Music, Film, and Gaming
Official video for the Four Year Strong track ‘Go Down In History‘, taken from the band’s upcoming EP of the same name which is officially due for release on July 22nd.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Four Year Strong will release their new EP ‘Go Down In History‘ via Pure Noise Records on July 21st, and to celebrate this the band have now made a new song available for streaming in the form of ‘Tread Lightly‘, taken from the forthcoming EP.
‘Go Down In History‘ was recorded, mixed and mastered by Machine (Fall Out Boy, Every Time I Die) at The Machine Shop, and features five new tracks from the band in total as they provide us with a fresh taste of their signature blend of melodic-hardcore, pop-punk and rock.
You can take a listen to Four Year Strong’s ‘Tread Lightly‘ below:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Four Year Strong have teamed up with Pure Noise Records and will release a new EP via the label on July 21st.
‘Go Down In History‘ is the name of the new EP and will feature five tracks, with the EP’s release coinciding with the band’s appearance on the main stage at this summer’s Vans Warped Tour.
‘Go Down In History‘ was recorded, mixed and mastered by Machine (Fall Out Boy, Every Time I Die) at The Machine Shop.
The following is the full tracklist for the release:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Four Year Strong have officially signed to Pure Noise Records, marking a new chapter in their career as they move on from having parted company with Universal Motown back in 2012 just prior to supporting blink-182 on their UK tour.
Four Year Strong have released four studio albums to date, the last of which was ‘In Some Way, Shape or Form‘ back in 2011, so with three years having passed this November since their last album hit the shelves this news will hopefully now mean that fans of the band will not have much longer to wait until details about the next album are released.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Slam Dunk Festival 2013 is now looking even more epic than before as 13 more bands have been added to the line-up for the festival.
Kids in Glass Houses, Cancer Bats, and Heights are just some of the bands newly confirmed for the festival, and you can check out the full list of bands confirmed for the festival in the poster above.
2013 marks the fourth year that there has been a Slam Dunk South (Hatfield) as well as the now incredibly well established Slam Dunk North (Leeds), and this year even marks the start of a new leg of the tour as a Wolverhampton date is also now included. 2013 is shaping up to potentially be the best Slam Dunk Festival yet.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Slam Dunk Festival 2013 has just got all the more awesome with the annoucement that Andrew McMahon, Mallory Knox, Man Overboard, MC Lars, Memphis May Fire, Sleeping With Sirens, and The Summer Set have all now been confirmed for the festival.
As you can see from the poster above, Slam Dunk now has a great list of bands lined up for 2013, and no doubt over the coming weeks and months there’ll be plenty more great bands added to the lineup, too.
Further to adding a Hatfield date in 2010, the mastermind’s behind Slam Dunk have now added a third location for Slam Dunk, and in addition to Hatfield and Leeds, in 2013 Slam Dunk Festival will now also take place in Wolverhampton. Slam Dunk will hit Leeds on May 25th, Hatfield on May 26th, and then will finally arrive in Wolverhampton for May 27th.
Slam Dunk Festival is bigger and better than ever in 2013, so if you’ve not already bought your ticket for the event then you can check availability now on the official Slam Dunk website.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Up first was Four Year Strong, a band that I first became fully familiar with in 2007 when they released their ‘Rise or Die Trying‘ album through I Surrender Records. It was actually through their cover of Blink-182’s ‘Dumpweed‘ that I heard them for the very first time however, so it raised a smile for me to now be seeing them supporting the band they once covered. Whilst I’ve never been the biggest fan of Four Year Strong, the various times I’ve seen them here in the UK they’ve always put on a decent, energetic show, and this evening was no different. Being the first support, the band only had time to play 7 tracks in total, it was a well chosen set however and one that seemed to go down well with those in attendance. The majority of those in attendance were only really there to see one band, but Four Year Strong did a decent job nonetheless of warming the crowd and getting them ready for the next act to take to the stage, The All-American Rejects.
