Teaneck, NJ · emo · alt-rock

Armor For Sleep

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A concept record about being dead, delivered with more atmosphere than its scene usually allowed — 'What to Do When You Are Dead' remains a mid-2000s emo cult document.

Armor For Sleep was founded in 2001 in Teaneck, New Jersey, by singer, guitarist and songwriter Ben Jorgensen. Drummer Nash Breen and guitarist PJ DeCicco joined after leaving another New Jersey band, and bassist Anthony DiIonno rounded out the original lineup. An early two-song demo, featuring "Dream to Make Believe" and "Slip Like Space," was later re-recorded for their debut album.

The band's sound set emo and pop-punk song structures against reverb-heavy guitars, favoring a colder, more atmospheric production than most of their peers, an approach that carried through their catalogue on Equal Vision Records.

Equal Vision released their concept-based debut Dream to Make Believe in 2003 and its follow-up What to Do When You Are Dead in 2005. The band then signed to Sire Records and Warner Bros., contributing a remix to the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack and previewing the song "End of the World" on the Transformers soundtrack before it appeared, reworked, on Smile for Them in October 2007.

Armor For Sleep disbanded in October 2009, regrouped briefly for tours in 2012 and 2015, and reunited fully in 2020, releasing two further albums, The Rain Museum in 2022 and There Is No Memory in 2025. The current lineup pairs Jorgensen and Breen with lead guitarist Erik Rudic and bassist Chad Sabo, both also members of Cold Seas, the band in which Breen also plays.

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emoalt-rock