By: Ramsey Ramirez

With their brand of catchy POP, HARDCORE, PUNK, and their crazy energy at live shows, They influenced a generation of kids, and everyone from ALL TIME LOW to FALLOUT BOY. Now get ready to see them on SEPTEMBER 9th at LAS PALMAS EVENT CENTER in McAllen TX! We caught up with Jordan Pundik, Vocalist for New Found Glory to dissect his brain and see what makes him tick. Mmmmmm, brains….

MAGX: Who or What inspired you guys to start making music?

Jordan Pundik: What inspired us to play was that where we lived,
NOTHING WAS GOING ON. We lived in the burbs. We all had a common bond over going to shows, punk, and hardcore. We wanted to do the same thing.

MAGX: Looking back on the last 12/13 years of this, what is your favorite part about the whole experience?

JP: For me looking back, I never thought we would make it out of Florida. But we did. It’s pretty amazing that I’ve been able to see so many different places and things because of the band.

MAGX: If you weren’t in NEW FOUND GLORY, what do you think you would you be?
Astronaut?  Jordan Pundik M.D.?

JP: I would have probably continued going to school or something. I was going for graphic design. It was only a semester though. Then we got asked to open up a string of FLA shows for MXPX. Then a 2 week tour with reel big fish. I said “Hey school! Smoke ya later!”

MAGX: Of all the NFG songs, which is your personal favorite? Why?

JP: My personal fave is “sonny” my grandfather passing away inspired that song. It’s close to my heart. Kids come up to me all the time saying that it helped them through someone close to them passing away.

MAGX: Is there plans for a new album?

JP: Of course! Going to probably start
Recording in January.

MAGX: Do you guys plan out what your albums will sound like or do you just let it happen?

JP: We always let it happen. Were a real band. We obviously have a vision of how we want it to “sound” but that’s all studio magic. The songs though are always what feels right and true to who we are.

MAGX: What do you do on your down time?

JP: On my down time, I tattoo, draw designs for bands merch, hang with my lady and dog, go to target, the movies, take care of my house, hang with family, hike, and surf.

MAGX: How did the collaboration with Zombie legend George Romero come about for the video “DON’T LET HER PULL YOU DOWN”?

JP: We knew we wanted to have that “cheap “B” movie” look, which isn’t a bad thing! It’s awesome. I wish we could have made it more gory though.

MAGX: So how long would you guys survive if a zombie plague erupted and over took most of the world? What would be the secret to your survival?

JP: I think I would know what to do. I’ve been into zombies and horror for a long time. My secret would be to stay up high. Pack a lot of heat (from breaking into gun shops), and also find anything in the form of a shovel or chain saw or lawn mower.

MAGX: If you were granted a super power by some alien
intelligence, what would you want it to be?

JP: I would have an invisibility power. That would totally help
during a zombie attack too!

MAGX: HAHA, Good One! Thanks for your time Jordan! See you at Las Palmas Event Center on Sept. 9th!

JP: Thanks man. Look forward to playing a longer set!!!

MAG-XTRA w/ Jordan Pundik

Fave album:
my bloody
valentine
“loveless”

Fave album cover:
Andrew WK “I get wet” nothing beats a dudes face real big with a bloody nose!

Fave song of all time:
too many to pick just one!

Blondes or Brunettes?
Brunettes

Favorite Food: Sushi

Favorite Movie:
Inglorious Basterds

Favorite Comic Book
Character: Rick from
“The Walking Dead”

Most Prized Possesion:
My skeleton key on my necklace.
Star Wars or Star Trek:
Star Wars

Favorite ZOMBIE Movie:
Lucio Fulci’s
“ZOMBIE”

By: Bob Lopez

I recently had the opportunity to talk to Cory Procter, Drummer of Free Reign and Dallas Cowboy Offensive Lineman, about his budding music career and here’s what he had to say:

Tell me how the band got formed?

It started with Marc Colombo and I jammin’ out on occasion and then Leonard Davis joined in. We started off much like a garage band, but the jam sessions went well and we started doing charity gigs and small shows at places like the Rock Room. About three years ago we played a charity event at the House of Blues in Dallas and then the Grenada Room shortly after and that’s when we started getting a lot of press about it.

How do you find time for both football and the band?

We have time in the offseason. We workout five days a week, but mostly in the morning so we’re done by noon. Then we get some time to go home and rest and later on we’ll meet up and practice in the evenings and on the weekends.

Has being in a band helped you guys on the field?
I definitely think it helps us on the field because it helps us gel. Both on the field and on stage we have to work together as a cohesive unit. In football we need all guys working together and it’s the same as a band. We’re friends in football and in the band.

