Rise or Die Trying
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Rise or Die Trying is the second full-length album from Four Year Strong. It hit #31 on the Billboard Heatseekers album charts in 2007. The album was recorded and produced by Matt Robnett of Playwork Productions at Big Sky Audio in Springfield, Pennsylvania. The name "Rise or Die Trying" comes from a lyric to "Go Long Dad", a song from their first album, It's Our Time. The album has sold over 50,000 copies.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Take Over" | 1:34 |
| 2. | "Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated" | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Abandon Ship Or Abandon All Hope" | 3:33 |
| 4. | "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" | 3:36 |
| 5. | "Wrecked 'Em? Damn Near Killed 'Em" | 3:12 |
| 6. | "Catastrophe" | 2:37 |
| 7. | "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell" | 3:06 |
| 8. | "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe!" | 3:22 |
| 9. | "Beatdown In The Key Of Happy" | 3:03 |
| 10. | "If He's Here, Who's Runnin' Hell?" | 3:18 |
| 11. | "Maniac (R.O.D.)" | 3:08 |
| Total length: | 32:16 | |
Australian & Japanese Bonus Track
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "So Hot And You Sweat On It" | 3:22 |
UK Bonus Tracks
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Beep Beep" | 4:05 |
| 14. | "Gotta Get Out" | 3:02 |
Trivia
- Mat Bruso, vocalist of Bury Your Dead appears on the tracks "Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated" and "Maniac (R.O.D)".
- An official music video was made for the song "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe!", but received limited circulation. The music video involved members of the bands acting as different personas (Josh as "Maria," Dan as "Elton," etc.) including the band parodying various music videos. The title was selected by old high school friend, Damian Kearney.
- Some of the song titles on this album are lines from popular movies:
- "Abandon Ship or Abandon All Hope" is a line from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" is a line from The Sandlot
- "Wrecked 'Em? Damn Near Killed 'Em" is a line from Men in Black II
- "If He's Here, Who's Runnin' Hell?" is a line from National Lampoon's Van Wilder
- Three of the fourteen total songs were originally from the band's 2005 demo: "Beatdown In The Key Of Happy", "So Hot And You Sweat On It", and "Beep Beep". The other two can be found on the band's previous album It's Our Time.
- "Beep Beep" was originally titled "Not To Toot My Own Horn But, Beep Beep!", which is modified from a line from Scrubs (season 4, episode 92, "My Drive-By") in which Doctor Cox is bragging about saving a man's life at a taco stand, which is actually Turk's doing: "Now, all of you know I'm not one to toot my own horn, but, uh ... beep beep."
Personnel
- Dan O'Connor – vocals, guitar
- Alan Day – vocals, guitar
- Joe Weiss – bass
- Jackson Massucco – drums, percussion
- Josh Lyford – synthesizer
Additional personnel
- Matt Robnet – backing vocals
- Brooks Plummer – backing vocals
- Nich Hanterelis – backing vocals
Rise or Die Trying (Unmixed)
In 2006 a unmixed version of the album was leaked on the Internet. It contained seven demos that eventually made the final tracklist, a demo of one bonus track, and three songs that didn't't make the final cut.
Track listing
- "Sparkle Motion"
- "Heroes Fade Kid, Legends Never Die" ("Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" Demo)
- "Death Is The Only Adventure I Have Left" (reworked as "Catastrophe")
- "Angels With Filthy Souls" (Contains a line from "The Take Over")
- "Your Ego's Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash"
- "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell" (Demo Version)
- "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe!" (Demo Version)
- "Wrecked 'Em? Damn Near Killed 'Em" (Demo Version)
- "Calling All Cars" ("Prepare to Be Digitally Manipulated" Demo)
- "Gotta Get Out" (Demo Version)
- "Angels With Even Filthier Souls" ("Maniac (R.O.D.)" Demo)
Trivia
- Some of the song titles used on the demos were references to popular movies:
- "Sparkle Motion" is titled in reference to Donnie Darko.
- "Death Is The Only Adventure I Have Left" is a line from Hook.
- "Angels With Filthy Souls" is the name of the fictional gangster film Kevin watches in Home Alone. The name itself is a reference to the 1938 film Angels With Dirty Faces.
- "Your Ego's Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash" is a line from Top Gun.
- "Angles With Even Filthier Souls" is the name of the fictional gangster film Kevin watches in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a sequel to the one he watches in the first movie.