New Found Glory Preview

Author: Olivia Chavez

New Found Glory is one of the most iconic bands in the pop punk scene, having spent their 22 year career writing and performing the songs that are the soundtrack to so many people's teenage years. The band will be at Madison's Majestic Theater with Hawthorne Heights, Free Throw and Jetty Bones on November 8^th for a different kind of project.

New Found Glory is a pop punk band composed of Jordan Pundik, Chad Gilbert, Cyrus Bolooki and Ian Grushka. Current touring member Ryan Key, formerly of the band Yellowcard, plays guitar and keyboard for New Found Glory's live shows. The band formed in 1997 in Coral Springs, Florida and quickly emerged as one of the pioneers of the pop punk genre, releasing their most iconic songs in the early 2000s and paving the way for the genre to become what it is today. Their songs “Hit or Miss” and “My Friends Over You” are two of the most recognizable songs to anyone familiar with the genre, along with songs from bands like Green Day and blink-182.

On the second run of the From The Screen To Your Stereo To Your Town Tour, the band will be performing songs from the third installment of their From The Screen To Your Stereo album series. The concept behind the series is that the band rearranges songs from motion pictures into their own particular pop punk/rock style, paying tribute to movie fans and presenting a new take on old classics. The first of the series came out in 2000, including songs from The Never Ending Story, The Goonies and even “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, originally performed by Celine Dion. From The Screen To Your Stereo 2 was released in 2007 and covered songs from 11 different movies, including Napoleon Dynamite, The Breakfast Club and Pretty Woman. The most recent installment, From The Screen To Your Stereo 3, was released this year. It includes seven songs, most of which are from recent movies, such as Pitch Perfect, Frozen, Twilight, and The Greatest Showman, as well as songs from Rocky III, Shrek 2, and Back to the Future.

I attended a show on the first run of the tour, where the band played at Emo's in Austin, Texas with Doll Skin, The Early November, and Real Friends. The set design was incredible, to say the least. The band designed it to look exactly like the album art and a real movie theater, and they even start the show by playing the 20^th Century Fox Fanfare in the background as the band walks onstage. All this effort gives the audience an immersive experience along with the amazing performance. The band's lead singer, Jordan Pundik, also dressed up as several of the characters in the movies that the songs come from, including Elsa from Frozen and P.T. Barnum from The Greatest Showman. The 22 song setlist at the Austin show included 15 of the band's original songs, and seven cover songs, five of which are featured on From The Screen To Your Stereo 3. The setlist for the second run of the tour will likely be very similar. Both New Found Glory fans and movie fans will surely enjoy this unique tour in support of one of the band's most creative and fun projects.