Four Year Strong Interview

The first ever Slam Dunk South at Hatfield University may have been beset with teething problems but luckily that didn’t stop BringthenoiseUK catching up with the lovely Dan O’Conner and Alan Day of Four Year Strong for a quick pre-show chat. We talked about their new album, Enemy of the World, as well as all things Slam Dunk and punk rock with the band’s two singer/guitarists.

BTN: There’s a whole heap of pop punk bands playing here today, what can we expect from Four Year Strong, how do you differ from the other artists on the bill?

Alan: I wouldn’t say we differ there’s a lot of similar bands on the bill and that’s a good thing. A lot of fans of New Found Glory, have probably never heard of us before, you know, same with Set Your Goals and some other bands…

Dan: What kids can expect when they come to our show is for us to put all the energy we have into our live show and get the kids involved in pushing that energy out. When you come and watch Four Year Strong, you’re gonna leave tired, you know what I mean?

Alan: In a good way!

Dan: Yeah, when you come and see our band you’re definitely gonna have a good time.

BTN: Your new album Enemy of the World came out earlier this year…

Dan: Yeah it’s going way better than we expected. We’re really pleased with how everything’s going with the band and with the record. And now we’re in the UK for this festival and it’s awesome.

BTN: How was the creative process different for this album?

Alan: Other stuff we’ve done we’ve always written well in advance and come into the studio and said “here’s all the songs we have.” But on this record, we also had a lot of stuff we came with, but we wrote a lot in the studio and it’s the first time we’ve done that. That was refreshing and brought a lot to the record because it was new and exciting for us. So, I think that comes across a lot in the music, for sure.

Dan: One thing that was exciting in the studio as well was that as soon as you write something, in the next couple of days you’re gonna record it and it doesn’t give you enough time to second guess yourself, which I think ended up being a good thing for us.

Alan: Yeah and we’ve taken a few more risks, not huge ones, but we definitely tried to do things we’d never done.

Dan: I’m really happy with how things came out, we went with our gut instincts on everything and I think it really worked out well.

Alan: It helped too to have the producer there coz we’re definitely our own worst critics and it’s great to have someone else there to say “that really works, keep THAT!”

BTN: So what inspires you to write? Where does a Four Year Strong song come from?

Dan: We usually start with the music. And when we’re writing one of the first things we ask ourselves is “what’s the vibe?” and “how are we gonna do this live?” Our live show is very important to us so we want to make sure that it’s always gonna be intense and energetic. So we make sure the music is right first, then afterwards we sit down and think about what the song is gonna be about or we’ll write melodies and sing gibberish words and then Alan will say ”oh you said something that was real” and we’ll keep that.

Alan: And we take inspiration from a lot of different things. We’ve got songs about girls and friends and family and the road and there’s songs about just life in general. We don’t just write every song as a love song. We could do that because that’s something everyone could relate to but there so much other stuff going on in our lives that we feel we can word in a way so that anyone could relate to that.And that’s something we’ve tried to do definitely on this record is write from our experiences and let others relate to it in their own way. And that’s why people like music, because you feel something from it and your take something from it.

BTN: Are there any bands playing this weekend that you’re looking forward to seeing?

Dan: Yeah, defnintely.

Alan: Yeah, I mean we have a lot of friends playing, like Fireworks and Set your Goals and Hit the Lights… I wanna go and check out Against Me at some point…

Dan: Yes!

Alan: It’s difficult coz we’re playing the same time as them everyday…

Dan: Yeah, them and Skindred, bummed out!

Alan: And the Millionaires.

Dan: Hahaha!

BTN: So have you got any bands you’re loving at the moment that we haven’t heard of and should be checking out?

Dan: Title Fight. Yeah, some kids may know them… they’re still a pretty small band but people seem to be hearing their name now in the states and over here… They’re a great band, they’re definitely gonna be something to watch.

Alan: Yeah and some bands playing today like This Time Next Year, a lot of kids still don’t know these bands but they should. And Fireworks…

Dan: And Crime in Stereo… there are so many bands that are awesome, I don’t know how many people know them but they should listen to them.

Alan: And not just the music as well, but as people, they’re just hard working and do things for the right reasons too. They just love doing what they do and I think that’s important.

BTN: You have Warped Tour coming up this summer, and then what else is on the horizon for Four Year Strong?

Dan: We have no other solid plans for after Warped. We’ve talked about maybe a tour in the states sometime in the fall, trying to come back over here sometime soon… We’re always working, we’re always touring so we don’t have any solid plans yet but I’m sure we’ll be back.

Tags: Alan Day, Crime In Stereo, Dan O'Conner, Enemy of the world, Fireworks, Four Year Strong, Hit The Lights, Millionaires, New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, Skindred, Slam Dunk, This Time Next Year, Warped Tour