Featured Music Four Year Strong: Determined to Rise Above

November 14, 2011 - 12:07 pm

Chinashop decided to catch up with Four Year Strong as they headline the Alternative Press Fall Tour 2011 along with bands Gallows, Title Fight, The Swellers, and Sharks! The day, November 8, 2011, marks a milestone in the band’s career. It is the day of their latest album release, In Some Way, Shape or Form (Decaydance, Universal Motown). It’s also the most mature album to date for the Worcester, Massachusetts natives, and deals with issues during a transitional phase for the band who found themselves at the crossroads of their career, all the while sticking to their roots firmly planted in the hardcore scene.

Finding a cozy little nook in a public alley behind The Glass House in Pomona, Four Year Strong members Alan Day, Dan O’Connor, Joe Weiss, and Jake Massucco fill us in on some of the key tracks on the new album, and discuss what they’d do if time travel were possible.

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Music Gallows: Old School Punk-Metal at Breakneck Speeds

August 5, 2010 - 10:25 am

Gallows. Grrr.

With a band called Gallows — on a label like Epitaph, no less — one might not be expecting the most uplifting or positive musical vibes from a British quintet dressed like they’re ready to go to a funeral. Then again, if you’ve been to Britain during the winter, you might understand why the group might choose to dress that way (or look a bit on the glum side). And just to solidify their stance on society, their lyrics couldn’t be any more straightforward: “We have no fear, we have no pity/We hate you, we hate this city.” The boys were banned from playing the House of Blues by Disney, after all — and if you heard the first few seconds of the track “Misery”, which sounds a bit like a cross between a military march and a funeral dirge before it gallops into a full-blown, old school thrash/punk hybrid, it’s apparent the band is only being truthful with such a moniker. It gets better: the track ends with what sounds like a pig being slaughtered, or maybe in heat. But the boys get bonus points for saluting the British metal sounds of the late 70s and early 80s (check out their somewhat unfaithful but undeniably true-to-their-own-sound cover of Maiden’s “Wrathchild”).  They’re coming to get you, OOOOO YEAH. Oh yeah, check out Red Bull Music Academy for more.