Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory. Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory will join Joel Madden on the latest episode of the series.New Found Glory became the soundtrack for teen angst during pop punk’s golden age in the early 2000s, blending their upbringings in Coral Springs, Florida DIY scenes with bouncy hooks. That angst, though, came from a very real place. “I wish I went back a long time ago to deal with [my anxiety],” Pundik tells Madden. “I haven’t been that vocal about it until recently because I would just hide it and push it down and pretend that everything was OK… That’s my biggest regret — not dealing with it sooner.” In a conversation with his longtime peer, the New Found Glory frontman elaborates on the positive effects of therapy, growing up on tour together, and Listen Up!, out this Friday (Feb. 20). ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠Spotify.⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's funny because my younger one is now like, Dad, I want to start a band and be in a band. I was like, go do it. All right, man. Like, go on, try it out. Give him to try. He's 12. But his music school hit him up, hit us up.

And we're like, you know, we're putting these bands together. And it's invite only. And we want my son's name is Jude. And we want Jude to sing for one of the bands. And Jude was like, he heard that. He was so hyped. That's dope. He's so pumped.

I don't want to have bad. I feel like, We probably, though, spent a majority of the time that we spent together, which was a lot. Yeah. Was the early stage of our, I would say, of our career. Yeah. Pre-first record. Yeah.

You guys had already put out a couple things. A record or two. Yeah. And we were about to put out our first record when we started our first tour. We had just put out our first record. I can't remember. But then we spent a lot of time together those first. two, three records.

Yeah. We were together a lot. I mean, do you remember, like, us and you guys and lefty and was a Phoenix TX? Yeah, in the buses. I mean, in the vans. In the vans. Yeah. Crazy. It's crazy.

I still remember showing up to the first show. Yeah. And like being nervous. It was weird. We weren't like really like a part of any scene. Yeah. And it felt like there was one. And we didn't know, like, maybe there wasn't one, but to us there was one.

And we were like, but then everyone was. everyone was really nice. Yeah, I feel like we clicked really fast to you. You know, all kind of like same age and like kind of just, yeah, it was good. The good old days. It feels, it's the good old days, but it doesn't feel like that long ago for me. No. It doesn't, it doesn't really. I always think about like, yeah, I remember that tour? It was, it feels like yesterday. Yeah. And cliche or whatever, but I think you're right. I think I feel like the same person and a completely different person. Oh, 100%. So it's weird, because I still remember that. that and I can feel it.

Yeah. And it was me. Yeah. But then I think about it. I'm like, man, I've, I, I had a lot to learn. Yeah. About life. Yeah.

Same. Same. I'm dealing with even more so now and kind of thinking about it. Like, I wish I went back a long time ago to kind of like deal with whatever was going on with my, because I deal with a lot of anxiety and stuff to you. And I have been forever. And I haven't really been like that vocal about it until recently because I would just kind of hide it and push it down.

like pretend like everything was okay. And I do wish that like, and now going through so much therapy and everything, like I feel like I'm okay to talk about it. And also wishing that I, that's my biggest regret is not dealing with it sooner because I had to deal with a lot this last few years. First of all, I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. You hit it really well. You pushed it down very well. You were. Yes. And there's a lot there. So I want to stop. I want to, I don't want to go fast on this idea because I'm the same. Okay. I feel like when we were touring together, I was coming out of 18, 19, 20 years, probably 20 years old or 21.

Yeah. So that was the, but I was in a place where I had come out of so much trauma that I couldn't really call trauma because it was my life. Yeah. So when you're in it, you can't. you cannot live with it if you call it what it is. It's awful. So you have to make sense of it by telling some other story.

And then you can blame your dad's drinking problem. Sure. You could blame poverty or you could say this. You could say that, but which all was true. But you could also say, and I was traumatized. And there was this,

this and that. But that's, first of all, extremely painful to talk about. It's also you don't understand it. Some of it you can't recall. Yeah. And then there's all this.

stuff. So then you run into this fantasy career where you think all your problems are going to be solved if you make it, whatever that means. And you have, and everyone will like me and I'll have a hit song and I'll be famous and I'll make money and it'll be so great. And that just adds more. Right. And then and then you go on tour and you're with other people and you're kind of the same. You know, you don't talk about this stuff. You could feel some. So there's probably like a kindredness we had without knowing it. Yeah. Because we probably had some similar experiences and there was anxiety and all this stuff.

Yeah. And then we're all running towards our goals. We're young. We're like full of it. We're just going. And we're also, we've been told by the world that what we're doing is the greatest thing in the world. This is amazing that you have this chance.

Aren't you so lucky? And you're like, well, yeah. I'm never like taking away how lucky we are. But also, I'm not dealing with some stuff I probably should be dealing with. dealing with and this, this isn't helping that because there's, there's alcohol, there's this, there's that, there's a bunch of ways you can medicate. There's all this stuff. And it's a

distraction as well. So if I'm running towards my goal of a hit record, that'll solve everything. I'm just going towards it and I'm not like, I don't have to deal with anxiety, trauma. Yeah. Stuff I should be in therapy for, the sooner the better. Yeah. And then you, what happens to some people, including I think me for a minute probably, was you get lost in career that you think is the answer doesn't mean it's not great. Of course. And that you don't love making art and music and that's great. But then somewhere around like 29, 30, 31, 32, I had a couple kids married this nice girl.

He's great. And she's like, hey, you need to deal with your, I think you. Can we, can we cuss on this podcast? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need to deal with your shit. Yeah. She's like, hey, I love you. Yeah.