Launching straight into ‘Dirty Little Secret‘, it was clear that The All-American Rejects’ set was going to be a high energy affair with Tyson Ritter clearly delighted to be supporting Blink-182 at such an impressive venue in the English capital. Perhaps a little overexcited at times as he began insulting those in the box seats and branded a group of girls in bunny suits ‘sluts’, Tyson Ritter was nonetheless a very charismatic and entertaining frontman as he bounced his way around the stage. His banter with the crowd might not have gone down too well with some, personally I found him amusing however, his energy and enthusiasm on the stage was contagious, and all in all he made sure that there was never a dull moment with The All-American Rejects’ set. All four of the band’s albums were represented with the set, there was a good spread of the band’s music both new and old, and whilst the main event was still yet to come; The All-American Rejects made sure that the evening continued to run smoothly. Closing track ‘Gives You Hell‘ seemed to go down particularly well, as did taking things back a decade with 2002s ‘Swing Swing‘. All in all a top notch set from a band with four great album’s under its belt.
So now it was time for the band that 20,000 people had all been patiently waiting for; Blink-182. Was the band going to be able to live up to expectation, or were we all to be left bitterly disappointed? I’m happy to reveal that Blink-182 put on an absolutely brilliant show. After the band went on hiatus in 2005, and last year’s tour was put on hold for a year (as well as the band having to pull out of Bamboozle just prior to this UK tour), I’m sure there were many fans that wondered if we’d ever get another chance to see Blink-182 live in the UK, I know I certainly did; thankfully we have had another chance though and the band was able to put to bed our fears in its 20th year after first forming.
Opening with ‘Feeling This‘, there was an instant burst of excitement from the crowd as Blink-182 got their show underway. Instantly we were taken back to 2003, and what a beautiful moment it was too. The All-American Rejects had already set a pretty high benchmark of intensity to live up to, Blink-182 more than matched it however as they crunched through tracks from all 6 of their albums. ‘Carousel‘ was the soul representative from the band’s ‘Cheshire Cat‘ debut album, whilst ‘Josie‘ and ‘Dammit‘ were the only tracks on display from ‘Dude Ranch‘, whilst the emphasis was more on the material from the band’s newer albums however, it was good to see that the older albums weren’t completely forgotten about and did in fact hold a special place in the set with ‘Carousel‘ and ‘Dammit‘ both being included in the encore.
There was particular emphasis on 2011s ‘Neighborhoods‘ as 5 of the band’s 23 tracks were lifted from this later album, a potential drawback for older fans not particularly familiar/fond of Blink 182’s newest material, having been a huge fan of the band’s latest release I was more than happy to hear these tracks present in the set, and felt that all 5 of the tracks came across well live. There were of course a few tracks from Blink’s back-catalogue that I’d like to have seen in the set that weren’t included, having listened to all of the band’s albums heavily over the years however, Blink-182 probably would have had to have played all night to have fully satisfied my cravings.
All in all, Blink-182 put on an absolutely incredible show at the O2 Arena, and I for one am very much glad that I took up the opportunity to see the band there in 2012. Mark and Tom were funny, had good crowd interaction between tracks, and there’s not a lot more that they could have done to have made the evening any better (besides play all of their albums in their entirety). Both of Travis Barker’s drum solo’s certainly impressed, and as one of my main musical inspirations growing up, it was brilliant to see him still tearing into his drumkit as ferociously as ever and no doubt inspiring the next generation of drummers. It may be 20 years since Blink-182 first formed, and they may all have other projects on the go now as well as being in Blink-182, but this is a band that is still going strong, and they’re showing on this tour that six albums in and countless tours later; Blink-182 is still a band with an awful lot to give.
See you all again at the Brixton Academy next month!
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Slam Dunk South was a festival that I’d been looking forward to for some time, and as the festival hit Hertfordshire it certainly didn’t disappoint. There were some serious congestion issues in the main foyer for the latter half of the day, if you weren’t stuck queuing however then there were certainly some fun times to be had.
