Jordan Pundik – A love of food, a new baby and A New Found Glory.

A New Found Glory (NFG) will be back to Australia for the umpteenth time to play at Soundwave early next year. Their presence here is as regular as Merv Hughes, as the band has toured down under for every album since their virginal appearance in 2002 as part of Warped Tour. NFG will be sharing the stage with greats of the rock music industry like Iron Maiden, Slayer and Bullet for my Valentine, but front man and lead singer Jordan Pundik has an unfazed view about the clichéd, hyped theatrics. He says, “I guess we fit into the music industry as we are a band, but personally I never try and get into that kind of thing. I’m more the guy who’s like, ‘tell me where and when I’ve got to play and let me rock the fuck out.’”

Above: Jordan Pundik from A New Found Glory.

Before the first waves of sound crash in Brisbane on the 25^th of February, the world must endure two large happenings. The first is the invasion of Oprah and her 450 minions for Oprah’s Goodbye Show and the second is the annual advent of Christmas. Pundik has friends in nearly every city of Australia and says that he often hangs out with his Melbourne friends after Australian tours for a few days just to chill out. Being a man who has seen more of this sunburnt country than many who bear the inked southern cross on their skin, it was interesting to find out what Pundik would recommend that Oprah see or do when she was here. “I haven’t met her,” Pundik laughs. “ But, I want Oprah to come to Soundwave. Her and I can hang out, we can dance to Gang of Four and talk about Obama.” The flashed image of Oprah donning a black Slayer Tee and a pair of skinnies in the middle of a tattooed Soundwave crowd is terribly frightening, as Pundik finishes his indulgent laughing.

Be it the Southern Cross, pin up girl or otherwise, tattoos aren’t like they used to be, according to Pundik. “Everywhere you look there are tattoos. You go into a mall and they’re selling these nylon sleeves for kids with tattoo patterns all over them. I feel like it’s a part of our society now,” says Pundik who got his primary tattoo young after his first tour. His band along with Vacant Andies, the first band of Christ Carrabba, now in Dashboard Confessional, had rented a truck and illegally took it out of the state and played at pool parties “in front of like, two people.” At the end of the tour, when they bought the truck back to Florida, they saw the tattoo shop. “At the time I was 17 years old, and I wasn’t even allowed to get tattoos yet,” he admitted. “But the guy did it anyway. It’s a bit corny. It’s this star and it has Chinese lettering in it, saying ‘friendship.’” Laughed the now 30-year-old, whose tattoos have featured in magazines such as ‘Inked’ and ‘Tattoo Magazine.’ “We don’t even know if the lettering really says ‘friendship,’ it could say fucking ‘fried shrimp,’ for all we know.” None the less the tattoo symbolises a long running friendship between Dashboard Confessional and A New Found Glory.

Above: Jordan Pundiks, right arm sleeve.

The second event the world must endure is the annual advent of Christmas. Pundik will be spending Christmas close to home this year. “Ill be at home but we will be driving all up and down the coast of California because my wife’s family is really huge. One side lives three hours north and one side lives two hours south. So we have to drive all over the place and constantly eat and eat and eat. Her dad’s side usually have a ham, or a turkey or a huge spread for Christmas. But her mums side of the family does the whole Mexican thing so we will have enchiladas and tacos and you just get hammered on margaritas its actually kind of fun,” he enthuses. The occasion will be even more special this year as it is Van Phillip Pundik’s first Christmas, Pundik’s son who was born just over a month ago on October 6^th. “He’s actually a really chilled baby which is awesome as my mom always told me I was a really chilled baby. He likes to eat a lot, just like his dad and he likes to sleep a lot, just like his dad. I’m stoked,” enthuses Pundik who looks forward to taking him surfing and teaching him about, ‘all the things that are cool.’ “As cliché as it sounds, it really is one of the most insane things to ever happen,” says Pundik.

Pundik has been around great food his whole life and has become a self-professed good cook. “My brother is the sous chef at a really well known restaurant. He’s younger than me, but I have kind of learned from him,” he says. “We’ve been really into making things for holidays now, as we have so many people that we know. We like making food things, so last year we made a pesto food sauce. We put them in these really cool jars and put really cool labels on them that I drew up,” he enthuses, also stating that they looked quite professional just like the ones from an up market food store. “Some people may think that sucks, ‘I don’t want pesto, I want a fucking gameboy.’ But you know what? Fuck them. I like making stuff!” He declares proudly. However there does come a time, when the food loving Pundik can’t eat as much as he would like. “I have a really good friend who is from Melbourne actually. His family visited last year and they did this huge Australian style barbeque for Christmas. They grilled everything. There was so much food I can’t even tell you. He had a huge steak or a huge piece of lamb for each individual person. It wasn’t ‘take what you want to eat,’ it was ‘you get everything,’” he states matter-of-factly in refection.

Above: A New Found Glory

Pundik is a food lover, new father, and rockstar. “I feel that people hold us highly just because we are in a band. If someone got to know one of us, they would realise that we’re just normal dudes, that are kind of boring,” he says. Also admitting that at times, he must remind himself to remain grounded. There is one boy in particular that helps bring him back to earth. The boy had come up to the band at the peak of an extremely long tour. Pundik says, “His brother had died and he had gone through a series of really bad events over the last year. He told me that without the music, he would have done some bad things to himself. I always think of that, whether we are playing a huge tour, or whether a record sells, I try to always remember why we do it… I feel like what I do really makes a difference.” He states proudly. With that knowledge, after extravagant talk of food and jokes of Oprah, it is hard to think of Jordan Pundik, lead singer of A New Found Glory once again as, ‘just a normal dude.’