There is nothing more satisfying for those us in this “biz” than watching a band grow. After ten years of being a band, Touche Amore have grown immensely. They emerged from the late 2000’s class of emo, screamo, hardcore, and post-hardcore that included La Dispute, Title Fight, The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die, Pianos Become the Teeth, and other bands which blended all those genres, along with a dash of indie rock, into a new wave of emo to replace the dying pop punk and metalcore infused emo bands of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Like most of those other bands, Touche Amore has come into their own as something truly special, and on September 19th they laid it all bare on the stage in Austin, Texas, to a sold out crowd at Barracuda.
The Los Angeles band felt right at home in Austin, playing songs that ran the gamut of their catalog. There was plenty of material from their most recent album, Stage Four, which holds the distinction of being the first Touche Amore album with cleanly sung vocals and by far the most indie rock and least hardcore influenced record of their career. Those songs fit in exceptionally well with their older material because the growth over time has been so organic. They didn’t just (like some bands) wake up one day and change their sound. The new songs – clean vocals and softer melodies and all – still somehow possess the same manic energy that Touche Amore has always had. Their reception was easily as beloved as classic TA tracks like “Cadence.”
For many bands, playing such old songs among fresh material might feel like a chore or a burden, as though they simply have to get through it to make sure everyone goes home happy. Touche has enough leeway and trust with their fanbase that they can craft their setlists as they wish. 2009’s …To the Beat of a Dead Horse deep cut “Nine” didn’t appear just to satisfy hardcore fans. It showed up because the band legitimately felt confident performing it again after many years. During closer “Honest Sleep” from the same record, singer and songwriter Jeremy Bolm was beaming ear to ear as his crowd took the stage and chanted his lyrics to him. Whether those words resonate with him all these years later or not is irrelevant. That connection between him, his words, and his fans make it all worth it.
Still, the moments which carried the most weight might have been the ones which took the tempo down a notch. “Skyscraper” from last year’s Stage Four is among the softest songs the band has written, but its emotional power held so much sway over the audience that many were spotted in tears. It’s that ability to seamlessly maintain the audience’s attention even without the crushing hardcore riffs and a frenetic pace that serve Touche Amore so well in their continual growth away from their initial roots. Few can pull it off so well that those moments serve to unite, rather than fragmenting half the audience off to a piss break.
That class of emo from the late 2000’s has gone in so many varied directions, to the point where it’s hard to believe they all evolved from the same scene and once sounded similar enough to be lumped in together. Out of all of them, Touche Amore’s journey may be the greatest. Even ten years into the game, they are finding new ways to progress as a band and hit their audience right in the heart.
