Four Year Strong

Four Year Strong is an American punk rock band from Worcester, Massachusetts, formed in 2001. The group consists of vocalists and guitarists Dan O'Connor and Alan Day, bassist Joe Weiss, and drummer Jackson Massucco. They have released five studio albums; their recent self-titled album was released on June 2, 2015, through Pure Noise Records.

History

Formation and It's Our Time (2001–2006)

Four Year Strong was formed in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 2001 by current members Dan O'Connor, Alan Day, Jake Massucco, and Joe Weiss as well as former member Josh Lyford. Dan O'Connor, Alan Day and Jake Massucco all attended Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester and met through mutual friends.^[1] They released their first studio album, It's Our Time, not long after their formation. The record's run was limited to 400 copies. The band released a demo in 2006, which contained early versions of their songs from Rise or Die Trying.

Rise or Die Trying, Explains It All (2006–2009)

The band's 2007 release Rise or Die Trying with I Surrender Records peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in its debut week.^[2] On the back of their increasing popularity, the band was signed to Decaydance Records in February 2008.^[3]

On July 21, 2009, Four Year Strong released covers album, titled Explains It All. The album features guest appearances from Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, and JR and Buddy of Less Than Jake.^[4] The band explained their reasoning behind the album in a MySpace blog, saying "It's what we grew up listening to. Everyone has those songs that instantly transport you back to when you were younger. Whether we were in our bedrooms playing air guitar, or riding in the car to little league practice, or it was just that song that was all over the radio during that awesome summer at the Cape. These songs have impacted us in some way and we want to share that feeling with you."^[5]

Enemy of the World (2010–2011)

The band's third full-length album, Enemy of the World, was released on March 9, 2010, with Universal Motown Records. The band released the album's first single, "It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now", on December 21, 2009. The name of the song is a reference to the final sentence of a review in Alternative Press in which the magazine praised Set Your Goals' new album while remarking on the future of Four Year Strong and how their record would compare. The vinyl record was made available to pre-order on March 2, 2010. The album sold 12,400 copies in its first week, debuting at number 47 on the Billboard 200. Four Year Strong has accompanied Set Your Goals in an Asian tour, but both canceled touring in Indonesia.

In Some Way, Shape, or Form and hiatus (2011–2013)

On April 3, 2011, it was announced that Josh Lyford would be leaving the band. Initially, it was implied that Lyford had chosen to leave in order to focus on his side project, Foxfires. However, it was later confirmed by both Lyford and Alan Day that the band had elected to remove synthesizers from their sound, leaving no room for Lyford to continue. On April 13, 2011, in an interview with Alternative Press, the band revealed that they had been in the middle of recording their fourth studio album with producer David Bendeth in New Jersey's House of Loud. The band is set to return to the studio, without Josh Lyford, to finish the album in June, after they finish touring with Rise Against.^[6] Vocalist Alan Day has also revealed that the new songs the band had written were very diverse, and that the new material is different than anything the band has ever written before. While touring with Rise Against, they have been playing a newly recorded, yet unreleased, song called "Falling on You".

On August 18, 2011, the band released "Stuck in the Middle", a new song from the upcoming album. The band announced that the new album will be titled In Some Way, Shape, or Form, and would be released on November 8, 2011.^[7] On September 8, 2011, the band released another song from the album, titled "Falling on You".^[8] The first official single from the album, "Just Drive", was released on September 27, 2011.^[9] During the Fall 2011 AP Tour, the band played another new unreleased song which will be released on the upcoming album. The band dedicated it to fans who have been there "from the very beginning, and will be there till the very end"; a video of the song has been leaked on YouTube. It is called "Fairweather Fan". In an interview, it was revealed that Four Year Strong would be playing the Warped Tour 2012.

As of May 15, 2012, Four Year Strong departed ways with their label Universal Motown/Universal Republic.^[10] Regardless of the departure of the label, the band is still active as they played at the 2012 Warped Tour, and they performed with Blink-182 on their UK and Ireland tour. As of 2013, rumors have speculated if Four Year Strong has broken up. O'Connor had been married to his wife for almost two years, and Day started his side project The Here and Now, an alternative/blues group who released an EP of music that year. When interviewed by PropertyOfZack, Day mentioned that the band isn't breaking up but rather taking time off. Going further, he said, "This is the first time in five years or more that we’ve taken more than three weeks off on tour...We’re definitely not breaking up. It seems like a lot of people are saying that, but I don’t know why they’re saying that. Just because we haven’t come through your city three times this year doesn’t mean we’re broken up."^[11]

Signing to Pure Noise Records, Go Down in History EP and Self-titled album (2014–present)

During their annual holiday show in Worcester, MA in 2013, Four Year Strong announced they were working on new material set to be released at a later date. They later announced an upcoming North American tour supporting Bayside set to tour throughout April 2014 and will play the Vans Warped Tour in its entirety the following summer. On May 27, 2014, the band announced a new EP titled Go Down in History, to be released through Pure Noise Records, on July 22, 2014. The EP's lead single, entitled "Tread Lightly", was released on June 5, and the EP was streamed in its entirety a day prior to release. The EP received critical acclaim upon release, with many critics praising the band's return to their signature sound.^[12] The band, as of October, has tweeted and posted photos on Instagram confirming that they are in the studio recording a new full-length album, set to release sometime during 2015. They kick off their Go Down in History tour on November 1, 2014, accompanied by Transit, Such Gold, and Seaway.

