Story of the Year; a Glam Metal band? No. A hard-working, hard-rocking, aural blast? Hell yes. Story of the Year have proven themselves in clubs through years of touring, on the festival stage at the Warped Tour, and even on seventy foot stages opening for Hoobastank and Linkin Park. They have seen and done it all, but they took time out to talk to Glam Metal last week.

SotY broke out in 2003 with the hit single, “Until the Day I Die” featured on their first full length album ‘Page Avenue.’ This album contained radio friendly singles while keeping a punkish metal edge throughout. On this disc, singer Dan Marsala perfected his melodic harmonies and hardcore growls. To Dan, playing rock and roll should be about being on stage and making sure his fans are having fun. Needless to say, 80s metal played an important role in forming Dan’s early impressions of rock and roll.

“Skid Row was my favorite band of all time and Sebastian Bach was the first singer I ever looked up to and wanted to be when I was thirteen years old…I was a full on little Glam Metal guy.”

With internet downloading becoming so prevalent and easy, how does a band like SotY make a living? Dan has mixed feelings about internet downloading. On one hand, he’s a fan of Myspace and the exposure it offers bands like his (they are currently reaching 2 MILLION plays on their last single off of In the Wake of Determination). However, more downloads on illegal sites means less CD sales. For Dan and the rest of the band, it’s not about the money but when labels see dropping CD sales, they tend to put less money into promotion, which he described as a “downward spiral of crappiness.”

Lead guitarist, Ryan Phillips never stops working. When he is not on stage traumatizing ear drums, he’s in his hotel room working diligently on writing the next record, which he promise to be even “faster and harder” than 2005’s In the Wake of Determination.

Ryan promises a new CD in 2007 and a continuance of “live recording” which essentially means the band plays together when recording the tracks rather than recording each track individually. Essentially this makes the CD more cohesive and “rough.”

We asked Ryan about his favorite Glam Metal bands.
“Glam Metal was a show, everything was over the top and everything was all about having a good time. Now bands are just writing songs about girls and shit…Van Halen is one of my favorite bands.”

So hopefully all you Glam Metalheads will give these guys a listen and be sure to check then out live, it’s well work the price.  www.storyoftheyear.net