Count To Four

Count To Four

Count To Four eating at Cook Out in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 26th, 2014
Background information
Origin Camden, New Jersey/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Years active 2009 - Present (active)
Website
Members Pete Adams
Jay Miller
Neale Dimento
Past members Paul Parado
Vini Stamato
Mike Hayden

Count to Four are a progressive pop-punk band from South Jersey/Philadelphia in the vein of The Wonder Years. Initially founded in 2009, the band didn't release material or push social media sites until 2010 at which point their lineup was solidified.[1] Since inception, Count to Four recorded and self released three EPs and a full-length studio album from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2013. They've shared the stage with reputable acts such as The Dangerous Summer, Rufio, Man Overboard, and also received a major endorsement from frontman Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low.[2] Currently the band is unsigned but under Kolossal Management with booking and PR teams.

History

Formation and the Self Titled EP (Late 2009- early 2010)

The band formed when singer Mike Hayden and drummer Pete Adams started playing songs together. They both realized they had an affinity for pop punk music, namely Fall Out Boy.[3] They soon after brought in bassist Paul Porado and began writing material. In late 2009 the band brought guitarist Jay Miller in and recorded a self-titled EP at Old Soul Studios. The EP was released on Myspace and Bandcamp for free downloads, before ultimately being taken down by the band. The band currently claims that they are mainly influenced by the bands Fall Out Boy, Rufio, Jimmy Eat World, August Burns Red and blink-182.[4]

Know Where You Come From (early 2010 - early 2011)

April 2010 the band recorded their second EP at 37 Studios with Producer / Engineer Matt Dalton [5] The band also mutually parted ways bassist Paul Porado and brought in new bass guitarist Vini Stamto. The EP provided what the song "Growing Up and Growing Beards" as well as a crowd favorite "We Don't Have Good Days Anymore," both songs of which are still found in the band's live set. The EP also contained the ballad "No It's A Pattern," its title being a clever answer to the previous EP's track 3 question - (see Discography section). The band saw some mild success from the album, landing some showcases with larger national acts, and selling nearly 2000 digital downloads via Bandcamp. They were also featured on a few smaller blog sites, such as Tumblr blog "Fuck Yeah Pop Punk" and DyingScene.com

Acoustic EP (2011–2013)

Right before going back to into the studio to record their first full-length album, in October 2011 the band again mutually parted ways with their 2nd bass player. Meanwhile, the band self-recorded and surprise released a 4 track acoustic record. The EP contained an acoustic version of "Growing Up and Growing Beards" previously released off of Know Where You Come From. It also contained two previously unreleased tracks, "Tear It Apart (Acoustic)" and "Beamquake." They also added an acoustic rendition of the "Pokémon Theme Song" made popular by the Pokémon TV Series. The band even went as far as creating a Pokémon themed teeshirt, and often discussed their love for the video games in interviews,[4] hence why they covered the song [6] Aside from this song receiving some viral traction due to the popularity of the franchise, the Acoustic EP was an album seemed to be brushed under the rug, as it did not receive much press attention and was given away as a free download.

Between Two Cities (2013 - present)

Almost immediately after releasing their acoustic record, Count to Four returned to 37 Studios to work again with Matt Dalton on their first full-length record they titled "Between Two Cities." Although recorded in November 2011, the album wasn't released until April 2013. The he band attributed the long "road blocks" in post-recording and a "rigorous touring schedule" as they toured almost the entire year of 2012.[1]

The band often talk in interviews about the concept behind the album title and how it tied into the album art and lyrical content. The entire album conceptually is a struggle between who a person was and who they are trying to be - torn between two stages of your life. The "two cities" also for the band represent NY and Philadelphia, due to that half of their members were living in each city while they were recording the album.[7]

Prior To Release

In late February 2013 the band announced the release of the long awaited and anticipated record, and released a new track "I Hope Not" for streaming via Bandcamp. Several weeks before the record's release, the band premiered another new song and their first ever music video for the song "Lavender Town". A week before release another new song titled "Bottles and Books" was released via a lyric video on MTV Buzzworthy [8] The success of the music video secured the band's first international physical distribution of their album in a small record shop in Japan.[9]

After Release

Between Two Cities is Count to Four's best selling release to date. Critics gave the album positive reviews in its first week of release. PR giants Property of Zack claimed the album to be "quintessential pop-punk at its finest" [10]
while MTV claimed the "throwback vibe was uniquely refreshing."[8] The album topped the Bandcamp punk charts at #1 and secured a slot on the Bandcamp the overall best sellers at #3 in its first week of release. It is still in the top 10 most artist recommend punk albums on Bandcamp.[11]
After releasing another lyric video for the song "Get To It," Count to Four released a compilation of video track-by-track commentaries through 10 different sites over 10 days (1 site per song). They then followed up with a national tour deemed the "Aint No Country Wide Enough" tour.[12]

Shortly after returning home from tour, they went on to film another music video in late 2013 for their second single and opening track "I Hope Not." The video was picked up by MTV producers and placed in rotation on MTVU. The band also earned the runner up position for the fan voted mtvU Freshman award.[13]

Future Plans

Count to Four plans on touring throughout 2014 and has made frequent Twitter and Facebook posts about writing another new album. The band posted on their Facebook page that singer/guitarist Mike Hayden will be leaving the band to pursue grad school. They are taking open vocal tryouts. They have been playing various of shows with touring vocalist most notably Dorian Cooke guitarist of Broadside and Former Vocalist of Battleghost

Discography

Current/Previous Members

Current Members:

Touring Members:

Previous Members:

External links

References

  1. 1 2 "Idioteq – COUNT TO FOUR release new video; discuss new album!". idioteq.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  2. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Alex Gaskarth Opens Up About Fellow Pop Punk Band Count To Four on We've Got You Covered's Blog - Buzznet". wevegotyoucovered.buzznet.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  3. ↑ "Artist of The Month: Count To Four - UMusicians". umusicians.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  4. 1 2 "Nothing Original — Interview with Count To Four". nothingoriginal.net. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  5. ↑ "Redirecting...". 37studios.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  6. ↑ sunny menagerie (2013-08-30). "Count To Four: From Pokemon to Pop Punk". Golden Mixtape. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
  7. ↑ "Interview: Count To Four | Infectious Magazine". infectiousmagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  8. 1 2 "Video Premiere: Count To Four, 'Bottles And Books' (NSFW) (Lyric Video)". buzzworthy.mtv.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  9. ↑ "Stand Tall Records". standtall.cart.fc2.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  10. ↑ "POZ Review: Count To Four - Between Two Cities - PropertyOfZack". propertyofzack.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  11. ↑ "Bandcamp". bandcamp.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  12. ↑ "Count To Four Announce US Headline Tour/Release Lyric Video | Alt Rock Live Blog". Altrocklive.com. 2013-07-10. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
  13. ↑ "Tripnotic Wins This Round Of The Freshmen | mtvu.com". mtvu.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
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