Single Slam – Happy Being Miserable by New Found Glory (Makes Me Sick)

Pop punk stars New Found Glory have released a new single and video called Happy Being Miserable. It is the first glimpse of new music from their new album due out on the 28th April. That album will be called Makes Me Sick and will be released via Hopeless Records.

Makes Me Sick will be the popular Floridian band’s 9th studio release. It follows 2014’s well received album Resurrection.

After some line up changes before the release of 2014’s Resurrection, the line up remains the same for this album. The band consist of Jordan Pundik on vocals, Chad Gilbert on guitars, Ian Grushka on bass and Cyrus Bolooki on drums.

Renowned for generally upbeat, rhythmic music similar to Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World and Bowling For Soup, New Found Glory will still be aiming to bring plenty of energy with the new material. Happy Being Miserable isn’t the fastest, or most energetic track to start with though. It s a 3 minute long mid tempo track. It has a very familiar guitar riff and tone played throughout that could easily have been any pop punk band. The verses are a slightly slower tempo but that then builds up to a faster chorus. Lyrically it deals with a familiar enough topic for this genre with the singer essentially telling someone he doesn’t want to know them anymore as they are too negative.

Vocally, Jordan sounds great and some of the harmonies with Chad Gilbert’s backing sound really good. Musically, it is a simple enough drum beat with a very generic riff throughout though there are some nice lead guitar lines separating choruses from next verses. There is a nice chunky bass section that leads into a little solo before it returns to repeating the chorus through to the end.

It is a very listenable, radio friendly, pop punk track but for me it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Musically it could have come from any pop punk band in the last 15 years or so. It doesn’t really have any individuality stamped on it and feels quite generic. Catchy, but generic. The vocals are the best bit of Happy Being Miserable with Jordan and Chad sounding on fine form.

Chad Gilbert spoke with Alternative Press recently saying – “Lyrically, this album looks at our culture and where we’re at—even in ourselves. We live in a place where people, ourselves included, spend so much time pointing the finger at others. They point at everything else they want to fix with the world, but they never really point at themselves. This album is more vulnerable, but it’s a different kind of vulnerability and honesty than our other records. Musically, we’ve found this sort of freedom because of our fans and their loyalty to us over the years. We use this juxtaposition between our most accountable lyrics and our most fun music.”

Happy Being Miserable is a perfectly fine song that suffers from sounding extremely similar to many other pop punk songs. Even their own. The vocals are good and the music is catchy so I am sure everyone will enjoy it for a listen or two but put it on an iPod with some other pop punk tunes and tell me where this one stands out from the crowd? It doesn’t. Happy Being Miserable suffers from the same problem the pop punk genre suffers from. Everything is just a bit too samey.

Check the track out for yourself on Hopeless Records YouTube channel. You can also preorder the new album from here. You can also give the band a like or follow over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram too.