NE W FOUND GLORY

��������������� Everything Old Is New Again MUSIC INTERVIEW

WBY JOHN B. MOORE ITH NEARLY HALF A DOZEN records already under their belt and more than 10 years of touring, Ne w Found Glory had paid their dues. Two years ago they had a few Gold records on the wall and a pretty sweet deal with Geffen Re cords. But, looking around, they realized they were on a label where no one understood who they were, where they had been and where they were going. With very little promotion from Geffen, NFG’s fifth album was released and pretty much left to die. Getting dropped from the label may have been the best thing to happen to the South Fl oridabased band. Ta king a little time to regroup, the band started experimenting, putting out a covers album and an EP of hardcore songs.

No w, two years after walking out of Geffen, the band is back with a brand new record and a new home, having signed recently to Ep itaph Records. Guitarist Chad Gilbert spoke with us recently about the band’s journey.

So after being free agents for a while, you guys decided to sign with Epitaph. Can you tell me how that came about?

As soon as we announced we were off Geffen, Brett Gurewitz from Ep itaph was the first to call me. It was too soon to do anything right away. It’s almost like when you have a breakup with your girlfriend, you kind of have to take care of certain emotional issues before you move on. It ’s not exactly like that, but we weren’t ready to make any decisions at that time. We didn’t know what to do, so we told Brett we weren’t ready, we talked to a bunch of different labels and we went ahead and made our record first. We brought it to a bunch of people and Brett and Ep itaph have a really cool thing going and all of them are real fans of music and real fans of our band. We played a show in LA and everyone from Ep itaph came and they had a party the next day to meet us. We went to the part y and one of the employees had a black eye that he got from stage diving at our show and it’s kind of funny going to a record label office and all of the people there love music and know the history of music. It is very much unlike a major label where everyone is wearing suits and trying to figure out what’s going to be cool.

Were you guys shocked at all to see your relationship with Geffen end or were you pretty glad it was over and ready to move on to the next thing?

It was an on to the next thing kind of deal. I’ m not trying to diss anyone really, but you can look at the timeline of the band… we had our self-titled CD, S ticks and Stones and Catal yst, which were all three very successful records and we had great promotion and a lot of backing and support from our label and the people who were behind those labels weren’t at the label anymore and we were brought over to Geffen (after being on MCA for years). When we got moved over, there was a whole new staff and all new people working for us who didn’t know about our band or our history and with Coming Ho me we didn’t have the same kind of prom otion we used to have. When it came time to do the next record, Geffen had a new president who didn’t know much about the band and we were like “this situation kind of sucks,” so it was kind of a joint agreement (to leave). At first Geffen wanted to keep us, but put us on Oc tone, a label they had acquired. We were like, why be on Geffen, but move to a sub label? We just wanted to start fresh with something new.

It must be nice to be on a label where the founder and president is in a band?

Oh , it’s awesome. I can talk to Brett Gurewitz about music and I’ m talking to the dude from Bad Re ligion.

Were you a Bad Religion fan growing up?

I’ m not going to lie, I’m a fan of the hits. I love lots of Bad Re ligion songs, but Stranger Than Fiction was my favorite record. I love that record, but to say I have always been a huge fan… growing up they were in my CD collection.

What can you tell me about the new record? The album’s called No t Without a Fight and I would say the songs are pretty much like everyt hing Ne w Found Glory. I don’t want to sound cliché or corny, but I feel like any New Found Glory fan is going to like this record. If their favorite album was Coming Home, there are some things that melodically mirror that; if their favorite album is Sticks and Stones and the older faster stuff, there’s some songs on here that mirror that. It ’s doesn’t sound like a record that is trying to redo stuff we’ve already done. It ’s a step forward musically. It ’s a very guitar riff-driven record. It ’s something you can almost play air guitar to. The energy of it has more of the older feel of Ne w Found Glory, but melodically it sounds like some of our later stuff.

You guys recorded with Mark Hoppus (from Blink 182/Plus 44). Was this your first time working with him?

Ye ah. We’ve toured with Blink. One of the reasons we started working with Ho ppus was when we were making this record, all producers wanted to hear demos and we are a little defense about this. We have seven albums and six records; you don’t need a demo. Es tablished bands still make demos, but when we record we put our heart and soul into it, even if it’s a demo. We don’t want to spend two weeks making a demo sound amazing. We called Ho ppus and said we want to do the record with you. He said “I’m honored.” We asked, “Do you want to hear anything.” An d he said “No. I know you guys know how to write songs”. We went into the studio, he heard them and that’s it. He gave us the tools we needed to make the record we wanted to make. In the studio he’s a total blast. He’s super funny. Al most to a distraction he’s so funny.

IT’S A STYLE AND EVERYTHING COMES AND GOES

AND THAT’S WHY NE W FOUND GLORY IS JUST GOIN G TO BE WHO WE ARE AND NOT PLAY INTO IT . WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE OUR DIEHARD FANS. IT’S FU N. WE LOVE PLAYING.

Are you guys feeling reinvigorated by a new label and a new album after some time off?

Ye ah, we had some time off to really get our priorities straight personally and learn more about what we want to do with this band. A couple of us went through some really bad break ups and one of the only things in our lives that has been really true to us has been our band. I think that’s what a lot of this record is about.

Have you seen a lot of changes in this band either musically or how you interact with each other?

De finitely. I remember when this band first started, me and our guitar player Steve (Klein) we would always be the ones butting heads the most. But now we talk the most outside of the band. We were always the most unlikely pair to do that. I threw a cookie tin at his head once when we were 17 and we used to fight crazy like brothers. I think the difference is now that we kind of do what we want to do rather than listen to what a lot of others are saying to us. In the last two years we released that EP , Tip of the Iceberg, and we did things on our own terms. We were without a label, without management and were in a real transition period and we did everything ourselves. We had our biggest headline tour in En gland.

Te n years ago everyone was striving to get on a major label. Do you think that mindset has changed?

Ye ah, I think if you’re a band and you tour and have great songs, you can make it happen whate ver label you are on. De finitely major labels can blow up a band and they have more opportunities than smaller labels, but that’s the quick route. The quicker you get bigger, the quicker you disappear. I think bands that get on indie labels tend to grow more as a band. No w with the Internet, it’s almost safer to get on an independent label that really loves your band.

There are a lot of bands that I interview that have hardly been together for a year and they are so concerned about making it big.

I know. There are a lot of newer bands that seem so concerned about the business side of things and the look and the style and they forget that the main thing is writing the songs. Yo u can have a bright colored t-shirt, but without a song… It ’s really weird to me. It ’s a style and everything comes and goes and that’s why Ne w Found Glory is just going to be who we are and not play into it. We’ll always have our diehard fans. It ’s fun. We love playing.

Do you plan to tour a lot behind this new record?

Oh yeah. We’ve got a tour that starts in March. I think we’re going to be “worki ng the record” for the next two years. We’ve got a lot planned and Ep itaph has a lot of cool ideas. We’re going to stay busy. When we stay home for too long we get anxiety and want to go out and play shows again. At this point, it seems like we’ve been playing shows longer in our lives than when we haven’t. Or at least close to it.