Story of the Year
Page Avenue

Exactly twenty years have passed, as reminded by the latest brand new work "Tear Me to Pieces", with a cover that feels like a celebration of its glorious predecessor. In these two decades, a gold record (just over six months after its release) and a platinum record (in 2021) have arrived, along with an immense fame that made its twelve tracks a generational anthem.

"Page Avenue" is an album as powerful as it is melodic, and everything that happened before its birth has long been consigned to history.

The success of the band and the album came thanks to John Feldmann, frontman of Goldfinger, a ska punk band under contract with Mavericks Records (an imprint owned by Madonna), who at the time also wanted him as a talent scout.

Besides Feldmann’s intercession, destiny also played a role, decisively pushed by the ingenuity of Big Blue Monkey, a formation that initially saw Dan Marsala seated behind the drums and Philip Sneed handling the strings. It was the Pointfest, a radio festival in St. Louis, during which the band (which by then had already added Adam Russell on bass and Josh Wills on drums) snuck into the Goldfinger tour bus to leave a prominently displayed demo video featuring live music recordings.

The spark ignited, and the step was short. Feldmann wanted at any cost to polish the new protégés by recording some acoustic demos to hope for a record deal. Maverick Records, needless to say, decided to invest time and money, and Big Blue Monkey abandoned the less convincing moniker to transform into "Story Of The Year".

Legend has it that the first pieces of "Page Avenue", namely "Anthem of Our Dying Day", "Until the Day I Die", and "Razorblades" were recorded at John Feldmann’s home, at the Foxy Studios in Marina del Rey, California. Contrary to what one might imagine, the Studios were nothing more than a bedroom with a ceiling and walls lined with foam and egg cartons. Nonetheless, the work did not lack professionalism, with grueling fifteen-hour-a-day sessions, which for the final part were held in Hawaii.

The sound of the album is reminiscent of Thrice and The Used, bands also produced by Feldmann, who greatly influenced the composition of each track, to the point of annoying Dan Marsala, songwriter of the newly formed (but anything but inexperienced) Story Of The Year, who initially wanted to conceive of a predominantly metal album. In the end, the vocals won, and without forsaking the power, the final solution pleased everyone.

It transitions from the calm reflection of "Anthem of Our Dying Day" to the splendid ballad "Sidewalks", through "Swallow the Knife", talking about life, relationships, and how success can lead to losing simplicity, until reaching the aggression of "Divide and Conquer". The latter is the forerunner of a recording session that involved particularly heavy pieces, staying true to Marsala's initial idea. Among them, the opening "And the Hero Will Drown", "Razorblades", "In the Shadows", "Burning Years", and not least "Falling Down", of a purer punk character.

"Dive Right In" and "Until the Day I Die" wink at emo, particularly through the lyrics. If the first gives in to a dark reflection, akin to a sort of total and drastic estrangement from earthly life, the second, which is the band’s most famous track, is a love declaration so heartfelt that it invokes death:

Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you

Should I bite my tongue?
Until blood soaks my shirt
We'll never fall apart
Tell me why this hurts so much

My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
But still we'll say, "Remember when"
Just like we always do

The album’s title refers to a famous and busy highway located near St. Louis, Missouri. The cover, created by Lawrence Azerrad, Maverick Records' trusted man, shows the silhouette of a man and the satellite image (taken by Space Imaging) of San Diego. The band had insisted that the same image be focused on St. Louis (a much more fitting choice) and was initially reassured in this regard. Needless to say what the failure to honor the agreements caused, given that the thread running through the lyrics, especially evident in the title track "Page Avenue", tells the story of four boys leaving their small local reality to achieve their dreams, realizing in fact how important their home and starting point are.

In the early years of the new millennium, "Page Avenue" was the classic "explosive" debut. It is a sincere album made with an open heart, it's a breath of fresh air. The best albums are precisely those that go through a turbulent production, if you can call it that. Those born from opportunities wanted and created with commitment and also a bit of luck. That commitment shown by four county boys, who still today want very much to prove that a satellite image is not enough to tell the world how great a small starting point can become.