SHREDnews

By Jay Rowland

Unfortunately, another great band gets added to the rather large list of 2009 break ups. October 28^th 2009; the day Armor For Sleep says goodbye to all their fans. After entertaining us since 2001 and releasing three full albums via Equal Vision Records and Sire Records, Ben Jorgenson announced the bands break up Wednesday by posting a blog to their MySpace.  For some it may not have come as much of a surprise. The have not toured for over a year which hinted to a possible demise of the band. In Ben’s MySpace announcement he explains how this break up has been a long time coming and goes into detail about how he sees a band like a camera and the songs like the snapshots of life. He speaks of his regret to the fans for even having to make this announcement. He also hints to future projects in the works and says there will be more info on that later on.

The band was formed in 2001, in New Jersey. Ben Jorgenson recorded the first Armor For Sleep songs for a mere $100 and played all the instruments himself. According to Ben the name for the band came from the fact that his music literally was armor to fend off sleep as he laid awake him in his room. Later on in college Ben met up with the guys that would later form the actual band, Armor For Sleep. The band signed with Equal Vision Records and in 2003 released their first full length album, Dream To Make Believe. In 2005 they released their second album, What To Do When You Are Dead. In 2006 the band signed with Warner Brothers/Sire Records and began working on their third album, Smile For Them, which released in 2007. In 2008 the band released their EP, The Way Out Is Broken. The title of the EP seems to hint at the future break up even if they didn’t mean for it to. Now, at the end of October 2009, the official break announcement comes to us all and our hearts all skip a beat.

The overall fan reaction to the break up seems to be a mixture of “shock and awe” to “not really surprised” attitudes.  It came as some what of a shock to me simply because they hadn’t done anything recently so they to some extent had falling off my radar. I have all their albums and consider them on my list of favorites, but had not realized they were having issues until the announcement from Ben. Having read up on what’s been going on with the band I am not surprised by the break up. As much as I am saddened by the loss of another great band I am excited to see what new projects every one goes on to. I read some place once that sometimes good things have to end for something better to begin. Hopefully in the case of Armor For Sleep ending some new and even more exciting things will spawn from the ashes.

For more info and to read Ben’s full “Dear John Letter” check out the bands official site and MySpace.

http://www.armorforsleep.com/

http://www.myspace.com/armorforsleep

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