Late last week PropertyOfZack had the chance to interview Ben Jorgensen prior to the release of his debut solo EP, Nowhere Is Left To Go, which is on-sale now. Ben of course was the former lead singer of Armor For Sleep if the name sounds familiar but you can’t put a face to it! Ben and I discussed the writing process for the EP, possibilities of a tour, as well as the possibility for an Armor For Sleep farewell show. Read up and enjoy it!

Until a week or so ago we hadn’t really heard from you in what seemed like ages. Then all in one day you kind of took us all by surprise. All of that side: How have you been?
I’ve been awesome. I guess since Armor For Sleep kind of ended like a year and a half ago we didn’t really announce it and everything was king of kept on the DL and I was working on this other project for a while that I kind of announced, but never really intended to move truly forward with it. It’s been cool. It’s been just a lot of reflecting on what I want to do next and just living my life. I’ve been great.

You’ll be releasing your debut solo EP this coming Tuesday. I’ve certainly seen a ton of excitement for it. What about you?
Yeah, I just posted the first song online a few days ago and the reaction was really great. I think what means the most to me is that, people who are big fans of Armor For Sleep seem to really like the song and the sound and I think it’s pretty indicative of what the whole EP will be like. It’s just good to know that after all this time I still have a core group of kids who are still interested in what I’m going to do and who are really supportive. That makes a world of a different. If it wasn’t for them I don’t think I would keep doing this.
 
Like you said a lot of people have been into the song and a lot have said that it sounds a little bit like early Armor For Sleep. You’d say that definitely holds true throughout the EP?
Maybe. I think it sounds like early Armor For Sleep because the start of Armor For Sleep was basically just me until I got everyone else involved. And then once I got everyone else involved I think we tried to get a lot heavier and towards the end of things we were really like a loud rock band. When I started I intended Armor to really be like a quieter thing. I listened to a lot of things like Mogwai and some experimental stuff. So maybe it starts like early Armor because it’s just me again and I’m free to do my own thing.
 
How long have these songs been in the works for you?
I guess maybe over the summer is when I really started writing. It wasn’t like these were leftover Armor For Sleep songs or God Loves A Challenge songs. These were written for this purpose. So yeah, in the past few months.
 
Did you record at home or did you get into a real studio for it?
I actually went to this amazing studio called Treehouse in Jersey City. My friend is the owner of the studio and he listened to what I was doing and he really loved it and wanted to get behind it. So he kind of produced it and helped me get these songs done and I’m really grateful to him. It’s an amazing studio with really talented people who work there. But I did do a lot of recording on my own. I did a lot of the vocal recording on my own. One of the things I learned about my previous stuff is that sometimes I know myself best and I know how my voice works and all this different stuff. So I’ve been getting more into being able to record on my own so there was some stuff that I actually did on my own.
 
How was the writing process for this compared to some of the past writing that you’ve done?
I think the writing process was a lot easier just because I feel like I know myself a lot more. I feel like before when I wrote for Armor there was so much going on that I let it kind of get into my creative space and I think now I’m at a point where I’m really happy in my life right now. I’m surrounded by really great people and I’m in a really great relationship with someone that I love more than anything and I just feel like I have clarity in my life and that to me is really the different. So when I go to write a song I’m doing so in a very comfortable place. I think that totally changes everything I feel so much more comfortable doing that because I feel more comfortable about being me.
 
Will we be seeing any local tour dates around New Jersey or New York? It’s been a while for you.
Yeah, it has been a while. I totally want to get back into playing tons of shows. It’s going to be interesting to see what kids would come back out to see me doing this stuff, but yeah, I’m in the process of figuring out what our first show is going to be and I’m talking to promoters right now. Definitely expect some shows around New York City and New Jersey in the next few weeks.
 
Will you be solo or will you have a band with you?
I have a full band together. We started working on some songs last week. They’re just three other musicians who are amazing. I’ve played with some pretty talented people, but these guys are very talented and it’s just great to get out and play music and I can’t wait to play for other people and I can’t wait to see how many other people come out and hang out with me.
 
Obviously you have some other capabilities as a musician, but did the other guys record some stuff on the EP as well?
My friend out Treehouse is also a very talented musician so he produced it and played drums on it and bass. So between he and I we kind of banged everything out on the recording, but I definitely let him play a part that I thought he did better than me. He was a huge help. It was just the two of us.
 
Within the next six months to a year would you like to have another EP or LP out?
Yeah, absolutely. For me, every single thing I have released has been through a label so it’s been on their schedule. With this now I don’t have a label. I got out of my record deal that we signed with Armor For Sleep, so I’m really on my own schedule and it would totally be my dream to be able to release either a few EPs a year or a couple of EPs and a full-length record. If a label wants to come along and say, “Hey, we love what you’re doing and we want to help you do it without interrupting you,” I would consider it, but I don’t need it. I feel like the kids that I have and the fans that I have aren’t going anywhere and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t put out music by myself. So I’m kind of taking the approach of, if you want to help me, get on the train. If not, keep going.

Has God Loves A Challenge been put to rest completely?
Yeah [Laughs]. I think for a while I was thinking it might come back, but honestly the nature of what it was was an experiment. I love Nine Inch Nails and I love certain electronic things and I wanted to give it a go. Honestly, I think I needed a break from rock songs since I’ve been doing it for so long. I started doing it, but with the nature of itself being so electronic meant that I had to go into the computer and there were such big productions and to record the one song took weeks. And it was fun while it lasted, but I started writing all of these acoustic songs and I started writing songs for just me that were coming out so much faster. Yeah, so at first I thought I was just going to do this solo thing and put God Loves A Challenge on hold, but now I don’t know. Maybe one day I’ll come back to it, but it’s definitely not on my radar for something I want pick back up in a couple of weeks or something.
 
Considering that fans have commented on the sound of the EP being a little bit more like prior releases and the fact that Armor never did really play a goodbye show, is a reunion or a farewell show a possibility?
Yeah, if the situation felt right I would definitely do it. That was my baby and I’ll always be the biggest Armor For Sleep fan. I wish I could say that things ended on the best of terms and I honestly thought they were ending pretty well and that everybody had an understanding, but I think some people were more unhappy about it than I first thought. If everyone can get together and we can work something out then of course I’d be down to do it, but I’m just not sure how realistic that is because everyone is doing their own things right now too. We’ll see.
 
Thanks so much for your time, is there anything else you’d like to add?
No man, thanks so much for the interview. I appreciate it.