Dec 4, 2007
We recently got the privilege to ask Ben Jorgensen, lead singer of Armor for Sleep some questions about their new album Smile for Them, writing for Armor for Sleep, and life on the road. Read on as Ben tells all about life as the front-man of Armor for Sleep!
Heaviest: Hello – Who are you and what do you do?
Ben of Armor for Sleep: Hello, I am Ben. I play guitar and sing in Armor for Sleep.
Heaviest: Everyone has a beginning, how did Armor for Sleep get it’s start?
Armor for Sleep: I played drums in a band in high school called Random Task. During, I would say, my senior year I started writing all of the music for the band and once I graduated I wanted to emerge from behind the drumset and sing and play guitar on the songs I was writing. Before I had a band together I recorded a demo by myself and gave it to my friends to see if anybody wanted in. I kept writing all year and ended up gathering Anthony Nash and PJ to play with me.
Heaviest: What’s in a name? Is there any meaning behind Armor for Sleep?
Armor for Sleep: The name comes from the fact that when I started the band I really wasn’t sleeping at night. I had just quit my band and I had a lot on my mind, so writing songs kept me from thinking about my temporary insomnia.
Heaviest: What can you tell us about your new album, Smile For Them that came out on October 30th?
Armor for Sleep: Smile for Them is a roller coaster of an album. We really wanted every song to tell a different story emotionally and musically. On one hand it’s about how crazy my life has become since doing this band has taken us to crazy places, on the other it’s just about relationships and what happens when they go wrong.
Heaviest: How do you think Smile For Them differs from your previous work?
Armor for Sleep: Our last album, “What to do When You are Dead”, was a story about this guy who passed away and then was stuck in purgatory for the rest of the record. It was a story in itself. it was fun, but after a certain point there is only so much you can write about. This album gives us a chance to talk about lots of different things on all of our minds. It’s a more complete spectrum of stories.
Heaviest: “Williamsburg” is the first single on your new album, tell us a little about it.
Armor for Sleep: Williamsburg is about a group of people I started hanging out with in New York City who were very proud to call themselves hipsters. All they did was assert their coolness and make fun of other people who didn’t live up to their standards. It’s a jab at anyone who takes themselves too seriously.
Heaviest: Do you have a favourite song from your new album?
Armor for Sleep: My favourite song is “Lullaby”. I wrote this song when a long-term relationship I had was falling apart when I was away making the record, and I never really got the chance to resolve the situation, so in a way this is my only transmission about how everything went sour.
Heaviest:What is your biggest inspiration when writing?
Armor for Sleep: I try and think about memories from my life. Memories are the most important things we have. I just try and let them do their thing in my head and then I put my pen to the paper and try and capture them as accurately as I can.
Heaviest: Smile For Them will be released by your new label Sire Records, why the departure from Equal Vision?
Armor for Sleep: No bad blood. Our contract with EVR was up and Sire had really high hopes for us and the potential for us to make a great record. We still owe everything we have to EVR…whether they think that’s BS or not.
Heaviest: You are currently on the Sleeping with Giants tour with The Academy Is, how has that been going?
Armor for Sleep: Awesome! The Academy is are some of our best friends. It’s fun to be back on tour playing all of these new songs.
Heaviest: Armor for Sleep has constantly toured across the country the past couple years – how is life on the road?
Armor for Sleep: It’s cool! It’s like being an astronaut. I feel like when I get back home that thirty years of Earth time have passed but I haven’t aged at all. It’s the best job in the world, it’s just a little bit disorienting to be gone for so long and then get home and not have a purpose.
Heaviest: Your fans are known to be pretty passionate about your music, what is the craziest thing a fan has done for you?
Armor for Sleep: A fan drove from Florida to Chicago to see us…and then continued to follow us for two weeks of shows. I never understood that.
Heaviest: Do you find that your music reflects your lives back home in NJ? Have you found that any one place that you’ve toured has influenced your music more than another?
Armor for Sleep: I’m not sure it reflects our lives back in jersey…the music from NJ definitely shaped how we write though. We pick up influences from across the country. So many of our friends bands come from their own little scenes and after touring with them for a while, its inevitable that some of their sound will rub off on you.
Heaviest: If we were to look on your iPod what would we find?
Armor for Sleep: Pure mayhem!
Heaviest:We’d like to thank you for your time. Do you have any final shout outs to your fans?
Armor for Sleep: You guys rule! Stay on the lookout for a new video blog I’m putting up soon!