Armor For Sleep

“It’s been a total reality change.”

That’s what singer Ben Jorgenson of Armor For Sleep said from their tour van shortly before his cell phone cut out somewhere outside of St. Louis.

And who can blame him.

In 2003, Armor For Sleep signed onto Equal Vision Records with a five-song demo and a chance to be the best new band in the world. After extensive touring in support of their debut Equal Vision release, Dream To Make Believe, and the two years on the road slashing up the States from coast to coast, they found themselves back in New Jersey armed with the material necessary to blow out the over-the-top sophomore release that would solidify their band in that very important genre of music they themselves have grown up listening to.

Not that it was easy.

Sophomore records are hard to make. There’s a lot of pressure and always the anxiety about how a band’s already established audience will accept their new release. In 2005, Armor For Sleep shattered that adage with the much-anticipated release of What To Do When You Are Dead.

And what if you did take their album as an instruction manual for death?

Look forward to it. What has happened since then has been nothing less than surreal.

“The CD changed a lot of things for us,” Jorgensen said.

The welcome and support that What To Do When You Are Dead received after its release and the subsequent tours in support of The All American Rejects, summer Warped Tour dates and their first headlining tour in 2006 along with a partial tour of Europe has been a big and life-changing alteration for the band from Teaneck, New Jersey.

Pulling into a venue to see lines of kids circling the block just for them, to have fans singing every night every word of the songs they wrote and expressing their true love for the music they make, Armor For Sleep feels they have finally been vindicated and are bringing that support back to their fans with honesty and immediacy.

“We’ve always sort of felt like the underdog,” Jorgensen said. “So we’re still getting used to this.”

The best part about being on tour, they say, is seeing their hard work pay off. And that is exactly what it’s been doing.

In the first eight months touring in support of What To Do When You Are Dead, Armor For Sleep sold over 160,000 copies of the new record and won Fuse TV’s Oven Fresh award for their video “The Truth About Heaven” (beating out bands such as Green Day, The Dandy Warhols, System of A Down and Straylight Run). They also headlined their first U.S. tour, selling out 90 percent of the dates, and in November, MTVU held an awards show with “The Truth About Heaven” playing on the Big Screen along with having the band host T-Minus Rock on MTV-2 for a week. Armor For Sleep was also prominently featured on the network’s 10 Spot Drop in January and had them perform at MTV’s Spring Break 2006.

While on the road playing shows every night, even during the downtime Armor For Sleep is still at work, most notably completing a Comprehensive Guide to Touring DVD released in November of last year.

“It’s a no holds barred tour of who we are,” Jorgensen said.

Being in a band, there is always a separation between the musicians and the fans, and Armor For Sleep believes that shouldn’t be the case. And never a band to tolerate those borders, their DVD shows their major belief in knocking down those walls.

“It’s our way of connecting with our fans,” Jorgensen says about the DVD and of each new face they meet every night on tour and the people that have been with them since they started.

Anybody who has seen Armor For Sleep’s live show can attest to the fact that though there may be a stage and a dance floor, there is no uncross-able line between their band and their fans.

“[In the DVD] We’re bringing our fans on tour with us – this is who we are,” Jorgensen said.

“Our fans rule… they’re so serious about the band. And they genuinely love us…It’s a mutual thing. And it’s awesome.”