Interview by Erin Eddy
As the emo kids of the 2000’s have exited their 20’s and are now in their 30’s (and some sailing into their 40’s) there’s a wave of nostalgia surfacing. Just as nu-metal has resurfaced and is being embraced with fondness, so is the emo and pop-punk genres.
Story Of The Year kicked onto the scene in 2003. Like many bands from the aforementioned genres, while they may not be at the forefront of the collective minds of the music industry, they never actually faded away and those fans, the now-thirty-somethings I referred to in the first paragraph, are proudly reminding their parents “it wasn’t a phase.” Story Of The Year have continued kicking and in fact, they are about to release their sixth studio album, Tear Me To Pieces.
Capitalising on the nostalgia wave, the band’s most recent single is titled 2005, and it is a musical walk down memory lane, as vocalist Dan Marsarla sings about the days when Story Of The Year had really found their stride within the scene.
“The energy of this style of music is really back again, and it’s just a great time to be doing what we’re doing.” Dan says. “Not that I ever thought we were an ‘emo’ band, or that that was a thing, twenty years ago; that’s not even what anybody called this kind of stuff, but it’s all settled in to like, okay, all this together is this thing, and now we all appreciate it for the same reasons, ‘cause we grew up on it.”
The music video for 2005 is a compilation of footage of the band from throughout the years, further solidifying that reflection on days gone by. But it’s not all about looking backwards and remembering the good old days, Story Of The Year are very much actively pressing forward, with a solid new album proving they’re around for the long haul and can still produce relevant and well written music.
“We recorded with a guy named Colin Brittain, who’s a great producer, and it was just magical in the studio working with him. It was a really good vibe, we came up with a lot of cool stuff and it’s got a lot of youthful Story Of The Year energy, but a lot of progression as well.” Dan says of the recording process for Tear Me To Pieces.
The band is also on it’s way out to Australia in March as part of the Knotfest circuit, and will be doing three sideshows as an added bonus.
Listen to HEAVY’s interview with Dan to hear more about what to expect from the new album and their upcoming live shows.