Armor for Sleep & Boys Night Out at Albany's Empire Live (concert review)

I first heard Armor for Sleep way back in 2002, as a freshman in high school. My cousin sent me the song "Wanderer's Guild" via AOL Instant Messenger's File Transfer option. I waited about two hours to finally hear the sweet sounds of Ben Jorgensen's wistful singing over the top of a style of music I hadn't really heard before. 

I never cared enough to see Armor for Sleep play live, but I kept listening to them after that fateful day in 2002. I always just relied on their recordings. In fact, from 2004 until 2009 Armor for Sleep were probably the most played band both on my stereo (in my childhood bedroom) and while I drove around my parent's car on long drives, with both buddies from high school and the strange and different women I met at parties and through LiveJournal. In fact my favorite female buddy (who will remain nameless) and I spent many hours on the road, driving aimlessly. We almost always had Armor for Sleep playing at some point during these car rides.

So I guess for nostalgic reasons I bought two tickets to see them play, about four months in advance of  the night of the show. Because I won't just take anyone to a concert, and certainly not this concert, I only asked one person. She said no in so many words, so it wasn't my lucky day. I was denied. But what better way to attend an emo show? 

Pretty much what the venue looks like, albeit darker inside

I walked into the upstairs room at Empire Live by myself, after procrastinating the drive over. When I entered I immediately felt awkward which I'm going to blame partially on the music of the first opener, "Hellogoodbye." They came off as a cross between an indie band and a jam band, the likes of which I'd never want to feel at such volumes. The sound of a similar (and more popular) group "Fun." makes my fucking skin crawl, quite honestly. It's a joke that Mark Hoppus recommended The Format album Dog Problems so heavily on his podcast back in 2006 when in fact it's utter poo-doo. Hellogoodbye sounded like Diet Fun. and I immediately felt out of place and strange as I sauntered in alone, amongst about 250 other people who were also dressed in mostly black.

The atmosphere at Empire Live was somewhat of a party type of scene. I found my way over to the bar, where it was basically empty, and stood there alone, awkwardly, for the entirety of Hellogoodbye's set. At one point I moved slightly and stood behind a more densely packed area of people, where I proceeded to act like a human spigot-- each new audience member funneled through me as I stepped aside and then back into my initial location, letting them in by moving out of the way, over and over again. Soon I returned to the bar for a drink. Some tap water. It tasted off but was still drinkable.

Back at my place at the bar, I listened to Hellogoodbye close with their "hit" song which, admittedly, I did recognize, even though I hadn't heard it in about 20 years. Someone nearby had said, "They only have one good song" about ten minutes prior to them actually playing it. The lead singer took off his shirt for the finale and his skinny torso and man-tits jiggled around as his above-the-ears black beanie and horn-rimmed glasses sweatily rocked over the crowd, who eagerly sang along. I stood by myself, cup of ice-water in hand, approximately 40 yards back, expressionless. I was more interested in looking at the people around me, in fact.

Who I saw were a lot of older people, about my age, looking beat up by life, but still good enough (upright and breathing) to make it into the venue to watch the show. 

The women took the evening as a makeshift fashion show, and each emo girl had on a different unique outfit. I hadn't seen a pair of faded cheetah-print pajama pants worn over ripped black jeans and blacked-out slip on shoes with a hoodie and two other jackets... and crazy eye makeup, in quite a while but... you love to see it. That was one of many. 

My personal favorite is the "snake bite" piercings that extend into the nose and forehead, maybe with some sort of angular bangs and a ponytail type of thing. Whatever it is, I'm down to check it out and I enjoyed this. 

One cliché I hadn't remembered until this fateful night was the preppy girl who is out of place at an event like this, yet still a fan of the music. So in a way, she's not out of place at all, really. I spotted at least one, with a puffy knock-off North Face vest over a grey hoodie and some LL Bean boots with Hollister jeans, her hair and makeup done totally conventionally.

