Armor for Sleep
Smiling for the Camera
2008-02-12
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Don’t be surprised if you see the members of Armor for Sleep walking down the street with big grins across their faces. This New Jersey four-piece, inked to Warner Brothers subsidiary Sire Records, rolls into town with a head of touring steam that will keep them on the road into early May. With three full-length albums now in the arsenal—and considering the success of their most recent release, 2007’s Smile for Them—Armor for Sleep has little to be down about. Synthesis’ own Video Matt chatted up Armor For Sleep singer/guitarist Ben Jorgensen to get all the latest.
I checked out your MySpace, and you guys are constantly on the go right now. How is the tour going? Who are you guys with?
We’re out right now with Saosin. It’s been great man; a great way to bring in the New Year. The guys have been awesome to us and everyone’s getting along really well and it’s so good to see people becoming more familiar with the new CD. Spirits are really high.
What are some of your favorite songs to play live?
We actually started playing this song “Chemicals” off the new CD, which is kind of a danceable song but it has this weird epic ending. And we’ve been playing “Basement Ghost Singing,” which we didn’t have the technology to play before, but we are in the future and we’ve been able to figure out how to play it live.
Do you see any similarities between Smile for Them and What to Do When You Are Dead, or is there a whole new vibe going into this one?
I think the two albums are pretty different actually, which feels good. I never wanna feel like I’m making the same album. I’d rather have somebody come up to me and tell me that they were really into What to Do When You Are Dead but the new one’s too different, because then at least it feels like we’re doing different stuff. But the response has been great; there are so many people who love the new CD who love the old CD, which is always a good feeling too—to know that people are willing to find a new album and listen to it, because so many people aren’t listening to new music anymore because of the whole downloading thing. It’s cool to know that there are people out there who still care enough about us to make us one of the only bands that they purchase this year.
It seems like there are a lot of bands out there that are just going for the “now” factor. And you guys have that style where 10 years from now, I really believe Smile for Them or What to Do When You Are Dead are albums I’d still pick up. Why do you think bands are so cluttered these days?
Yeah, I don’t know. Only time will tell who’s gonna be remembered in years to come, or if in years to come people will look back and remember bands in the same way that we remember classic bands. I have a feeling things are gonna be a little different when we look back at bands. Growing up I always wanted to be the equivalent like the bands I loved growing up. There will never be another Nirvana; there will never be another Pink Floyd and you can’t hope to be that, you just have to hope to be yourself and I guess history will make the final judgment on that.
You guys are outgoing dudes. You’ve got videos on YouTube, Buzznet, MySpace. How do you think all these things have impacted the industry?
I think it’s a necessity now. There’s such a high demand for content. Because people can get whatever they want so fast from the Internet, it’s really made bands be less lazy than they used to. If you want to make your fan base aware of what’s going on you have to go out and physically put your hands on their heads and put their heads toward you. It’s cool for us because we came from a place where we handed out our demos at every show and the music community that we came from was all about doing things in a DIY way. The fact that the industry is going this way, every band has the opportunity to go out and get their fans as they see fit. It goes along with the ethics that we’ve always had from the beginning. Records don’t sell as much now and there’s less money to be made; it’s definitely less glamorous than it used to be. But we’re still having a blast.
I checked out your MySpace, and you guys are constantly on the go right now. How is the tour going? Who are you guys with?
We’re out right now with Saosin. It’s been great man; a great way to bring in the New Year. The guys have been awesome to us and everyone’s getting along really well and it’s so good to see people becoming more familiar with the new CD. Spirits are really high.
What are some of your favorite songs to play live?
We actually started playing this song “Chemicals” off the new CD, which is kind of a danceable song but it has this weird epic ending. And we’ve been playing “Basement Ghost Singing,” which we didn’t have the technology to play before, but we are in the future and we’ve been able to figure out how to play it live.
Do you see any similarities between Smile for Them and What to Do When You Are Dead, or is there a whole new vibe going into this one?
I think the two albums are pretty different actually, which feels good. I never wanna feel like I’m making the same album. I’d rather have somebody come up to me and tell me that they were really into What to Do When You Are Dead but the new one’s too different, because then at least it feels like we’re doing different stuff. But the response has been great; there are so many people who love the new CD who love the old CD, which is always a good feeling too—to know that people are willing to find a new album and listen to it, because so many people aren’t listening to new music anymore because of the whole downloading thing. It’s cool to know that there are people out there who still care enough about us to make us one of the only bands that they purchase this year.
It seems like there are a lot of bands out there that are just going for the “now” factor. And you guys have that style where 10 years from now, I really believe Smile for Them or What to Do When You Are Dead are albums I’d still pick up. Why do you think bands are so cluttered these days?
Yeah, I don’t know. Only time will tell who’s gonna be remembered in years to come, or if in years to come people will look back and remember bands in the same way that we remember classic bands. I have a feeling things are gonna be a little different when we look back at bands. Growing up I always wanted to be the equivalent like the bands I loved growing up. There will never be another Nirvana; there will never be another Pink Floyd and you can’t hope to be that, you just have to hope to be yourself and I guess history will make the final judgment on that.
You guys are outgoing dudes. You’ve got videos on YouTube, Buzznet, MySpace. How do you think all these things have impacted the industry?
I think it’s a necessity now. There’s such a high demand for content. Because people can get whatever they want so fast from the Internet, it’s really made bands be less lazy than they used to. If you want to make your fan base aware of what’s going on you have to go out and physically put your hands on their heads and put their heads toward you. It’s cool for us because we came from a place where we handed out our demos at every show and the music community that we came from was all about doing things in a DIY way. The fact that the industry is going this way, every band has the opportunity to go out and get their fans as they see fit. It goes along with the ethics that we’ve always had from the beginning. Records don’t sell as much now and there’s less money to be made; it’s definitely less glamorous than it used to be. But we’re still having a blast.
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