Influential Massachusetts pop-punks Four Year Strong have never been ones to shy away from stripping things back to basics and go down an acoustic route. So much so, their new album, ‘Some of You Will Like This, Some of You Won’t’, sees the quartet grab hold of classic FYS cuts and sprinkle some laid back, acoustic magic dust on them.
Fan favourites such as ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’, ‘Abandon Ship’ and ‘It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now’ have gone from being energetic slices of heavy pop-punk to chilled out acoustic gems. The album also sees them digging deep into the FYS vault to deliver some acoustic rarities; ‘This Summer Session’, ‘For Our Fathers’ and ‘Your Ego is Writing Checks Your Body Can’t Cash’.
Ahead of its release, we asked Four Year Strong lead vocalist and guitarist Alan Day to pick out 10 of his favourite acoustic-based songs.
Saves The Day – Hold
This whole acoustic EP is one of my favorites, Saves The Day is one of my all time favorites and I’ve been listening to this acoustic EP since the very early FYS days.
The Get Up Kids – Out Of Reach
Dan [O’Connor – vocals/guitar] and I used to cover this song right around the time FYS started. Super straight forward song that speaks for itself. Great tune.
Foo Fighters – Everlong
The fact that it’s just an acoustic guitar and vocal for the entire song and it keeps the listeners interest throughout speaks volumes for how powerful the song itself is. A great song doesn’t need all the bells and whistles, its greatness comes in its purest form.
Nirvana – Come As You Are
The whole ‘Unplugged’ album is pretty much perfect.
Alice In Chains – Down In A Hole
My Dad had this album when I was a kid and I would listen to it non-stop. I actually got into the Alice In Chains acoustic stuff before I knew any of their normal stuff. Great band.
Haim – Go Slow
Theres an acoustic-ish version of this one on YouTube that I’ve listened to a bunch and its just amazing. Its just a battery powered toy keyboard, bongos, and a tamborine. The rest is just their voices and its really cool.
Ryan Adams – Prisoner
Another one that’s not released but there are videos of it on YouTube. The song really works well acoustically. I saw him play this one live like this and it was really powerful.
Minus The Bear – Into The Mirror
They put out a couple acoustic EPs that are perfect. They’re great song writers that do really interesting acoustic versions of their songs.
Weezer – In The Garage
It’s a perfect song with a simple arrangement. It doesn’t get better than that.
Death Cab For Cutie – Title And Registration
Everything this band does is perfect, so this version is no different.
‘Some Of You Will Like This, Some Of You Won’t’ by Four Year Strong is released on 8th September on Pure Noise Records.