Entertainment writer Rebecca Docter got to sit down with New Found Glory during this weekend’s Voodoo Music + Arts Experience.
Rebecca Docter: New Found Glory hasn’t released any studio albums since 2011’s “Radiosurgery.” What does the band have going on right now?
Steve Klein (Rhythm Guitar): We just put out a record called “Kill It Live” that came out two weeks ago. It’s a live record. It has sixteen tracks.
Cyrus Bolooki (Drums): An added bonus, it’s got three new songs at the end of it!
RD: Are there any plans for a studio album in the works?
CB: We had those three new songs that we put on this “Kill It Live record.” We don’t have a studio album in the works right now, but I’m sure sometime next year we’ll get into the studio and do that.
Have you guys been writing anything?
CB: Not really. We just released this record two and a half weeks ago. We’re on tour right now with Alkaline Trio and you know, just having a stop here for Voodoo Fest.
That tour is going to last until around Thanksgiving, we go to Australia, after that, we have a cruise we’re doing with Paramore in the spring of next year.
RD: From “Nothing Gold Can Stay” to this new record, how has New Found Glory progressed as a band?
SK: I think every record we try to progress. I think every record we put out we don’t want it to be the same and I think we grow as a band, as musicians, as people every record that we do and it shows in our records. The fact that we’re going to be putting out our eighth full-length next year is insane. The fact that our band’s still relevant, we don’t take it for granted, we work really hard and we try to do a lot of things for our fans and this live record is something that we wanted to do for our fans. We’ve never done a live record, so I think it’s really cool and we’re really excited about it.
RD: A lot of people refer to New Found Glory as one of the “Godfathers of pop punk.” How do you guys respond to such a heavy title?
CB: I think it’s pretty amazing, it seems very flattering, although when people say Godfather I picture people ordering hits on us!
SK: It’s definitely not self-proclaimed. I wouldn’t say we’re godfathers. We’re definitely still young dudes, we still feel like our band’s fresh, we’re not like some old band. It’s definitely flattering. We just keep doing our thing.
CB: We started as a band and there were bands we modeled ourselves after and looked up to for influence and it’s like we’re just trying to do the same thing now. We’ve been very fortunate to have a career this long and there’s no end in sight for us, so when band’s take advice or influence from us, it’s awesome and the greatest thing for us is that not like, we stopped a couple years ago when people were saying that we influenced them, we’re still doing it now, and a lot of times on tour with people who started their bands or are influenced because of us.
RD: Do you prefer small shows or festivals like Voodoo?
CB: I think the intimacy of small shows is awesome, like nothing beats being in a club that’s really sweaty with kids singing along to every word of your song, but at the same time it’s not often you get to say that you’re playing with like Nine Inch Nails, or like we did Reading and Leeds and like, Green Day’s on it and Deftones and other bands that we kind of grew up with, either listening to or around.
RD: Who are your influences as musicians?
SK: I think everybody in our band listens to different music and that’s what makes New Found Glory special is we all kind of bring all of our musical backgrounds to the table. I think if you ask each one of us, it would be so different, like I listen to a lot of indie rock, Cyrus listens to a lot of like radio hip hop and stuff like that.
CB: If we had to pick one band, it would probably be Green Day. Actually the last time we played Voodoo Fest in 2005, so about nine years ago, was with Green Day. It was the beginning of a tour that we did with them.