Bio

When it was time for Four Year Strong to prep what would become their sixth album, analysis
paralysis, they were truly, finally, stumped. Vocalist/guitarists Dan O’Connor and Alan Day
showed up to producer Will Putney’s studio on day one of recording without a single finished
song, in stark contrast to the 40-some ideas they brought to the table for 2020’s Brain Pain.
The two spent those early days in a bedroom at Putney’s house talking about, and listening to,
music, desperate for a spark of inspiration. They found it by looking back: at what made Brain
Pain a success and even the genesis of Four Year Strong as a band as they rode their
trademark sound – pop-punk energy, dextrous riffage and caustic hardcore spirit – to the top of
the underground in the late aughts. Within a month, they’d completed nearly 80% of the album,
like the ominous, metal-meets-industrial “aftermath / afterthought.” They melded combustible
hardcore rhythms with ‘90s alt-rock melodic bliss (“uncooked”), dabbled in
rough-around-the-edges reggae (“out of touch”) and swerved between vibe-heavy synths and
thunderous breakdowns (“STFIL”).
The result is an album that expands their classic sound in exciting ways – but through it all, it’s
unmistakably them: O’Connor and Day’s distinctive vocals atop the airtight rhythm section
prowess drummer Jake Massucco and bassist Joe Weiss provide. This deep into their career,
there’s really nothing that doesn’t sound like Four Year Strong with these four involved.