With football being first, would you say this is the thing you are second best at?
I would say so (he says laughing). It’s more than a hobby. Hopefully after football we can continue this as a second career. We love what we’re doing and want to continue after football.

Who are some of your influences personally and what are the bands influences?

We all come from very different musical backgrounds. Marc and Justin are more metal heads. Marc is really into Metallica and bands like that, and Justin is more into the newer metal like Killswitch.  Leonard has a jazz background but he’s an all-around musician.  Me, I’m a lot like Leonard, an all-around musician, but I come from a country music background with rock influences too.

You’ve played in some pretty big football games in front of 10’s of thousands of people, How does being on stage compare?

The rush is the same.  It’s different in the opponent you face obviously. You’re not going against 300 pound defensive lineman, but you are facing an opponent. You’re going against yourself, trying to play the perfect show to please the fans. Trying to please the fans is also something we’re competing with every night.

Switching gears and asking a football question, you’re a restricted free agent this year, what happens to Free Reign if you get picked up by another team?
We would try to do things from a far, and in the offseason try and get together as much as possible. We’ve done things like that before where Justin will send me a riff and I’ll listen to the track and lay some drums on top of it. It’d be difficult, but since this project has become more serious we’d make it work.

Has Jerry (Jones) ever been to a show?

(laughing) He hasn’t been to a show before, but he knows about the band though. He doesn’t mind he lets us do our thing and doesn’t say much.  Wade Phillips on the other hand likes to get a laugh out of it. During practice he’ll throw out a Free Reign show out every now and then.

For more on FREE REIGN
visit myspace.com/freereign

What has this year been like for Deftones so far?

It’s been great, really great.  We’ve been hard at work getting this album out and it’s been goin by fast just like every year.  This year has been a very productive one. We’re ready to get back out there and the album man (Diamond Eyes).  We’re just really excited about it all.

This album Diamond Eyes is not Eros, correct?

We’re putting Eros on the back burner for now.  The whole thing happened with Chi (Bassist
Chi Cheng was seriously injured in an automobile accident in Santa Clara, CA, on November 4, 2008.) and the whole situation was too much.  So we just decided to start from scratch.  This album  came together really quick it was a very fluid and cool process.

Will the Eros sessions see the light of the day?

We hope to release one of these days.  We just waited out of
respect for Chi.  It’s been a year and half already but until he’s able to come back we’ll let this rest for awhile.  It’s really got a lot of good stuff to it. We just thought it was better to let it chill for awhile.
Rocket Skates, the first single off the new album showed many shades of the heavier Deftones of the past. Is that a premonition to the tone of the record?

We really tend to make records that are all over the place.  There was definitely a spark to writing this.  We had just made Eros and we were all creatively drained. When it came time to making a new record, I honestly wasn’t sure if we could do it.  But all in all it really just came together. Maybe it does sound heavier? There’s always people that want us to sound like we did from the beginning.  We just want to try to do everything different.  The album is pretty well rounded.  We come from a time when records were a viable thing.  So with our records we try to make them enjoyable from beginning to end.

What can you tell us about the Diamond Eyes single?

It’s a pretty cool song, it’s really short its just under 3 minutes long.  It’s got the heavy riff, it’s got off time, and more all packed into one killer groove.  The chorus gets me. It’s a beautiful chorus that really reaches for the sky. It’s one song that came out
really, really cool.  I  love that song personally.  It’s a little
nugget of the record.

What did you guys try to
accomplish with Diamond Eyes?

We just wanted to see what we could do.  We had just done a
record and it was pretty crazy to think lets make another one. I was a bit concerned because I wasn’t sure if we had any
creative juices left. Just when I thought we were totally tapped out, we went and were jamming out with our friend Serge on bass.  Serge is a great friend of the bands we’ve known and toured multiple times with his band Quicksand. He had filled in for Chi awhile back while  he was in surgery.  He was really a perfect fit.  When it came to see if he wanted to jam we were all blown away and were actually able to bury our heads in this record. It was cathartic.  Rather than dwelling on everything we made a new record.

What made you want to go with a different producer this time around?

Well I had met Nick (Raskulinecz – Foo Fighters, Stone Sour) 4 or 5 years ago he did some demo mixing on Saturday Night Wrist. He was just a super cool guy and a rad dude.  I was well aware of his work with other bands and what he had done. When Chino (Moreno, vocals) met him, Rick asked if we wanted to make a record and here we are.  Serge thought he was just coming in to play a few shows and we eneded up making a record. Everything kinda worked out though.  Nick is really a funny ass dude and a great person to be around. He whipped us into shape.   We usually have a pretty relaxed work ethic, I would say.  Nick had a great way of wrangling us in
everyday and we worked daily from noon until about 8pm and it hadn’t been that way for us for awhile.

