Touché Amoré

Los Angeles’ Touché Amoré blend jangly post-hardcore with emotionally raw screamo to create a unique sound that turns the influence of bands like Jawbox and Converge into something strangely coherent. The group’s third album, 2013′s Is Survived By, reached the top half of the Billboard 200, and they landed in the lower half with Stage Four in 2016. An appearance in the Top Five of Billboard’s vinyl albums chart accompanied 2020′s Lament, the band’s fifth album of original material. They teamed up with Circa Survive to cover each other for the split EP Splitsville in 2022. Their sixth album, Spiral in a Straight Line, followed in 2024. Formed in 2007 by singer Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Tyson White, bassist Nick Steinhardt, and drummer Jeremy Zsupnik, Touché Amoré made their debut in 2009 with To the Beat of a Dead Horse. Elliot Babin replaced Zsupnik on drums, and bassist Tyler Kirby stepped in for the departing White (as Steinhardt moved to rhythm guitar) before the album eventually came to the attention of Jacob Bannon’s label Deathwish, Inc. The label released the follow-up, 2011′s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, as well as the band’s third album, 2013′s Is Survived By. The latter peaked at number 85 on the U.S. albums chart as well as landing in the Top 30 of the alternative, rock, and hard rock charts. It also topped the vinyl albums chart. After finishing up a tour in support of Is Survived By, the group decamped to L.A.’s Seagrass Studio with producer Brad Wood (Sunny Day Real Estate, Smashing Pumpkins) to begin work on their fourth LP. The resulting Stage Four, inspired by Bolm’s mother’s death from cancer, was released in 2016 on Epitaph. It fared slightly better on the rock side charts, reaching number 168 on the Billboard 200. In November 2018, Epitaph issued 10 Years/1000 Shows: Live at the Regent Theater. Recorded that February at Touché Amoré’s 1,000th show, it made appearances on the vinyl and independent album charts. The following year saw the group re-record the entirety of their 2009 debut album, To the Beat of a Dead Horse, and release it as Dead Horse X in reference to its tenth anniversary. In 2020, Touché Amoré returned with their fifth studio effort — Dead Horse X not included — Lament. Produced by Ross Robinson (Korn, Limp Bizkit), and with guests including singer/songwriter Julien Baker and Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull, among others, it landed on the Billboard rock, hard rock, alternative, independent charts as well as the vinyl albums chart, where it reached number five. The two-song Covers, Vol. 1 followed in 2021, as did the five-album compilation Cassette Box Set. In 2022, the Splitsville EP found Touché Amoré and Circa Survive covering songs by one another. 2024 saw the band re-team with Robinson for their sixth album, Spiral in a Straight Line, released on Rise Records. It featured guest appearances from Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow and, once again, Julien Baker. ~ Gregory Heaney & Marcy Donelson