New Found Glory are breaking up the monotony of touring… with more touring.
Having already spent the majority of 2004 playing radio festivals, the Warped Tour and club dates in North America, Europe and Australia (not to mention the arenas they graced as an opener on Green Day’s tour), NFG decided that it was time that they had a headlining tour of their own… you know, since their latest album, Catalyst, came out almost one year ago.
“We had really started thinking about doing a headlining tour back in the fall, but then Green Day comes knocking and says, ‘Come with us!’ And, of course, we’re going to drop everything for them,” NFG drummer Cyrus Bolooki sighed. “So we kept pushing this tour back further and further. We played all over the place and did these big, big tours, but we never got to do a headliner. So we’re excited now to go on our actual North American tour.”
The Back to Basics Tour sees NFG hitting the smaller venues they played as an up-and-coming act a few years back, and starts March 10 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While the clubs the band will be playing might be small in capacity, the Basics Tour is anything but small in scope – with 57 shows scheduled over 10 weeks, it’s clear that New Found Glory are making up for lost time.
“We’re playing almost every single state, and we’re trying to hit every single city. We’re spending two nights in some cities if we have to,” Bolooki said. “This tour is all about having a good time, circling North America and playing as many shows as we can.”
With all this touring, you wouldn’t think that the band would have any time to write new songs… but you’d be wrong. Kind of. While there are no firm studio plans at the moment, Bolooki said that there’s been a whole bunch of songwriting going on, mostly by guitarist Chad Gilbert.
“We’re not really sitting there forcing ourselves to write. Most of our songs start off as ideas Chad has on guitar, because he’s constantly writing,” he said. “I know we’re going to record another album, we just don’t have any concrete plans. We’ve never really felt pressure to complete something by a certain deadline. If we continue to write stuff on this tour, it’s cool. If not, it’s OK.”
He’s a bit more confident that NFG will be releasing another album’s worth of cover songs, similar to the From the Screen to Your Stereo EP they released back in 2000. As with EP, the band is eyeing another bunch of themes from movies. Unlike that EP, there will be less emphasis placed on the cheese factor of the tracks that make the cut From the Screen featured such cringe-worthy classics as Celine Dion’s “Titanic” theme, “My Heart Will Go On,” and the theme from “The NeverEnding Story”), though you can never rule out a version of Bill Conti’s “Karate Kid” chill-inducer “You’re the Best.”
“Oh yeah, well, we’re always about to do that one,” Bolooki laughed. “We don’t know all the songs we’re going to do, but we’re going to make them over in our style. When we did that covers album a couple of years ago, that was the most fun we had in the studio, because no one really cared. There’s no pressure in writing the song, because the song is already written for you.”
Back to Basics Tour dates, according to Geffen Records:
- March 10, 2005 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
- March 11, 2005 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues
- March 12, 2005 – Jacksonville, FL – Plush
- March 13, 2005 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Landing
- March 15, 2005 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
- March 16, 2005 – Nashville, TN – Rcktwn
- March 17, 2005 – Louisville, KY – Jillian’s
- March 18, 2005 – Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall
- March 19, 2005 – Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues
- March 20, 2005 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa
- March 22, 2005 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
- March 23, 2005 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
- March 24, 2005 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
- March 25, 2005 – Worcester, MA – Worcester Palladium
- March 26, 2005 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
- March 29, 2005 – Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero/ Balcony Bar
- March 30, 2005 – Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero/ Balcony Bar
- March 31, 2005 – Erie, PA – Penn State Behrend
- April 1, 2005 – Hartford, CT – Webster Underground
- April 2, 2005 – Montreal, QC – Spectrum de Montreal
- April 3, 2005 – Toronto, ON – Kool Haus
- April 5, 2005 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall
- April 6, 2005 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall
- April 7, 2005 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
- April 8, 2005 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Intersection
- April 9, 2005 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
- April 10, 2005 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
- April 12, 2005 – Covington, KY – Jillian’s Entertainment Center
- April 13, 2005 – Saint Louis, MO – The Pageant
- April 14, 2005 – Kansas City, MO – Beaumont Club
- April 15, 2005 – Minneapolis, MN – Quest Club
- April 16, 2005 – Grand Forks, ND – Alerus Center
- April 17, 2005 – Rapid City, SD – Rushmore Plaza Arena
- April 19, 2005 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
- April 20, 2005 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
- April 21, 2005 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
- April 23, 2005 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
- April 24, 2005 – Seattle, WA – ShowBox
- April 26, 2005 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
- April 27, 2005 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
- April 28, 2005 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
- April 29, 2005 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
- April 30, 2005 – Bakersfield, CA – The Dome
- May 1, 2005 – Ventura, CA – Ventura Theatre
- May 3, 2005 – West Hollywood, CA – House of Blues
- May 4, 2005 – West Hollywood, CA – House of Blues
- May 5, 2005 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
- May 6, 2005 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
- May 7, 2005 – San Diego, CA – SOMA
- May 8, 2005 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
- May 10, 2005 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
- May 11, 2005 – Tucson, AZ – Coconuts
- May 13, 2005 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
- May 14, 2005 – Dallas, TX – Gypsy Tea Room
- May 15, 2005 – San Antonio, TX – Sunset Station
- May 19, 2005 – Houston, TX – Numbers
- May 21, 2005 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