What were your favorite tracks from the record?

Right now, I really like ‘em all.  They’re new, haven’t been burned out from over playing them.  I like the song Sex Tape a lot.  This album is one of the first times we went into the studio with everything written.  With us it ends up being extremely tedious and extensive.  We traditionally write most of the records in studio.   This is the first time since our first record, Adrenaline we were able to blast it out like that.  It was like we we’re a band all over again.

Many people have said Deftones’ music is therapeutic. What do you think about that?

I think it’s cool.  I like that there’s a million people that would come up with a different meaning for that.  I think it’s great.  That’s what music is all about.  If music helps you through things, if it makes you feel better that’s what it’s supposed to do.  It’s a funny thing because it can bring you back to your best or take you to your absolute worse.  That’s the true beauty of music.  Music is all over the place. I’m glad the people that enjoy our music do so.  I’m more than happy for it to be therapeutic.

This is the first visit to the RGV for  Deftones in 10 years. What do you have to tell the people of McAllen?

I think it was Halloween, I was dressed like a woman. Chi was a pimp and I was a hooker.  I
remember that night vividly. We found a Halloween store in Mcallen close the venue and ended up  buying a bunch of stuff.  I saw a video clip not to long ago of that show.  We were filming a movie about that tour at the time.  A movie that never came out. (haha) We had a clip of me dressed in make up dressed as a woman rocking on the drums. Thats such a great memory. It was really just too much that night.  We’re so stoked to come back.  That show is going to be crazy!  Come and rock out with us EVERYONE!  And one more thing DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS!

You may be asking who is Trainwreck?  And I’m here to tell you in short they are AWESOME.  The portly gentlemen in the hat making that awkward face is none other than Kyle Gass,  one half of the thunderous duo known as Tenacious D.  Trainwreck is an ecclecctic rock ‘n’ roll band that has been together 7 years and are embarking on their first tour in support of their new release The Wreckoning.  We caught up with KG himself for a Q & A about his career, a possible sequel to the cult favorite The PIck of Destiny, and all things Trainwreck.

I read recently that your first gig was for Coca-Cola. What did you do for them? What was it like?

What did I do? Really, what did I do?  My first job was a 7up commercial a million years ago. NO NO I DO NOT REMEMBER THAT!

I’m sorry I read that on a fan page.

Well, it must be true then.

You have made many cameos in several things from Music Videos (Foo Fighters), to Television (like Seinfeld), even feature films (Saving Silverman), which has been your favorite cameo?

My favorite cameo is definitely in Elf.  It’s just that I’ve always wanted to be in a movie that’s played every year.  Every Christmas it’s on it’s kind of like a new a classic.  Saving Silverman was fun one too.  But really all works is good.  No, that’s not true I was cut out of Idle Hands  and some other really bad movies like Dumb and Dumber I thought to myself like damn, I’m not funny enough to be in Dumb and Dumber? Which now is like the least funniest movie of all time. But I suppose if I had to be cut out of a movie it’s best to be cut out of the bad ones.

How did you feel about your appearance in Brutal Legend as Kage the Cannoneer?

That was fun! I had never done anything like that.  But in all seriousness they (the game designers) do the heavy lifting on that.  Basically I just went to a sound studio and read all the lines they told me too.  It’s definitely a different genre to be a part of and well it’s nice to be in a video game all huge and powerful.

Is it true you taught Jack Black to play the guitar?

I Did! That one is true, he was a pretty accomplished singer but I was surprised he wasn’t able to play an instrument. So i told him “dude, you need to learn to play something to accompany yourself.”  So i began to teach him a few things on guitar and he picked it up right away.  He would just sit on my couch and strum the same chords over and over.  I’ve known Jack for about 20 years now.  Shit! I’m getting old how did that happen!

What can people expect from your new project Trainwreck?

Well, it’s not actually new it’s been about 7 years in the making,  we’ve just been hitting it off and on.  It’s just a kick ass rock n roll band.  We play music in a highly stylized entertaining fashion. We’ll melt your faces or make you smile and then the smile melts you’re not even aware of it.  The good news is that we have a Trainwreck reconstructive surgery center just for that.

Tell us a little bit about your new music video “Brodeo.”

It’s an awesome song we put out just as a song for bros having a good time.  There are time when there are no girls allowed. It’s a time for having fun with your bros watching Jean Claude Van-Dam and playing beer pong. I think we really captured the Brodeo spirit.

This is your first tour, what are your thoughts?