Every Avenue was the first band we got to see once we’d made our way to the Glamour Kills Stage, and whilst the vocals seemed to be drowned out in the mix; the band still managed to put on a pretty decent performance as it launched through its half hour set. Whilst the sound levels could have been improved that’s certainly not the band’s fault, and Every Avenue gave a good effort as they looked to warm up the Hatfield crowd.
Heading outdoors to the Jagermeister Stage, the next band we got to see was Young Guns, and with perfect sound the young Bucks band certainly put on a show to remember. Young Guns has supported Lostprophets in the past and there are definite similarities between the two bands; as vocalist Gustav Wood bounced around the stage there was definitely some strong energy in the set, and the crisp and clean sound really helped to make Young Guns’ appearance something rather special. Whilst the indoor sound quality had underwhelmed, being treated to such clarity from the outdoor stage was definitely something to treasure, and Young Guns was able to take full advantage of the strong quality of sound with its impressive display of passionate rock music.
Back to the Glamour Kills Stage and it was now the turn of Ohio pop punk band Hit the Lights to show what they had to offer. Just like Every Avenue before them, Hit the Lights was given 30 minutes to please, and used their time well as they went through a number of upbeat pop punk songs. The sound was still suffering from imperfect levels, Hit the Lights was having fun onstage though, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the performance also. As soon as Hit the Lights had finished their set, Southampton’s Not Advised began playing on the Kerrang! Introducing Stage at the back of the room, and this was another performance that was not to be missed.
Not Advised is a band that I’d not previously come across, I’m certainly glad to have seen them play at Slam Dunk though, and the band genuinely seemed to hugely appreciate the opportunity to play the festival. Not Advised vocalist Jim Thomas has an absolutely incredible voice, and this was something that stood out strongly as the band played through its set. The band had a lot of energy to offer, had the crowd singing along with its upbeat pop punk, and definitely did much to please its audience. If you get a chance to see Not Advised in the future then I would 100% recommend doing so as you’ll not be left disappointed.
Turning back towards the Glamour Kills stage and it was time to watch Set Your Goals; a band that a lot of people were clearly quite excited to see, and they played their set well with their interesting mix of pop punk and hardcore. Matt Wilson’s microphone wasn’t working at the start of the set and to begin with half of the band’s vocals were therefore inaudible, once the microphone situation was sorted though the band was really able to pack a punch with its dual vocal assault. Hoping to see some of RX Bandits set we missed the last few tracks of Set Your Goals’ set, due to congestion in the foyer however we had to forget about getting to see any of RX Bandits as we made our way back out to the Jagermeister Stage to watch We Are The Ocean.
Just like it had been for Young Guns at the Jagermeister Stage, the sound was absolutely perfect for We Are The Ocean, and the band put on the performance of the day so far as it punched through a powerful selection of songs. Covering material from its EPs as well as the ‘Cutting Our Teeth’ album, We Are The Ocean was really able to get the crowd moving, and chief screamer Dan Brown was a crowd hero as he jumped into the pit to get his screaming going from there. Dan also climbed a tree whilst out in the crowd, screamed from the branch, filmed the crowd from a video camera that was thrown up to him, and jumped back down again in slightly moss covered clothes. There was a lot to love about We Are The Ocean’s set; Liam Cromby has an absolutely sublime voice as the band’s clean singing vocalist, Tom Whittaker is a brilliant drummer, and the band always has a lot to offer with its guitars also. Add to this the passion and energy of Dan Brown and you have a live band that can never be accused of providing a dull moment. Aside from New Found Glory, We Are The Ocean was the band that stood out most at Slam Dunk Festival for me, and when the band tours in October I’ll be heading along to a few of the bands shows for more without a shadow of a doubt.
Back to the Glamour Kills Stage for one final time and it was not the turn of Four Year Strong to impress the Hatfield crowd. With four tracks from 2007s ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ and five from 2009s ‘Enemy of the World’, it was an even a split as the band possibly could have provided, and a nice selection of tracks from both of the band’s studio albums to date. Four Year Strong has never been my favourite pop punk band, they’re certainly not a bad band though and had good interaction with the crowd as they created a rather large pit and made sure that their music went down well with the fans that had shown up to see them.
