Armor For Sleep

Armor for Sleep is a New Jersey-based band known for their unique brand of atmospheric emo, sometimes referred to as dream pop.

Their 2005 breakthrough album What to Do When You Are Dead was a concept album about death and the afterlife told from the perspective of a suicide victim. The album was a critical success and spawned the minor hit "The Truth about Heaven," which got regular play on the Fuse television network.

Smile for Them, their latest release, is Armor for Sleep's first record on the Sire Records label, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records, and looks to finally break the band into mainstream music.

I spoke with lead singer and primary songwriter Ben Jorgensen about the new album, changing labels and his fascination with sleep and death.

Q. Smile for Them is your first full release in more than two-and-a-half years. Why did it take so long to come out with a new record?

A. Two years, I think, (it) isn't that long, but we wrote way more content for this record. For What to Do When You Are Dead, we wrote 13 songs and put 11 on the record. This time around we wrote, like, 50 songs. I guess we just wanted to take our time, making sure that we got our point across.

Q. Do you think the music scene has changed since 2005?

A.Yeah, I mean, it's changing every day. It's scary how fast it's changing with CD sales falling off and new trends coming in. It's like we have to focus on ourselves and our sound and try and not be deterred by everybody else and what's going on.

Q. Have you seen a change in your fan base?

A. I think -- it's a weird thing -- our fan base is definitely very loyal. We have fans of the band and we have fans of the records. There are people that think Dream to Make Believe will always be their favorite record and people who think What to Do When You Are Dead is their favorite record and, it's like, they get so attached to it that they can't break themselves away from it, which is awesome. Like, I totally understand that. At the same time, there are tons of new fans of the new CD who predominately make up our show. I think it's fans that don't understand the change that kind of get(s) lost in the mix.

To read the full interview, go to http://media.www.dailytitan.com/media/storage/paper861/news/2008/01/28/T...