Four Trips Ahead

Fireworks UK May/June 2014 issue

--interview with four trips ahead’s lead singer, peter wilson

How did you become involved in this crazy world of music?
my mother was a singer with a touring choir for over 25 years; they performed at many famous venues including carnegie hall and st. patrick’s cathedral as well as throughout europe and north america. the choir recorded several albums which she helped produce as well. I used to hang out at her rehearsals on friday nights in the east village in manhattan. it was an exciting time to be hanging out in such a creative place. plus my father was a jazz and ska fanatic, and he constantly played records. growing up, music was always present in our home. i ended up singing in several bands throughout high school and college while studying voice and playing nyc clubs and other east coast venues. you can say it’s in my blood.
Who are your inspirations and what was the inspiration behind the album?
hmmm…that’s hard to nail down in just a few names but i’ll try: the wailers, queen, the beatles, kiss, bowie, glenn hughes, aerosmith, led zeppelin, thin lizzy, cheap trick, prince, free, starz, ufo, sabbath (dio + gillan era), slade, marillion (especially h. era), king’s x, billy squier, third world, peter gabriel, iron maiden, judas priest, seal, ac/dc, bob marley, peter tosh, bunny wailer, stevie wonder, aretha franklin, curtis mayfield, the persuasions, jimmy cliff, bad brains, fishbone, bob mould, the clash, spock’s beard (neal morse era), van halen, sly & the family stone, aswad, black uhuru, the abyssinians, anthrax, pantera, ratt, motley crue, def leppard (pre-hysteria), tesla, simply red, living color, queensryche (chris degarmo era especially), nina simone, whitesnake…i’ll stop there.
lyrically speaking, the new ep has a theme around power and those who try to use it for good as well as those who abuse it. the power of love is actually at the center of it all though. musically, we are continuing to push boundaries while keeping our strong sense of melody—melody is important to us. with nick on drums, the songs are a bit heavier as he is a hard-hitting drummer. i also think that being from nyc, we tend to have a harder edge as to how we approach our instruments and our musical relationship. we like our songs to tell gritty stories.


Could you tell our readers about the band and what makes you different from other artists? 

i think four trips ahead plays a unique style of melodic hard rock with flourishes of metal, prog and pop without being confined by any of these musical categories. we are powerful live and are sincere about our music—i think that you can hear it in our songs, both lyrically and musically. we’re true hard rock souls united by a singular musical vision. our sound is big modern rock with a definite nod to the past.
Tell me about the new songs and how the band has progressed?
the first single (which is more like a powerful album cut), ‘good times goodbye’, is a groovy, heavy song about empty promises and being disillusioned with the american dream. it has a very soulful, almost gospel, bluesy breakdown that I love. it’s aggressive but very hooky. that song’s indicative of the tracks on the new ep. the second single, ‘step into my world’, which comes out shortly, is a driving, punchy song which discusses the exploits of a couple that gets in over their heads so to speak. it’s one of our current favorites to play.
i think we’re playing very well together and we’ve continued to pay close attention to the groove element of our songs. having done all the basic tracking facing each other in a great live room helped the songs keep that exciting, organic, slightly dangerous and energetic feel which all good rock music should have, no matter how well produced it is.
Where was it recorded who produced it and how long did the process take?
the new ep was recorded at spin recording studios in queens, nyc. i produced the ep and nick cipriano, our drummer, mixed it. The entire process took on and off about seven to eight months with a lot of time in between writing songs and playing shows.
What's in store for the future?
2014 promises to be an exciting year for four trips ahead as we are releasing our new single in late february with our full ep to follow in late april. our website has just been revamped and relaunched (www.fourtripsahead.com) with an fta phone app coinciding with radio promotions for the ep as well as a new video planned for the fall. we will be playing a few shows in the northeast u.s. early in the year and, hopefully, play some summer festivals throughout the u.s.. we’d love to get over to europe to play some shows since we have gotten a terrific response from people on your end of the world. and if all goes well, we’ll have a full length release ready by late 2014 or early 2015. see you on the stage. - Fireworks UK

CD Reviews
Written by Ross Welford
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:00

Immediately I thought to myself, If you like Richie Kotzen, you'll love this. It's got that eclectic, slightly earthy feel Kotzen does so well. Produced by Four Trips Ahead's lead singer Peter Wilson, this EP has got great guitar work, great vocals and some hi-energy drumming and, what's more, it's got proper songs.

'Feel Anything' introduces us to this New York band's EP and sets the tone of groove and heaviness that continues throughout. 'Remembering Who I Am' and the slower 'Memento' keep the flow going and 'Memories' cranks it back up full throttle. 'This Night' seemed to be coasting out and the least memorable track but halfway through, they totally change the song, start jamming and it takes on a life of its own.

