By Calen Vanstone
It has been a colossal three years in the life of Pop-Punk/Hardcore outfit Four Year Strong, starting with their signing to Pete Wentz’ Decaydance Records in 2008 to their recent support tours with Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Rise Against and Bad Religion. However, Dan O’Connor, vocalist and guitarist for Four Year Strong is adamant that even though it’s been a “whirlwind” for all of them, they’ve kept their feet firmly on the ground, and tried to “enjoy every moment of it”.
From their humble beginnings in 2001 as teenagers, playing their first show at guitarist Alan’s sister’s Halloween party, they have never lost sight of who they are and where they are from. Recently, they celebrated the tenth anniversary of said debut show, and O’Connor reminisced about that night, and an interesting coincidence.
“We’d only been together for a couple of weeks, and we only had two original songs. We knew we couldn’t just play them, so we went and got all our favourite CDs and learnt them all. We played for an hour and a half, and got people to yell out songs.”
“It was funny as Josh, our former keyboardist, was at the party that night. This is before he had joined the band, we didn’t even know him then, he was just there with some other friends.”
With the said departure of Josh Lyford in April this year, and all keyboards from the band for that matter, the new album, In Some Way, Shape Or Form, was destined to be a talked-about album. O’Connor stated the band’s dissatisfaction with their past releases, in particular, 2010’s Enemy Of The World, for their muddied mixes. That frustration led to the “clearer” sound of the new album.
“Enemy had so much going on; two guitars playing different things, bass and drums soloing, two vocalists. We just wanted to make something that was a bit easier to comprehend, and give everyone their moment.”
The band, according to O’Connor, also embraced darker lyrics and subject matter due to the hectic way their lives had become since releasing the last two records.
“For three years we’d go on tour, then get back and write a new record, and then tour again. It took its toll on us. All of this shaped how we wrote the new album.”
In Four Year Strong tradition, the band leaked “Stuck In The Middle” from the recording sessions several months before the official release, which was soon followed by “Falling On You”, before the first single “Drive” was released in late-September. The leaking is due, in most part, to the bands sheer enthusiasm for the music they are creating and the importance of keeping in touch with their fans at all times.
“We get so excited for people to hear our stuff, we always push to release anything we can if it’s ready. We are also aware of the way things are at the moment, and that we are no longer in the days where bands sell however many records and that’s it. We know it’s important to connect with our fans. We enjoy all that. We love playing all those acoustic gigs and stuff like that. I think our fans appreciate it all and feel they are a part of something special. We all just feel really lucky to be in a band.”
As for those yet to experience Four Year Strong, O’Connor provides a starting point when revealing what nineties film best represents the band, in keeping with the bands common use of pop-culture references from the decade.
“It would have to be Can’t Hardly Wait. It has a great energy that we relate to. However, It was the soundtrack, full of Sublime, Blink 182 and Guns N’ Roses, that was most influential to us.
SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL VENUES AND DATES
SATURDAY 3 ADELAIDE, BONYTHON PARK
General Public tickets on sale now through www.soundwavefestival.com www.oztix.com.au & Oztix outlets & www.ticketek.com.au 132 849
*All shows are licensed and all ages
*Venue and lineup subject to change
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