Interview: Four Year Strong - 14/10/09

Whilst in the UK on the Eastpak Antidote 2009 Tour, Alter The Press! managed to sit down with the guys from Four Year Strong.

The band spoke to ATP! about the forthcoming album they had just tracked before coming overseas, song titles, playing 'The Great Hardcore Fest' recently, being added on the Eastpak Tour line-up and more.

Alter The Press: Joining the Eastpak Antidote Tour 2009, purely coincidental because of Fall Of Troy canceling?
Four Year Strong: (Dan O' Connor - vocals/guitar) I think so, I know the tour was originally set-up as Alexisonfire, Anti-Flag and The Ghost Of A Thousand, but then they dropped off. We had spoken to Anti-Flag before about doing tours and I think they put our name forward for it. We got the offer and we accepted.

ATP: If this didn't happen, when were you due to come back to the UK?
FYS: (Dan) We didn't have any set time really, we were more concentrating on finishing the new record.

ATP: How has the response on this tour been, considering the band is not as ‘heavy’ as the rest of the bands on the bill?
FYS: (Dan) It's been good, the kids have been really cool. It's definitely different as we are the ‘pop-ier’ band, but we are heavy too, so I think the kids are kind of thinking at first, 'What the hell are this band doing on the bill?' but when they hear us they say, 'Oh, they’re really cool, I can see why they are on this tour'. It's been worthwhile so far.

(Joe Weiss - bassist): It's a different tour for us as we last came here with New Found Glory, Set Your Goals and Crime In Stereo; we just fitted right in. It's cool for us getting to play for some new fans.

ATP: Dan, you just posted on your Twitter recently that the new album has been tracked. Is there an album title? Song titles? What can you say?
FYS: (Dan) It's only songs right now, not even mixed or mastered yet. We literally just finished tracking instruments the day we left to come to the UK. We have no name, no ideas for any song titles yet, we are just stoked that the music is done and when we get back from the tour, we are going to get everything set.

ATP: Any guest appearances on the new album?
FYS: (Dan) One, but I don't know if we are allowed to talk about it yet.

ATP: How would you compare the new album to 'Rise Or Die Trying' (bands last album)?
FYS: (Dan) It's similar. I don't think kids are going to be thrown off by what we are doing, but we are definitely trying to do something new, something exciting, different, because no one wants to hear the same record twice. It is still Four Year Strong; it's still what everyone thinks, but with some twists and turns. It still has all the same bells and whistles 'Rise Or Die Trying' has, but when we wrote that, we concentrated mostly on cool parts, where on this one, we concentrated on writing good songs. I think the main difference is they are better surrounded songs then the last album. There are some songs about how we've seen things change, like from when we wrote 'Rise Or Die Trying', so many things have changed in the music industry that we were naive about but now we've come back, seen a lot of things that were a shocker, when you start getting into the nitty, gritty of the music industry. That's what some of these songs are about.

ATP: Will it be released on I Surrender Records in the US?
FYS: (Dan) Yes. We are still working on everything but it's still in the early stages.

ATP: Touching on song titles, a few of yours have been movie quotes. Is there a reason behind this?
FYS: (Dan) It's because we are boring people and all we do is watch movies, so pretty much our lives revolve around that. We are the kind of band that, when we hear something funny, we repeat in constantly, not just movie quotes. It's like one of us will say the line and then somebody else will say it, and then somebody else will say it and it goes on. It's called the retard game and it's pretty much how it is. We don't really think about it, it’s just 'Oh, that’s a funny line,' then it'll be a working title and then we'll never change it.

ATP: You just played, 'The Great American Hardcore Fest'. How did Four Year Strong go over?
FYS: (Dan) It was good, better than we thought. We knew that we were the exact opposite to the bands, but it went over good. There were kids who came to see us, which was great. We mainly played that show for us and for our friends. There were bands we wanted to see on that show and it was something we wanted to do.

ATP: Favorite tour you've done?
FYS: (Dan) This summer, with Set Your Goals, Fireworks, The Swellers, Polar Bear Club and Crime In Stereo. It was awesome, all friends just hanging out.

ATP: What's the plan after this tour?
FYS: (Dan) We go home, get ready to work on stuff for the album, and then a headline US tour in January.

ATP: When are you coming back to the UK?
FYS: (Dan) Hopefully after the new record. When the new record comes out, come here and do a headline tour. We did that show at the Underworld in London; that was really fun. If we could do a tour with Set Your Goals and Fireworks here, that would be fun.

ATP: That is the tour the fans want.
FYS: (Dan) It wouldn't be surprising because it was something we were talking about last time we were here with Set Your Goals.

ATP: Anything else you would like to add?
FYS: (Dan) Get all your vitamins, and the candy in the UK is weird.

- Jon Ableson