New Found Glory to Perform at Webster On?New Album?Tour

New Found Glory: Their name today might be lumped into the same category as groups like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan, that notoriously birthed the pop-punk oxymoron, but don't be fooled. New Found Glory has been around since before guyliner, before Hot Topic, and definitely before Avril Lavigne. In 1997, Vocalist Jordan Pundik, guitarist Steve Klein, bassist Ian Grushka, drummer Cyrus Bolooki, and Chad Gilbert formed A New Found Glory in their hometown in southern Florida. They were signed to an independent label and their first release came later that year with their It's All About the Girls EP. After their debut full-length album Nothing Gold Can Stay, they did a tour and soon had a significant following. To avoid confusion in record stores, they then decided to drop the "A" in the band's name to become "New Found Glory."

Another indie label, Drive Thru Records - who have also signed The Starting Line, Something Corporate, and Hellogoodye - signed New Found Glory in 2000. This was a strategic move, because Drive-Thru had a deal with MCA Records, a larger company that would absorb Drive-Thru's most popular bands. Today, many consider getting picked up by a major label to be a sign of "selling out." But I'm guessing there was, at some point, credibility given to bands that were able to find that kind of success, as New Found Glory did.

Two studio albums and appearances on the Van's Warped Tour and the Honda Civic Tour followed, as did more and more fans. With their third album, New Found Glory had started to take on a harder sound intentionally, in order to separate themselves from the growing number of bands in a similar genre as they were. They continued to release albums as they gained notoriety for several hit singles such as "Hit or Miss," "Dressed to Kill," "My Friends Over You," and "It's Not Your Fault." Songs like these are good examples of New Found Glory's unique ability to strike a perfect balance between alternative-punk personality and the addictive catchiness of pop music.

In between contracts, New Found Glory experimented with their different options before making a final decision on who to sign with next. They decided that they would not take part in any sort of "business" other than making music they liked and performing live. With this goal in mind, they finally signed with with Epitaph, where Gilbert says "the people are all music fans and have their shit together."

Most recently, the band released their sixth album, Not Without a Fight, in March of this year. It received generally positive reviews and even topped the UK Rock Chart and U.S. Top Independent Albums. AbsolutePunk.net called the album a "return to form," to New Found Glory's humble but entertaining roots. To speak to the band's credit, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker of Blink-182 stepped in to produce the album at Hoppus' home studio. Hoppus even contributed to the album, and Gilbert was grateful for his "really cool ideas [for] bass lines and bass tones[...]and he also came up with some really cool harmonies for vocals." As for how New Found Glory has managed to stay together all of these years, Gilbert attributes it to the members' closeness with each other. He explains, "You fight with your mom. You don't hang out with her all the time. But you love her! You're never going to hate her. We're family. It might sound cliche, but that's what it is."

New Found Glory is now on tour promoting Not Without a Fight, and are being opened by Bayside, Fireworks, and Set Your Goals, other upcoming bands with a similar sound. They will be performing at the nearby Webster Theater on Wednesday, April 29, with doors opening at 6 p.m. Tickets are $18.50 and available online at tickets.com. The intimate venue guarantees a great view of the stage, no matter where you are. The Webster is located at 31 Webster Street, about a mile away and right off of New Britain Avenue.