But, uh, yeah. I think you need to maybe go therapy. therapy and I'm like what you need therapy what you're talking about right yeah yeah oh like fuck that you know and and we're we're kind of trained to think everything's bad for some reason but then thank god for her because she's very patient loving gracious it's an amazing wife yeah sees me through that ugly stage and they do end up in therapy and then it's the best thing that ever happened to me and like you know probably 13 years later yeah I'm sitting here and I'm therapist and we can have a conversation

about anxiety. Because I still had it. Yeah. But I know how to recognize it, contain it in spots. Yeah. I've learned that as well in the last,

last probably a year or two. Really diving head first into therapy this last year because some personal stuff happened at the beginning of last year and had to work through that with myself and with my relationship and everything.

So I just like couples therapy, personal therapy, ketamine therapy, whatever it takes, right, to help with this anxiety that's always been with me and basically controlling everything that I do with the decisions I make, with how I talk to people. Yeah, with how I talk to people. And I feel like I've lost out on a lot of like cool opportunities or relationships or whatever because it's been in me for so long, you know. And now that I've been dealing with it, I'm like, man, I wish, again, I wish I just dealt with this a long time ago. you know what I mean but would you have known?

I don't know. I don't know. No, probably not. At the time, were you aware that that was what was the driver of maybe some behavioral stuff? No. I have a theory that it was for me and likely for you, unlikely a lot of other guys because like we're not, like human beings, we're not so different. Like, yeah.

We do the same shit. Yeah. And it plays out in like a variety of the same ways. And I think that like at 21 or 22, I don't know. if you're emotionally in touch or intelligent enough to know, like, man, I need to go unpack this. Yeah. Well, your brain doesn't fully develop until you're 25, right? Yeah.

Or something like that. So they say. Totally say. I think I was 30 probably. It's still developing right now for me. So I'm not like a drug person, right? Yeah. But recently I started doing, I mentioned it a little bit.

Ketamine. Ketamine. I heard that's pretty good that there. Ketamine therapy for the anxiety. And it helps with depression and all sorts of other stuff. Is there like a doctor that does it? Yeah. Okay. So it's still kind of Wild Westy a little bit, but I started doing it. Yeah. But there is protocol and there is. You have to go to reputable place and you have to have to incorporate it with

therapy. Like you has to be integrated. Right. Like you can't just go and just do it because at that point you're just doing drugs. Yeah. So it's been really eye-opening for me and I get like kind of emotional just thinking about it because it's been such a help for me. That's cool. And it's been really good. I remember my first session going in there for the anxiety piece of whatever's going on. And I met with my therapist a little bit before. And she was like, if you could put a face or picture, like, I know you like to draw the weird characters and different things. And she's like, if you could put a face or a character to it, what would it be? So I went in there thinking that, with that thought. And as I was going through like the time of I was sitting in the chair,

I pictured this like little like shitty like poodle with like the tear stained fur and everything, just like yapping, yapping, yapping. And at first I didn't want to let it go, right? And as soon as I did, it was like this crazy freeing feeling. Like it was so weird, dude. It's so weird. So it's hard to explain what it feels like when you're... That's pretty cool, though.

Yeah. And so now I have that, I can envision that every time I'm feeling a little bit of that anxiousness, you know. And I love dogs. I love all animals, all of them. I'll kiss them all, hug them all. But this little poodle, every time it would come up, come in, it would start to yap at me.

It was like a car, it looked like a cartoon where I just punted into space. Right. And the anxiety would stop, right? And so now I just like envision that all the time, you know? And no offense, if you guys like poodles and whatever, I just, I just, that's what it, that's what it came out as, you know? It's interesting. When you went to do the ketamine therapy, were you hyper focused on the anxiety issue?

Yeah. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, I was. So you got an answer. Kind of, yeah. Or you got an image. An image. So you're, you could say even like maybe like your subconscious,

almost like the ketamine is a vehicle. Yeah. Right? For you to take you to some state of mind. Yeah. Or inner state of being, you know, mindful. Yeah. And they set it up so you can have this like sort of like journey, right?

Like you, you're not there sitting with a therapist, but like you go in. There's a nurse there that's like always around if you need them. It was my thing with doing like those kinds of like, like I think it was DMT. You heard of that. Like there's all these therapies that I like think are super cool. But I'm too scared of drugs. Yeah. I get so anxious.

Yeah. I am too. I can barely take fucking Advil. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the same way. Did I have an allergic reaction to the adville? Like I'm very anxious.

Yeah. But it felt good knowing that there was people that were there to take care of you. And you take your vitals are taken beforehand. It's like a nurse. Yeah. And the office is ran by. He's a psychiatrist. Psychiatrist.

He has a doctorate in psychiatry. Right. So you have like a nice reclining chair and the blankets and like the head playlist, whatever you want to listen to and that kind of stuff and eye mask. And are you ever out of control? No. Are you aware of yourself the whole time? Yeah, yeah.

There is a little bit of like disassociation from like mind and body, but that's like the point. Is it like smoking weed? No. No. Okay. Weed sucks. in my opinion. Yeah.

I don't like it. I used to do it all the time, like, but back in the day. I don't like it either. Yeah. I don't really like being high. Yeah, same. So it makes me anxious. Yeah.

Same. Yeah. Like I said, everything makes me anxious. Like I said, like I'm not like a drug type of, you know, never have been, you know. And so when this was brought up by the, my therapy, our couples therapy, actually, couples therapist, she was like, you might consider trying it, you know, and go talk to them and see what it's like. And so then I did.

And it was, it was really good. It was really good for me. Is ketamine like a pill? No, it's through like an IV. Oh, through IV. Yeah. Huh. That sounds awesome.

Yeah. It's been really good. I've had a few friends that have done that. Oh, yeah? Yeah. They have a similar report. Very, very similar. There's also someone that does.

