I've got this inflatable Darth Vader that I stole off the roof of a Burger King. I went in and asked the girl at the counter if I could have it, and she said she didn't care, but she wasn't going to get me a ladder or anything like that. So I just kind of pulled myself up there, cut it loose and took off.
All of our songs, no matter what record they're on, mean a lot to us.
All of the records are direct reflections of how we were at that time in our lives, so when we play them, it's very nostalgic and fun, but also it's cool to see that they all still sound really relevant.
You can't really predict what the fans love.
My stepfather, Steve Mallonee, is a retired Miami Beach firefighter, loved and adored by many. After numerous years of heroic work, saving lives through fire and heavy smoke, he has developed a very fatal lunge disease called Pulmonary Fibrosis.
You think of your first album, when we had no clue what we were doing, we had no clue if people were going to like it or not, we did it because we love it.
The goal is never be a copycat of ourselves. It's more along the lines of taking risks in our music.
'My Friends Over You' has two guitars, but if you listen to us live, it's the same... I know how to hit a rhythm note and play lead at the same time.
People don't know what star-struck is until they've met Tom Hanks.
Those who have to struggle with addiction in their lives know the 'you only live once' mentality doesn't really work because you can only do that for so often before you're self-destructive.
All you truly need to worry about is waking up each day and to try to be the best version of yourself.
Failure and missteps help refine your character and make you wiser.
When you reflect on your life, you realize how arguments, pride, and the worry of proving yourself never changed or fixed anything.
What's really cool about 'This is Me' is that our friends loved the song. Older punk rock fans don't know 'The Greatest Showman,' haven't seen the movie. And they hear that song and they're like, 'This just sounds like an awesome New Found Glory song. This is a really good song.'
Because of social media being such a marketable format, things are constantly being released, so people don't pay as much attention because they have a million things being thrown at them. You reach more people, but now there's more content. Before, it was harder to get the people but there was less content.
We obviously need to make money to survive, but we aren't going to sacrifice our creative integrity to do anything that doesn't feel like us.
I still get excited for band practice, like I love when we're about to go on tour and we all get together and practice. I'm so excited, it's like the first day of school. You check out everyone's new backpack.
For us, punk rock and even hardcore music was something we did because we didn't fit in in high school. We had nowhere to go, so we went to shows.
Our shows are more fun when there aren't barriers.
I remember going up to bands I've loved and tried to talk to them and been cold-shouldered.
