Four Year Strong

Four Year Strong
Dan, Alan, & Joe (not pictured: Jake & Josh)
Background information
Origin	Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Genres	Pop punk Melodic hardcore[1]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Decaydance/I Surrender Records
Website	http://www.fouryearstrongmusic.com
Members
Dan O'Connor Alan Day Joe Weiss Jake Massucco Josh Lyford

Four Year Strong is a five-piece American popcore band from Worcester, Massachusetts.

History

3/5 of the current band members were in the original lineup that dates back to 2001. Dan, Alan, and Jake all attended Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, and eventually ended up meeting through introductions from mutual friends. After the departure of the original bassist, 2 or 3 years after formation, the band met Joe, eventually asking him to fill the position as the band's bassist. Four Year Strong's earlier compositions never included any keyboards, or synthesizers, but soon began to incorporate its sound into their music. The band cycled through many keyboardists, but recruited their current keyboardist Josh Lyford in late 2006. Over the past years, the band has done multiple national tours, sharing the stage with such bands as The Starting Line, Hellogoodbye, From First to Last, Every Time I Die, Meg & Dia, Hidden in Plain View, All Time Low, 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 are going on the Summer Co-Headline Tour w/ Set Your Goals guests include Set Your Goals, Fireworks, The Swellers, Polar Bear Club, A Loss For Words, Drive A, & Grave Maker from July 16 to August 26, 2009. Four Year Strong have also been confirmed for the Soundwave Tour (Australia 2010)

The band's 2007 release Rise Or Die Trying hit #31 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in 2007.^[2] Four Year Strong was signed to Decaydance in February 2008.^[3]

On July 21, 2009, Four Year Strong released an album of covers from the 90's. 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 posting -

We’ve always loved the 90’s. Pogs, “The Sandlot”, bowl cuts, “The Mighty Ducks”, JNCO jeans, “Full House”, Goosebumps books, Airwalks, “Home Alone”, the list goes on forever. Most importantly, there was the music. 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.

And so, we are proud to present Four Year Strong Explains It All. We've recorded some of our favorite songs from the 90s and this is our opportunity to show you guys some of the influences that helped make Four Year Strong what it is.

We're not going to spill the beans on the track listing just yet, but we’re sure that you guys can definitely make some close guesses. We're doing this because we love it. Plain and simple. With that said, we hope you all enjoy the record as much as we enjoyed making it. ^[5]

Four Year Strong revealed during their UK tour with Alexisonfire that they have just finished recording a new record and want to release it as soon as possible.

The bands still untitled 3rd album, is scheduled to be released in February 2010 on Decaydance Records, according to the December 2009 issue of Alternative Press^[6]

Musical Style

The band's sound can be described as a blend of Pop punk, Hardcore, and power pop. 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.^[7] The band has cited their influences as being Lifetime, Saves the Day, Gorilla Biscuits, Blink-182, and New Found Glory to name a few. Though the band would primarily start out as a post-hardcore and emo outfit, the release of their demo in 2004 would mark a shift from post-hardcore to more synthesizer-heavy tracks, where the band would began to embrace the styles of power pop and general punk rock. Prior to the release of and at times within Rise or Die Trying, the band also incorporates more facets of modern hardcore, such as double bass drums, breakdowns, and screaming vocals with the addition of synthesizers. Since a number of the band's songs are composed of hardcore breakdowns, soaring choruses, and upbeat tempos, many fans have mistakenly dubbed their musical style as 'Happy Hardcore,' though in reality this refers to a type of dance music popular in the mid-90's.

Band Members

Current Members:

• Dan O'Connor - vocals, guitar
  
• Alan Day - vocals, guitar
  
• Joe Weiss - bass
  
• Jackson "Jake" Massucco - drums
  
• Josh Lyford - synthesizer, vocals
  

Former Members:

• Teddy Petsas - vocals
  
• Ardie Petsas - bass
  
• Cameron Grabowski - guitar
  
• Bryan Gregoire - vocals
  
• John Dagnello - guitar
  
• Eric Stone - synthesizer
  
• Tim Savas - synthesizer
  
• Chris Curran - synthesizer
  
• Nick Charrette - vocals
  

^[8]

Discography

Four Year Strong, though more widely known for the music made from the year 2004 onward, have multiple releases (dating back as far as 2002) in their catalog. Rise or Die Trying marks their label debut. In addition to these records, Four Year Strong is also notorious for leaking pre-album material of their own, whether as a "secret song" or new album demo. Their releases are as follows:

Full lengths

Demos/EPs

Compilations

• Punk The Clock Vol. III: Property Of A Gentleman
  • "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die (Alternate 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)

• Punk Goes Pop 2
  • "Love Song" (Sara Bareilles cover)

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007)

• The band was originally named A Four Year Strong.

PRP: How did you come up with the name "Four Year Strong"?
FYS: When the band was formed by Teddy, Dan and Teddy wanted a name that described the bond that they had with their group of friends and how they would always be that way. So they came up with (A) Four Year Strong, which means friendships through high school. Then they took off the "A" at the beginning, and Four Year Strong was formed.
Question taken from FYS Interview

• Dan O'Connor was previously a member of Massachusetts hardcore band Bury Your Dead.

• Jake Massucco was also the drummer for the Massachusetts hardcore band I Rise.

• Though Alan was originally the band's lead vocalist, him and Dan O'Connor would switch lead and backing vocal duties during the in production of their 2004 demo.

References

External links

• Four Year Strong's official website
• Four Year Strong Interview on Rockmidgets.com
• Four Year Strong interview on AbsolutePunk.net
• Four Year Strong Brazilian Fansite