November 04, 2008

Story of the Year: Once Upon A Time, There Was A 'Black Swan'

By Cheryl Leong

Right out of St. Louis, Missouri, comes Story of the Year, an explosive rock band that was first formed in 2002. The outfit comprises of Dan Marsala (Vocals), Ryan Phillips (Guitar), Philip Sneed (Guitar, Vocals), Adam Russell (Bass, Vocals) and Josh Wills (Drums, Percussion).

The band first attained commercial success with their debut album Page Avenue in 2003. The single "And the Hero Will Drown," taken off the album, has also been featured on the soundtrack to the multi-platform video game Need for Speed: Underground.

This band is no newcomer on the Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour circuit, having also co-headlined the tour in 2005. After a hiatus, Story Of The Year are now back, older and more introspective, with The Black Swan. The first single off the record, "Wake Up" is just a mere taste of the promise of The Black Swan.

This year, the band will co-headline the upcoming Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour in Singapore with As I Lay Dying, on November 8 at DXO. Currently on the road touring, Adam Russell took some time off to speak to us here at MTV Asia about making the record, the story behind the band name, as well as what you can expect from the upcoming Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour in Singapore.

Hey Adam! How are you? I heard it's pretty late over at where you are now.
Adam: Oh I'm good. Narh it's not that late. I'm in a band, so that's okay. [Laughs]

So this is your first time coming to perform here in Singapore. Let me just ask you, what do you know about us?
Adam: Yeah. Erm... not a lot at all man. I mean, I know it's in Asia. [Laughs] And I know that I'm excited to go there for the first time as well.

Wonderful. We're equally excited to be having you here. Now I'm sure you get this a lot, but why do you call yourselves Story of the Year?
Adam: Well, before we were this band, we were a different one then, and we had a song called "Story of the Year." When we decided to change our name from the old one, "Story of the Year" was just a good, easy transition for the fans we already had at home in St Louis. Because they already knew the song.

Tell us how you feel about being on the Rockstart Taste of Chaos Tour again.
Adam: It's great because we're friends with Atreyu and As I Lay Dying from previous tours. And in 2005, it was a great tour for us because it took us to some different parts of the world that we haven't been to. So it's good to be part of it again, and to be doing the same thing. Like, Singapore, for instance.

What can fans expect of the Rockstar TOC Tour this time round?
Adam: A lot of fun! It's an energetic show, and we have great performances from all the bands for all the shows lined up.

Are you guys video game fanatics, since "And The Hero Will Drown" has been featured in the "Need For Speed: Underground" soundtrack?
Adam: Yeah some of us are. I don't play as much video games as I used to. But I like stuff like "Tiger Woods Golf" and "Guitar Heroes." Josh is really into "Guitar Heroes." Dan likes "Halo."

So this is what you do, when you're not playing music?
Adam: Yeah, even when we are, actually. [Laughs] We play a lot of video games when we're in the studios.

What are some of the challenges of working on The Black Swan?
Adam: Hmmm. Well, we actually had a lot of time to write and record the album. So it wasn't really a difficult process. It was really smooth and enjoyable. It was our favorite record so far to make. And to listen and play as well. And we've put in a lot of time and work into it, but it was work that we love. So no complaints at all.

What's a particular track that you like off the record and why?
Adam: I think my favorite is the title track, "The Black Swan." To listen to, and play it live. It was the last one that we finished, so it's pretty cool.

The title of the record is taken off Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. What struck you about it so much?
Adam: Dan and I both read it. And it talks about "Black Swan" events, major events in history and the world, that really kind of coincided with some of the lyrics overall on the record. A lot of lyrics were inspired by things or events that kind of hit the "Black Swan" criteria. So it was just a good, all-encompassing blanket theme that covered a broad topic.

I've heard your songs, and it's really beautiful and lyrical. Do you dig deep into personal experiences to write the songs that you do?
Adam: I think this record, we took things kind of from a broader standpoint. Instead of keeping it too personal. A lot of the songs from our first two records were more about relationships between friends and band members, being a band, and more about our personal lives. This new record is more about world-scale topics and issues, and that's a reflection of what it's been on our minds a little bit more. Just being older and having been off the road for a long time during the process of making the record, being at home and seeing things. Paying more attention to things in the world, instead of just on our music careers, so in a way, it's still kind of personal to us.

What's your biggest story of the 2008 so far?
Adam: This record coming out! It's been the biggest and best thing of the year, for us. We've spent so much time in 2007 working on it and we're on a new label promoting it. And all this touring is just a continuation of that.

Halloween's just around the corner. Well actually for us here in Singapore, it's today (October 31). So what are some of your plans?
Adam: I don't know if I'm going to dress up, because I don't even have a costume. And it's kinda hard to buy a costume when you're out on tour, in another country. But do you remember the movie The Karate Kid from the '80s? You know, there's a Halloween party in the movie, and the bad guys from the Cobra Kai are all dressed up as skeletons? Yeah, that's the one I want to dress up as.

But that's easy to make, isn't it? You could just put on a black tee-shirt and draw like glow-in-the-dark skeleton markings?
Adam: Oh yeah... I guess I could do that!