New Found Glory: "We’ve always done whatever we wanted to do"

"This isn’t a concert; this is just one big birthday party!" Chad Gilbert grins, before he and his three best friends charge headfirst into a breakneck-pace rendition of ‘Better Off Dead’. This call for celebration comes as New Found Glory mark the start of a weekend in London that’ll never be forgotten, either by the four musicians on stage at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, or the clamour of 2,300 fans before them. By starting their three-night residency in the capital city with a performance of what are regarded as their two most seminal records – the self-titled sophomore album and its follow-up, ‘Sticks and Stones’ – in their entirety, the Floridian four-piece set the bar incredibly high for themselves. However, having spent nearly all of 2017 celebrating being one of pop-punk’s most consistent and influential bands for 20 years, New Found Glory have never been the kind of band who would not at least try to leap over the bar. "It’s been really fun and challenging, but also something that has made this year different than any other year of our career," says Cyrus Bolooki, New Found Glory’s drummer since December 1997. "It’s made us actually more excited to play regular sets again." The three-night finale of the UK leg of the band’s 20 Years Of Pop-Punk tour sees them play six of their nine albums across a trio of iconic London venues. When you sit down and do the math, that’s a lot of songs for Cyrus, guitarist Chad, bassist Ian Grushka and vocalist Jordan Pundik to play. "It’s like going back to school, trying to learn 90 songs in one shot," admits Ian, arguably the chattiest member of New Found Glory. ‘It’s like your fucking brain is gonna explode. There’s just so much shit in my brain at one time! "It’s not like anyone said to us, ‘Hey, you need to do a 20-year tour and play these records’. We just decided that it’s almost refreshing to just do it differently and do what we want to do."