Page Avenue

Page Avenue
Studio album by Story of the Year
Released September 16, 2003
Recorded November 2002, c. March or April 2003
Studio Foxy Studios, Marina del Rey, California;
Avex Studios, Waikiki, Hawaii
Genre
Length 41:47
Label Maverick
Producer John Feldmann
Story of the Year chronology
Story of the Year
(2002)Story of the Year2002		 Page Avenue
(2003)		 Live In the Lou/Bassassins
(2005)Live In the Lou/Bassassins2005
Singles from Page Avenue
  1. "Until the Day I Die"
    Released: August 12, 2003
  2. "Anthem of Our Dying Day"
    Released: April 13, 2004
  3. "Sidewalks"
    Released: October 5, 2004

Page Avenue is the debut studio album by American rock band Story of the Year. It is one of the first post-hardcore albums to be certified Gold by the RIAA.

Background

Prior to Story of the Year forming, all of the members had participated in local bands as early as 1995: Dan Marsala and Ryan Phillips in 67 North, Phillips and Josh Wills in Means Well, and Phillips and Adam Russell in Locash. With Marsala on drums and Phillips on guitar, the pair formed Bigbluemonkey. Soon afterwards, John Taylor and Perry West joined the band on vocals and bass, respectively. After performing throughout St. Louis, Missouri and touring the Midwest, the group released two EPs:[1] Three Days Broken in 1998 and Truth in Separation in 1999.[2][3] Following high school graduation, the members were able to focus on the band. Shortly afterwards, Taylor and West left the group, which resulted in Marsala shifting from drums to vocals. In addition, Wills and Russell joined the group on drums and bass, respectively. Since Means Well, Wills had been a close friend of Bigbluemonkey, following the group on road trips and acted as drum technician for them. Prior to joining, Russell had no experience on bass.[1]

In February 2002, they recruited guitarist Greg Haupt, formerly of Disturbing the Peace,[4] and released the Story of the Year EP.[1] In May, the band performed at a local radio festival, Pointfest.[5] The group snuck into Goldfinger's tour bus while that band was playing and left copies of a home video.[1] In June, the group subsequently moved[6] to Orange County, California and built their own practice space. Two weeks later, they were contacted by Goldfinger's manager, who informed them Goldfinger wanted to take them on tour.[1] Partway through the tour, Goldfinger frontman John Feldmann said that he wanted to produce their demos and attract a record deal.[6] Following the tour's conclusion, he showed the home video to major label Maverick Records,[1] which he acted as a talent scout for.[6] In September, the group changed their name to Story of the Year due to another band also called Bigbluemonkey.[7] In October, the band signed to Maverick Records following a showcase.[6]

Writing and recording

Prior to signing, the group wanted to improve their song writing as Marsala explains: "[W]e had songs, but we knew we wanted new stuff and we wanted to like really get serious."[6] After signing, the band start working on material for their debut album, writing for roughly a month[1] at Feldmann's house.[8] Here, Feldmann helped the group structure their songs better.[9] However, this was later criticized by Marsala, stating that Feldmann "originally changed our sound. All of his records have the same sort of sound".[10] Recording took place at Feldmann's home studio, Foxy Studios in Marina del Rey, California. Feldmann acted as producer and engineer with additional engineer Mark Blewett.[11] The group tracked "Anthem of Our Dying Day", "Until the Day I Die" and "Razorblades",[1] which were the only songs they had at the time, in November 2002.[6] However, before they planned to return to the studio, Haupt left the group due to creative and personal reasons. The band then spent the follow seven weeks writing more music and searching for a new guitarist. They heard that guitarist Philip Sneed was on uncertain terms with his band Maybe Today.[1]

After flying Sneed out to California and jamming, he joined the band. Accumulating 25–30 songs, the band returned to the studio[1] in March or April 2003.[6] After a week or two, they narrowed this stockpile to ten.[1] The following six weeks were spent recording the songs. Sessions were seven days a week, up to 15 hours per day. Feldmann informed the label that they should track in Hawaii.[1] They subsequently recorded at Avex Studios in Waikiki, Hawaii[11] tracking strings for two songs. The group said they "spent 6 days in the sun and like 7 hours actually working."[1] Feldmann mixed the recordings at Foxy Studios, while Joe Gastwirt mastered them at Ocean View Digital Mastering. Toby Morse of H2O, Ray Cappo of Shelter and Feldmann sung guest vocals on "Falling Down". Feldmann also sang additional backings vocals on "And the Hero Will Drown", "Until the Day I Die", "Anthem of Our Dying Day" and "Razorblades".[11]

