Guide
Beer and Blood Stains Review: New Found Glory return with Beer and Blood Stains, a track that feels like the band digging back into their roots and coming up with something that actually sounds vital again. This is the kind of song that reminds you why people fell in love with them in the first place, pulling from those early Florida hardcore days while still sounding fresh enough to justify its existence in 2026.
It’s off their upcoming album Listen Up! and honestly, if the rest of the record has even half the energy of this one, we’re in for something special. The band has always walked this line between pop punk catchiness and genuine aggression, but here they lean way harder into the heavy side than they have in years.
Song Analysis (Beer and Blood Stains Review)
This track hits different from what New Found Glory has been putting out lately. The guitars are absolutely crushing here, with these tight palm muted riffs that remind me of their earlier stuff but somehow feel even heavier. Chad Gilbert clearly went into the studio wanting to channel that old Florida hardcore energy, and you can hear it in every chuggy power chord.
The production from Steve Evetts gives everything this raw, live room feel without sounding messy or overdone. Jordan Pundik’s vocals still have that same bright, almost sugary quality, but putting them over these aggressive guitar tones creates this really cool contrast that makes the whole thing work.
A great thing about this song is how the drums drive everything forward with a relentless energy. Cyrus Bolooki is just laying into his kit, and you can tell they tracked this to sound organic rather than polished to death. The bass sits perfectly in the mix, giving weight to those heavier sections without getting lost.
The whole thing clocks in around three and a half minutes, which is just right because it comes in hard, makes its point, and gets out before wearing out its welcome. The tempo keeps things moving but never feels rushed, and there are these moments where everything locks in together that just hit perfectly.
The vibe is what really makes this memorable though. It’s nostalgic without being sappy, and even though the lyrics are looking back at some pretty wild and dangerous times, there’s this celebration of just being alive running through the whole thing.
It manages to sound like both a party and a fight at the same time, which is a weird balance but it totally works. You can feel the band having fun with this one while also showing they can still write something genuinely heavy when they want to. It’s got that riff first mentality where everything else builds around these solid guitar parts, and honestly that approach serves them really well here.
Lyrics (Beer and Blood Stains Review)
A parking lot or a proving ground
From outside you can hear the sound
The club owner stole the cash (Stole the cash)
We’d strike back, kick the ceiling down
I can still smell the beer on the floors
And see stains from the bloody noses
Such a backwards way for a good time
It was our home
Our time
How did we make it out alive?
Looking back
Was it fun or crime?
Some of the best years of our lives
Some of the best years of our lives
A dance floor or a boxing ring
Upfront, let ’em hear you scream
A backhand or your car was smashed (Car was smashed)
You couldn’t say things you didn’t mean
I can still smell the beer on the floors
And see stains from the bloody noses
The bathroom door barely hanging on
Never cleaned on its last hinges
If we had the time, I could tell you a thousand stories
Such a backwards way for a good time
It was our home
Our time
How did we make it out alive?
Looking back
Was it fun or crime?
Some of the best years of our lives
Our home
Our time
How did we make it out alive?
Looking back
Was it fun or crime?
Some of the best years of our lives
It’s good to be alive
Burn it down
A different time, a different place, it’s good to be alive
A different time, a different place, it’s good to be alive
Florida!
Florida!
Florida!
Florida!
Our home
Our time
How did we make it out alive?
Looking back
Was it fun or crime?
Some of the best years of our lives
Our home
Our time
How did we make it out alive?
Looking back
Was it fun or crime?
Some of the best years of our lives
Some of the best years of our lives
Some of the best years of our lives
Meaning (My Opinion) (Beer and Blood Stains Review)
The lyrics speak about the messy, beautiful chaos of being young and involved in the punk scene. New Found Glory are painting a picture of playing DIY shows at trashy clubs where everything was falling apart, literally and figuratively.
For me, I can feel the grime of those venues through the words: beer soaked floors, broken bathroom doors, blood stains from fights that broke out in the crowd. The club owner ripping off the band, kids getting their cars smashed in the parking lot, the whole thing teetering between exhilarating and dangerous. But what really comes through is how much those experiences meant to them.
That run down club wasn’t just a venue; it was their home, their world. The song wrestles with looking back and wondering if they were crazy or if it was all worth it, but you can tell from the way they describe it that despite the chaos, those were genuinely some of the best years of their lives.
What makes this song hit different is how it captures that specific feeling of nostalgia mixed with disbelief. Like, how did we actually survive that? The whole Florida punk scene was apparently wild enough that they’re still processing it years later.
There’s this tension throughout where they keep asking themselves if it was fun or if it crossed the line into something darker, but they never really answer that question because maybe it was both.
The raw energy of youth, the sense of belonging to something, even if that something was kind of a disaster. They’re celebrating survival while also acknowledging they put themselves through some genuinely questionable situations. It’s honest in a way that a lot of nostalgia songs aren’t, admitting the ugliness while still holding onto the magic of what it meant to be part of that scene.
Listen To “Beer and Blood Stains” By New Found Glory (Beer and Blood Stains Review)
He discovered the gem when he was 12 years old and still has it now, claiming it to be why he fell in love with music. He likes to play disc golf when he's not writing about music. He is a one-of-a-kind individual who is always the first to bust out his air guitar on the dance-floor.
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