June 28, 2002

New Found Glory : Sticks And Stones

Florida brats' gloriously no-brain pop-punk

7 / 10 Complaining that this dumbass Coral Springs quartet are one-dimensional is like moaning that Eastenders isn't realistic: for furrowed brows and creeping existential dread stick with Radiohead. Yes, New Found Glory aren't as rude as Blink (whose Mark Hoppus guests here), deranged as Weezer or wayward as the Get Up Kids, but they deserve to be lauded for reasons other than the fact that bassist Crazy Ian's always pulling stupid faces. Pity poor singer Jordan Pundik, for example, whose lyrics would've been dismissed by Ian Curtis as being a bit, y'know, depressing. "No matter how happy you are you'll always want more" he wails on 'Something I Call Personality'. Like, bummer, dude. Still with endless chainsaw wedgies, snot-coloured hair and sugar-rush guitars as comfort, he'll soon get over it.

Terry Bracken