On the inside cover they proclaim you should 'Play Loudly, Reclaim Rock Music' and I can't argue with that.

Recommended.

www.myspace.com/fourtripsahead
- www.uberrock.co.uk

******


FOUR TRIPS AHEAD-THE MEMORIES(MINI-CD 505 RECORDS)

5 songs with a group which when I look at them think of Wolfmother or Mars Volta or something in that style…I don´t know why. Musically there is somewhere between these groups and mix this together with a dose of Pearl Jam or some other grunge so will the description suits in really good. I can imagine that you who likes old 70´s metal will appreciate this too because there is some ingredients from that time in their music too. Really Ok I think and this is a record which will be in my cd-player soon again. 5/4-2011 - Skrutt Magazine

Band : Four Trips Ahead
Album title : The Memories
Label : 505 Records
Distributor : / - TSM/ SLW Promotion Agency
Release date : January 2011
Release : CD-EP

The formation of New York City based quartet Four Trips Ahead (abbreviated as FTA from now on) dates back to the year 2001, when the already seasoned musicians Peter Wilson (vocals), Brian Eissenpresser (guitar/ backing vocals), Dan Cassidy (bass/ backing vocals) and Dan Walsh (drums) came together in search of a new creative outlet, finding a common interest in creating heavy progressive music with strong melodies and dynamics.

In a matter of a couple of rehearsals the band had written enough material to take their music to the stages in the NYC and Tri-State area, becoming club favourites to enthousiastic audiences at such venues as Crash Mansion, The Delancey, Arlene's Grocery, The Trash Bar, the now defunkt CBGBs, and more recently The Highline Ballroom. Over the years the band had several releases. Starting with the EPs Beginnings (2002), The 505 Sessions (2004), and 39th Street Lullabies (2005), FTA eventually released its self-titled debut full-length in late May 2008 through 505 Records (I'm not sure if that is actually their own label, or a label started by the studio they already recorded their 2nd EP at). To promote the release the band toured the East Coast, and played at the CMJ Music Marathon (an important music industry related event in NYC) and Organic Entertainment's showcase at the WE Festival in North Carolina. Further promotion came in the form of two videos, the live performance rehearsal clip for “The Gift”, and the award winning short story clip for “A Moment” (a track which already, along with 3 other songs, appeared on the band's 3rd EP). College Radio into loud Rock music played the band's music on heavy rotation, and FTA charted on several Top 10 play-lists of those stations. With the success of their debut full-length behind 'em, the band set to writing a new batch of songs and, wanting to maintain the energy of the rehearsals, recorded 5 new songs over one Summer weekend at Long Island's Spin Recording Studios, where Nick Cipriano engineered and mixed the recordings under productional supervision of Wilson. It would turn out to be the last sessions with the band for drummer Dan Wilson, whom has since been replaced by Cipriano.

Now I've taken some time to consider how best to describe the band's music on this EP (which allowed me to enjoy the 5 songs a bit longer as well), and I've come to the conclusion that perhaps an early '90s Heavy Rock (with the great Extreme in mind foremost) and a touch of Grunge is the best way to put FTA down. What it comes down to really, is that FTA plays a nice melodic (modern, but with some nostalgic feel nevertheless) Heavy Rock with catchy grooves. That this don't always have to happen through roughed-up vocals and heavy music, the band proove through the more introvert and semi-acoustic “ballad” “Memento”. And with lyrics exploring feelings of nostalgia, lost love, missed opportunities, bitter realities, sacrifice, redemption, and new beginnings, the band certainly gets in touch with something most of us can relate to. In Other words, here's the kind of stuff a broad range of music lovers might call out for, and to find out whether you're one of those people, it suffices for you to check out the songs (all are posted – who needs MySpace in that case?) on the home page of the band's own website (www.) fourtripsahead.com. In the “Music” section of same site you can also check out the songs of the band's full-length and 3rd EP!

92/100 - Concrete Web

"All About The Album - 15 Questions" - a brand new section at the RockUnited site where any recording artist with an recently released CD is confronted with 'album' questions (15 of them, duh!). If you'd like to have your material up here, email: urban "at" rockunited.com (simply replace "at" with your standard @ )

FOUR TRIPS AHEAD: "The Memories"

FOUR TRIPS AHEAD - has sounded the call for the new decade, the dynamic, melodic new EP entitled "The Memories". Successfully combining their exciting mixture of funk and progressive tendencies, the seasoned New York City musicians are an up and coming act in the hard rock scene. Find out more about the album, the band and their influences, here's their vocalist,: PETER WILSON...

