Since forming in 1997, pop-punk band New Found Glory has lead a pretty charmed life. Alongside Blink 182, I believe you’d be hard-pressed to find another band name so synonymous with the pop-punk label.
New Found Glory have an excellent new record, Radiosurgery, set to drop on Tuesday October 4. The Alternative Press website is streaming Radiosurgery now – head on over to their site to check out the record for yourself.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking with New Found Glory guitarist Steve Klein about the band’s new record and their renewed lust for life.
Was returning to work with Neal Avron a comfortable process? What did he bring to the table in terms of production?
Klein: Definitely. We have three gold records with him and probably would have continued working with him forever. But we had arrived at a point in our career where we wanted to try something different so we went those different routes. When we sat down to begin thinking about this new record, we wanted to bring an older sound to Radiosurgery but still make it sound fresh so enlisting Neal to oversee the record was a completely logical decision.
Aside from being the producer of Radiosurgery, what else does he bring to the table that makes your relationship with him such a fruitful one?
Klein: Neal ends up being the devil’s advocate so to speak. We have a lot of songwriters in the band and everyone see their songs as their babies and is very protective of them. When Neal provides an idea to help make our songs the best they can be, it is much less emotional to have the feedback come from him as opposed to someone else in the band.
What is it about this batch of songs that has played such a big part in revitalizing the band?
Klein: With this record, we really wanted to go back to the roots of pop-punk and what inspired us to want to play this music. We spent a lot of time listening to old Ramones and old Lookout Records bands and ultimately wanted to bridge the old with the new. The songs on Radiosurgery have more of a melodic, classic sound in that respect.
How is working with Epitaph compared to the time you spent in the major label world?
Klein: Right off the bat, you’ve got Brett Gurewitz running the label, someone who has had a career in music for the past 30 years that Bad Religion has been around. It’s not a suit and tie environment where record sales are all that matters. Epitaph has an undying support of the band and that is a big part of what attracted us to them. Everyone at the label loves New Found Glory; it’s pretty hard to get any better than this.