Hailing from St Louis, Story of the Year prepare for their return to Australia in the wake of the release of their third full length, The Black Swan.

Speaking whilst on a journey to his car after band practice, trying to avoid the “damn rain,” frontman Dan Marsala speaks about their new label, impending Australian tour and the concepts behind this greatly anticipated album.

SOTY, also comprising of Ryan Phillips and Philip Sneed on guitar, Adam Russell playing bass and Josh Wills on drums, decided to take a political approach and explore the issues most prominent in society. “Lyrically it grows deeper,” Dan enthuses. “I think fans from both albums are going to be pleased. There are songs about corruption of the system of government, specifically in America, our existence on this planet and there’s a song about racism. Anything that we’ve witnessed or has been a social problem in my time. I like to write songs that people can relate to.”

The album cover, which literally depicts The Black Swan, comes from the book of the same title. It describes an “event that has a huge impact on everyone. It was totally unpredicted and unexpected, but when it happens you can see why. It relates to the 16th century belief that only white swans existed. This idea symbolises that nothing is certain and another truth is in the distance.”

The band’s announcement of their Australian tour has delighted new fans, as well as those lucky enough to see them during their previous two trips to our shores. “We always wanted to come back to Australia, we love it there. The shows were last minute. We were going to be in Europe and we worked out we had a little window of time.” Another piece of exciting news Dan wanted to share was, “we’ll probably be back at the end of the year, most probably on the Taste of Chaos tour.”

SOTY is representing Epitaph this time around, after their previous label Maverick Records “went out of business, folded. It wasn’t our choice. Warner took over and didn’t pick us up. We were left label-less. We made demos and Epitaph picked us up. It’s been a great partnership, better than before.”

As far as influences correlating to their continually progressing music, the names Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Pantera, Metallica and Van Halen are mentioned. Dan sums it up by, “Any rock that has stood the test of time. We play music that makes us and our fans happy, songs that are fun to play live. We make stuff up and if we’re happy with it. [We] go with it.”

With the previous two albums being vastly successful in America, a band of this calibre would likely feel the weight of living up to the expectations placed on them. “We always have the pressure of the last couple to live up to the same level of success.” However, SOTY acknowledge that they have a “strong fan base” which allows them to “go anywhere in the world. Record sales and radio are a bonus to be able to play music – we don’t rely on it. As long as we’re living off making music and recording.”

As far as musical evolution goes, the track Terrified introduces their skills on keys. “We’ve never done much piano in the past. Ryan made it up,” explains Dan. It shows the mature direction in which they’re headed, as well as proving they can “pull off anything from heavy to piano acoustic. I don’t think we’ll continue to play piano; it’s just something that worked out once and turned out a great song. It’s hard to put yourself in one genre. We say hard rock.” Proving they are chameleons of their art, “we have many different styles: border metal, sometimes pop-rock radio friendly stuff. It’s hard to put it in a genre. We’re rock of both extremes.”

In addition to their former producer John Feldman, SOTY decided to partner up with Elvis Baskette to help craft their sound; having produced the album from label mates Escape the Fate and I Am Ghost as well as the legendary Incubus. “We had a conference call, told him what we wanted to achieve.” They then proceeded to go to his beach house where they recorded the tracks in his personal studio. Ultimately the result was the, “best recording experience we’ve worked in.”

On a departing note, Dan urges, “Go buy the record in April – we’re definitely most excited about this record. We’ve had a lot of success in Australia. We played to thousands of people at our first headlining show. Australia’s happening really fast. We’ve had some amazing shows down there.’

The Black Swan will add fuel to their burning fire of infectious riffs and heartfelt, evocative lyrics. Story of the Year is sure to deliver this attitude with their engaging and energetic live shows. Dan ensures that he will “see you soon.”

The Black Swan will be released in Australia 21 April through Epitaph. It will be a prelude to their third trip to Australia, alongside The Audition:

FRIDAY 30 MAY: Brisbane, The Tivoli – AA

SATURDAY 31 MAY: Sydney, Big Top Luna Park – AA

SUNDAY 1 JUNE: Melbourne, Billboard the Venue – U 18

MONDAY 2 JUNE: Melbourne, Billboard the Venue – 18+