Four Year Strong interview

e-Mo Magazine speaks to Dan O'Connor about the band's upcoming album

e-Mo: You performed at Give It A Name this May - were you excited?

Dan: Yeah, we [were] all super stoked. We've wanted to come to the UK real bad for a long time. We [were] real psyched for Give it a Name as well, it’s a huge fest and it’s real awesome that we [got] to play such a huge show with tons of sick bands. Definitely a great way to start out our first shows in the UK.

e-Mo: Which bands are you most looking forward to performing with on the GIAN Introduces tour?

Dan: Well as far as the fest goes, I’m super stoked for Glassjaw and Strike Anywhere. Watching those bands is f*cking amazing. Two great bands. Also playing that I really want to see is You Me At Six. I’ve heard lots of great stuff about that band and I’m looking forward to seeing them live. As far as the tour goes, there are some great bands on it. Mayday Parade we have toured with before and they are some great dudes. I’m really psyched to see Color Fred live. I think it’ll be stoked.

e-Mo: This will be your first UK performance - what are you hoping to do/see whilst you're here? (We wouldn't recommend the London Eye by the way, unless you like moving around in circles really slowly)

Dan: Thanks for the tips. We are really psyched to do a lot of sight seeing. Like all the normal stuff to see in London like Big Ben and Tower Bridge and that. Also if we can see Stonehenge that would be sick. 

e-Mo: Your debut album Rise Or Die Trying is being released in Europe this May - we can't wait! What can we expect from the album?

Dan: We tried to make the whole album as high energy as we could from start to finish. We didn’t want it to be too polished, so we left a lot of stuff that most bands would redo because we wanted it to sound human. We didn’t want it to be all fake sounding.

e-Mo: You recently signed to Decaydance Records - how does it feel knowing you have the support of someone like Pete Wentz?

Dan: It always feels good to have people like your band. Pete is an awesome dude and it’s great to have him on board. We wanted to make sure that everyone involved in the band was someone who was stoked on our band, and having someone like Pete on the team is really awesome.

e-Mo: You've got a lot of tours lined up this year, including the Vans Warped Tour. Which are you most looking forward to and why?

Dan: The Warped Tour is gonna be sick. It’s our first time doing it so we don’t know exactly what to expect, but we have had a lot of people let us in so we don’t make a lot of the first time mistakes a lot of bands do. Also we are super stoked for our New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, Crime in Stereo tour in the UK in November.

e-Mo: Finish this sentence: Four Year Strong sound like...

Dan: A tree falling in the forest when it thinks no one is around. That’s right..... trees can think.

e-Mo: What's your favourite track to perform live on Rise Or Die Trying, and why?

Dan: I would have to say either "Prepare to be Digitally Manipulated" or "Catastrophe". Those songs are always a blast to play live.

e-Mo: What's been your worst gig to date?

Dan: I don’t know, we played tons of sh*tty shows over the years. I can’t really think of one in particular. We toured for about 2-3 years playing shows to 10-15 kids (mostly the rest of the bands), but even those shows were a tonne of fun. They ruled because even though the shows "sucked" you made them a lot of fun. Every band knows what I’m talking about.

e-Mo: Who are your musical influences?

Dan: We all grew up listening to a lot of hardcore from around where we are from, like bands like Blood for Blood, Bane, The Hope Conspiracy etc so that has a lot to do with our more aggressive sound. But we also listened to bands like Saves the Day, NFG, Get up Kids, etc. so we just ended up splattering together all the sounds that we liked.

e-Mo: What makes Four Year Strong unique?

Dan: I don’t know, you tell me ha ha.

e-Mo: How did the band get together and who came up with the name?

Dan: Alan, Jake and myself started and named the band while we were in high school in like 2001. We just played local shows and sh*t like that. We met Joe about 4 years ago and Josh like 2 years ago and the band’s been like that ever since.

e-Mo: And finally, the burning question: chocolate or strawberry ice cream?

Dan: Strawberry, I actually really don’t like chocolate.

Check out the band at www.myspace.com/fouryearstrong