Trigger caught up with Steve Klein and Ian Grushka from New Found Glory on their tour bus before they headlined the Academy in Bristol to talk about the tour, their current album and plans for the future..

You are currently back in the UK on the Kerrang tour, how does it feel to be headlining this long running tour?
Steve: It’s awesome, we know that last year a bunch of our friends bands did it and they said it was a lot of fun, and when Kerrang asked us to do it we were very honoured to be a part of it and so far it has been really fun the shows have been great and there have been a lot of kids out for every show.

How have you found the travelling on the tour so far with the totally unpredictable UK weather?
Steve: It’s been snowing and cold and a few people have been sick so the weather is effecting us but luckily not travel wise so far, but it was good getting around in London whilst it was snowing.

You have While She Sleeps, Letlive and The Blackout supporting you, how have you found touring with these bands?
Steve: It’s been a lot of fun, and I have found that it is always good to not play with the same bands that sound like each other and in England it is good for that because compared to back in the states people over here have a real open mind, bands of all genres can play together and it’s all good.

Ian: It’s defiantly good for us to be out here playing with heavier band’s but we have also been at festivals playing with heavier bands, all the kids seem to get along and the shows have been great so far.

When Sum 41 was sadly forced to pull out of the tour so many people were gutted, how did you feel when this happened?
Steve: We were pretty pissed off but it is what it is, everybody seems happy with The Blackout, there popular and everything.

Yeah because of forums and Facebook there has been a lot of mixed comments on The Blackout stepping in with some people being really negative and others being really positive so I wondered how the general vibe was?
Steve: I haven’t really been paying attention to it to be honest, our shows have been good and that’s all I really care about, it’s not really our choice it was Kerrangs choice to put The Blackout on so negative or positive it doesn’t really affect us, but it was a bum out for both us and the kids to find out a few weeks before the tour that Sum 41 can’t make it, but the shows are still going to be a lot of fun.

How long has your set been on the Kerrang tour and how have you found picking your setlist?
Steve: It’s very hard as our set is shorter because all the support bands have a slightly long set, so we have kind of been putting in all the songs that people want to hear, it’s hard to pick as we have seven full length records.

Ian: It’s hard to fit it all into an hour as some of the places have curfews, we had to cut some songs out but with people wanting more it makes us able to come back next year.

You are doing a DJ set tonight at Bristol Academy after the gig, what can we expect from this?
Ian: I don’t know, mayhem

(Laughter)

Steve: Sometimes people have a book of CD’s that they have there but its lame because people ask them to put songs on and they are like whatever and put on what they want instead, so im going to bring my Ipod out tonight and take over and make it happen and because we DJ we want to play some songs that we want to hear as well, people are coming out to see the New Found Glory DJ set they don’t want to hear Jo Smod play some Nu Metal

What do you have planned once the Kerrang tour comes to an end on the 17th in London?
Steve: We are off for a bit and then we go to Japan and Australia which should be really fun and then we have plans for the summer but we are not allowed to talk about that yet.

You released your latest album ‘Radiosurgery’ back in October, are you happy with how the album has gone down with your fans and the press?
Steve: Yeah all the response has been great we have been front cover of Alternative Press, Kerrang and many other magazines and compared to our other records the critics have been giving it really good reviews.

Ian: For us it doesn’t matter but it is good to be acknolweged for our hard work as we have been working hard for 15 years and they are finally starting to realise that we actually contribute to the music industry some how.

How did you find the whole writing and recording process compared to that of your previous albums?
Ian: We recorded it with Neil Avron so we went back with the producer that did our first three records, it was a lot of fun and Neil has always been like the sixth member of our band, we recorded it at his house and the drums at Ocean Studios it was quite a relaxing experiences as with this record pretty much all the songs were done, the music and lyrics were 95% done so we were only writing odd parts where with our old records we would still be writing melodies and songs would be unfinished.

What would you say your favourite tracks from ‘Radiosurgery’ are and why?
Ian: I like ‘Map Of Your Body’ best, it’s a fun song but we haven’t played it live yet?

Do you plan on playing it live any time soon?
Ian: I have no idea.

(Laugther)

Steve: We have been playing ‘I’m Not The One’ that songs really fun to play live, ‘Radiosurgery’ is cool aswell.

Ian: ‘Anthem For The Unwanted’ has been great and the kids have been singing along.

You are well known for covering songs, can we expect a ‘From Your Screen To Your Stereo Part 3’ in the near future?
Steve: I don;t know, we have no plans at the moment as we want people to know us for our original songs, but we do play the cover songs for fun and like on this tour there might be kids who have never seen us before and don’t know any of our hit songs so we throw in a few covers that they might know.

Can we expect your side project International Superheroes Of Hardcore to do anything new in the near future?
Steve: We don’t know everything is in limbo after the release of ‘Radiosurgery’ so touring the record is what we are going to be doing for the next while.

Where do you hope to see New Found Glory in a year’s time?
Steve: Settling down to write a new record.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
(Laughter)

Ian: I answered that one last time and I would still like to be a Giraffe so I could eat stuff high up

Steve: I would like to be a zebra because I could say im a zebra as I would never say zebra as I would say zeebra.

(Laughter)

Steve: Abracazeebra, abraczebra.

Ian: Abracadabra yo

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?
Steve: Go to www.newfoundglory.com or like us on facebook and Ian is a pimp.

Interview by Trigger