When the Slam Dunk line-up was announced and I realised that New Found Glory and Capdown were going to clash, I have to say that I was bitterly disappointed. As much as I would have loved to have seen both of these bands, unfortunately a decision had to be made, and it was pop punk heroes New Found Glory that I ultimately decided to settle with, sadly meaning that I missed my favourite Milton Keynes skacore band. I’ll always have very fond memories of watching Capdown, getting into a fantastic position for New Found Glory I was not to be disappointed with my decision though, and New Found Glory for me was the ultimate headliner.
Celebrating in style a decade since the release of the ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ debut, New Found Glory launched through a set of 20 tracks, covering all six of their studio albums and even finding room for a couple of covers from the ‘From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II’ album in ‘Iris’ and ‘Kiss Me’. The performance was high in energy, packed full of fun, and there wasn’t a person in the room not having fun as the band gave its all from start to finish. The band mixed it up well as it played its way through the albums, and although the band left the stage after ‘Hit Or Miss’ having already covered a lot of ground; it was clear that the set was not yet over, and the crowd was well poised for the encore of ‘Truth of my Youth’ and ‘My Friends Over You’ as it began to chant ‘NFG’ rather loudly. For me, the only way the night could have been any better is if the band had played ‘Dig My Own Grave’ from the 2008 ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ EP released through Bridge Nine Records, sticking to the studio albums and cover album was certainly fine with me though, and not a single track of the 20 disappointed. The likes of ‘Head On Collision’, ‘Hit Or Miss’, and ‘Dressed To Kill’ were all there, as too were ‘All Downhill From Here’ and ‘Failures Not Flattering’ from the ‘Catalyst’ album, and as the band finished with ‘My Friends Over You’ I was left with a fantastic feeling of absolute satisfaction. New Found Glory put on an awesome show at Hertfordshire University, and if I’d gone along to the Leeds show the next day then I probably would have made the same decision again to finish the day with New Found Glory.
After an absolutely fantastic pop punk performance from New Found Glory it was time to head for the doors, as there was live music coming from the Jagermeister Stage it was clear that Alkaline Trio had not yet finished their set however and there was therefore time for a little more fun.
Arriving at the Jagermeister Stage we were able to catch closing tracks ‘Stupid Kid’, ’97’, and ‘Radio’, and the night therefore finished with the famous Illinois three-piece that is Alkaline Trio. There definitely wasn’t the same level of fun and excitement for Alkaline Trio that there was for New Found Glory, the band played the three tracks well however and before long Slam Dunk South 2010 was officially over.
All in all Slam Dunk South was an absolutely fantastic festival; there were a few problems with the sound on the Glamour Kills Stage, there were congestion issues with the venue, and next year there are a few things that will have to be done differently (presuming that Slam Dunk South is once again held at Hertfordshire University), a good day was still had though, and we at Alt-UK got to see a great selection of bands. Roll on Slam Dunk 2011, and here’s to hoping that some more brilliant bands will be booked for next year’s festival.
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Heading out on the Warped Tour from June through August, Four Year Strong will be celebrating playing the festival by releasing a special edition version of its ‘Enemy of the World‘ studio album.
‘Enemy of the World‘ was originally released in March, from June 25th through to August 2nd however there will be a special edition available featuring a number of additional tracks. With acoustic versions of ‘Tonight We Feel Alive (On a Saturday)‘, ‘Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)‘, ‘Find My Way Back‘, and ‘One Step At A Time‘ all set for inclusion on the updated release, the band will also be adding an entirely new track in ‘Bad News Bearz‘ and there’s therefore plenty of reason to get your hands on the special edition album whilst it’s available.
Four Year Strong is currently in the UK having played a number of shows since arriving in the country on March 28th, and will soon be jetting off to play the Powerfest in Amsterdam as well as a couple of shows in Germany and France with Fireworks and The Wonder Years.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
Four Year Strong are an American Pop Punk band that take a strong influence from the hardcore scene. Whilst their sound is by no means hardcore, it definitely takes on a heavier and edgier approach at times than most Pop Punk music out there. The band come from Massachusetts and in February it was announced that they had signed to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy’s personal record label Decaydance Records.
