Phase Fest SD 2024

Story of the Year is an American rock band formed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1995 under the name 67 North. The band eventually changed their name to Big Blue Monkey in 1998, and then subsequently changed it again to Story of the Year in 2002, after the release of their EP titled Story of the Year on the indie label Criterion Records. At the time, they claimed they discovered that a blues group named Big Blue Monkey had already existed. Later, on their podcast "Page Avenue Crew", they clarified that they just didn't care for the name and made up the excuse of another band having the same name.

It would not be until three years after forming that Story of the Year saw its first piece of commercial success in its major label debut, Page Avenue, containing the popular singles "Until the Day I Die" and "Anthem of Our Dying Day". A second album, In the Wake of Determination, followed in 2005, but did not achieve the commercial success of its predecessor. The band released their third album, The Black Swan, on April 22, 2008, which was their first release on Epitaph Records, followed by 2010's The Constant.

On August 11, 2017, Story of the Year teased a 90-second clip of a new song off their crowd-funded fifth studio album. The pledge campaign began in November 2016 and was completely funded in less than 3 days. The band used high-profile producer Aaron Sprinkle and mixers Tom Lord Alge & J Hall to complete their fifth studio album. They confirmed via the pledge site that the new album will be titled Wolves, which was released on PledgeMusic on December 1, 2017. The album's wide release was on December 8, 2017. On February 2, 2019, Story of the Year held their annual hometown show at the Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri to promote Wolves.