And these are all like practitioners. Yeah. This isn't like someone in like a garage. Yeah. Or like, you know what I mean? Like some home studio. Yeah. Like this is their practitioner.

they went to a doctor's office. Yep. And these these modern and like kind of experimental. Yeah. Therapies. Someone also did a mushroom therapy. Yeah. Yeah.

Which is like a similar thing. There's like a guided, it's like a guided therapeutic trip of some kind. Yep. Yep. Where they like maybe it's like they drink a tea or something. Okay. And it's the same thing. They're like guiding them into some meditative state where they're focused on like healing

or something. thing. So, yeah, but I also had a friend who did ketamine therapy said the same thing. And then someone did DMT. Yeah. And they said that was pretty. I'm sure that's wild. Crazy. Yeah. But they said like, but I didn't get a lot of information on that one. But the ketamine seemed like very much like the people doing it or really like practicing this therapy. And they believe in it. And everyone I know that's done, it said it was a game changer. Yeah, it definitely has been. And anyone listening, I would say don't go do ketamine.

No. But if you're interested in that kind of therapy, there's probably like resources you could like. Yeah, you definitely have to do your research and find reputable. Yeah. Yeah. It's usually the psychiatrists. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people, like a lot of influencers now that are like into mental health

and stuff, they're like, I'm learning. how to do this stuff and like you just need to go to a doctor to go to a doctor yeah don't go don't book it through the DMs on instagram yeah exactly not where you want to book your dentist right your therapist or your ketamine therapy yeah or your bb oh what shoot you don't know to bbL no Brazilian buttlift yeah yeah that's right yeah yeah i don't need one i do I'm just a back with legs. I'm just straight back and legs. Maybe I should.

That's great, man. Yeah, it's been good. That same advanced ability you have to focus on something until it's right, like a drawing or a song, to stay locked in and create and solve problems. It also can run wild and your imagination can run wild, and it can be a cycle of the trigger from over here, from the childhood thing to the imagination running wild

because it's not focused on something. Can create a perfect, anxious bubble to live in. I do think that, like, getting a degree in psychology would be a good thing for us. Yeah. Understanding. Are you sure you don't have one already? This is like a really good conversation.

Yeah. No, I think I've just done thousands of hours of therapy with the same guy. And he's more of a teacher. So he'd be like a professor. If he wanted to be, he could be a professor. But he's an incredible therapist and practitioner. Yeah.

And let's say he's a master of it, you know. And I think that his process is teaching. And so there's a lot of work involved. And so like I respond really well to work. I'd like to work. Yeah. And so I think with 13 years I've been seeing him. Wow.

Same guy for the same guy. Yeah. Once a week or like what? Once or twice a week. And I see him for two hours at a time. Awesome. Everything I've learned has been in that room. That's cool.

He's here to teach and help people. And he wants to see people grow. And that's his whole purpose. That's the therapist you want. He wants people to feel better. Yeah. And be better. Yeah.

And feeling better is one thing. It's really nice at first. You go, you sit in the chair and it feels like, yeah. I can talk to someone. Yeah. and I'm not crazy. And there is a reason.

Wow. But then after that, that little glow period of therapy where you're like, I feel better. Yeah. And then the work starts because you have to be better so that you're not in a pattern of just like then going and acting in the old patterns and then going back to needing to feel better about it. Yeah. You've got to change the patterns.

It takes a long time to get in that thought process when things are starting to creep back up and you kind of start falling back into old patterns, even though you're doing the therapy and you're talking about it and everything, it still can creep back in. Especially when you're not, you have to be really well learned to and understand your therapy

and understand yourself. So things are going to creep back in, you know? It's inevitable. It's crazy to think about like where we all started. You know what I mean? Yeah. It doesn't feel like that long ago either. No.

But it's been a long time. Yeah. That's funny, right? Yeah, it's weird. Because I always go like, I don't feel that old, but I'm kind of old. Yeah. Same. I always say, I'm like, I don't feel like I'm 46.

Yeah, I'm 46 too. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. And then I'm like, oh, 46 isn't that old. But then you talk to your fucking kids. You're like, that's old. Yeah.

Yeah. Dude, I remember like being a kid and thinking like 40 was old. Yeah, I was like, I'm not going to be on stage at 40. Yes. No one's on stage at 40. Yeah. Yeah. Over the hill.

Yeah. But then there's, I mean, there's so many bands that we grew up listening to and look up to that are killing it, you know, that are older than us, you know, and I'm like, all right, these guys can do it. We can certainly do it playing like, you know, amphitheaters and arenas and whatever. Yeah. It's interesting, though, because you don't realize how things expand. Like you're playing a new generation of fans that have never seen your band before.

Yeah. Well, we see it every time we play and we're like, who's seeing us for the first time? And it's like 90% of the crowd. Wild. It's crazy. Yeah. And the shows are bigger than they've ever been. Yeah.

It's insane. It's like, it's a different thing. But it ages to that. Yep. You know? You kind of earn it with time. Yeah. A lot of effort too, but like time is kind of a thing.

Like if you just stay in, there is a thing. It's a, it's real. Yeah. What about tattooing? Tattooing. Um, yeah, it's been a nice, I've been doing it on and off since so when I apprenticed in 2012. Yeah, 2012. Nashville, moved to Nashville, lived there for a year, apprentice under a great, a great dude.

His name's Ian White. He owns a shop called Safe House Tattoo in East Nashville. He was a friend and said, hey, you know, like you're drawing. I love your little doodles and stuff. Like you ever think about tattooing? And I was like, no, I don't know because I was, you know, again, like always questioning myself and too scared I'm not going to do it great or whatever. And then my wife kind of pushed me into like accepting Ian saying, hey, if you ever want to learn, come to Nashville and I'll teach you. That's nice. Yeah. So she kind of pushed me into it, bought me my first tattoo machine when I was like for my 30th birthday.

