Pop Punk / Hardcore
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, andCancer 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. Four Year Strong was signed toDecaydance in February 2008.
On July 21, 2009, Four Year Strong released an album of covers from the 90s. 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. The band explained their reasoning behind the album in a Myspace blog posting -
We’ve always loved the 90s. 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.
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 3rd Album, Enemy of the World, is scheduled to be released in March 9, 2010 on Decaydance Records, according to the band's Myspace and Facebook blogs. The band released their single, titled "It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now", off of the new album Enemy of the World on December 21, 2009.
Four Year Strong will be playing Vans Warped Tour 2010 from June 24- August 2
They will be playing the first day (May 1) on the Bamboozle
Music Style :
The band's sound can be described as a blend of Pop punk, Hardcore, and power pop, with subtle hints of metalcore. 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. 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 hardcore. 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
Members :
Current members:
- Dan O'Connor - vocals, guitars
- Alan Day - vocals, guitars
- Joe Weiss - bass
- Jackson "Jake" Massucco - drums, percussion
- Josh Lyford - synthesizer, keys, programming, piano, vocals
Former members:
- Teddy Petsas - vocals
- Ardie Petsas - bass
- Bryan Gregoire - vocals
- John Dagnello - guitar
- Eric Stone - synthesizer
- Tim Savas - synthesizer
- Chris Curran - synthesizer
