Armor for Sleep are one of those bands that have been around since the very early days of the rise of pop-punk, emo and post hardcore. If you’re like me, and were a regular on AbsolutePunk.net or a reader of Alternative Press, the New Jersey natives were everywhere. Yet strangely enough, they were never a regular band on my playlist. I’m not sure why I never listened to them in the early 2000’s, but obviously it’s never too late to start.
And by the make-up of the crowd last Sunday night, plenty of new, young people were still discovering the band, as there were people in attendance, donning AfS shirts and singing to every song, who likely weren’t born yet when their debut 2003 album Dream to Make Believe first came out. Celebrating both their 25th anniversary as a band, and last year’s release of their new album There is No Memory, the band returned to Los Angeles with some great, younger bands in tow to play a career-spanning set for the eager crowd.
Opening the night was a new New Jersey band, Flycatcher. Marking their first show ever in California, the young group had a brief false-start which they quickly laughed off before going into their first song “Truth.” While their opening tracks would generally be described as “midwest emo” despite the group being from the east coast, they soon showed there was a lot more to their influences. I could hear echoes of Blue-era Weezer, heartland Tom Petty style classic rock, and a healthy dose of indie rock throughout songs like the great “Brother” (which the bassist said was inspired by a screenwriting class he took in L.A.) and “Man on the Run.” I also got to shout out the band’s drummer, who’s booming playing and style reminded me of a young Tommy Lee. The group closed out their set with their budding hit “Sodas in the Freezer” before giving some sincere thanks to both the other bands and the audience.
I was very pumped to finally see Spanish Love Songs, a band I’ve been a big fan of since discovering their album Schmaltz in 2018. I had never seen them live before, but I had heard incredible things. They did not disappoint. Opening with “Routine,” the band brought a ton of power to the stage. There was an urgency to the performance, helped out by how relevant frontman Dylan Slocum’s lyrics feel in our current era. His commentary on survival in our current economy, struggling with self-belief and fighting against the endless battles life throws at us resonate with me more than ever, making songs like “Self-Destruction (As a Sensible Career Choice)” and “Lifers” hit different. Yet despite how pessimistic their songs can seem, there’s also still plenty of hope in the former’s chorus “It won’t be this bleak forever. And I hope you’re right.”
While I hadn’t had much time to listen to SLS songs recently, the lyrics and anthemic chorus of “Losers” came back to me quickly, while newer songs like “Cocaine & Lexipro” had become new crowd singalongs, with it’s memorable chorus line “You said a problem’s not a problem until you call it by name. I must have clearly been having a great time, as another female fan gifted me a Spanish Love Songs beaded bracelet, which I gladly accepted (as did Slocum later in the set). A pilot’s still a pilot until he crashes that plane.”
Slocum took time to share his love for the band’s home city of Los Angeles, and wish the audience a Happy Pride Month, before rocketing into some of their other excellent songs like “Kick,” “Haunted” and the excellent “Losers 2.” The only disappointing thing was that they didn’t play “A Boy Considers his Haircut,” a personal favorite from Schmaltz. With their new album coming out in November, I’m sure they’ll be back around though.
It was clear that the audience was moving in closer to the stage as we waited for Armor for Sleep to come on. The fans wanted to be up close and personal, and as it got more crowded, the room really started to feel HOT. And when the band came out, opening with the title track from their first album, the energy from the crowd just made things hotter. Even after twenty five years, the band still appeared relatively young and fired up to play. As the band went into “Remember to Feel Real” I felt myself transported back to the early 2000’s, as the band’s sound feels so akin to that era for me.
With the next song “The Outer Ring,” the other shades of the band took shape. A bit of metal and industrial, a bit of goth and post-punk. To have survived this long in the industry, a band needs to be able to differentiate themselves from everyone else, and this was clearly the lane AfS took to stand-out. It also helps that frontman Ben Jorgensen truly made the effort to connect with the fans, giving backstories behind the songs (“My Town” he admitted was just smoking pot and walking around his hometown at night).
The band clearly wanted to treat their fans to a real rock show, standing high on their amps and blazing through some guitar heroics on “Stay on the Ground” and “In This Nightmare Together.” “Chemicals” was given a synth glaze that showed another side of the band. When the band played “Williamsburg,” Jorgensen mentioned that it was inspired by a “feud” of some sort with some people there, though it wasn’t clear who they were referring to. That didn’t keep the song from getting the audience banging their heads and singing along.
And there was plenty of singing – the band has some die-hard fans who knew every pain-staked word to every song, and they were feeling each word. I envied their passion, as I know how good it feels when you hear a band you love play a song you know oh so well. While I could appreciate the band’s performance and song craft, I didn’t have that emotional connection to the songs that so many in the room had.
Though the show was still far from over, as it hit 10:00pm, I had to make my way out due to an early start to a long day on Monday. I moved towards the back, but stopped to hear the band play the hard-hitting “Awkward Last Words” which must have been a fan favorite, as the crowd was going nuts. With a following like that, the band will be around for another twenty five if they so choose.
Catch Armor for Sleep on tour, and if you’re going already, get prepped by listening to their music here.
The Indy Review 