Yeah. And it was Ian's first machine, which was pretty cool. She bought it from him. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And so I've been doing it on and off. It's pretty fun, man. Like it's a good outlet for me, especially like that's not music.

Yeah. You know, it's an artistic thing for me. And honestly, like, 90% of it is meeting people and hanging out with people and giving people an experience. Then it is the actual tattoo. Yeah. That might sound weird, but... No, not at all. Yeah.

So, it's been good. I've been just doing out of private studio lately. I was driving to Orange County with my buddy Kelly, who's awesome. Hi, Kelly. Shout out to you. I love you. He was great. But I was able to get a little private space that I've been doing.

out of down where I live. San Diego? Yeah, North County. Yeah. What area? I'm an ocean side. Okay, that's great. Yeah.

We actually go down there a lot. Who did the last few years? We've gone down there a lot the last few years because my son plays baseball and he's working down there a lot. We've been down there a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun.

It's fun. I love living in North County. It's so chill. It's beautiful. Yeah. And I, you know, I love coming up here too. We have a lot of friends here. It's super fun, but it's, I know that it can be hard up here sometimes living here.

And it's so nice to be able to come here, but also be able to go back home to you. That's how we feel. Yeah. We live in the city. Yeah. I live in like Beverly Hills for in the, a long ass time. Yeah. And it's, it's great.

I mean, it's great. But like at some point, we felt like it took us about five years to move. I don't know why it took us so long. Yeah. But we wanted more for our family in the sense of like quiet. and the city just isn't quiet. Yeah. And so the LA's a little deceiving because it doesn't feel like a big city,

like New York, but it's a big city. It's huge. And it's just like so much shit going on. And we felt like we really wanted before the kids were grown, we just wanted to get somewhere that was like peace and quiet where we could just focus on the family. And then we could come to work.

So we knew we needed to be like an hour range. And also we loved. Santa Barbara. So we moved north because we wanted to be a little closer to Santa Barbara. Yeah. So we could do both. Yeah. And it's worked out great because like we were right. Yeah. That peace and quiet is real. Yeah. And we still come here all the time for work and friends. And it's it's cool because I can get a little mini version of like we love being able to walk to stuff and everything. And Oceanside still has that, but it's coastal up and down coast highway. There's a lot of, lots of, it was really cool to see Oceanside turn into what it is now because when I first moved

there, it was pretty shady around. But it was like the last remaining San Diego County like place you can get a house by the beach, you know, right? At the time. And so. So you live near the beach? Yeah, pretty close. Yeah. My house is pretty close there. And it's really cool to see it change and grow. And but what I also love about is that it's such a diverse community. Right. Compared to like other parts of North County, San Diego. And I don't think I'll ever, unless I move like overseas or something, I don't think I'll leave. Yeah, it's, I love Oceanside. Yeah.

It's really, it's nice. Yeah. You find those perfect little pockets where you're like, life is good. Yeah, there's some good spots. How many kids you got? Two. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Same. 15 and 12. Okay. Yeah. And my son is like, my older son, he's 15. He's like taller than me. He plays basketball. He's on the freshman team and stuff.

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it doesn't look anything like me. My younger one, though, he's like spinning image. That's funny. Yeah, it's so, it's super funny. Is he an artist? A little bit, yeah, he loves writing stories and stuff, and he's just got,

I just got him a guitar for Christmas, and so he's been super into that. And then my older one is in drum lessons and stuff. So we're like, pretty musical family, you know? Yeah. My wife, too, like, when I met her, she was touring with a band and not playing, but she was on crew,

and that's how kind of we met, and her parents are choir directors, and so, and her brother. So it's like this whole family of, like, music and musicians and stuff. So it's pretty, yeah, it's cool. And music isn't like,

off limits or a mystery. Like your kids can freely do it. It's pretty much like, it's the same with mine. Like, I'm not expecting them to go into music unless they want to. Yeah.

But there's no question. Music isn't like a question. Yeah. If you want to do it, if you don't, if you, like it's just a pretty natural. And my daughter is big time dancer

and loves music in her own way. And then my son also is like, he produces and makes music. Oh, that's cool. And like he's, he's good at it. Yeah. But like,

I'm not like all up in it. I'm not involved. Like, because other than like supporting their habit. Yeah. If they need to go get an instrument, that's never a question. If they're like,

we need to go to a guitar center. If my son's like, I want to go to a guitar center to get this mic or something. Yeah. There isn't like a question. We go. Yeah.

But I'm not like sitting there over his shoulder watching him doing to do. Because I think with art and music, it's a self thing. Yeah. You got to have your own drive. You got to have your own time. and you gotta do it on your own.

It's funny because my younger one is now like, Dad, I wanna start a band and be in a band. I was like, go do it. All right, man. Like, go on, try it out. Give it a try. He's 12, but his music school hit him up, hit us up, and we're like, you know, we're putting these bands together

and it's invite only and we want, my son's name is Jude, and we want Jude to sing for one of the bands. And Jude was like, he heard that and he was so hyped. That's dope. He's so pumped. And so they have to work together and figure out what songs. And he's like, is a diehard. like 21 pilots kid. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And so I'm pretty sure they're going to probably do a

21 pilot song and learn that. He likes rock. He does, yeah. Does your older son like rap? He does, and he's been in the last few years starting to get more into like the stuff I like. It's funny because I just did a Toby Moore says what's up. I did his podcast right before. Yeah, yeah, he's got and we were talking about that and his son and I walked by my kid's room and I heard him like, is that Tiger's Jaw playing? He was listening to Tiger's Jaw song. That's funny. And like now he just listens to Tiger's Jahn, like, Sam I am, like all these bands that I loved like, yeah, like the newer bands and then the older bands too. It's kind of fun to see. I think it's interesting because I see the same thing with my son. He's all hip hop. But then like

the last year or two, he like turned a corner like straight into rock. Yeah. And it's like all these cool ass bands. It's cool. It's interesting how that, how that works. I didn't see him liking rock music. Yeah. I was pretty hands off too. Like I would kind of like, you know, because I didn't want to shame him into listening to certain things. Right. Yeah. Whatever. If you're going to listen to rap, that's fine.

