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Introduction
4th Street Band are an Alternative Rock band from Manhattan, New York, they were formed in early 2007 by Max Armstrong and his close friends Robin Krieger (Bass) and Lucy Tyrell (Piano, Guitar, Backing Vocals). They then decided to recruit 4 more members in Joshua Perry (Guitar), Scott Dylan (Guitar), Robbie Stimson (Piano, Keyboards) and Tom O’Brady (Drums). Each of the members were all living in New York at the time and all auditioned for the band. The band was initially formed as a side-project for Max Armstrong and Robin Krieger who were also had their own band called The Junction. But the 4th Street Band outgrew The Junction and when it was announced that The Junction were to split in 2010 it was confirmed that a return for the 4th Street Band was on the cards. They release a live album in 2009 which peaked at number 8 in the USA album charts and spawned two top 40 singles.
2007
The band was formed in 2007 by Max Armstrong, Robin Krieger and Lucy Tyrell. They toured for the majority of 2007 in various small clubs and created a strong underground fan base from touring so often, at times the band even opened for The Junction during their tours with Max and Robin playing both the opening set and the headlining set, the venue’s were still small but it continued to enhance their reputation, during this time Max Armstrong said “We’ve got no plans to release any material, the whole point of forming this band was for something to do when The Junction weren’t touring, we’re not ruling out releasing something later but for the next couple of years I can’t see anything being released.”
They were a fairly rowdy band during the early years and quickly fell into the rock clichés of drugs and drink, not every member was involved with drugs, Robbie Stimson and Tom O’Brady were the ones who kept away from the parties and the rock lifestyle. Max was arrested 8 times during 2007 generally on drug related charges. Lucy Tyrell also gained a reputation of being a bit of wild rock chick, she often had to leave the stage for various shows to throw up due to alcohol.
As 2007 began to draw to a close the band continued enhancing their reputation and gradually started playing bigger venue’s, they ended the year playing for a 2,000 strong crowd in Chicago, the biggest crowd they had ever played. Things were on the up.
2008
In early 2008 they were predicted as one of the best bands to see live for the year and they were expected to make a huge impact on the music world in 2008. Things didn’t happen as expected, they continued to tour regularly and continued to increase their fan base but they remained unwilling to release anything. “We knew there was demand for an album or a single or even an E.P but we didn’t want to, it wasn’t us being arrogant or rebellious, we were signed to our own label so for us to release something it was difficult financially and if what we released failed to sell then that would have been the end of the label really, it would have cost over 60,000 to record a single and we didn’t have that kind of money, so it just wasn’t viable to release anything.”
The excess of the band grew and grew throughout the year and Max was admitted to hospital twice in one month because he had taken things too far at a club.
They took time off in July so Max could focus on The Junction as things were hotting up for them, they were being offered larger venue’s and were offered a European tour which they accepted.
After Max returned from Europe with The Junction he set his sights on writing and recording The Junction’s debut album but because of unexpected delays he decided to tour with 4th Street Band for the rest of the year and into 2009. They continued on from the previous years 2,000 capacity gig with a year ending gig which saw 4,500 people packed into a venue in Los Angeles. The year ended and the band had progressed further with a larger fan base, 2009 was set to be eventful.
2009
Max began 2009 touring with 4th Street Band until it was cut short in February after he was admitted to hospital due to a drugs overdose, once he left hospital he decided to put the band “On Hold” for a little while for him to sort himself out, he had two major things two sort out, A) his increasing addiction to excess, most notably drugs and alcohol and B) the increasing drug problems within the band, Max took two months away from the music scene and decided to move back to New Jersey the place he grew up, he lived in a small place approximately 3 minutes from his parents home and as he says “I got back to my roots, I had a problem and I needed to be in a place I felt entirely safe and New Jersey was that place for me, I had my family around to help if things got tough and during this period I met Juliette which gave me the support I needed and if I’m honest it was easier than I expected, I was rid of drugs after the first month of being released from hospital and I’ve never touched em since.”
The band were out of action for the rest of the year, while the other members of the band found their own methods of getting clean, some went to rehab and another took a two month vacation in Spain which seemed to work.
There was constant rumours of a possible return which Max constantly denied as did various other members of the band. Max and Robin recorded their first album with The Junction called Heartbreaks & Outtakes which struggled to take off in terms of chart positions and sales figures it did go on to sell over 200,000 copies, a month later they recorded the follow-up Love, Blood and Anything Above which went on to sell over 1 million copies.
Things looked quiet for 4th Street Band until December when an announcement on The Junctions official site said that there will be a belated Christmas present for fans as 4th Street Band would be releasing The Live Anthology Vol 1 that very evening and even though it was a low-key announcement it went on to become the holy grail for fans and was a massive success, it peaked at number 8 in the US charts and has sold over 1 million copies.
May the rumour mill begin.
2010
And begin it did, the rumours came almost on a weekly basis and each time Max denied it and constantly said that the timing just wasn’t right. They did however release two singles from Live Anthology Vol 1 which did well. Look Around Son, This Is Yours was released in early January and peaked at #34 in the US singles chart and then in February we saw the release of Hallelujah Is A Word I Won’t Use which peaked at #40 in the US singles chart.
In March Max announced that The Junction had broken-up and this led to more rumours, this time though they were confirmed to be true that the 4th Street Band would return in August to do a US tour and then in 2011 they would begin a European tour. They also announced plans to release Live Anthology Vol 2 and later announced plans to release their 1st studio album. Shortly after announcing a return they announced a new member in Piano, Keyboard player Jenny Hudson who had audition for Lucy Tyrell at Junction Records a year before.
Tickets sold out quickly for their tour and their albums are highly anticipated. Will 2010 be their year. |