Page Avenue was named after a popular east-west freeway close to St. Louis.[1] Musically, the album as been described as post-grunge,[12] pop punk[13] and screamo.[8] Alan Sculley of The Morning Call said the tracks were in "a middle ground between the heavy rock" style of the Deftones and the "poppier side" that the band had developed prior to them moving to California.[6] The band drew comparisons to Thrice[12] and The Used, an act that Feldmann also produced.[8] Sneed said that while recording in California, the album "took on like a whole sentimental, missing-home type of vibe" with most of the songs being about "missing home and missing friends and memories".[14] He also said that "Anthem of Our Dying Day" was about ghosts. With "Sidewalks, the group wanted it to have a "different attitude" compared to the rest of the songs, incorporating strings.[14]

Release

After recording, the group moved back to St. Louis and immediately started touring.[1] On May 7, 2003, it was announced that Story of the Year had signed with major label Maverick Records and that their debut album was scheduled for release in early July.[15] On May 16, the album's track listing was revealed. In addition, it was mention that the album was pushed back to August 27.[16] On June 13, the album's title was announced: Page Avenue.[17] On June 22, the album was pushed back again, this time to mid-September.[18] In July, the group appeared on the Warped Tour.[19] Partway through, the group were moved from the Kevin Says Stage to the bigger Volcom Stage due to them drawing a bigger crowd. On August 9, two songs from the album were posted online.[20] "Until the Day I Die" was released to radio on August 12.[21] Page Avenue was released on September 16 through Maverick Records.[18] The cover was done by Lawrence Azerrad,[11] Maverick's in-house artist.[5] It features a satellite image taken by Space Imaging.[11] The image was taken over a suburb in San Diego, California. Marsala said they argued with Maverick about it, asking them to change it to St. Louis. The label said they would, "[a]nd then eventually, they were like, 'We sent it out. It's already pressed.' We were pretty pissed."[5]

In January and February 2004,[22] the group supported Linkin Park on their US arena tour.[23] Around this time, Maverick Records was using BigChampagne. The company had a top 20 downloads section, based on data culled from peer-to-peer networks, which featured "Until the Day I Die". However, at radio the song was receiving less airplay than other artists that were being played. Jeremy Welt, head of new media at Maverick Records, convinced radio stations in certain markets to play the band during prime-time listening hours, which in turned helped increase sales.[24] In April and May, the group went on a headlining US tour with support from Hazen Street, Letter Kills[25] and Motion City Soundtrack.[26] "Anthem of Our Dying Day" was released to radio on April 13.[21] On April 28, a music video was released for the song, directed by Joe Hahn of Linkin Park.[25] The group performed on Warped Tour again.[27] Following the conclusion of Warped Tour, the group took a month break.[28] In September and October, the band headlined the 2004 edition of the Nintendo Fusion Tour, which also featured Lostprophets, My Chemical Romance, Letter Kills, Anberlin and Autopilot Off.[29] "Sidewalks" was released to radio on October 5.[21]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk77%[30]
AllMusic[31]
Exclaim!Favorable[32]
Melodic [33]

Commercial performance and legacy

The album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200 charts.[34] It reached number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart.[35] By January 2004, it had sold close to 150,000 copies.[36] By April, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[37] As of February 2011, it has sold over 900,000 copies.[5] "Until the Day I Die" charted at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart.[38] It also charted in the UK at number 62.[39] "Anthem of Our Dying Day" charted at number 10 on the Alternative Songs chart.[38] "Sidewalks" charted at number 40 on the Alternative Songs chart.[38]

On March 8, 2013, the band announced they would be touring worldwide to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Page Avenue. It was also stated that the band re-recorded Page Avenue, entitled Page Avenue: 10 Years and Counting with a release date on October 8, 2013.[40] Originally they planned it to be a full acoustic version of the album, but after the collaboration with City Spud during their concert in 2011 they decided to re-record the album with a different feel to each song rather than just acoustic versions. In November 2017, the album was released on vinyl through label SRC Vinyl.[41]

Track listing

All songs written by Story of the Year, except "Sidewalks" and "Swallow the Knife" co-written with John Feldmann.[11]

No.TitleLength
1."And the Hero Will Drown"3:13
2."Until the Day I Die"3:55
3."Anthem of Our Dying Day"3:37
4."In the Shadows"3:28
5."Dive Right In"3:15
6."Swallow the Knife"3:36
7."Burning Years"3:07
8."Page Avenue"3:37
9."Sidewalks"3:34
10."Divide and Conquer"3:04
11."Razorblades"3:23
12."Falling Down" (includes hidden track; not on all versions)3:58
Total length:41:47

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.[11]