Well, we just played Flagstaff, Arizona and we’re actually a few days into the tour and so far, so good.  We had a nice turn out and now we’re heading Albaquerque.  We wanna play every city in the us!  We wanna home deliver rock and it’s not really convenient but we’re gonna try to do it.  We’re kinda like the CENSUS OF ROCK! Time willing of course.

What can you tell us about The Wreckoning?

It’s truly a modern masterpiece produced by John Spiker. It’s basically like our greatest hits. If it wasn’t a great song we didn’t put it on this record.  We worked about 13-18 hours a day for 3 weeks. The record came out great and it was long overdue. It truly does feels good. We were waiting along for an evil producer who shall remain nameless. If you don’t go on the Trainwreck with KG and don’t buy the record you’re gonna be out of touch with modern culture and music as we know it today. YOU BETTER DO IT. YOU BETTER. IT’S GOOD!

Does Tim Blankenship really have an ‘86 I-ROC Z28, with dual over head cams, holly headers, and center line rims?

Well it’s in the song!  Yeah we aren’t sure he really exists but you know what, there’s a little bit of Tim Blankenship in us all, the guy that didn’t grow up but he’s still a cool guy.

What is a barn burnin’ button ruster?

It’s just a fancy way of saying it’s a hot steamy jam! You get the flavor that comes on right before JB Shredmen it starts off hot, gets hotter, then it actually bursts into flames.

How hard is it being a 5 headed hydra of pleasure?
Well, it’s harder than being a 1 headed hydra, because we have all those other heads and they’re probably a bit annoying.  It’s a lot of fun The Wreck is a team! This is a team sport , so not to hard really.

Who would win in a fight Trainwreck, Tenacious D, or the Kyle Gass Project?

I’m going to go with Trainwreck just by numbers!  The D is only 2 guys and in Trainwreck Darrell Donald is mountain and he will not lose in a fight. As far as The Kyle Gass Project it’s just me so i’d be fighting myself in a mirror and I’d definitely lose that one.  But in all honesty we’re men of peace and we don’t believe in violence.

Of your 3 alter-egos (Kyle Gass, Rage Kage, and Klip Calhoun) which would you say scores the most ladies?

I would say The Rage Kage, ah you know the ladies love The D. What can you do? When they see us it’s like an aphrodisiac. But i gotta say Klip Calhoun has his own charm.  Kyle Gass is just on his couch watching Jersey Shore, but we all love the ladies.

You’re being featured on the Spring Break issue, What is your favorite spring break moment?

I guess that one night in Fort Lauderdale when I had five co-eds doing a video shoot on my jock!  What is Spring Break? Is that college time? I’m so old i don’t even remember college. When was that? I do like the idea of Spring Break.  I encourage all the kids to drink responsibly.  Isn’t that an oxymoron really? If you’re gonna drink, why drink responsibly?

I know you’re a big cannabis enthusiast, what do you think the world can gain from the legalization of marijuana?

Well I’ve calmed down a bit. I used to be alot heavier into it but I’ve noticed that the older I get the more attached I am to my brain cells but I’m not going to lie I do indulge a bit every now and again.  I mean, everyone can figure it out it’s common sense we need to get out of the state we’re in.  We’re all adults and it’s the land of the free.  If you wanna smoke a bit of hooch at home who the hell should be able to stop you? Does the government really think we really eradicate all the pot smokers.  Every one does it and it’s almost legal now you can go to California and buy it from a store for God’s sake! It’s a hell of a lot better than being drunk that’s for sure. What’s really weird is that the government openly allows cigarettes and alcohol.  Here check this out here’s something ten times more addicting try kicking this habit!

These are a few questions that were sent in from our readers via
Facebook and Twitter.

Kenny: How many of those crazy pushups can you do?

I tell you what, I can do about a dozen but i might be losing some firmness for sure one and half.  If there happens to be a super hot girl around I can probably do about 5 or 6.

Leo:  Will there ever be a sequel to the Pick Of Destiny?

Well, i think if people write their congressman or start a letter writing campaign to the mayor of Hollywood it’s possible.  It wasn’t the box office sensation we had hoped for in the business they tell you you’re only as good as your last one.  It is show business after all. Its difficult but i think we’re going to make a cartoon and it’ll be the best one out there I think it will be on ADULT SWIM or something like that I’m not even supposed to say. It will be out early 2012 it’s going to help prevent the world from ending.

Marco: Kyle, What’s it like playing with jack black?

It is truly frightening but sometimes very satisfying.  He’s a great friend and collaborator.  He’s just a really talented and funny guy. Creating is hard but we tried really hard. He’s an amazing friend and we’ve had a great time.