yeah, last year we were melting on stage.
I talked to fans last year. The same thing – the heat was over 90º and it was getting to everyone. How was it on your end?
Jordan: Just… the black surface of the stage reflecting the sun.
Cyrus: For me, it was even worse because the reflections were – being a drummer – coming off of the cymbals. And, of course, I was like, “Let’s polish them and make them look really good!” and the sun really amplified it. I felt like my eyelids were burning off.
Jordan: But, it was good. It was still a great show.
From the pictures of last year, you looked out and saw a sea of people. What was it like playing in front of all those people – all of those people that are so excited to see you?
Jordan: It feels good that so many people want to watch us, obviously. We have always been a band that’s all about connection with our fans. I think we do a pretty good job whether it’s 2,000 people or 25,000 people. Playing that last year, the energy was good. It was good all around.
Cyrus: Like Jordan said, we really do try to do whatever we can to involve the crowd. It may be easier to do that when you’re in a smaller club, but even places like here where there’s going to be tens of thousands of people we do it. We have songs that obviously people know, but we have also maybe figured out extra parts within those songs and ways to get crowds to shout “hey”” or something. That’s when you don’t even need to know our song to participate; you still can walk away from the show feeling that energy.
With a full album play like today at We Were Young Festival, is it weird when the fans know what song is coming next?
Jordan: It’s a little weird! It’s fine.
Cyrus: I’d say it’s strange for me, too, because right now we’re currently on a Catalyst 20-year tour. Ironically, here at When We Were Young we’re not playing Catalyst – we’re playing Sticks and Stones. When we’re doing these Catalyst shows, sometimes it’s like, “Yeah this next song is called ‘Failure’s Not Flattering’ or whatever,” and of course you know that!
Jordan: We make it a bit!
Cryus: Probably the hardest part about playing an album front to back is when you’re recording and sequencing the record, putting the songs in order, you’re not thinking about a live show. You’re thinking about the songs themselves and how they flow. It gets interesting. Even if it’s logistical things, you have a different guitar tuning and you have to swap but you don’t want to have any breaks. Then, here, we don’t have much time. Our record is 42 minutes and they gave us 45. If there’s one little slip up [knocks on wood] you almost can’t play the entire record.
Jordan: That’s going to be… we’ll see [Laughs].
Cyrus: I’m glad we’re playing at 7:25pm and the weather is nice, because we’re literally not going to be able to stop.
Is that tough for you with on-stage banter? If you have a three minutes window, that’s hard.
Jordan: I know! I tend to ramble in between songs. I’m going to have to rein it in when I’m talking.
Cyrus: Or just look at it like, “Today you don’t have to talk as much,” so that’s good! Less pressure! Let the album do the talking.
Last time we talked we were discussing that Catalyst show coming to The Stone Pony. Now that you guys have done it, played The Stone Pony outdoors, how was it?
Jordan: That was crazy!
Cyrus: Check it off the list! I think we talked about how we were supposed to play there years ago and it got moved inside Convention Hall. That show was amazing! There were over 4,000 people. Weather was beautiful.
Jordan: Yeah, the weather was awesome. We’re weather guys, you know? We like when the weather is nice.
Cyrus: I would love to go back there now. Jersey represented the way they always do no matter where we play. It was a great show.
In the last interview, we talked about how you would drive up from Florida to play Jersey shows. Seeing the videos from that concert showed the fanbase was rabid.
Cyrus: It’s really cool! Look at this fest – I’ve already been hanging out with Senses Fail and Saves The Day. These are the bands that we played with at those shows! L.S. Dunes are playing and the drummer, Tucker [Rule] is from Thursday. Thursday’s first show was at one of those shows that we played. They hopped on Midtown’s gear and played a song!
Jordan: That’s right.
Cyrus: It’s cool – the connections and how deep they go. Then you have a fest like When We Were Young and all these bands are brought back together. It’s so much like a family reunion for us.
Jordan: Midtown was on tour with us and we were playing the Wayne Firehouse in New Jersey. Midtown was like, “Hey, our friends are in a band and they want to play a couple songs! Can they play?” We’re like, “Yeah, sure!” Midtown’s playing their set and they’re like, “We’re going to bring our friends up here to play a few songs. They’re in a band called Thursday!” Then they came up and played!
