Ahead of the return of the UK’s annual scene celebration, we chat to some of the biggest names on the Slam Dunk Festival lineup that will be bringing their incredible live shows to Hatfield and Leeds.
A DAY TO REMEMBER
RS: Congratulations on the new album – it must feel pretty special to see the great fan reaction to it and to the surprise way it was released.
JEREMY MCKINNON: Man, I gotta tell you, all of us on the back end have just been talking about it. You know, when you put a plan like that together, it always feels a little nerve wracking because you never know if people will just wait for the way they usually digest music or whatever. But putting it out that way had so many unintended positive consequences that were so cool and refreshing, from the mom and pop stores feeling taken care of and then just seeing all of the very personal, emotional moments a lot of people had going out and getting a record again and being able to only listen to it that way. Somebody tagged me in this post that’ll always live with me honestly, just because of how unique it was. They brought out their old CD player they used to go to school on the bus with. They had this insane sense of nostalgia just from that alone. Just going to their parents house, getting this out of their storage and using it has made them feel so happy on a deep level. You never plan for stuff like that. We just wanted to do something unique and fun that felt different in today’s age to get people’s attention. Also, I like that people had to sit down and actually listen to the tracklisting too, in today’s age. So many people were listening to it as a full album, as opposed to picking it apart slowly over time. We put a lot of time into the tracklisting on this record and I think the flow, personally, is really cool. It takes you on this journey. There’s highs and lows, all sorts of different genres, all within the rock world. Just the fact that people had to sit down and listen to it as a record and actually feel the energy and push and pull from the different choices we made along the way, the surprises we put in different spots, it was cool to see that as well.
RS: Was there any particular track or any particular moment that was key to unlocking what you wanted to do this time?
JEREMY: I personally would say it was the album title. That unlocked so much, and then bringing it to the group and us discussing it, the pros and cons of what we want to do. Immediately, in that talk, our manager had this idea of breaking it up into two volumes. That way you get the concise tracklisting over here that’s as action packed as you want it to be, but you can also do that over here at volume two, and then hopefully continue the cycle of content coming out way more than what we’ve done in the past. That’s the goal, at least. So for me, it was really that album title, and it encompassed everything personally that I wanted this cycle to be about. It’s just supposed to be fun. I was asking the question in the studio a lot of what makes us uniquely A Day to Remember? What can we do that nobody else can do? One of the main things that comes to mind is fun. It you look at everybody in this genre, and again this isn’t a diss on anybody, all the bands that are popular right now are super talented, amazing musicians, but there isn’t somebody that represents that fun side of things like we all grew up listening to, Blink-182, Less Than Jake, Weezer. I grew up going to shows where that was the vibe. So it’s, in my opinion, one of the things that makes us stand out and we really embrace that.
NEIL WESTFALL: I think the other thing is the fact that we can have ‘Silence’ and ‘All My Friends’ on the same album. It’s the craziest fucking mix of things, and they all can exist. What I think makes us uniquely A Day To Remember is that it’s noone can go and play with Gojira and then play with Blink 182 and then play with Good Charlotte and then play with fucking Lana Del Rey. We played a festival last year with Lana Del Rey, she played right after us. I’m like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ And our heaviest songs went fucking nuts. There were people on the beach crowd surfing and it was the most insane vibe. Nobody else could fucking do this shit. That is the beauty of it. To be able to add 12 songs that can push all of those directions even further is an incredible feat. 23 years in, that’s fucking all you could hope for.
ELECTRIC CALLBOY
RS: Coming back to the UK as one of Slam Dunk’s headline acts has got to be a pretty amazing milestone for you.
KEVIN: It feels incredible every time we think about these facts. To be honest, no matter how hard we work for something and no matter how good the feeling that we have about our own work and creations or music in general, it never feels completely right that we’re standing there on top of these lineups, because I always feel like we’re just doing music. We did Slam Dunk a couple of years ago and now we’re here. Hard work always pays off, but it’s still unbelievable for us, especially in the UK where we were not that successful because we know you have so many good bands for yourselves. I always compare the UK to Berlin in some ways, because Berlin are a little bit spoiled for choice so you have to be special to make it there or to bring the people out to your shows.
NICO SALLACH: It’s one thing to play big shows in Germany where we’re from, but it’s another thing to be able as a band to travel all around the world, playing shows of the same size. That word ‘headlining’ a festival is just completely out of my mind. I’m gonna realize it right after the show or weeks after, but not right now. I think we feel super lucky and super grateful.
RS: Your most recent single was ‘Elevator Operator’, already a big fan favourite. How did that one come together?
NICO: Well, when it comes to writing new songs, it’s always the same thing. You have to be creative, and sometimes you can force it, but sometimes not. A lot of things that we are doing come from pure inspiration. And the inspiration for ‘Elevator Operator’ was actually a real story. We met a guy in Detroit and this guy was actually operating the elevator and had his own playlist that was playing the whole whole day in that elevator. We just asked this guy, ‘Hey, dude, what’s your job? What are you doing?’ and he said, just super, super serious, ‘The elevator operator’. And I don’t know why, but we just knew that we had to write a song about this.
