Story Of The Year Ignite A New Era With “A.R.S.O.N.”
Life has a way of being ironically funny at the most inopportune times. I wake up to a notification that Story Of The Year are playing my city, Adelaide, on this day at Parkwaves Festival. However, as we know, it got cancelled, yet here I am logging onto my computer to speak with Story Of the Year guitarist Ryan Phillips about the band’s incendiary new album A.R.S.O.N. instead. Swings and roundabouts they say.
‘Yeah, that’s a bummer that got cancelled. They’re working on getting us over there later this year, so we’ll be there to share on this album. I just don’t have any details or dates I can give you yet because they’re still working it out.’
A.R.S.O.N. landed last week, arguably the band’s heaviest output to date, it still has glorious hooks, anthems and gut wrenching moments that fans will love. Whereas last album Tear Me To Pieces seemed to deal with realising you’re in a toxic relationship, A.R.S.O.N. feels like that person has left the relationship but still burns as Ryan explains.
‘That’s a very good observation. The way we’ve been writing these last two records, and just writing in general lately, is we don’t really walk in and go, okay, we’re going to write a song about love. The mindset was we’re going to be very open and start freestyling stuff and see what comes out. For whatever reason, a lot of these songs came out a lot lighter, not sonically, but in terms of the lyrics. You ad lib, freestyle and whatever words start coming out, you’re like, oh shit! ‘Disconnected’, that’s a cool word. That’s what the song’s going to be about, and we’ll just write a whole song about this word that just came out of nowhere. I’m doing a shitty job explaining this, but that’s kind of how these records are written. ‘My Religion’ was Colin and I were having a conversation and I happened to say those words about somebody and he was like, dude, that’s so interesting. That should be what the song’s about. The songs told us what they want to be about.’
The ‘freestyle’ is apparent throughout, 3am in particular, a sonic mish-mash of styles that works perfectly.
‘A hundred percent. I’m the main songwriter in the band, so I’m always writing. We’re on tour. I set up my little studio. I write every single day on tour. I’m home, especially leading up to writing a record. I’m writing every day. I spent so many years, I’m just being completely brutally honest and this makes me look dumb, but I spent so many years just trying to chase ‘Until The Day I Die’ and trying to be scientific about why that song worked and then why did this song work?’
‘I got to a point where I was with ‘Tear Me To Pieces’, I’m going to completely stop forcing it. I’m going to completely stop trying to ride a hit. I’m going to completely stop trying to second guess what people want to hear and just let shit come out. If it’s a heavy song, cool. If it’s a soft song, cool, good song, bad song, whatever, whatever’s going to come out that day, I’m just going to let it come out. I’m not going to try to guide it. I’m not going to try to force it. And dude, it’s been the most profound experience as a writer for me!’
‘Songs like ‘3am’, dude, that just happened, man, I’m not sitting here pulling these strings and being all calculated about it. It just came through me, just came out of me. It just happened. The best songs always happen really fast. I mean, I might be writing for ten hours, but then I’ll hit this little window where in five minutes this whole entire song will happen and it’s effortless. It’s that flow state that idiots like me always try to chase. That’s how I write music these days and how these last two records are written. It is just free flowing, dude. Just let it out. Good or bad!’
Trying to ‘ride a hit’ or chase the glory of Page Avenue is the cross many bands carry until they realise they don’t need to.
‘You realise, holy shit, first of all, my wildest dreams came through. Never thought I’d have a platinum record on my wall. That’s crazy, dude. When you’re from where I’m from, that’s crazy. All my dreams came true, and I won. I know for certain is I absolutely love to make music. I fucking love it, dude. So yeah, dude, I quit feeling that pressure and I’m not going to try to ride a radio hit anymore. I’m not going to try. I’m just going to play my guitar and record songs.’
‘It turns out our music is way better when you do that because it’s just like when you were seventeen. ‘Page Avenue’ was written in my mom’s basement and then we all packed up, moved to California, wrote a lot of it there, but we weren’t trying to make a hit, I think this radio programmer would like this, or I think this record label person would like this. We were just dumbass kids who lived for music. I’ve hit a point in my life where I everything’s come full circle. I’m back in that mindset where I just love to make music and that’s enough for me. And if people like it, rad. If they don’t, oh well, I’m still making it.’
With Gasoline opening the album and being arguably the bands most explosive number ever, then Into The Dark almost having a gospel feel, you sense the band are embracing the creative freedom this level gives.
‘Good call on ‘Into The Dark’. It sounds like, what’s that movie that Hugh Jackman movie, ‘Greatest Showman? It sounds like that to me and that wasn’t calculated or anything, it just wound up sounding like that. In the past that would’ve freaked me out, but now, I just want to lean into it. That’s just to have that after that verse that’s just so menacing sounding and so heavy. Then have it open up to this theatrics, yeah, dude, that’s just us being free.’
Twenty plus years and Ryan is feeling free, and grateful for all that he has, his mindset of small wins are what make life. A good lesson for us all.
‘Most of being in a band is failure. You submit for this tour, nah, I didn’t get it. We’re trying to get this, didn’t get it, blah, blah, blah. Trying to sell this club out. Nah, I didn’t sell out, blah, blah. It’s like for every victory you have, it’s just a thousand small failures and it’s just like learning to get up. You get up enough times and you’re just like, holy shit. That was bad, but I learned from that and I’m grateful for that. Then you find yourself when you do have a victory, it’s like you realise that victories can be tiny, tiny, tiny micro victories. I met a kid today that had the falling guy tattooed on him. That’s a victory. You know what I’m saying? That’s a victory. You listening to our record and talking to me about it is a victory, man. You just flip your shit and realise that there are small miracles and victories all the time.’
Interview By Iain McCallum
A.R.S.O.N. out everywhere now via Sharptone Records