You know, whatever. It is what it is. But now that he's like been getting more into like the stuff I like, it's been kind of cool. Same with my younger son, too. It's pretty cool because you know about it. I went, though, when he was all, before the, you know, the last, like, I'd say seven years or whenever he started really listening to music, probably he was like 11

or 12. It was like Travis Scott, Playboy Cardi. It was all this cool shit. I went to the shows. Like I enjoyed it. Yeah. I would go to the show with him or, you know, him and his friends would go and run into the floor and I would hang back and watch

the show. Yeah. I really liked it. I got a lot out of it, like watching all these shows. Yeah. We came to see you guys actually. Oh, you did? The I heart show.

Oh, you did? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, because 21 pilots was playing. 21 pilots. That was cool. That was good. We had some, Lisa hooked us up with it.

Yeah. Did he have fun? Oh, yeah, dude. So much fun. My older one was really wanting to see Cage the Elephant. Oh, cool. So he got to see them and then 21 pods. And I was like, oh, crap, good Charlotte's playing and Green Day is playing.

And they were all, they were hyped. That's cool. Yeah. Are you guys touring soon? Yeah, I leave the end of April. Oh, wow. Actually, first show is randomly in Jakarta, which we haven't been to since before COVID. Yeah.

And we always did pretty good there. So it's a big festival. Yeah, yeah. Just for one show, though. Wow. So fly there, fly back. And then that next day, we start the yellow car. tour. Oh, cool. Yeah. That would be great tour. Yeah, it's yellow card, playing white T's and

us. We're going to Australia. Oh yeah, that's right. They're coming with us to Australia. Yeah, that's going to be sick. It's going to be fun. Yeah. They're doing great too. Yeah. They're like in really good form. Yeah. You played with them in Brazil. It was great. Yeah. You have a new record. Yeah. It comes out February 20th. Yeah. It's been, it's been cool. The feedback's been really great on the new songs. We've put out like, you kind of have to trickle out songs now, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They put out like four songs now. And so it's been really, it's been good, man. I'm not complaining at all. Where does the band fit in my life? Yeah. I don't know, man. Like when I'm home, I'm just like home dad guy, you know, I'm not like,

I'm not always constantly thinking of the next song or like the next thing, you know what I mean. I like that. Yeah. And I feel like it's a good separation. And then obviously like, you know, if band stuff's coming up or whatever, like we all talk, you know, and stuff and we plan and we do things. And But yeah, man, for me, it's like, I don't know, and I'm home, I'm just home. Yeah. I'm really bad at social media. Don't mind. Yeah.

But I think all of us are, dude. I know. I know it. I think it's like it's needed and everything. But then when I leave for tour, it's like, it's go time. Like it's, you know, focusing on the shows, putting on a good show and just making it the best we can, you know. And I'm, I'm so grateful that we can still play and do what we do.

Yeah, you guys, you guys have worked really hard. Yeah. We've worked really hard and I think the longevity comes with the fact that I feel like we're all pretty like down-to-earth people. Yeah. And we can have a normal conversation with people. It's not like meeting, you know, when you meet these newer bands and younger bands, it's like they want to talk numbers and they want to talk like what venues they're blowing

out. And so it's like, we're not, we don't care. Like it's just like, dude, just be normal. Yeah. You know? And so I think that is a great way to be in this, in this. in this world, you know. Yeah, well, you guys are, you guys survived.

Yeah. What you thought was a career into what a career is. Yeah. And I think that you're elder statesman. So your, it's weird to think. Experience has shown you what really matters. Sure. And so you meet a young band who's focused on some stuff that actually doesn't matter.

You and me both know that. Yeah. But like, they'll find out. Yeah, yeah. The one way or another. They will. And some of them will find out the hard way and some of them will find out a great way and some of them will find out and not a great,

like everyone's on their own journey. Yeah. What I discovered and what I see with you guys as well is what actually matters is building a career that you like. Yeah. That you can live in. Right? That doesn't make you kill yourself.

And then building a life is more important. The career actually has to support the life. Yeah. If the career supports the life, we can do it. Yeah. If the life is supporting the career, we can't do it. Yeah. Because of the life will blow up.

The life will get strained. The life will die. Yeah. And the career will survive. And, you know, me and you both, we could sit there all day and put our whole fucking career on a wall and all the decisions we made and try to analyze. What do we do right? What do we do wrong?

