Four Year Strong Release "...Explains It All"
Suite101 Talks Exclusively with Alan Day About the New Record, Tour
Aug 4, 2009
Four Year Strong's latest release is a collection of cover tracks all hailing from the 1990's. "...Explains it All" was dropped on the 21st of July and features appearances from Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes), Keith Buckley (Every Time I Die) plus Buddy Schaub and JR Wasilewski from Less Than Jake. Suite101 interrupted Four Year Strong's load-in for their performance at the Otto Bar in Baltimore, Maryland. Guitar/Vocalist Alan Day graciously took the call.
Suite101: Synth player Josh Lyford was interviewed by Suite101 a few months back and hinted that a new album was close at hand. Is "...Explains It All" what he meant or can we expect new material?
Alan: No, we've just been working really hard, new material is definitely coming. We just got really excited about "...Explains It All" and wanted to focus on that for a minute. We've been writing new stuff the entire time,
Suite101: Talking about the new record, how was the set list constructed, what was the thought process?
Alan: We really put alot of thought into the songs that are on the record. We started with a list of i think 100 songs and just jammed out to what we could play best, what were our favorites.
Inside the New Album
Suite101: What's up with the edited versions of songs on the album like, "Spiderwebs, " and "Semi-Charmed Life"?
Alan: (laughing) I don't know...long, drawn out songs isn't really our style so we tried to do things that's more in line with how everyone would've remembered it...like the radio version of the song.
Suite101: With that said, "She Really Loved You" is the shortest track on the record, how important was it for you as a band to have a Reach The Sky song on the album?
Alan: Oh it's very important. We wanted at least one song on this record that really says what we grew up listening to and what influenced us not just the radio stuff...something more from the underground and not just the mainstream.
New Album for Decaydance Records
Suite101: Decaydance Records is the band's new label. Will a new Four Year Strong album be released exclusively through them or with ISurrender Records?
Alan: Honestly we haven't worked all the details of that out yet...Decaydance has been great, they leave stuff up to us. They trust our intentions which is pretty rare usually everyone wants to make decisions, but we're the band, we know what's best for us...We've been working really hard on new material. It's exactly how we feel Four Year Strong should be...we're not doing anything crazy, no techno beats where kids are gonna wonder, "What the **** are these guys doing?"
Four Year Strong are currently on tour with Set Your Goals, The Swellers, and Gravemaker.
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