On this album the band start off bright eyed and bushy tailed, and for the first few tracks I found this album to be greatly enjoyable. After a while however you start to realise that in this album it sounds like the band are playing the same track over and over. Never do they seem to deviate at all from their formula, it is a hard edged Pop Punk sound and always it seems to take the same form. There will be the occasional breakdown of heaviness in each of their tracks, and the rest will be seemingly the same upbeat pop heavy sound. Vocally this band sound like a lot of other bands out there, they sound like Fall Out Boy at times, Brand New at others, quite like New Found Glory on the odd occasion, but never do they sound like themselves. Always it sounds like Four Year Strong are trying to replicate the formula of already successful artists, scared of trying their hand at their own approach to music. Their sound is pretty decent, but there is no depth to it whatsoever and it therefore quickly becomes tiresome.
Listening to a whole album of music that entirely lacks distinction and differentiation is a greatly difficult matter, the few moments of hardcore spirit that each track possesses is not nearly enough to add energy and excitement to the sound. The most annoying thing about this band is that when they start the album with the track ‘The Take Over’, I actually thought that I was going to be in for a great treat with Four Year Strong. It is fast, fun and frantic and as the band progress their way through this one they always sound full of life and as though they will have plenty to offer with this album. They are just too happy and upbeat throughout the entirety of ‘Rise or Die Trying’ and you can therefore only listen to so much before seriously wanting to hurt them. Fall Out Boy are a similar sort of band to Four Year Strong, granted their music doesn’t contain the hardcore bursts that this does but it is really much the same. The main difference between Four Year Strong and Fall Out Boy and the reason why the latter will always be a far more successful band is that in each Fall Out Boy album is contained a great deal of variation; a number of different sounds comes across on the album and they therefore stand out strongly as a band. Fall Out Boy also have greatly catchy chorus that help separate them from the pack, with the music of Four Year Strong it is all so upbeat and of the same tempo that you really don’t know where the verse ends and the chorus begins. The music is all on the same level and it is this that means that their music quickly becomes really very irritating.
Eleven tracks are included on the ‘Rise or Die Trying’ album and if you’ve heard one then really you’ve heard them all. They may as well not name their tracks here, if you were to hand me this album and ask me to name the tracks out of their listed order purely from listening to them then I would not be able to at all. The only difference between ‘Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell’, ‘Beatdown In The Key Of Happy’ or ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’ is their titles, and the same can be said of all eleven of these tracks. Bands often stick to a basic formula in their music but it is quite rare to hear an album in which each and every track is a near on carbon copy of both the next and last.
For the first few minutes of its play ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ is an absolutely excellent album, it is only when the album begins to get into full swing however that you realise that every track is exactly the same and that Four Year Strong only seem to have one idea. Since 2001 this band have been going, it would seem however that they’ve not managed too much in their years and although the one track they have written is a good one, hearing it eleven times on one album is not a greatly rewarding listening experience. Whether or not the band realise their lack of musical depth is debatable, I’m sure I’ll not be the only person in the world that notices it however. This is exactly the kind of music I usually love, what I don’t love however is albums in which the tracks are all too similar and samey and ‘Rise Or Die Trying’ as an album is the worst culprit of this that I have perhaps ever heard. As a listener and great fan of Pop Punk I refuse to be treated like an idiot, and when a band push out a whole album of tracks that all sound the same I find this simply unacceptable. With the band having recently signed to Decaydance Records, this album will no doubt be heard by a lot of people and I hate to think how many will buy this insipid album of sound alike songs. Download one song from this album, any song; it simply doesn’t matter, whichever one you choose it will pretty much be the same song anyway. If you want to get the same effect as you’d get from listening to this album then simply listen to it eleven times straight and prepare to become angered by the relentlessly upbeat nature of Four Year Strong, otherwise listen to the track once and once only and you’ll probably actually be really quite impressed.
Label: Hassle Records
Release Date: 28th April 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.