The band’s website loudly proclaims that their work ethic and attitude basically corresponds directly to one of their lyrics - “you don’t deserve what you haven’t earned” - but the band themselves had hardly been slogging it out for years before their own breakthrough came along - the group were not long out of school when they put together the original lineup of Parker Chest Hole Cannon on lead vocals, Kelen Capener on bass, Ryan Torf behind the drums and Kevin Geyer and Kevin Ambrose playing guitar. That same lineup still exists today, although with William Levy having replaced Ambrose on six-string duties.
The band have released two albums to date, and their first, ‘Under Soil and Dirt’, saw them move a step closer to the holy grail for pop punk bands, the Warped Tour, by playing both its UK leg and its warm-up, Road to Warped, in their native U.S. in 2012. They built up enough of a fanbase through events like that - as well as through high-profile support slots to the likes of New Found Glory - to secure them a slot on the tour proper in 2013, around the time they were promoting album number two, ‘What You Don’t See’. They returned to the tour in 2014, alongside the likes of Bowling for Soup and The Devil Wears Prada, and are lined up to be a key fixture on the Pop Punk’s Not Dead Tour of Europe in winter 2014, too.
California has produced some of the best punk bands of all time and The Story So Far is looking to keep that amazing reputation.
Coming out of Walnut Creek, California the band has been on a rocket ship of exposure as they began in the very sought after Warped Tour playing along with the greats such as Less Than Jake and New Found Glory. But I was able to catch them in Portland, Oregon where they brought punk to the home of grunge.
Hawthorne Theatre is not a large arena by any means but you couldn't tell that by the volume of the audience. Hundreds of fans singing along as the band pounded their way through hard-hitting songs. What amazed me is how much the band vibed with the audience. This was not a stiff show with people swaying to the songs they liked. It felt more like being at someone's house with your friends on stage, rocking out. To add to that feeling, the small stage was swarmed with audience members jumping up, running around and then diving into their fellow fans - all while front man Parker Cannon continued to spit lyrics and expertly dodge the oncoming rush of super fans.
By far one of the more intense shows I've been to and who doesn't like a guy jumping off the stage and falling right next to you?