On the flipside, the guys I saw all looked to be slightly overweight, with a beard, too-tight hoodie, hadn't slept in a while, probably with BO. Or, "I'm just here with my girlfriend" type of thing. I didn't see a ton of different looking people, per se. Everyone looked kind of tired. A lot of women. Armor for Sleep is kind of a chick band, after all, I guess.

Boys Night Out and the blinding lights above them

Once Boys Night Out starting playing, the whole night changed. Immediately I found myself looking at one of their guitarists, who stood on stage proudly wearing a white-denim Canadian tuxedo. If his outfit wasn't enough, his hairdo and mustache said even more. He looked like he knew how to pronounce several French words and would be able to order fish at a restaurant. His guitar tone squeaked out of the PA like a helium balloon letting air out, then stopped, with bizarre guitar phrases that made me smirk, then almost laugh. As Boys Night Out kept playing I felt I was listening to a version of Senses Fail, basically. It's like I had hit my head really hard against a locker in high school, perhaps, and woke up fluent in a different language, listening to a weird French-Canadian version of Senses Fail that made me laugh, but were just as heavy in a strange way, yet without much screaming.

Towards the end of Boys Night Out's set I found myself standing behind four guys that undoubtedly had met up at the show, around my age. The guy in front of me had on a leather jacket and studded belt was rocking out to the sweet sounds of their song, "Up With Me," off their 2007 album. Although these guys didn't know me we exchanged glances as I began to nod my head and slowly fist pump and shake my hips along to the music, as well. The band was cranked at loud volumes as the stage lights flashed. The vibes of the band had turned the night into a ticket worth buying. I stepped forward and stood next to these random dudes. With my newfound makeshift buddies beside me the band played their final songs. Looking back, as they closed their set, it had truly become Boys Night Out.

Very quickly afterwards, in all of ten minutes, Armor for Sleep took the stage. The sound system was then cranked to 11. As they began playing it was so loud I saw many people running from the stage like they were running away from a bomb going off. Myself included. I ran, I ran so far away... to the other side of the venue, where I stood next to who I believe must have been a merch girl. 

Armor for Sleep was absolutely cranked through the PA

Armor for Sleep played a familiar song at full volume as I looked at this merch girl. She turned and faced me not once, but twice. Then three times. Then four. Then, get this... five times. We started staring at each other, more or less. I found myself transfixed by her. I was in disbelief. She looked exactly like one of my female friends from the past, one I had taken long car rides with. I couldn't look away. But there was something slightly different about her. It just couldn't be who I thought it might be, could it? Just as I nearly started poking her in the arm and asking her what her name was, she walked away of her own volition and disappeared for the rest of the night. She was replaced by a beautiful blonde, who rocked out by herself while standing in place for every song. I did the same thing, myself. 

I did make eye contact with Ben Jorg during the show and he came off as extremely self-confident and powerful. As we locked eyes briefly I wondered why he'd choose to look at me, and looked away for a brief moment. He was dominating, in fact. I looked back and nodded to him in agreement with what he was doing on stage, before I immediately resumed my own genuine, albeit muted in-place dancing. 

Armor for Sleep was pretty good. Ben Jorgenson was relentless with his pace and energy for the duration of their performance. Their drummer whose name I believe is Nash Breen was right there with him. They had fill-in guys on bass and 2nd guitar, who did fine. They played a lot of obscure stuff, which was cool to hear. I was able to hear songs like "Very Invisible" and "Who's Gonna Lie to You," which I didn't think I'd be able to hear. They went with deep cuts and at least one or two went over my head, even as a long-time fan, which was cool and made the show more interesting. Their super loud volume only affirms any shoegaze labels they might've been brandished with over the course of their long existence.

