Exclusive Interview: Four Year Strong
Talking about their new record and newly announced tour!
Earlier today, Feed The Beat band Four Year Strong announced an awesome lineup for their fall tour! Featuring fellow Feed The Beat alumni Defeater and Superheaven, FYS will headline across the country - hitting some venues they haven't played in years! - starting September 1st.
We spoke with the band and they're pretty excited about this upcoming adventure, and rightfully so! Read on for our exclusive interview:
Tell the Feed The Beat community about Four Year Strong in one sentence: Pop punk for dads.
You guys just announced an absolutely killer tour, and it seems like a lot of these shows are in venues or clubs you haven't played in a while. Are you excited to get there and get close to the fans? We're super excited to get back on the road and play some awesome shows with awesome bands. We wanted to play smaller rooms to make sure the shows were as crazy as possible. If you come make sure to jump off of something.
What about the bands you're taking out on the road with you? It seems like there's something for everyone on the lineup (including two other Feed The Beat bands, Superheaven and Defeater!) We love all of the bands! We've toured with some of them before, known some through other people and bands, and though we've never toured with Defeater before, we're stoked to get to know a group of young handsome men from our lovely home state of Massachusetts.
With being out on the road for a good month and a half, what are your "tour must haves" going to be? Anything you can't travel without? Pretty much just clean socks and underwear, a tooth brush, and an iPhone. iPhones have made touring a lot easier.
Are there any cities in particular you're looking forward to be going back to, or seeing for the first time? We're always excited to play in Boston, Chicago, Philly, NYC, Seattle, hell we're excited to play everywhere. It's going to be a great tour.
The new record you've just released is self-titled. Four Year Strong have been around for a while now, and have gone through a lot or growth and adventures as a band - did you feel like having this release be self-titled was a return to form? We jut felt like this record musically was a perfect representation of who we are as a band right now. We have gone through a lot and once this record was finished being recorded, we realized it was our favorite record of ours to date so it just felt right to just call it Four Year Strong.
Since the self-titled record is the latest in your long discography, there's a lot of material to pull from when you're putting together a set list. Will you be covering a lot of your history for these upcoming shows? We always like to play a little bit of everything. We love to play old songs that are crowd favorites of course, but we are really stoked to play new songs that we've never played before to see how they go over in a live setting. We wrote all of the new songs to be live songs so I'm hoping they go well!
Besides the tour this fall, what else can the fans expect from the Four Year Strong camp over the next few months? We're hoping to plan some more touring, release some music videos, and maybe even start writing some more new music! We're back at it for good!
...for good?! That sounds pretty good to us! Don't miss Four Year Strong on the road this fall:
with Defeater, Expire & Speak Low (full band)
Sept 1 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Sept 2 - Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
Sept 3 - Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge
Sept 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
Sept 5 - St. Louis, MO @ Firebird*
Sept 6 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
Sept 8 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
Sept 9 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
Sept 11 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sept 12 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
*no Expire
with Defeater, Expire & My Iron Lung
Sept 14 - Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
Sept 15 - San Diego, CA @ The Epicentre
Sept 16 - Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
Sept 17 - Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
Sept 18 - Tempe, AZ @ Club Red
Sept 19 - Albuquerque, NM @ The Works
Sept 21 - Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar & Grill
Sept 22 - Austin, TX @ Red 7
Sept 23 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio
with Defeater, Superheaven & Elder Brother (acoustic)
Sept 25 - Orlando, FL @ The Social
Sept 26 - Margate, FL @ O'Malley's
Sept 27 - St. Petersburg, FL @ Local 662
Sept 28 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade - Hell
Sept 29 - Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
Sept 30 - Louisville, KY @ Headliner's Music Hall
Oct 1 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
Oct 2 - Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Oct 3 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Shakas Live
Oct 4- Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Oct 6 - New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
Oct 7 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
Oct 8 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Rialto
Oct 9 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
Oct 10 - Buffalo, NY @ The Waiting Room
Oct 11 - Boston, MA @ The Middle East Downstairs