Legendary independent New York-based rock label Equal Vision Records and seminal New Jersey post-hardcore band Armor For Sleep are excited to announce the limited edition, 20th anniversary run of vinyl and cassette offerings for ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’, Armor For Sleep’s celebrated sophomore album. On sale now in the Equal Vision shop, the vinyl re-press is available in three colorways and limited to 250 units each, while a smoky tint cassette is limited to 100 units. The new vinyl and cassette re-press comes in advance of the band’s upcoming headline tour of the U.S. that will take in 25 evenings across March and April. Featuring ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’ being performed in its entirety, these appearances will be supported by special guests Boys Night Out and Hellogoodbye.
In October 2024, the band released its latest single, ‘What A Beautiful World’, the follow-up to ‘In Another Dream’, Armor For Sleep’s first new material since 2022’s ‘The Rain Museum’. “‘What A Beautiful World’ is a song about examining toxic relationships we often find ourselves in and how hard it can be to free ourselves from situations that we know, ultimately, are unhealthy for us,” frontman Ben Jorgensen said. “At the same time, this song is about looking back at those relationships and still appreciating the good parts.”
Fronted by singer/songwriter Ben Jorgensen, Armor For Sleep are considered one of the defining bands of the emo/post-hardcore genre. Their beloved concept album, ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’, has sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and found them touring the world alongside huge acts such as Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance.
15 years since its last album, the band’s latest offering, ‘The Rain Museum’, finds them back home on Equal Vision Records where their career started, and it is arguably their most ambitious record to date — a 12-song collection that is equal parts beautiful and devastating. Initially intended to be a straight-up concept album based off of a short story penned by Jorgensen, the concept for ‘The Rain Museum’ was built around a post-apocalyptic world where weather no longer exists on Earth and people come to a mysterious museum in the middle of the desert to look back on what life used to be like.
Originally planned as the follow-up to ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’, ‘The Rain Museum’ had been shelved due to “bad advice” leading the band in another direction. Years later, the pandemic and the events of the real world encouraged Jorgensen to revisit the concept in order to put forth the finishing touches. Concurrently, his marriage of eight years began to fall apart, leaving Jorgensen to further infuse the science-fiction narrative with characteristics of his real life. The resulting record draws upon the best elements of Armor For Sleep’s catalog while incorporating elevated songwriting and composition. Stay tuned for more music from Armor For Sleep being released over the next several months.
Armor For Sleep will be making the following appearances in March and April with Boys Night Out and Hellogoodbye – dates below.
Upcoming tour dates:
March 6th — Paradise Rock Club — Boston, MA
March 7th – TLA — Philadelphia, PA
March 8th — Warsaw — Brooklyn, NY
March 9th — Preserving — Pittsburgh, PA
March 11th — The Roxy — Cleveland, OH
March 12th — The Bluestone — Columbus, OH
March 13th — House of Blues — Chicago, IL
March 14th — St. Andrew’s Hall — Detroit, MI
March 16th — Varsity Theater — Minneapolis, MN
March 17th— Wooly’s — Des Moines, IA
March 19th — Summit — Denver, CO
March 20th — The Complex — Salt Lake City, UT
March 22nd — The Crocodile — Seattle, WA
March 23rd — Hawthorne Theater — Portland, OR
March 25th — Goldfield Trading Post — Roseville, CA
March 26th — House of Blues — Anaheim, CA
March 27th — Crescent Ballroom — Mesa, AZ
March 29th — Echo — Dallas, TX
March 30th — Vibes Event Center — San Antonio, TX
April 1st — The Masquerade — Atlanta, CA
April 2nd — Beacham — Orlando, FL
April 3rd — Hangar 1819 — Greensboro, NC
April 4th — Baltimore Soundstage — Baltimore, MD
April 5th — The Wellmont Theater — Montclair, NJ
April 6th — Empire Live — Albany, NY