STORY OF THE YEAR

'Story of the Year' (a.k.a. Story or SOTY) is a band that was originally formed in St. Louis in 1995^[3]. Initially named ''Big Blue Monkey'', they changed their name in 2002 to ''Story of the Year'' because a blues group had already taken the name ''Blue Monkey''. So far, Story of the Year has released two full-length studio albums and their third release is due out in 2007.

Contents

History

''Page Avenue''-era (2002-2004)

Band Brawl (2004)

''In the Wake of Determination''-era (2005-2006)

The new album (2007-present)

Members

Former Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

External links

References

History

''Page Avenue''-era (2002-2004)

After spending 7 years as a local band, recording demos and three EPs, Story of the Year signed a deal with Maverick Records in 2002, then recorded and released their first album, ''Page Avenue'', in September 2003. The first single from that album was "Until The Day I Die", written by singer Dan Marsala. It first received radio airplay around July/August 2003 on stations like KROQ and sold thousands of copies worldwide. The second single "Anthem of Our Dying Day" featured a music video directed by Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park. ''Page Avenue'' has now sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. The single "And the Hero Will Drown" was featured on the soundtrack to the multi-format game .
The band toured with Linkin Park on the ''Meteora World Tour'' in 2004 along with P.O.D. and Hoobastank. They were also on the Vans Warped Tour, and featured in the Vans Warped Tour documentary, Wake Up Screaming, and at KROQ's Weenie Roast on June 12 that same year.

Band Brawl (2004)

MTV News reported on their website that during a radio show in May of 2004, the band members of Story of the Year got into a losing fight with the roadies of Godsmack, a nu-metal/modern rock band.^[4] The fight was initiated by the Godsmack crew, and was started because, as told by guitarist Ryan Phillips, the members of Godsmack were upset about Story of the Year's exciting live performance. Pictures of the band members' bruised faces were posted to their homepage as well as a blistering rant of the event. The members of Godsmack were not involved in the fight, but they were targeted by the rant as well. It went on to talk about being detained by the local police. There were no arrests from the incident, and the Noblesville Police Department had no record of anything having taken place. Story of the Year's account of the fight has been removed and replaced with a note reading: "I took the Godsmack post down because we are going to ask them to go get some ice cream with us."

''In the Wake of Determination''-era (2005-2006)

''Live in the Lou/Bassassins'' (a CD/DVD combo of live performances and touring video) was released on May 10, 2005. It was a hit amongst Story of the Year fans and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 2005, indicating shipment of over 50,000 units as it is video longform format.^[5]
On October 11, 2005 Story of the Year released their second album, ''In the Wake of Determination'', which had only sold 150,698 units as of March 5, 2006^[6] and has failed to achieve the gold certification Story of the Year's two previous releases had, per the RIAA website.⁵
In May 2006 the band finished a tour across Australia with support bands Emery and Flogging Molly.

The new album (2007-present)

Story of the Year is currently working on their third album, which is expected to be released around the summer/fall of 2007. According to a recent interview with singer Dan Marsala, the band has been working on "over 20 song ideas", so the new release may likely be a double album.
As well as a full-length record lined up, the band is also in the process of making a second DVD, similar to ''Bassassins/Live in the Lou''. According to 'The Nose' (Ryan Philips), the DVD will feature more in depth footage of the band as well as ''a "Year and a half in the life of Story of the Year" type of deal''.^[7], which will include the band in the studio, in pre-production, writing and working on music. Ryan also hopes to add a short film similar to the Bassassins one.
Story of the Year played a show on Friday, August 3rd 2007 in St. Louis Missouri, and gave a preview of the new dvd, and also played a song off the new alblum, entitled "Terrified." They also played another song, but did not mention the name. "Terrified" features Phil playing piano and guitar, which was something new for them. During the song, which name they did not mention, Timmy, their bass tech, was on the microphone and did some vocals. It's not confirmed, but likely that this will be included on the cd, as Timmy singing.

Members

★ Dan Marsala – Lead Singer

★ Ryan Phillips – Lead Guitar

★ Philip Sneed – Rhythm Guitar and Vocals

★ Adam Russell – Bass guitar

★ Josh Wills – Drums

Former Members

★ Greg Haupt – Guitarist who was asked to leave the band before the recording of the first album.

Discography

Albums

'Date of release'	'Title'	'Type'	'Label'	'US billboard peak '
September 16 2003	''Page Avenue''	Full-length	Maverick	51
May 10 2005	''Live in the Lou/Bassassins''	Live album (also a DVD release)	Maverick	138
October 11 2005	''In the Wake of Determination''	Full-length	Maverick	19
Summer/Fall 2007	''Untitled 3rd album''	Full-length	Maverick

Singles

'Year'	'Title'	'Chart positions'				'Album'
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK Singles Chart
2004	"Until The Day I Die"	-	#12	-	#62	''Page Avenue''
2004	"Sidewalks"	-	#40	-	-	''Page Avenue''
2004	"Anthem Of Our Dying Day"	-	#10	-	-	''Page Avenue''
2005	"We Don't Care Anymore"	-	#28	#38	-	''In the Wake of Determination''
2006	"Take Me Back"	-	-	-	-	''In the Wake of Determination''

See also

★ List of bands from St. Louis

External links

★ Official Band Site

★ Official Band Board

★

★ Storyoftheyear.info Fansite

★ Taste the Poison Fansite

★ Story of the Year collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

References

1.
2.
3. Story of the Year at Allmusic.com. Accessed May 17, 2007.
4. Story of the Year Say Godsmack's Crew Kicked Their Asses. MTV News, June 2, 2004. Accessed February 6, 2007.
5. Gold and Platinum Database Search Type in "Story of the Year"
6. Soundscan Results: Week Ending March 5th, 2006
7. Offical Band Site