You should have listened to your friends.
They'll never go away. A band that walks the thin line between legend and...well, Blink 182-esque infamy...recently found a home with one of the most respected and most versatile (as of late) labels in the underground music industry. Granted, Epitaph Records is also now walking a fine line, with the addition of radio favorites like New Found Glory and Thursday...Offspring re-releases...the continued success of Motion City Soundtrack: but these are just feathers in the cap of Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, founder and owner of Epitaph Records.
Why has New Found Glory continued to play such a significant role in the punk scene? I have no logical explanation for you; rather, I propose a postulate. Whether it deals with the band's subtle hardcore roots, the teenage emotion NFG embodies, or the sheer catchiness of the music, punk rock kids have always loved New Found Glory. Not all are willing to admit it, but they do. Oh yes, they do.
It's hard to dislike NFG when they respond so well to things that freak other bands out...like, say, the leak of their first release on a brand new label a month before it's supposed to drop. Chad Gilbert remarks below:
"You are driven to get [Not Without a Fight] because you like NFG so how can I be bummed at that!"
Great form, Chad. I wish more bands had the same outlook.
While half the world is looking for news on the reformation of Blink 182, I'm pushing my blog's ratings aside and focusing on a band I find to be much, much more important. In response to the reuniting of Blink 182: Who gives a shit? If I feel any nostalgia for Blink 182, I'll sit at the kid's table next Thanksgiving where I can hear all the toilet humor I can stomach.
As you might have guessed, the unreleased CD fairy has visited my doorstep once again, and I have had a chance to preview NFG's coming release, Not Without A Fight. It isn't much of a departure from previous NFG offerings, which I think is a good thing. Let's be honest; New Found Glory is a pop-punk band, and their uniqueness stems from their collaborative sound...not from musical ability or diversity. Members of NFG smartly quench such desires to do something different with the International Superheroes of Hardcore, a simultaneously serious and hilarious hardcore side project that consists of all five NFG members.
So what can we infer from Not Without A Fight? For one, New Found Glory isn't disappearing anytime soon. No, NFG will continue to make music in the face of critics, many of whom have silenced their negativity. I could review this album for you, but it would be entirely unnecessary. With NFG, what you see is what you get. Maybe that's why the punk kids love NFG so much: they are simply a constant within a quickly changing musical landscape. Even as they grow older, their music still encapsulates a youth untainted by the immaturity pop-punk tends to proliferate nowadays.
Sorry, no preview tracks available. Don't want to get in any legal trouble. Instead, enjoy some old school NFG tunes.
Download New Found Glory - It Never Snows in Florida
Download New Found Glory - Head On Collision
"Being drowned...That's more than I can say for everyone else."
- New Found Glory, "Black and Blue"
P.S. The new NFG album was produced by Mark Hoppus of Blink 182. Irony, anyone?
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