Charts and certifications

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "The band". Maverick Records. Archived from the original on August 18, 2004. Retrieved April 5, 2018. Click on the middle left button for the biography to appear.
  2. ↑ Three Days Broken (Sleeve). Bigbluemonkey. Self-released. 1998.
  3. ↑ Truth in Separation (Sleeve). Bigbluemonkey. Self-released. 1999.
  4. ↑ "News". Bigbluemonkey. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ferris, D.X. (February 3, 2011). "Story of the Year vocalist Dan Marsala reveals the secret history of the band's breakthrough LP, Page Avenue". Riverfront Times. Euclid Media Group. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sculley, Alan (January 17, 2004). "Story of the Year's good fortune not your average rock-band success story". The Morning Call. Robert York. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  7. ↑ "News". Bigbluemonkey. Archived from the original on October 4, 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 Moser, John J. (November 19, 2004). "Story of the Year makes no apologies for flipping the page". The Morning Call. Robert York. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Dave (June 12, 2014). "Dan Marsala of Story of the Year (Missouri) speaks on the Ten Year Anniversary tour!". The AU Review. Heath Media. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ Harris, Chris (September 12, 2005). "Story Of The Year Are Done With Dying, Admit Their Debut Was Lame". MTV. Viacom. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Page Avenue (Booklet). Story of the Year. Maverick Records. 2004 [originally released in 2003]. 9362-49390-2.
  12. 1 2 Loftus, Johnny. "Story of the Year | Biography & History". AllMusic. All Media Network, LLC. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ Sharpe-Young 2005, p. 291
  14. 1 2 Moss, Corey (July 6, 2004). "Story Of The Year Reveal The Story Behind Their 'Anthem'". MTV. Viacom. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  15. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (May 7, 2003). "Story Of The Year- July 8th". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  16. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (May 16, 2003). "Story Of The Year Out Aug.27th". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  17. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (June 13, 2003). "Story Of The Year?s Debut Titled Page Avenue". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  18. 1 2 Wippsson, Johan (June 22, 2003). "Story Of The Year-Pushed Forward To Sept.16th". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Final Band List Announced". Warped Tour. February 6, 2003. Archived from the original on October 3, 2003. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  20. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (August 9, 2003). "Listen To Story Of The Year". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  21. 1 2 3 "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  22. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (November 18, 2003). "Great Fat Tour In 2004!". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Linkin Park, P.O.D. Confirm Tour Plans". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. November 26, 2002. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  24. ↑ Banerjee 2004, p. 73
  25. 1 2 UG Team (April 28, 2004). "In Brief: Damageplan, Letter Kills, SOiL, Story Of The Year". Ultimate Guitar Archive. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  26. ↑ Heisel, Scott (April 9, 2004). "Motion City Soundtrack announce summer touring plans". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  27. ↑ Clark, Michael (June 29, 2004). "Warped Tour Launch Electrifies Without The Lightning". MTV. Viacom. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Story Of The Year Going 'Soft And Pretty'". Billboard. Lynne Segall. August 18, 2004. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  29. ↑ Kipnis; Ord 2004, p. 17
  30. ↑ Fallon, Chris (January 30, 2009). "Story of the Year - Page Avenue". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  31. ↑ Cramer, Stephen. "Page Avenue - Story of the Year | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. All Media Network, LLC. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  32. ↑ Sutherland, Sam (December 1, 2003). "Story of the Year Page Avenue". Exclaim!. Ian Danzig. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  33. ↑ Wippsson, Johan (September 12, 2003). "Story of the Year - Page Avenue". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  35. ↑ "Story of the Year Chart History (Heaseekers Songs)". Billboard. Lynne Segall. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  36. ↑ "News". Maverick Records. Archived from the original on April 1, 2004. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  37. 1 2 "American album certifications – Story of the Year – Page Avenue". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  38. 1 2 3 "Story of the Year Chart History (Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Lynne Segall. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  39. ↑ "Chart Log UK: DJ S - The System Of Life". Zobbel. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  40. ↑ Story of the Year [@StoryoftheYear] (19 September 2013). "Have you seen the preview video for "Page Ave: Ten Years and Counting"? It comes out on Oct. 8th. Check it..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  41. ↑ Cramer, Stephen. "Page Avenue - Story of the Year | Release Info". AllMusic. All Media Network, LLC. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  42. ↑ "Story of the Year Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  43. ↑ "Story of the Year Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2018.

Sources

  • Banerjee, Scott (April 24, 2004). "Labels Peer at Pirates for Insights". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 116 (17). ISSN 0006-2510.
  • Kipnis, Jill; Ord, Renee (September 11, 2004). "Nintendo Rocks With Fusion Trek". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 116 (41). ISSN 0006-2510.
  • Sharpe-Young, Garry (2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal (1st ed.). New Plymouth, N.Z.: Zonda Books. ISBN 9780958268400.
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