Yeah. And, of course. I kind of look at the big boxes in life that. actually matter is someone healthy and happy? Are they here? Are they alive? Is their feet on the ground? Can we sit and talk? Yeah. Or are they checked out? And like, do their, does their family? Like, do they have some simulence of like a personal life? Like, whether now you're married and have kids, that's my idea because that's what I did. Yeah. I wanted me to meet a nice girl and settle down. And I really enjoy that. But some people are like, no, but they do some version.

of that like friends and family and rich personal life where they have these like deeply connected relationships yeah and it feels like that thing they say you know the best things in life are free yeah there's some truth to that it's like you can have these deep meaningful rich lives yeah and then if you have a a deep meaningful rich career it makes the deep meaningful rich life even richer yeah but if you don't have the deep the depth in your life then the career does nothing for you and it's kind of weird and they become weird caricatures and we've seen kind of all of it and I don't even I just have compassion or even just I'll look at someone and just kind of cocked my head and go I don't get it like maybe they are living their best life but but my perspective for me

was like I just wanted like some depth yeah I think also too like we're here because people still come out to see us play like yeah and it's mind boggling to me when I look out to the crowd and it's like all young kids still, you know? Yeah. Because I've been to see bands that I love and it's like old people. Yeah. And it's like boring and like and like I'm so, so, so, so, so thankful. Thank you. The shows have energy. That the shows have energy and it's young people and it's like, and there are people that obviously the ones that grew up with us, but they're bringing like their kids and stuff. You know what I mean? And it's it's really cool to see and I'm so thankful for that. Would you say that Good Charlotte and Newfound Glory went together like peanut butter and jelly?

Yeah, definitely. So many people online or whatever, because I creep around and Reddit and stuff and, you know, whatever. And so many people like talk about that tour that we did, the Civic Tour. Yeah. You know? That was a great tour. All the time. It was such a great tour.

I have a photo of little John wearing this Honda Civic Tour with the two of us on the shirt that he bought like somewhere. Yeah. Classic tour. Yeah. Yeah. and there's so many people that talk about that tour we should do another tour together that would be awesome

we can figure that out we could call it I don't know what's another what can call it something else something civic tour something civic yeah I don't know we'll come up with a good name how's Chad doing? He's been okay he's a he's a freaking

he's a beast you know like he's going through it every day is different you know it's up and down he's kind of like steadying the course with everything. So like he's on a good treatment and now I think it's more like living with almost like a disability than it is this impending thing. Right. Which is really awesome. Like if he can play shows, he does like he can drive to shows. Like we have some smaller. We're doing like a really tiny punk rock show in Nashville for the release of the record. And so he'll be there

for that. And we're doing an in store at Grimes in Nashville like acoustic thing. He'll be there for that. So any show he can get to, he does. Like, if he can drive to it. Yeah, I can't even imagine, like, what he's been through. It's been like hell. He's been through just watching. It feels like he's been through hell and back. Yeah.

And he's handled it. Yeah. Really well. Yeah, I think so. Watching him from the outside, he really personifies just get up and fight. Yeah. It's like hardcore, real hardcore. Real hardcore.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, yeah, he's always. been hardcore. He's a hardcore kid. Yeah. But then like I see it and I go, that's the personification of like what that actually means and he is it. He's just seems to have like always a positive attitude. And you kind of like you kind of have to be. Yeah. When you're in that situation, it's like why dwell on everything that's bad? Yeah. When, you know, there's still a lot of good and a lot

of positivity, especially with like, you know, it's not like he's not home. It's like he's home in bed all day. Like he's actively doing stuff for the band. He's always doing crap, always thinking about stuff. Yeah. And again, like if he can get to a show, he will, you know, he'll just go out and he'll kill it. And he's limited in traveling for a bunch of reasons. Yeah, it can't fly and stuff. Yeah, I can't fly and stuff. Yeah, because of all the surgeries and stuff, his back and everything. But I don't know, he's, he's, I know that everybody that loves your band really is, um, always rooting for him. Yeah, yeah.

And he's, yeah, he's. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's been really cool, the support that we've, that we, that we've, that we've been given. Yeah. Like from fans, from people coming out to just play with us, you know, that because Chad can't. So it's been this really cool, almost like a family, you know, it's been really good in that regard. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Because, you know, like, cancer sucks. It's like, you don't know how it's going to turn out.

It's just no one understands it. No one understands it. But I think, you know, where we are right now today, like, it's so far, it's been okay. You know, I know, like, he's been through it and it's really hard to see my brother going through that. Yeah. But he's a, he's a, he's a fighter, dude. Yeah, he's tough. It's crazy.

Yeah, he's a tough guy. Yeah. I'm glad he's doing good. Yeah. I hope he, he recovers fully. Yeah. I don't know the details of it, but I've been through that a couple of things. times.

Yeah. Not myself, but people. And it's tough. It takes a lot of mental fortitude. Yeah. To stay in the game like he has. And that's why we try to just focus on like talking about band stuff,

you know, sending each other like funny things. Yeah, it's great. Like, you know what I mean? You gotta have that. So,

yeah. Yeah. It shows you what this band means more than just like on paper. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's a life. You know, like you guys have built a life together.

Yeah. We definitely. all of you guys. You know? How many records are you guys on? What is this new record? What's the name of the record? Listen up.

Listen up. Yeah. And that album starts out with gang vocals. You listen up. Is it a little bit hardcore? A little bit, yeah. Yeah, I like that. There's some breakdowns and stuff.

That new hardcore? Yeah. Which bands of the newer school? We don't have to say, let's say the last 10 years. Yeah. Are there any bands that stand out as ones you really like? In the hardcore scene? In the hardcore.

Probably like speed, pain of truth. turnstile, of course. Turnstile, yeah, Baltimore. Yeah, and TUI is playing again. Trapped Under Ice is playing again, so that's cool. Yeah. I've seen some photos that I'm playing recently with Brendan on drums again and stuff, so

pretty cool. Do you feel like you guys can play those shows, no problem? I think so. You know, we took Turnstile out on tour before in the past and same with Trapped Under Ice played shows together. You guys have hardcore roots. We do. Yeah. I mean, and Chad being screaming and Shy Hulud allude all those years.

