Music / Touché Amoré

"If you fantasize about your funeral, I understand
I've been there before
If what's more important is the music played
Than who'd attend
We are the same
With heads to the ground
As I'm lowered down
There will be a chorus
An overwhelming sound."

— "Condolences"

Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Burbank, California, formed in 2007. After releasing a self-produced demo on No Sleep Records (one of the label's first releases), they released their debut album ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse on 6131 Records in 2009. In 2011 they signed to Deathwish Inc., and that same year put out Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me as their sophomore album. In 2013 they released Is Survived By. The band is noted for their intense live performances, "confessional" lyrics, and Jeremy Bolm's harsh, anguished screaming vocal style.

The band currently consists of (founding members in bold):

• Vocalist Jeremy Bolm (2007-)
• Guitarist Clayton Stevens (2007-)
• Bassist Tyler Kirby (2009-)
• Drummer Elliot Babin (2009-)
• Guitarist Nick Steinhardt (bass 2007-2010, guitar 2010-)

Former members:

• Guitarist/vocalist Tyson White (2007-2010)
• Drummer Jeremy Zsupnik (2007-2009)

Albums:

• ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse (2009)
• Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (2011)
• Is Survived By (2013)
• Stage Four (2016)
• Lament (2020)

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Touche Amore provides examples of:

• All Drummers Are Animals: Subverted. The nerdy, skinny Elliot is quiet and polite... until he gets behind the kit. He's known for sitting behind the kit often wearing only his underwear. Oh, and for pooping out a moving car window.
• Careful with That Axe: All of Jeremy Bolm's vocal work.
• Epic Rocking: Averted - which is a surprise, since most post-hardcore bands move away from hardcore punk's short song lengths. Touche Amore, on the other hand, embrace it - until 2020, their longest song ("Skyscraper") clocked in at just 3:53, and their shortest ("Nine") at 44 seconds. "Limelight" is their first song to pass the four minute mark.
• Grief Song: Every song on Stage Four which is about the passing of Jeremy Bolm's mother
• Heavy Meta: Is Survived By is an album about writing an album, and less directly the legacy that the narrator's music leaves behind after their death.
• Miniscule Rocking: Unsurprising considering their longest song is 4 minutes. ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse Packs 11 songs into 18 minutes with the longest one being "Honest Sleep" at 2:32. ''Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me packs 13 into just over 20 with every single song except "Face Ghost" being under 2 minutes.
  • Finally subverted in 2020, with the track "Limelight" being their first song to pass four minutes (5:02, to be exact).
• No Inside Voice: To date, there's a grand total of one moment on any of their albums where Jeremy is not screaming his lungs out. It's gotten to the point where Jeremy can no longer speak without a heavy gravelly tone - and even then, his speaking voice is very soft and high-pitched.
• Take That!: "We Hate Fred Phelps.com" is one towards the Westboro Baptist Church, and "Hipsterectomy" and "Scene Is to Be Scene" towards the respective subcultures which the band weren't fond of at the time (see Old Shame)
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: We Hate Fred Phelps.com is a very blunt and brutal call-out to the Westboro Baptist Church.
• Vocal Evolution: Jeremy went from a Saetia-esque growl on their earliest releases to a guttural, low-end scream on their debut LP. After that he went back to the mid-range shriek for Parting the Sea..., and the majority of the time on Is Survived By he's not so much screaming for dear life as strainedly shouting, with more texture and personality to his voice.
• Wanderlust Song: "Home Away from Here" is about touring and being content with being constantly moving and discovering new places, as opposed to only calling one place "home."