How has the reaction to your latest CD been?

The reaction has been excellent! We charted #5 on CMJ’s most added hard rock/metal radio chart upon release in November 2010 in the U.S. where college and rock specialty radio shows have been supporting the EP. Generally, we have been receiving great reviews. We've also charted well on various radio and internet shows throughout Europe and Latin America. Most importantly, we’ve picked up many fans that are moved by "The Memories" EP.

How long did this CD take to make from start to finish, recording-wise?

We did the basic tracks for “The Memories” over the course of three weekends with overdubs. Mixing the five songs took an additional two weekends.

What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?

Big, organic, heavy production with groove and VIBE.

What kind of input did the producer have during the process?

Since we produced and mixed The Memories EP ourselves, we were able to keep it a family affair.

And are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise)

Extremely. So much so that we are in the midst of tracking a brand new three-song single much the same way.

Did the producer (you) use any (weird) experimental miking and/or recording techniques?

Not particularly, but our drummer, Nick Cipriano, is truly a studio genius and has been working with us for many years. He understands what to do to bring out the best in us as musicians and how to most effectively capture the ‘Four Trips Ahead sound.' "The Memories" EP also has a "warm" sound to it as it was bounced from Pro-Tools to 2' reels for mixing and mastering.

How did you go on about capturing your 'live sound' in the studio, or perhaps you didn't

We are lucky to do all of our basic tracking at Spin Recording Studios in Long Island City, NYC where we have a long-standing, well-valued relationship. We love their live room, their 68-channel SSL board and their facilities. FTA tracked live, including vocals, to capture the energy of the songs. We then did overdubs, building off the foundations of what had been tracked as a band.

Please inform us about your favourite songs and lyrical highlights and why?

This is hard to answer as all of the songs represent what we do in different ways. I think we’re all partial to "This Night" because we shot a video for it that we’re very proud of. The song takes many musical turns and melodically it’s strong. It receives an awesome response when we perform it live. Plus, the lyrics and imagery work well together which come across in the video. However, "Remembering Who I am" has been getting a great deal of airplay in Europe and has connected with a lot of people too.

Any overall theme of mood that you're trying to capture while writing songs?

I think we like to tell stories within the songs—some are more obvious or direct than others. But there is no overarching agenda when we write. Being observant, absorbing our environment and following our creative process usually generates interesting musical concepts and tales.

Does your vision for coming up with music get affected at all by time?

If you mean worrying about studio time and cost, we try to spend a great deal of time rehearsing and working out arrangements—i.e. pre-production—before we begin the recording process. We also record new song ideas in our studio constantly. The best ones are pursued and become full-fledged songs. “The Memories” EP is perhaps the first FTA release where we best captured what we’re about.

Did the record company interfere with anything on your "sound" and songs?

Since 505 Records is our independent label, it most certainly interfered!

Are there any 'crazy' behind the scenes anecdotes from these sessions that you can share with us?

Ahhh…some secrets are best kept to ourselves…

How would you describe the sound of your new CD to any potential new fan?

Hard rock with strong melodies , thoughtful lyrics and progressive arrangements.

Who are your influences and heroes? (music-wise)

There are so many! Here are a few: Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, King’s X, Peter Gabriel, Seal, Tool, David Bowie, The Beatles, Faith No Mor - ROCKUNITED.COM

Four Trips Ahead
Self titled

Four Trips Ahead’s self-titled album fetches classic prog-rock the likes of Rush and Porcupine Tree, mixing it with modern alt-rock sound and big catchy choruses. Think Kings X and Queensryche, especially in the heavier moments.

‘Shed All My Fears’ opens with drums and vocals a la Primus, a brief moment that illuminates an experimental side of the band. Peter Wilson’s vocals have a near sinister feel to them. Within thirty seconds the song slips out of the Primus sound it began with and back to the band’s own.

While big choruses are a nice touch (since they are rarely seen in prog-rock) some prog-rock fans may be disappointed with the band’s lack of further experimentation. There are brief moments that outshine those with giant choruses, those concerned with off-time rhythms and jazz-like tangents that are staples of bands like King Crimson and Yes. ‘Complicated’ has an off-time breakdown that would get any Meshuggah fan to take notice, but these moments are limited. Four Trips Ahead is focused with writing a solid, cohesive song versus incorporating jazz structures and strange time signatures.

They restrain experimentation here, making room for songs structured to be accessible. Die hard prog fans might be turned off but it allows the band a broader audience not usually friendly to the genre.

Eli Marsh
Bootleg Magazine
- Bootleg Magazine