It is difficult to know where to begin with someone like Chad Gilbert, because his influence reaches far beyond the band most people immediately associate him with. New Found Glory guitarist, songwriter, hardcore vocalist, producer, collaborator, husband and father. In just 45 years, Chad managed to leave his mark on an extraordinary amount of music.
Chad passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of September 20th, surrounded by friends and family, with his wife Lisa and his mother by his side. His death followed several years of living with cancer, including emergency brain surgery earlier this year. New Found Glory and Lisa confirmed the news in a joint statement, describing the shock of losing him so quickly while also expressing their gratitude that his final moments were peaceful.
For us, and probably for a lot of people reading Reckless Press, this one stings. New Found Glory are one of those bands whose influence is almost impossible to separate from modern pop punk. But when you look beyond NFG and properly take stock of everything Chad did, you begin to realise just how much of the wider alternative scene has his fingerprints on it.
Born in Coral Springs, Florida on March 9th, 1981, Chad’s roots were actually in hardcore. He became the vocalist of Shai Hulud while still a teenager and sang on their 1997 debut album Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion, a record that would go on to become an influential part of melodic hardcore. He eventually left the band to focus on playing guitar in what was then essentially his punk side project: New Found Glory.
Speaking earlier this year about those beginnings, Chad remembered punk and hardcore as somewhere he could belong. New Found Glory initially existed alongside his work with Shai Hulud, before eventually becoming his life for almost three decades. What started in Florida in 1997 would grow into one of the defining bands of an entire generation of pop punk.
With Chad on guitar and backing vocals, New Found Glory developed a sound that helped establish the blueprint for much of the pop punk that followed. Their self-titled album arrived in 2000 before Sticks and Stones took them to another level in 2002, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. Two years later, Catalyst reached number three. The band continued long after the initial explosion of early 2000s pop punk had faded, releasing Coming Home, Not Without a Fight, Radiosurgery, Resurrection, Makes Me Sick, Forever + Ever x Infinity, Make The Most Of It and, ultimately, 2026’s Listen Up!.
It means Chad’s final year also saw him contribute to another New Found Glory record, nearly three decades after joining the band. There is something particularly poignant about that now. Through every change in alternative music around them, Chad, Jordan Pundik, Ian Grushka and Cyrus Bolooki kept New Found Glory moving forward while retaining the unmistakable sound that made people fall in love with them in the first place.
The songs themselves will probably tell Chad’s story better than any list of accomplishments ever could. “Hit or Miss”, “My Friends Over You”, “Head On Collision”, “All Downhill From Here”, “Failure’s Not Flattering” and countless others became part of growing up for generations of pop punk fans. His guitar playing was a huge part of what made New Found Glory instantly recognisable, bringing the weight and energy of his hardcore background into a band built around enormous melodies.
But Chad’s contribution to this scene didn’t stop when he walked off stage with New Found Glory. His production credits alone read like a snapshot of alternative music through the late 2000s and early 2010s.
He produced H2O’s Nothing to Prove in 2008 before working with A Day To Remember on Homesick the following year. He would continue that relationship through What Separates Me from You and Common Courtesy, three records that became hugely important to a generation growing up where pop punk, hardcore and metalcore increasingly crossed paths. He also produced Fireworks’ All I Have to Offer Is My Own Confusion, Terror’s Keepers of the Faith, Trapped Under Ice’s Big Kiss Goodnight and State Champs’ The Finer Things.
Just think about that collection of records for a moment. New Found Glory’s catalogue would already be enough to give Chad a permanent place in pop punk history, yet some of the records he helped make for other artists went on to shape the generations that followed his own. Homesick and The Finer Things in particular became landmark albums for their respective eras, meaning Chad wasn’t simply there for one period of pop punk’s history. He helped pass it forward.
His musical life stretched even further. Chad returned to Shai Hulud and was involved with 2013’s Reach Beyond the Sun, played with Hazen Street, fronted New Found Glory’s hardcore alter ego International Superheroes of Hardcore and released his own music as What’s Eating Gilbert. He also appeared on other artists’ records, providing guest vocals for Fall Out Boy, Set Your Goals, Say Anything, Throwdown and Madball, while contributing guitar to Fall Out Boy’s “The Take Over, the Breaks Over”.
It’s an incredible body of work for anyone, never mind someone whose life has ended at just 45. From a teenager singing in a Florida hardcore band to playing stages around the world with one of pop punk’s most important groups, then using his experience to help another generation create records of their own, Chad seemed to exist in almost every corner of the music he loved.
His final years also put that career into a different perspective. Chad lived with serious illness while continuing to make music, undergoing multiple treatments and surgeries over several years. But the statement announcing his passing didn’t define him by that battle. Instead, his family and bandmates celebrated the musician, friend and person they knew, while making it clear that the role Chad treasured most was being a husband and father.
He leaves behind his wife Lisa, their daughter Lily, his mother Jackie and his brother Brian. New Found Glory’s surviving members said his influence would always remain part of the band, and that his spirit would be felt on every stage they stand on and with every note they play.
For the rest of us, his legacy is everywhere too. Put on a New Found Glory record. Put on Homesick. Put on The Finer Things, Nothing to Prove, Big Kiss Goodnight or Keepers of the Faith. Go back to Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion. Listen to the bands that came afterwards and were inspired by those records. Chad Gilbert helped connect generations of punk, pop punk and hardcore in a way very few musicians ever get the opportunity to do.
45 years was nowhere near enough, but what Chad did with those years was remarkable. He helped build a band that became an institution, helped create records that changed people’s lives and helped shape a scene that will continue long after today. For millions of us, those songs aren’t going anywhere..
Thank you for everything, Chad.
Chad Gilbert, 1981–2026.