Line-up

Venue

Akabane ReNy Alpha

1-7-9 Akabane, Kitaku, 115-0045, Tokyo, Japan

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Hawthorne Heights biography

Hawthorne Heights are a band from Dayton Ohio that was very much at the forefront of the ‘emo’ or ‘post-hardcore’ scene, when they burst onto the scene with their Gold Certified record, “If Only You Were Lonely”.

Hawthorne Heights broke through with a song called “Ohio is for Lovers”, as it started to get airplay on MTV, and national radio. Signed to Victory Records at the time, they became their highest selling debut act. Their debut album, “The Silence in Black and White” released on June 1st 2004, peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Charts, to date it has sold upwards of 816,000 units. It also featured the song “Niki FM” and “Silver Bullet”.

“If Only You Were Lonely” burst onto the scene on February 28th 2006, and it is the second and final album to feature guitarist, Casey Calvert before his tragic death. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 charts and spent 17 weeks in the chart. Their following album “Fragile Future” which was released on August 5th 2008 was the last record that they would release through Victory Records. It debuted at number 23 on the Billboard 200 and spent 5 weeks on the chart.

After departing with Victory Records, the band moved to Wind-up Records and released their fourth full-length studio album on June 1st 2010. It peaked at number 50 on the Billboard 200 Charts. Victory Records released a greatest hits record without the band being involved entitled “Midwesterners: The Hits” on November 9th 2010. Following a couple of EP releases after the greatest hits record, Hawthorne Heights released their album “Zero” on June 25th 2013, which was released through Red Entertainment. “Golden Parachutes” was the leading song released prior to the album on May 18th 2013 and then the single “Taken By the Dark” was also released before “Zero”.

Armor for Sleep biography

Armor for Sleep (formed in 2001) is an American punk and post-hardcore influenced alternative rock group who rose to recognition following their 2003 debut album “Dream to Make Believe”, hailing from New Jersey, U.S.

Founded by multi-instrumentalist Ben Jorgensen in 2001, lead guitarist PJ DeCicco joined later that year and the pair settled on the name Armor for Sleep. Bassist AJ Resnick and drummer Paul Abrahamian followed shortly afterwards with the band recording a series of demo tapes. Many of the demo’s songs found their way onto the band’s debut album and proved popular in and around New Jersey. The buzz this generated for Armor for Sleep led the group to sign with Equal Vision Records.

In 2003 Armor for Sleep issued their debut album “Dream to Make Believe” marked by the arrival of new bassist Anthony Dilonno and drummer Nash Breen. Earning a string of positive reviews from rock periodicals, the record was produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, and significantly increased the group’s national profile. Two years later followed Armor for Sleep’s sophomore album “What to Do When You Are Dead”. The concept album proved another popular release rising to No.1 on the U.S. Heatseekers Chart and spawning the singles “Car Underwater”, “The Truth About Heaven”, and “Remember to Feel Real”.

Following this success Armor for Sleep signed with the major label Warner Bros./Sire Records to expand their promotion and distribution. Ahead of their third full-length album the band contributed the track “End of the World” to the 2007 “Transformers” soundtrack with added vocals and keyboard effects. In October 2007 Armor for Sleep issued their third full-length album “Smile for Them”. Led by the single “Williamsburg”, the record rose to No. 93 on the Billboard 200, after which the group released the EP “The Way Out is Broken”. The band announced their dissolution in 2009 however returned in 2012 to play the year’s Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey.

Live reviews

Emo band, Hawthorne Heights, has been dedicated to putting out highly emotive and meaningful songs that strike a deep chord with their fan-base ever since their formation. Their live performance is a testimony to the caliber of sincere music they create.
At live shows the band puts on high-energy performances with hard guitar riffs and loud thunderous drumming. Vocalist, JT Woodruff, also puts much effort into the music yelling out his lyrics that touch on such topics as teenage angst. Other members of the band also provide background vocal duties by harmonizing with JT’s singing, which provides a deeper sound to the performance.
Audience members are also deeply focused during the performance, yelling out every lyric to the songs with intense vigor and ecstatically crowd surfing through the venue. It is hard not to be so enthusiastic about Hawthorne Heights when they play such classics as “Saying Sorry” and “Ohio Is for Lovers”, which is considered the quintessential “Emo Anthem”. Members of the band often incite the glee of the audience by getting up close to the crowd making them feel like they are part of the show and expressing that their fans are an integral part of making the show special. The guitarist from Hawthorne Heights has also been known to stage dive into the crowd, which is followed by him playing the guitar while crowd surfing. There have also been times when JT has jumped into the crowd to sing his songs with audience members. When you attend a Hawthorne Heights concert you can expect to be in awe of their sincere delivery of the classic emo songs that they have brought to the main stream, continuing to wow fans and critics alike.

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Far and away one of the most interesting bands of the mid 2000’s post hardcore boom, Armor For Sleep have been tragically defunct since 2012’s spate of reunion shows. However, the age of the reunion show hasn’t abated yet, and if bands as disparate as Mineral, Outkast, Atreyu and Slowdive can reunite in the last year alone it would be short sighted to rule out the New Jersey emocore mob this early on. So far we can only hope, and hope we do because Armor for Sleep concerts were famous for being utterly unmissable. Their brand of dream-pop infused post-hardcore truly coming alive when played in front of adoring crowds the world over. Which truth be told is to be expected from any band coming from New Jersey’s unbelievably fertile rock scene but AFS went one step beyond, with time and experience teaching them to switch from their progressive early albums to the dark hued pop-rock of their later work with ease and skill. Of course with any cult act, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and if the response to their 2012 reunion shows was anything to go by any later shows would be home to a crowd more devoted than any other band on their level and that could make it worth the price of admission alone. It would be a crime to miss out on being part of that audience, so if the time comes again, joining it is the only option for fans of rock music with as much brain as heaviness.

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