Four Year Strong Concert Video...

I've had the pleasure of attending at least one great show every month since November.  Due to my hectic life as of late, I never had the chance to write up reviews for them.  Instead of going back all the way to December and writing them up, I'm just going to post the videos.

This is Four Year Strong performing "One Step at a Time".  The show was the Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie NY in December.  Other bands on the bill were Set Your Goals, Transit, and Balance and Composure.

Mixtape #7

For some odd reason, the auto-tune of T-Pain and Lily Allen's amazing voice works. Not only works, but is now stuck in my head. It doesn't hurt that Wiz Khalifa puts his two sense in on the song as well. A classy song to explain the art of the "booty call".

The Rest for the Week:

• Florence + The Machine: "Shake It Up"
• M83: "Midnight City"
• The Sleeping: "Retiring Spies(Change Your Life)"
• Nada Surf: "When I Was Young"
• Gym Class Heroes: "Life Goes On"
• Christina Perri: "A Thousand Years"
• Forever the Sickest Kids: "Shut the Front Door(Too Young for This)"
• Bush: "The Sound of Winter"
• Four Year Strong: "The Infected"
• Outasight: "Tonight is the Night"
• Childish Gambino: "Heartbeat"
• Wale: "Bait"
• Close Your Eyes: "Empty Hands"
• Bon Iver: "Skinny Love"

MixTape #5

• Mayday Parade: "Everything's an Illusion"- Off their new self titled album. If you don't listen to them, YOU SHOULD!
• La Dispute: "Edit Your Hometown"- Fourth song on their latest record, Wildlife. New favorite of mine.
• The Fray: "Heartbeat"- Newest single from this amazing group, album coming in early 2012.
• Four Year Strong: "Just Drive"- The band's upcoming album has me highly skeptical, but I do like this single.
• I Am the Avalanche: "Dear Friends"- Everyone should go pick up Avalanche United if you are into this genre of music.
• Paramore: "Renegade"- A brand new song only played once live at the Fueld By Ramen 15th anniversary show last month. Paramore will be releasing a singles club vinyl shortly with this and two more new songs.
• Tonight Alive: "Thank You and Goodnight"- My favorite group from down under, the song features Mark Hoppus, bassist for Blink 182
• We Are the In Crowd: "Exits and Entrances"- See last post for any explanation.
• Gym Class Heroes: "Martyrial Girl$"- There is never enough Gym Class Heroes.
• New Found Glory: "Caught in the Act"- The kings of pop punk are back with their newest album, Radiosurgery.
• A Loss For Words: "Pirouette"- The latest single from the upcoming album, No Sanctuary.
• Portugal. The Man: "So American"- The video for this song makes me miss summer.
• This Time Next Year: "My Side of Town"-  Drop Out of Life was produced by NFG's Chad Gilbert, and it shows on songs like this.
• Jack's Mannequin: "My Racing Thoughts"- How could you ever get sick of Andrew McMahon?
• The Black Keys: "Tighten Up"- The song is a year old, but it makes me think of my sister in Miami and I smile.

It MUST Suck to be Four Year Strong Right Now...

Pop/Punk Band Four Year Strong announced that keyboardist Josh Lyford would be leaving the band. Lyford will continue to write and pursue music with his band, Foxfires, as Four Year Strong will move forward with their upcoming tour.

The original statement was released on April 3, 2011. Yesterday, April 4, Lyford blogged his opinion of the split. Lyford seemed shocked only about the timing of the break up, considering F.Y.S. starts its tour today. He did state that he could feel the separation coming. He wished his former band mates luck in the future and told his fans not to worry, he is excited to try new things-and finally get a dog.

Alan Day, guitarist/vocalist, made a personal statement to fans to clarify any confusions. Day wanted to make sure fans understood Lyford had not quit, as some were starting to think. He goes on to explain that as Four Year Strong has started writing new material, the keyboard sound is just not meshing with the rest of the band. He explains to fans that F.Y.S. never really needed a keyboard in the first place, but the band loved Josh to much to let him go. Day encouraged fans not to give up on the band and if anyone has any questions, feel free to tweet him.

Fan reaction seems to mixed, this fan included. Some people are very upset over the loss of Lyford and his sound to F.Y.S., others didn't even know there was a keyboard in the band. To me, I am not worried about their sound. Four Year Strong still have all of their original writers and the band started as a quartet with keyboard added later on. I think musically the band will still be amazing and continue to grow and move forward. Enemy of the World was a great success and break out for the band. What I think will start to lack from F.Y.S. though, will be when their live performances. Lyford was a great hype man. His presence on stage was always felt. I loved when he would come up front and preform vocally on songs like "Maniac" and "Heroes Get Remembered". Hopefully, the remaining four will be able to pick up the slack. Guess I will just have to go to an upcoming show to find out!