This is Story Of The Year

Story of the Year is an American post-hardcore band formed in St. Louis, Missouri in 1995. The band was initially named 67 North but was then changed to Big Blue Monkey. They then changed their name to Story of the Year in 2002 after the release of their EP titled Story of the Year on the indie label Criterion Records, after they realized a blues group of the name Big Blue Monkey had already existed.

It would not be until eight years after forming that Story of the Year saw its first piece of commercial success in its major label debut, Page Avenue, containing the popular singles “Until the Day I Die” and “Anthem of Our Dying Day”. A second album, In the Wake of Determination, followed in 2005, but did not achieve the success of its predecessor. The band released their third album, The Black Swan, on April 22, 2008, which was their first release on Epitaph Records, followed by 2010’s The Constant.

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.” 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 900,000 copies worldwide.

After the Page Avenue tour finally ended in late 2004, Story of the Year returned to the studio with producer Steve Evetts in 2005, to record their second studio album. In the Wake of Determination, released on October 11, 2005, is much heavier sounding than the previous album, due to switching producers to get their “true sound”. As of March 2006, that album had only sold 150,698 units and has failed to achieve the gold certification that the band’s two previous releases had, per the RIAA website. Although not as successful as its predecessor, the album debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200.

Story of the Year returned to the scene in 2008 with their anticipated new release, The Black Swan. For the album, they brought back the Page Avenue producer John Feldmann and also they used producer Elvis Baskette.

The Constant, was released on February 16, 2010 through Epitaph Records. The Deluxe Edition, available on iTunes, has two bonus tracks, “Your Unsung Friend” and “Tonight We Fall.”

In January 2011, Story of the Year recorded the song “Breed” for an upcoming Nirvana Tribute Album. The track was recorded in St. Louis, MO with producer Matt Amelung at Second Story Studio.

Bio from www.itemvn.com