Show Review

Armor For Sleep is the myserious, incredible dream-rock act on Equal Vision Records that you've all heard of. This headlining tour has a nicely rounded set of bands, combining the spacey, brilliantly heavy dark rock of AFS with the beautiful pop sincerity of Days Away (who have a new one coming out next year on Lava that is quite compelling) and Number One Fan (sub-labeled with Universal Records and planning to record in 6-9 months). The Snake The Cross The Crown is...well, you know that I am absolutely in love with them.

Unfortunately due to heavy traffic we missed The Snake The Cross The Crown, but I'm sure I'll be hitting their next show out here up on their Mewithoutyou and Owen tour. The first band we saw was Gratitude, who had a pretty big draw due to Jonah from Onelinedrawing's presence as the singer of the pop quartet. Playing loud, angst-driven pop songs, they reminded me of a more raw and less developed Jimmy Eat World. I wasn't too impressed with them, to be honest, but I did like Jonah's swaying and "interesting" stage demonstration. I just wasn't too into their sound and figure a lot of people will like it due to Jonah's inclusion more than anything. But that's me; again a lot of people left after Jonah/Gratitude's set so obviously he's doing something right.

Number One Fan has been a band I have also supported for awhile now and, like the last time I saw them in Colorado, they put on a great show. Poppy, happy anthems with a blissful sincerity cheered up anyone who was feeling a little down that night, and the new material sounded insanely promising.

Finally, after a little chat with Ben about the new record (which I hope to elaborate on more as February 22nd approaches), Armor For Sleep took the stage with a new sense of rock-dom. The songs seemed more compelling, more energetic, and the band seemed more intense than the last time I saw them over a year ago. The new songs they played were insanely brilliant, and this band is just...incredible.

I'll just add the fact that I got to hear the new record due to their amazing manager Bonnie from Crush Management, and I couldn't stop shaking. I have never been so instantly and totally gratified by a record before, and the band has grown beyond my comprehension. The songs are darker, more melodic, more harmonious, more dense, and more diverse than "Dream To Make-Believe" was, and it's obvious Ben has done a lot of serious thought and work on this one. Get ready to be absolutely destroyed. Don't forget to check out their new rough mix of "Car Underwater," probably the most poppy and "Dream To Make-Believe" sounding track from their new record, "What To Do When You're Dead," out February 22 on Equal Vision.

On that note, just go check out this band if they come through your town--it'll make you scream till you faint.

review by Andrew Martin