KEVIN: ‘Elevator Operator’ as a phrase almost has a melody to it. When you’re in a songwriting mood, everything can be an inspiration. If you’re a car seller, you walk through life and cars are striking for you. You have an eye on cars. So we have an eye on life, I would say, because everything can work as an inspiration, and we were very happy to have that. And of course, like in a lot of stories, there is an origin and it gets bigger and bigger the more you talk about it. In the end, we had that elevator operator glowing and shining. It was pretty fun, and we love to do that. When we brought that idea to the studio, it came together pretty fast. So sometimes we have to really work on songs, but this went so fast.
NECK DEEP
RS: What was your personal relationship with Slam Dunk before the band started playing at it? Did you attend or play a part in it in the early years?
BEN BARLOW: I didn’t go to any Slam Dunks before Neck Deep. But I have been in Neck Deep since I was 17, so I’m sure if I wasn’t with the band, I would have ended up going at some point. I was always a bit too broke, to be honest. But the way I always viewed it was that it felt like our version of Warped Tour. It felt like the only thing that served our thing, especially pop-punk. I think back to the UK pop-punk bands that came before us, like Save Your Breath and Paige, and even You Me At Six, and would be like, ‘So that’s the sort of thing that they are playing, and it seems to go down well for them’. The UK didn’t have much of the scene beyond Slam Dunk, really. It’s quite disparate when it comes to pop-punk. There are things out there for the heavier scenes, but there isn’t much passed this for pop-punk. So, growing up as a pop-punk kid, with my first experience I was just stoked to be there. Not only playing it but being able to see other bands and be amongst it all, really. I met some people at that first Slam Dunk that we have gone on to work very closely with. Our guitar tech and our monitors guy played that year with their old band, and they asked me to be in one of their music videos. It was important in that way where we weren’t just seeing some of our favourite bands but we were connecting with people. I was always enamoured by it, and it was just by chance my first experience was playing it. And we had to fight our way on, not everything has been handed to us. We had our fans behind us and championing us to get in there, but it’s been special since then. For the UK, I feel like it’s something that a lot of bands feel the same way about.
RS: You had a moment with The Wonder Years back in 2022 when you joined them for the end of ‘All My Friends Are In Bar Bands’ at Hatfield alongside members of Trash Boat, Bears In Trees, Beauty School and more. It was a real community moment, to say the least. That must have felt pretty amazing…
BEN: Absolutely. And it’s because we were all fans at that moment. They were playing ‘The Upsides’ in full, and everybody was up for doing it; it was just amazing. I was just that 17-year-old version of me again, just buzzing. I still find so much joy in those things. I still find joy and privilege to go and watch bands like The Wonder Years in that sort of way. I think The Wonder Years embody that friendship element of pop-punk. They always want to get their friends involved and push and promote other bands because it’s built into their DNA. It’s where they have come from and what they have always been a part of. And for me to hop around on stage with them, it makes that 17-year-old version of me feel like I’m a part of the Philly scene in the late 00s. I’ve got to live that through Slam Dunk, and then fans are also getting to live that.
NEW FOUND GLORY
RS: How are you feeling about where New Found Glory is at in 2025?
JORDAN PUNDIK: It feels really good. We’re a band that has never been the type to stop. It’s always been go go go. I feel like we have figured out a nice balance now, though, being able to have a real home life as well as touring over the last few years. That’s been helpful. But looking ahead to this year and being able to come back to all these countries, including the UK, that we have been to in so long, it’s started to stack up a bit. Like now I’m home for three days at a time before we head somewhere new. It’s very interesting to see all of that on the calendar again, especially after navigating COVID and Chad’s health. But saying that, I’m just really excited to be doing it again.
CHAD GILBERT: We’ve always been just New Found Glory since day one. We never honestly expected to have a career, and to this day, we still don’t expect that. Because of that, everything is fun, and everything we get to do is a gift. It’s why we have been able to transition to the position we’re in now. We’ve inspired people to play in bands, and bands have grown to have careers behind us, inspiring them to pick up guitars. Now, I’m able to inspire people who are going through issues of health or anxiety. These are things that I am living, it’s my every day, but it is also very New Found Glory. It’s just in a different field.
RS: And how does it feel to have that feeling to be a part of Slam Dunk again, a festival you have a long relationship with?
JORDAN: Slam Dunk is a festival built around the love of music, especially the love we feel for hardcore, punk and pop-punk. It’s the UK version of Warped Tour but on a grand scale. I can remember playing our first Slam Dunk in 2010, and it was a relatively good size, but it wasn’t like Reading and Leeds. And Reading and Leeds is always great, but there’s something so down to earth about what Slam Dunk is. It’s huge, but it still feels like a community. Even though bands like Fall Out Boy and other big acts play, it still feels like everyone is there as one. I love being a part of that, especially in a place far from where we are from. Knowing we can go to a place like the UK and feel that community is awesome. I love it, and I hope it continues.
CHAD: This style of music hasn’t always been as big as it is. It fluctuates. It goes up and down. And a place like Slam Dunk keeps it a staple. It brings this community together that isn’t always spoken for in the mainstream. That’s especially right in the States. You have bands making music that’s really popular on the radio, and none of it is from our genre. So, these festivals prove the importance of this genre. And with New Found Glory being a staple band within that, it’s cool to show fans that there is a home for this. Here are people like me who make me feel like I can pick up a guitar and play music. Some people out there need to feel that way as much as I do. I hope we serve as a mirror to the crowd, where they can think, ‘I am Chad, I am Ian, I am Jordan, I am Cyrus. I’m just like them’.
Slam Dunk Festival takes place on May 24 and 25 in Hatfield and Leeds. Get your tickets here.
