Four Year Strong
We have a chat with the frankly awesome punk gang about their frankly awesome 2010.
Massachusetts boys Four Year Strong have been going quite a while, but it's only with latest album 'Enemy Of The World' that the, er, world has really sat up and taken notice. Rightly so, too - the album's infectious blend of pop and hardcore is the catchiest and most impressive thing we've heard in quite some time. To celebrate their new video for the fantastic 'Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)' (out 8th November), we sat down with synth dude Josh to learn a bit more about their slow-but-sure rise to rock fame.
Your new video is pretty amazing. How's the reaction been?
First of all, thank you very much! The concept was actually pretty simple to come up with, one of the things that we as a band have in common is an appreciation for history. It definitely sounds like something I just made up to sound smarter, but it's true. Particularly early American history, but also world history. We'd been talking about doing a music video for the song, and we decided we wanted to go a different direction than usual and said "lets have it take place during the revolution." It's really hard to stand out in todays music scene, and I'm not saying we used this concept for that reason, but what other pop-punk bands have used this period before? I like to think if we aren't the first at least we're in the top ten.
You've had a surge in popularity recently, and 'Enemy Of The World' has done really well - has it felt like a fairly steady rise for you?
We have been shocked to see how well 'Enemy Of The World' has done. We all have a 'no expectations' kind of mentality with things - if this record only sold one copy we would be excited to have put out a record we could be proud of. Also I would have to thank my mom for buying that copy I guess. From our end though, a lot of it seems pretty steady. There are a lot more kids at the shows now than there were five years ago, but its been gradual. We stay on the road constantly so we've seen it build up over the years. If you had gone to a show in 2005 and then came to a show now, yeah it would look quite a bit different I suppose.
The latest album's out on a pretty big label. How have you found the difference from being on an indie?
What's unique about our situation is that while we have moved labels a few times, we never left anyone behind. The first label we signed to, iSurrender, is owned by our friend Rob Hitt who I talk to on the phone almost every day. We still work with everyone from that label now. Same with Decaydance, everyone is still working with us and its like this huge family that keeps getting bigger. We've been incredibly lucky to have the opportunities that we have though, and we know enough to not take anything for granted.
You've always been fairly hard tourers. Do you still enjoy it?
We do tour a lot, and I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times I would rather be at home playing with my cats. But with that being said, I really still do love getting out there and playing shows and experiencing new people and places. The current state of the music world - I almost said 'industry' but it made me think of being put into a musical meat grinder - is such that you have no choice but to stay on the road. Tour or be stagnant. This is the A.D.D generation: if you aren't on the road you aren't relevant. So we play as many shows as we can, keep touring, keep making new friends. This is what we'll do until our knees give out and we have use walkers onstage.
What are your plans for the rest of the year then? Anything exciting?
We have a lot of big plans for the rest of this year and next. A lot of it isn't quite ready for us to announce, but we have a whole lot of really cool stuff coming up. Touring is at the top of the list, and we plan on hitting a lot of places we haven't been to before. As well as all of our favorite spots.
We're putting together a half-way list of the best records released in 2010. Apart from yourselves, who would you recommend?
'I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone' by Crime In Stereo. It's sad that they have called it quits because they're our close friends and a really fucking awesome band, but this as a good record to go out on. Also the new Cruel Hand album, 'Lock And Key', rules.
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