Ryan Phillips – Story Of The Year ‘Rage And Shoeys Anew with Page Avenue’
“Dude, I have fractured my heels, I've torn quad muscles, I've got stitches, I swallowed a microphone stand and had to go to the emergency room and it didn't even matter. We were just like: ‘oh, well - that's just part of being a really dumb ass kid.'”Guitarist Ryan Phillips, the equal longest serving member of emotional pop punk rock outfit Story Of The Year (vocalist Dan Marsala is the only other original band collaborator) undoubtedly has his battle scars. After approximately 30 years of service to the extreme sport and punk lifestyle, it is of no surprise that Phillips can regale tales of SOTY’s unhinged past that leaves the act’s followers astounded in disbelief.“Because, I mean, when we were younger, we gave no thought to sleeping. We gave no thought to our health; we gave no thought to injuries or to anything dude. PRS (American guitar company) would give me a brand new $5,000 guitar and I would throw it five feet across the entire stage. And if it broke, oh, well.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9WKZpC9UbUEquipment destruction aside, the injuries Mr. Phillips discusses mostly come from the acrobatics that he and his bandmates execute during their frenzied live performances. For those who are unaware of these gymnastic feats, the most impressive move would arguably be the backflips that were orchestrated off various elevations mid-song, and they were utilised constantly in jaw-dropping fashion.“I haven't been doing them lately.” Ryan admits with an aura of sensibility. “Because I have kids now, and I think about the risk versus the reward. The reward is that people clap, and that's cool, and maybe there is cool video of it (laughs). But the risk is, I break my neck and I'm in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. And I can't play hockey and baseball with my kid, you know? So that's the other part of being like, an actual adult. Now, it's like I’m constantly doing that calculus in my head.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQikNFysoVESo, these crazy aerial manoeuvres have been essentially retired?“I still do it sometimes, but it's fucking scary dude. Especially if you've been drinking. It's like scary, I don't know, I've never got comfortable with it.” Phillips discloses with a brash honesty – “I've done it off bass cabs, I've done it off drum racks; I've done it off a lot of things. I've probably done 500 backflips on stage, and every single one of them are scary.”Besides breaking bones and guitars in their youth in a fashion that Johnny Knoxville would have been awestruck by, Story Of The Year actually broke through to mainstream alternative music recognition with their debut album Page Avenue released in 2003 via major label Maverick Records. A remarkable achievement considering the quintet were known as Bigbluemonkey a short time before their outstanding ascension, and with only a handful of EPs released. It plagued this writer to then ask how this all came to be and more intriguingly, how did they capture the attention of producer extraordinaire John Feldmann (Goldfinger, Blink 182, The Used)?“Seven days a week worked on our band and to put a long story super short: we made a home video. It's funny that you brought up Johnny Knoxville, because our home videos were very Jackass inspired. Lighting each other on fire and just jumping off buildings and shit; and some music.” Phillips bursts out in laughter and then continues - “But anyway, we snuck on John Feldmann’s bus when Goldfinger were in town and left our videos on their tour bus. UNBELIEVABLY, he actually watched it; we were such a small band. Anyways, we had our personal phone numbers written on the VHS tape and he called the number to invite us on tour. We went and toured with them; then he wanted to take us to Maverick Records because he was an A&R guy for them, so he took us and got us signed at Maverick and recorded our record and here we are.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVFtRq81Ku8Whilst “Hi, I’m Ryan Phillips and this is Story Of The Year.” Doesn’t quite have the same global acclaim as: “Hi, I’m Johnny Knoxville and this is Jackass.” This is still a story of the century for the world of post hardcore. Page Avenue has gone on to become a platinum selling record; if that is an unfamiliar status for the readers, that means that the full-length has procured the commercial success of 1 million units sold. A truly miraculous triumph and one that the Missouri quartet will be celebrating, along with its (still) 20th anniversary in Australia with fellow emo luminaries New Jersey's Senses Fail and Melbourne's recently reformed Behind Crimson Eyes.“Dude we are STOKED! We love playing there so much. There are a few places outside of America that never, ever disappoint. Australia is at the top of that list. I know that every American band says that, but that is because we all talk to each other. And we all have that in common. It's like, man, Australia is the best!”Any fond memories from your visit with the 2005 Taste Of Chaos festival on the back of Page Avenue?“Dude, I remember the first time we went, oh…” Ryan pauses for a moment, almost as if returning from a lucid dream, then excitedly blurts out – “What you guys call a: ‘shoey’. I had to do that like every night! Every night people would throw a shoe up and I had some like sweaty gross footwear hurled at me and I was asked to drink beer out of it. I've never ever heard that before. But I've done dozens of those now!”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBs9__geYfsScHO(E)oners aside, Story Of The Year have come along way from their daredevil beginnings. Their work ethic, resilience and drive to continue creating and touring at their maximum capacity is one to marvel at. Although, if one is concerned about the idea of the four-piece properly undergoing a “maturation” of their respected characters, a viewing of the film clip for their single ‘WAR’ from Tear Me To Pieces released last year will counter-attack those concerns.“We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on videos, and nothing was remotely as fun as this one.” Phillips expresses ecstatically. “We just did it in our hometown with our buddy Jordan (Phoenix), with everyone local from St. Louis. IT WAS SO FUN! It was fun doing the wardrobe, more fun doing the stunts, but doing them badly on purpose was the best. We didn't have to act because you're intentionally being bad. We are terrible at acting. We're terrible at photo shoots. Like every band photo, we're just standing there and everyone's looking like serious, we're just so bad at all that stuff. But when you're intentionally acting to make it intentionally not good, it's just like it's freeing and it's just fun. And it is totally Boogie Nights vibes too.”So let’s all ‘Take The Ride’ down Page Avenue, perhaps with a shoey along the way.Words by WillOakeshott@TeenWolfWill
STORY OF THE YEAR - 20 YEARS OF PAGE AVENUE AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2024WITH SPECIAL GUESTS SENSES FAIL and BEHIND CRIMSON EYES
SUNDAY 4 AUGUST - MAGNET HOUSE, PERTH *SELLING FAST*TUESDAY 6 AUGUST - THE GOV, ADELAIDE - SOLD OUTTHURSDAY 8 AUGUST - THE FORUM, MELBOURNE - SOLD OUTFRIDAY 9 AUGUST - ROUNDHOUSE, SYDNEY *SELLING FAST*SUNDAY 11 AUGUST - THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE - SOLD OUT
General tickets on sale NOW!Tickets from destroyalllines.com