At the end of the show, after the crowd dissipated, I found myself amongst five other people, at the barrier in front of the stage. When you listen to a band for 23 years and have nothing else going on, you tend to hang around after the show. The bassist came out and handed out guitar picks. The drummer chatted up some girls. I walked around a little, then drove home, my ears totally blown out by the bass-heavy live mix at the show. Overall, it was worth checking out. Until next time. - Mike

I followed my Rock'n'roll dreams and this is what happened

It may seem silly, but at one point in my life I was overcome by musical ambition. Specifically, to manifest a dream of becoming a "rock star" in a general sense, though later I focused this broad scope into a singular objective: to perform on late night television as part of a rock band.
Where this originated from is up for debate, but I can pinpoint a couple of influencing factors. I guess it all started with a love for music. The songs, "Benny and the Jets" and "In the Middle of the Night" by Elton John and Billy Joel ignited a love for music within me at around age five. I was also a fan of Ace Frehely after seeing his KISS makeup and hearing his song, "New York Groove" for the first time. I think the other most influencing factors were disco music and the repeated television broadcasts of Nirvana's "Unplugged" broadcast I faithfully watched over and over after the death of Kurt Cobain. Back when MTV was simply channel 51 out of about 70.

 Living my Rock'n'roll dreams outside of Stanhope House in NJ.

This all led to picking up a guitar and practicing each day. After I joined a band in high school for about six months, I began to form an interest in the behind-the-scenes activities of musicians, including booking shows. I developed my own strategies and enjoyed band promotion. Once high school ended, I was set for college, though made it in by a thread. At one point during the admissions process, I found myself not admitted anywhere. During this limbo period I stood in the entranceway of my parents home with my brown leather guitar case in hand and bemused, "Well, looks like I'm joining a band, let's get this tour going!" They weren't amused. I was admitted to one institution and matriculated that fall.

Performing w/The Handsome Men in Newark, NJ 2011

Throughout college I tried to practice as much as possible with music writing and performance, while also completing a degree in an unrelated field. Once college was over, I was ready to finally do something I wanted to do, instead of fulfilling the wishes of my parents. That's when I really set my mind to trying to live my dream. I spent a full year working alongside the founding member of our group to plan the launch of the band. This one-year period of planning was vital to the later success we enjoyed, it allowed us time to conceptualize the artistic direction of the group and write some of the preliminary material. Four or five months in, the third member was brought on board, and at around ten months after auditioning two drummers the group was fully formed and we performed a short set for the first time at a VFW hall.

Weeks earlier, on the first night of rehearsal I stood next to my Marshall half-stack in a dusty basement and declared to the other members of the group, "My goal here is to play on late night television, once that happens, I'm out, it's over." Of course, the goal was Letterman, Conan, Fallon, I guess Kimmel and Leno would've sufficed as well.

Here I am with 1/2 of the group after a musical set 

at the Stanhope House one afternoon

The rest is history. The group played thirty shows in a year, wrote/recorded an original album of material, and peaked with a headlining slot on a local show (Montclair, NJ) followed by an appearance on Chris Gethard's public access late night show and another headlining set at a local nightclub (Loop Lounge). What ultimately led to the dissolution of the group is up for debate. When you start to mix fantasy with reality it's easy to lose touch with what's going on around you. I simply started to "lose my mind" at a rapid pace. I had also neglected actual practice on my instrument in lieu of band promotion, which led to a thin set of skills during a time when new ideas were in high-demand.

Once the group disbanded, I lost my identity, and suffered through a mild "identity crisis." I also found it difficult to drop everything and completely start anew. Working for a living is quite different than pursuing a dream for a living.

At the end of the day, it was worth it. I have fond memories of the particular nights we'd play multiple shows in different cities across the Tri-State area. A show in NJ, then PA, then NYC, and all in one night. The van rides were fun during these marathon nights, and there was enough excitement around the opportunity to play the material we didn't even need coffee to stay awake. All in all I'd recommend pursuit to anyone who has a rock'n'roll dream. The high of playing original music at full volume as part of a band, and if you're lucky to a crowd of engaged audience members, is unrivaled.