Story in the studio

Story of the Year, the post-hardcore rockers from St Louis, Missouri, stopped off at Centerpoint Studio on Soi LaSalle last week for their first concert in Thailand and unlike many much-hyped bands that have come to Bangkok, the emo outfit lived up to expectations.
Thousands of rock heads, most of them clad in black tees bearing the names and logos of their favourite bands, Story of the Year among them, were at the venue early in the evening, even though the concert didn’t get started until a good 30 minutes after 9pm.
The enthusiastic disciples included members of Thai bands like Black Vanilla, Brandnew Sunset, Clash, Dezember, Ebola, Kluay Thai, Laolom, Oblivious, Slur, So Cool, Sweet Mullet, Zeal and Suparada “Papang AF4” Tempreecha. It was a shame that Bodyslam missed the gig, because the American rockers have had a major influence on the Thai rock band’s work.
Prior to the concert, the rock quintet did a meet-and-greet with 50 lucky fans who paid for the Bt2,000 VIP tickets that came with a T-shirt signed by singer Dan Marsala, guitarists Ryan Phillips and Philip Sneed, bassist Adam Russell and drummer Josh Wills.
Inside the studio, excitement was palpable and screams rang out as the lights dimmed and Story of the Year appeared on stage.
The volume of the crowd grew by the second when the lights brightened and the band opened with “The Antidote”, a single from their third studio album “The Black Swan”. The band, with the exception of drummer Wills, led the audience in jumping up and down before Marsala instructed everyone to moshpit in “And the Hero Will Drown” and “Falling Down” from their 2003 breakthrough album “Page Avenue”.
“It’s first time for us to be in Thailand so thanks to all for coming and hanging out here,” said Marsala. “It’s so amazing.”
Half of the set list was taken from that 2003 debut album and included “Until the Day I Die”, “Anthem of Our Dying Day”, “Page Avenue”, “Sidewalks”, “Razorblade” and “In the Shadows”.
The audience laughed as Wills climbed out from behind his drum set with one hand in a boxing glove and threw a few punches towards Marsala’s face before sitting down again for “Anthem”. He pounded the drums giving off a horn-like sound, then led the band into “Stereo” off the 2005 album “In the Wake of Determination”.
Guitarist Sneed climbed over the loudspeaker and leapt back down again during “In the Shadows”.
Story of the Year also offered two new tracks, “The Ghost of You and I” and “I’m Alive” from their latest album, “The Constant” released last year.
All members gave off a tremendous amount of energy during their 90-minute show, winding it down with three encores: “Is This My Fate,” He Asked Them” and a reprise of “Until the Day I Die”, their most famous single and Thai fans’ obvious favourite.