At their 2014 holiday show in their hometown of Worcester Ma, the band announced a full album would come later in 2015. On February 25, 2015, the band posted a picture on their Facebook account, showing bassist Joe Weiss in the studio. The picture was simply captioned "Finishing LP4", implying that the band was in the final steps of recording their new album. On March 20, 2015, the band posted a string of tweets on their official Twitter account claiming that their upcoming record was co-produced by their "new friend and manager" rapper Kanye West. It's unclear whether or not the announcement was a joke or if the partnership is real, with neither parties denying the claim.^[13] On April 2, 2015, Four Year Strong announced the artwork and track listing for their upcoming self-titled album which was released on June 2, 2015. The album was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. Vocalist/guitarist Dan O' Connor stated that the album was “one of the most raw records we’ve ever made, it’s just us playing. No fancy computer shit. Made for singing along and head banging.”.^[14]

On April 9, 2015, they released a brand new single entitled "We All Float Down Here", followed by "I'm a Big, Bright, Shining Star" and "Eating My Words" on April 27 and May 13, respectively.

The album was made available for streaming on May 27.

Touring

The band has done multiple national tours, sharing the stage with such bands as The Starting Line, Slip On It, Hellogoodbye, From First to Last, Every Time I Die, Meg & Dia, Hidden in Plain View, Alexisonfire, All Time Low, Blink-182, Mayday Parade, New Found Glory, Bayside and Steel Train. The band toured in February–April 2009 as part of the Taste of Chaos tour, alongside Thursday, Bring Me the Horizon, Pierce the Veil, and Cancer Bats. They undertook the Summer co-headline tour with Set Your Goals, and also Fireworks, The Swellers, Polar Bear Club, A Loss for Words, Drive A and Grave Maker from July to August 2009. Four Year Strong also performed on the Australian Soundwave festival in February and March 2010, alongside headliners Faith No More, Jane's Addiction, Placebo; also playing alongside Alexisonfire, Set Your Goals, A Day to Remember, Paramore, It Dies Today, Gallows, Emarosa, A Wilhelm Scream, Anthrax, All Time Low, Escape the Fate, This Is Hell, Enter Shikari, Anti-Flag, Baroness, Comeback Kid, The Almost, Dance Gavin Dance, Architects, You Me at Six, Rolo Tomassi, Dichi Michi, Sunny Day Real Estate and many more. In May 2010, the band subbed the mainstage at Slam Dunk Festival in Hatfield and Leeds, playing alongside New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, The Wonder Years, Hit The Lights and many more. The band was in the lineup for Vans Warped Tour 2010 and played on the Altec Lansing stage alongside Breathe Carolina, Hey Monday, and Set Your Goals.^[15] They also played the first day on the Bamboozle festival. Late 2010, Four Year Strong headlined a tour with Comeback Kid, The Wonder Years, American Fangs, and Mountain Man. The tour was titled "Tonight We Feel Alive!", and spanned the entire United States. In February 2011, Four Year Strong co-headlined the Kerrang! Relentless Tour 2011 with Good Charlotte with support from Framing Hanley and The Wonder Years. The tour began on February 3, 2011, in Dublin, Ireland. On February 15, 2011, it was announced that they had been added to support Blink-182 on their UK tour alongside You Me at Six. They will be joining Rise Against and Bad Religion on a US summer tour in 2011. They have also announced that they will come back to Australia later in the year to play Soundwave Revolution along with already announced bands The Damned Things, Story of the Year, Every Time I Die, Hellogoodbye, We Are the In Crowd and many others. The band will be with New Found Glory and Attack Attack! in September 2011 in Brazil on the XLive Music Festival (Curitiba 08/09, Rio de Janeiro 09/09 and São Paulo 10/09). It was announced the band would be supporting Blink-182 during their UK Arena tour in summer 2011, however, the tour was postponed till 2012, but Four Year Strong will be supporting, along with Blink-182 and The All-American Rejects, but only for their chosen dates. The other dates are taken up by Twin Atlantic and The Blackout. Four Year Strong toured in the UK in January 2012, along with Don Broco as support.^[16] Four Year Strong will embark on a headline tour of Europe in 2017 to mark the 10th Anniversary of the album Rise or Die Trying,^[17] starting in Barcelona Spain and finishing in the UK; they have 20 dates booked throughout February including but not limited to: Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Dublin and Belfast.^[18]

Musical style

The band's sound can be described as a blend of pop punk and hardcore punk. The band simply developed their sound off the idea of playing 'exactly what they want to hear' or music that they would listen to, but no one else was playing at the time.^[19] The band's sound has been described as a ″combination of pop-punk energy, uplifting singalong choruses, and metalcore flourishes″^[20] with ″assertive and (relatively speaking) intricate guitar lines and riffs″ ^[21]

Band members

Discography

Full length albums

Demos/extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Compilations

• Punk the Clock Vol. III: Property of a Gentleman
  • "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die (alternative version)
• Take Action! Vol. 7
  • "Heroes Get Remembered Legends Never Die" (music video)
• The Sounds of Summer Sampler Vol. 2
  • "Bada Bing! Wit' a Pipe!"
• Warped Tour 2008 Tour Compilation
  • "Bada Bing! Wit' a Pipe!"
• A Tribute to Blink 182: Pacific Ridge Records Heroes of Pop-Punk
  • "Dumpweed" (Blink-182 cover)
• Warped Tour 2010 Tour Compilation
  • "Tonight We Feel Alive (On a Saturday)"
• Punk Goes Pop 2
  • "Love Song" (Sara Bareilles cover)
• Warped Tour 2012 Tour Compilation
  • "Not to Toot My Own Horn But, Beep Beep"

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Four Year Strong.

• Official website