Yeah. And then as the band started touring more and more, we would get tours that were more hardcore tours, you know? Yeah. We're with Snapcase and all these bands and stuff. So we have that sort of those roots, you know. And it was kind of cool at the time, like as the band was getting bigger, bringing those elements into our songs and for people that have never even listened to hardcore before,

like now is like, you know, I love always repping like bands on TRL and stuff. Like I would wear like madball shirt or some bands we were friends with, you know, and getting people into that stuff. Yeah. like scowl. Yeah, scowl's cool. And drain. Drain. I love turnstile. Yeah. Jell was cool too before they broke up. There's a lot of good stuff right now. Yeah, it is. It's cool to see it, like emerging. And now it's kind of cool to see so many new bands having that more 90s like shoegaze vibe. Yep. So many bands, dude. And there's a lot of cool ones. Alena or

tour manager, she just turned me on to a band called Rikosha Star. Oh, cool. And there are a newer band and they're sick, dude. They sound like slow dive or like that sort of like vibe, you know. There's a lot of good stuff right now. It's cool to see it. It's all kind of, it's kind of funny how it's all come back. Thanks, TikTok, yeah. Yeah. But it's emerged. It's really like a thing now. Whereas I think a lot of these bands have been working at it for over the past decade. It's become, there's a place for it. There's a real audience. Well, I remember back in, even on the early tours that we would do in the van. And I remember Benji had a My Bloody Valentine's, shirt and him and I would talk about my bloody Valentine and stuff and it's I always

thought that the shoe gaze John was so niche yeah and now it's like crazy to see it blowing like my bloody Valentine is doing I don't know if they just did or they are doing shows in Europe and UK but they sold out arena in Ireland like they're playing they're playing O2 Arena in the UK in England in London it's crazy yeah it's crazy crazy that the the the the the the the the the the the the The power of the accessibility of people to be able to go down a rabbit hole and find something, now is, it's there. Yeah.

So at first, what we thought was, you know, streaming in its very early stages, we were all there for it because the music industry, you know, and music died. Yeah. In like, 2011, it was over. And it was like, this is done. And, you know, and there was like, it's dead. You know, it's all dead. And then, and then the following, you know, I'd say. like 2010 to 2020 was the hardest decade for any band to survive.

Yeah, for sure. And something post COVID, there was a corner turned. And something like the algorithmic music was getting kind of people's ears were getting burned down on it. And I think people started getting back to like finding live music and finding like music that felt like it was made by people. Yeah. And I think that now we're in this time where like maybe it's bigger than it was.

I think we remember it as big as it was big to us because we were experiencing our career for the first time. Yeah. But if you look at like the ticket sales or you could try to find all the metrics, the streaming. I bet if we measured it, it's as big. It's as big or bigger. Yeah. I'll bet.

Yeah. This is interesting. There was like a renaissance that kind of happened after COVID. It's like a cultural shift. Yeah. Yeah. for sure. It's pretty interesting to be here from our perspective, from being back there from 99 or whenever like we started touring. And then through the 2000s, and now it's interesting

kind of thing to look at. Yeah. How much more of the cadamine therapy are you going to do? I think now I'm at like the where I'm doing maintenance. So it's like I have one in a month from now. Okay. And then I think you kind of do it like every couple months. Do you and your wife and kids talk about it? Yes. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, we do. That's pretty cool.

We're pretty open. Pretty open family. You know, we do talk about a lot of things. I think it's cool when your kids see you working through a process. Yeah, for sure. And then they're learning a little bit. Like, they're getting something from it. Yeah.

I really think that like when we heal something, it heals in other people too. Like something happens when we're deeply, like, connected. Yeah. But I think that like, I'm the same. I'm like, I'm going to therapy. whatever. But they see me in a process. And I think they probably notice over time, I think so a positive, you know, so I think that's kind of important. Yeah. Yeah, we've always, we've always made it like a normal thing. Right. You know, my older son has, has neurological

differences. He's got Tourette's and ADHD and OCD and everything. And he's had to put a lot of work in too. I mean, like, he was a really hard kid for the first like 10, 12 years of his life. I bet that was hard. It was hard for him especially. For him and for my wife at home, who's while I'm on tour, like she was dealing with the bulk of it. And, you know, he's gone to his therapies and different things. And it's always just been like, it's just normal. Like, it's just normal. This is just what we do.

Yeah. You know, and we're going to work through this and we're going to come up with a plan and we're going to figure it out, you know? Yeah, like support your growth. Yeah. Right? Because like it's pretty cool to see someone get support. Yeah. instead of just be like treated like they're different

or that's a problem or like whatever. It's like just not the truth actually. It's just like this is you. And so like you only get to be you. So the I think the goal in life is to be the best you you can be. And that's why I say like with our anxiety or your anxiety or his OCD or whatever. Like part of me wants to accept as much of it as I can

as a part of me and then put down the things that don't, that get in the way. Yeah. So if I can accept my, I'm a bit edgy and anxious in some spots, and I can be aware of it and really like love myself. Yeah. And not look at myself like I'm a problem. It's pretty cool.

So I'm an amena. And like my music, my hair can't come back with me and has to be able to see my rhythm. For so, potion 9 of Sebastian Professional has everything my needs. Nutrition Profound. Protection against the encrespaid.

99% less of rotura and punas abirtas under control. New potion 9 of Sebastian Professional, the secreto professional of who don't see tendencies, but of who they're creating.

Yeah, it's nice. It's nice. Nice to reflect on that. Yeah. A lot of people don't get that. No, they don't. I was just going to say that. A lot of people don't get that.

