Four Year Strong - Dan

Welcome to your annual holiday show! Why did you guys choose these particular bands to play together?rn

DAN: When we do a holiday show, we do it for fun so we can play shows with our friends' bands, especially bands from Massachusetts who we don't play with often. It's really fun to play shows together with these bands. We've been friends for what seems like forever. We've known all these guys for years and years. When we do a holiday show, it's just like friends and family. That's why we put those bands on. Same goes with Set Your Goals and Every Avenue. We're really good friends with Every Avenue, and with Set Your Goals, we've been friends with those guys forever. We actually put this tour together with Set Your Goals because like.... there's always been this rumor that there was beef between our bands. This tour sets the record straight. We love those guys, and we'd do anything for them. They're some of our best friends in the world. Announcing a show for both bands shows that we chose for this to happen. They flew up from California; they are using our stuff and staying at our houses.

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Did ideas for this mini-tour happen when you guys were on Warped Tour together this summer?rn

DAN: Yeah, we started planning for our holiday thing that we do every year. We were out hanging by the buses and just mentioned to them, "Yo, you guys should play our holiday show." They said that they were going to be in California for Christmas so they wouldn't be back over here after that. We just said, "Well, fly out! Use all our stuff and everything." We were all super stoked on the idea the whole time so we made sure to make it happen.

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How did it come about that you guys would be featured on the Punk Goes 90s compilation through Fearless Records?rn

DAN: The guys at Fearless asked us if we would be on it, and we said, "Totally, that'd be sick!" We have always enjoyed doing a cover here or there. We had a list of songs that we could try, and we ended up picking Love Song. There were a lot of poppier songs on that compilation that were more dancey like Justin Timberlake and stuff. I'm not really too sure that would be as much fun to hear as actually making a rough version of a pop-rock song. We did that. I'm super stoked on it. We just got the mix back recently, and it sounds awesome.

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You guys put out a couple b-sides on the UK version of Rise Or Die Trying. Beep Beep is on there. Even on your full CD, you have a lot of songs that were re-recorded from older demos and EPs. On your next record, do you think you'll bring back even more older songs?rn

DAN: There have definitely been some talks about putting a couple older songs on there. I guess we're going to wait and see what all our material sounds like together. The thing with us is that if we have sixteen songs that sound awesome, we will only want to put like the twelve best on there. That way we can pick and choose what songs really go well together. That way we can go, "You know what would sound really good here? That song from our old EP...." Then we go and re-record that. That's how it worked with the last record.

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What do you think the timeframe will be on that new material being recorded?rn

DAN: We're most likely going to record after Taste of Chaos, which is sometime in April. If that goes as planned, we'd probably put out a new record by late summer I hope.

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How did you guys get onto Taste of Chaos this year?rn

DAN: Kevin Lyman asked us if we would be on it. They wanted to do a more toned-down version of the tour which wouldn't play the big arenas like the last couple years. They wanted to really get bands together that would collectively make a really good show. I think it's really cool to have this mix. Thursday's on it, and I grew up listening to Thursday. I didn't even realize for a bit that they were making a comeback. That new split they did with Envy is so good, and they are putting out a new full length too. I think it'll be so awesome for us and them. Kids will really get to see an awesome show every night. Every band on that tour has been making a good dent on the scene. Bring Me The Horizon was on Warped with us, and Pierce The Veil and Cancer Bats are awesome. I love Cancer Bats. I think it'll be really fun, and kids will have an awesome time. Kevin really did a good job at putting together a high-energy lineup.

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You're recording the new material in the spring, but that leaves a big gap in the summer. Do you guys know what's going to be happening over the summer?rn

DAN: We don't know yet. There's been a lot of talks about doing stuff, but we really don't have anything nailed down yet. We are not doing Warped Tour. We know that. So we are looking at other options. I know that Warped Tour is going to be smaller this year so a lot of bands will be looking to do summer tours. There will be a lot of really cool things going on this summer. We already have been talking about doing a couple things, but it'll be really cool. Whatever we do will be an awesome time for sure.

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For people who haven't really listened to you guys too much, how would you describe your band? Who would you personally compare your band to?rn

DAN: Okay, well. We probably draw most of our inspiration from bands that we grew up with a long time ago. Bands like New Found Glory, Saves The Day, Lifetime.... We were really into bands like Fairweather. Fairweather actually did their last show right here at the Palladium I believe. At the Skate Fest. It was the same day as the Movielife last show, which was here as well. Fairweather played upstairs, Movielife was downstairs. But anyway, a lot of heavier hardcore bands from around here too like Blood For Blood, Hope Conspiracy, American Nightmare, bands like that. Strife. Bands like who were heavier is kinda where you see our high energy come from. We always try to write songs that have very high energy. I strive to write as much high-energy, engaging songs as possible that can translate well with that energy on CD and live.

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When you guys first signed to Decaydance, it seemed like some kids right away wrote you off as a band that would definitely go a softer route. It sounds like you don't intend to do that at all.rn

DAN: Oh yeah, the heaviness will still be there 100%. If anything, maybe we'll get even heavier. What we want to do on this next record is take all the elements of the last record like the heaviness, poppiness, catchiness, and throw all those things to the next level. We want it heavier, poppier. We know what Four Year Strong is and how we started out. We have an idea of where we want to be. At no point will we go, "Let's try to make it a little softer on the next song." Fuck it. Four Year Strong is a high-energy, hard band, and we're not going to change that.

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What bands do you want kids to check out?rn

DAN: Literally all the bands on this show are bands that I back 100%. Lions Lions, Energy, and A Loss For Words are bands that I listen to like all the time. Set Your Goals and Every Avenue are awesome bands and close friends as well. Everyone should check out this whole lineup at this show. Merry Christmas!