Now they’re the biggest post-hardcore band ever! I do want to ask, especially since this is a festival very much based on nostalgia; I feel like the pop punk scene is thriving more than ever nowadays, so do you have any thoughts on being a pop punk band in 2024?
Jordan: Yeah! I think it never really went everywhere. There was a time where it was all over the place, like on MTV and everything. Then it died down a little bit. If you were going to shows [during] that whole time, it would feel like nothing has changed. People just love having a good time and singing along. Now it’s come full circle again where it’s all over, but it never really went anywhere to be honest. With mainstream, it goes in and out on the radio and TV and stuff.
Cyrus: I think this is a testament to all of our bands and the hard work we did. It was fun for us, so it didn’t feel like work, but back in the day we really concentrated on touring, first and foremost. If radio and TV were there, then that was great, but it was all about the touring. What’s happening now is that those people that saw us 20 years ago are coming back to the concerts and bringing their kids. It’s a new generation. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t keep going. The older generation… a lot of them don’t go to shows anymore. Then kids wouldn’t know who we were. We need to see that full circle moment.
A prime example of that is myself. I’m 25 years old. I remember getting into New Found Glory when “Happy Being Miserable” dropped as a single in 2017. It doesn’t matter where your gateway is, as long as you’re here that’s all that matters.
Cyrus: We’re still enjoying our shows and having as much fun as we can on stage. I think that definitely proves itself if you go to one of our concerts.
When you do these albums in full, whether Catalyst or Sticks & Stones, does that influence the songwriting process for the new record?
Cyrus: Our songwriting process, and when we go to create records, is a lot of just diving into what’s happening at that time. If we went into the studio tomorrow, maybe it would. It’s kind of a snapshot of what’s going on in our lives musically, lyrically, or with whatever we’re hearing. The one thing I can say is we often make decisions as we’re writing and arranging songs, and we think about playing them live. We don’t want to be a band that does something just because it sounds cool. We want to do something because we enjoy doing it! Sometimes it’s a little too much for a record and it’s like, “Ok, but how can we play this live”? Luckily none of our songs are really focused on elements we can’t produce live. A lot of those decisions are always made because we want to have a good time live.
I love Tool as a band, but their new record [Fear Inoculum] had a super long bongo solo. I don’t ever want to see that live.
Cyrus: Remember that for the next album! A 10-minute bongo solo [Laughs]. If we put an instrumental on the record, we could be nominated and probably win a Grammy; we were told that one time. Not enough bands do instrumentals and that’s the easiest Grammy Award to win. We don’t care about that! We just want to write songs we like.
Also, a pop punk instrumental song is weird. It’s just upbeat guitar and drums.
Cyrus: He would like it because he doesn’t have to sing [Laughs]. That’d be your favorite song to play, Jordan!
Jordan: Singing is hard!
What are some warm ups you do before a big festival like this?
Jordan: Uh… [nervous laughter]
Cyrus: What should he be doing or what does he do?
Jordan: The thing with me and warming up, I never have a riveting answer. I have been to several different vocal coaches over the years. I would do a warm up and it stopped working. It wouldn’t work well, so then I saw a new person and they were like, “Don’t do that warm up, do this warm up.” It’s that same story each time. I said, “Screw it! I’m just going to not worry about it. The first two songs will be my warm up.” That’s where I’m at now in my life.
Cyrus: From an outside perspective, let me tell you – this guy is a machine! He’s very humble. Last year we played When We Were Young and on day one there were some technical issues and we didn’t have enough time to fix them. We walked out on that main stage and we had no monitors. We were trying to use the in-ear monitors and they didn’t work. They didn’t have any speakers there. He gets out there and goes in front of 50,000 people and sings without being able to hear himself! He didn’t miss a note! He’s very humble and he kills it. He’s one of the most consistent singers there is.
Jordan: Just winging it! Thanks, man. It’s muscle memory.
Even just to add how impressive that is, not even being unable to hear your own voice, when you’re backstage, all you hear is drums. The guitar and bass is crucial, but you don’t hear that behind the amps. Especially to sing without in-ear monitors then…
Jordan: It’s a little rough, but we got through it!
Cyrus: Knock on wood – we haven’t played yet today!
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