Cool, man. The record's coming out. Yeah. You love Japan. I love Japan. Yeah. We tried to move there last year. We wanted to live there and give it a year. Oh, really? Yeah. My wife lived in Japan for a few years. That's pretty cool. Yeah, but it was too hard to get the visas and move the dog over there. The dog was going to cost like 10 grand and move just her. Oh, wow. And like you have to quarantine for 30 days, the dog and everything. What would you do with your house? Would you rent it out? Right. Right. Yeah. And where would you

live? Probably in Hiroshima. Oh, wow. Yeah. We love that city. It's where my wife lived. So she knows it well. I know it well just because of going with her and then with the band, you know, it's pretty sick. Yeah. Japan always makes me feel inspired. Yeah, for sure. Good people, good amazing food. I mean, everything, everything about it. So we got the Max visa, stayed there for a month, two and a half months. It was really fun. That's awesome. Yeah. With the kids. With the kids. Did you stay in Hiroshima? We stayed in Hiroshima for half of it and then half in Tokyo. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. In between, we kind of traveled a little bit. from Tokyo to Hiroshima.

Oh, that's cool. I like Osaka. Yeah, Osaka's cool. A lot. You stayed one night there. But I would probably do Tokyo. Yeah. Because I know it the best.

But I like Osaka. Have you been to Hiroshima? No. Dude. What's the vibe? It's still a city. How big is it? It's not very big.

But they have these rivers that run through the whole city. And there are people like picnic out on them. And especially during like cherry blossom season. Lots of bridges and stuff. Yeah. Beautiful. And the city is easy to navigate because, you know, know, after World War II, the whole city was rebuilt.

So it was like on this grid system as opposed to like just. And it still can be kind of crazy. The buildings have all these floors above and below. And you know what I mean? So it's always hard to find a place when you're looking for a place. But way easier than Tokyo. And there's like certain areas that's just really easy. And it's a different people are a little bit more outgoing there, I feel.

They have their own like dialect, like their own slang and stuff. And it's just a really great city. It's really awesome. Do you speak Japanese? I can get by like kind of. Right. I can actually understand more because before we left, I was like, man, I don't want to go there and feel like I'm living there and not know how to communicate.

So we got a tutor and we did tutoring before we left for a while. And then we were doing like the apps and stuff, like the language learning apps and everything. Yeah. Yeah. But my wife's better than I am. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Like I speak a little bit of it.

Yeah. Enough to like actually like Duolingo was actually more helpful to learning. Kanji and Katakana than it was that. I mean, I learned a little bit with the speaking part, but you could read it. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Dude, it was, it was really, like, helpful, really awesome. How long did that take? I think my streak was like 324 days or something. Oh, wow. Yeah. Kind of a year. Almost a year, yeah. Wow. Yeah. And then we went there and I kind of was sort of doing it, but yeah. It's pretty special. Yeah. That's pretty great. Yeah. It's interesting, too, because I've always been, like, I've gravitated towards Japanese brands.

Yeah. Japanese like art. What is it about that? I think it's this. America can sometimes be a race. Yeah, for sure. To the finish line. Yeah.

And it can be a very competitive place. And you grow up in that and there's a lot of strengths to that. Like it makes you very competitive and driven. And there's a lot to be said about the culture here that it instills certain things in us that are really valuable. Yeah. I think in Japan, there's a focus on craft and discipline. And so, like, when you're in a discipline, it's not for necessarily an end result,

but it's more like a practice. Yep. And I think there's something about that as artists that we, like, it probably didn't get enough of. Yeah. That I think it, like, is a soothing when you go there and you experience, like, culture and you experience food and you experience any experience there. There's, like, a real discipline and a practice to all of it.

that I think makes me feel inspired. Yeah. To get back to the detail of like, what are my practices? Yeah. When I'm making something, am I being as thoughtful as I could be? Everything's intentional there. Yeah. That's what we always talk about.

I wish that we as a society could learn a little bit from the Japanese culture. We could. With like just the respect for people and just how intentional things are. Like I love one of my favorite things I just learned this on the last trip was that there's no price gouging allowed. So we went to like Disney C in a couple other places. We went to a Hiroshima-McCart baseball game. And so the game, for example, we're like, oh, let's go look for a merch and let's see if it's cheaper outside of the stadium.

So we went to the store and we're like, oh, yeah, that's not bad price for a jersey. But like, let's wait. And so we went to the game. We're like, I'm just curious, we're going to go to the merch store at the game. Completely the same price, not like gouging you for more. Same when you go to Disney. I remember there was like, it was my wife and my kids and our two friends were visiting us and staying with us in Tokyo.

And then my older son's friend came to visit. And we go to Disney and everyone wanted to snacks. So we're like, let's get some churros, right? And so we go to the churro stand. And for 10 people, I think it was like $8 or something. It's crazy, dude. Like no price. And of course, everything's clean.

People like, I couldn't believe it at the baseball game. Like everyone picking up their trash. Everyone throws their trash away in the trash can or it's wild. It would be amazing to go for like 10 days to two weeks. That's not enough. enough time. I know. It's like, but they just, I think they're opening like Pokeyland, Pokemon land. I heard about this. Yeah. It looks pretty cool. Yeah. There's so much shit to do. I know. It's awesome. I love it. Cool, man. Well, thanks for coming. Yeah. Thank you.

It was awesome. For having me. Thank you. Congrats on the record. Thank you. Yeah. It was fun. It was fun to do. And it was good. Good luck on tour. Thank you. Thank you. And a great family. And you too. And you too. And you too. Yeah. Yeah. Try my best. Me too. Yeah. Thank you for watching Artist Friendly. If you liked this episode, please make sure you hit the like button. You follow the channel and please share it with your friends. We appreciate the support. That is why this show exists because you listen to it.

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