Catch Your Breath Brought The “The Broken Souls” Tour To New York City’s Gramercy Theatre For The First Time

Kicking off the show was American metalcore band If Not For Me. If Not For Me is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is currently signed to Thriller Records. The band currently consists of vocalist Patrick Glover, guitarist Hayden Calhoun, bassist Zac Allen and drummer Cody Frain. If Not For Me draws a crowd with their combination driving riffs, smashing breakdowns and the duality of Glover’s soothing clean vocals to harsh screams. If Not For Me garnered attention when their hit single “Feel Me Now” made plenty of noise on SiriusXM Octane as well as radio charts. Soon after they released their second studio album called “Everything You Wanted” which was released on March 29th, 2024. Since then, If Not For Me has supported bands such as Electric Callboy, Set It Off and even August Burns Red for their annual Christmas Burns Red show. If Not For Me opened their set with “Demons”. It started off with the crowd singing along until Glover asked for the crowd to split down the middle. The crowd made room and fans ran into the middle moshing and swinging their arms hardcore style. Later in the set they played their latest single “Say It To My Face” which features Taylor Barber, vocalist of American deathcore band Left To Suffer. Allen and Calhoun backed up Glover on the song as they crushed a heavy breakdown near the end of the song. Can't forget Frain who is incredibly skilled on the drums being able to play many different styles. If Not For Me also performed one of their heaviest tracks titled “Blameless” and what can I say? I got absolutely demolished. I thought it would have been a good idea to form a wall of death and willingly run into it. Luckily, I made it out alive and for once did not leave without any injuries. The band closed off their set with previously mentioned smash hit “Feel Me Now”. The whole crowd serenaded the band as they are very familiar with the track.That's when the crowd surfers started getting things going. Security was caught off guard because it went from zero to multiple crowd surfers in an instant. Glover and the band demanded one more wall of death for the final breakdown and after a purely chaotic moshpit, Glover said “That is the irresponsible sh*t we've been asking for”. If Not For Me walked off stage gracing their fans with a flawless performance while making plenty of new fans. 

Up next on the lineup was Archers. Archers is a metalcore band from Madison, Wisconsin that formed in 2015. The group was founded by vocalist Nathaniel Pulley and guitarist Ben Koehler and now includes bassist Oscar Porter and drummer Grayson Mesarosh. Archers grabs the attention with the booming angelic clean vocals of Pulley which are complemented by the screams of Porter. They put that formula to work in their song “Made For Love” a song they released as a single in September of 2024. That song has accumulated over one million streams on Spotify and has become a fan favorite. Pulley sings his way through the song until the breakdown where he asks the crowd to make some space and get moving. After some encouragement from Porter, the crowd completed the task at the end. Fans were pushing and shoving to the gnarly breakdown from Koehler while Mesarosh slammed on the snare drum that unleashed a massive boom sound that vibrates the whole venue. My body felt like it was shaking. Archers kill it when it comes to the heavy stuff, but they are like a swiss army knife when it comes to adapting in their live performance. Nearing the back end of the set, Pulley asked for the crowd to take a breather and get their singing voices. Pulley whipped out an acoustic guitar and serenaded the crowd by performing “Before You Go”. The crowd put up their phone lights and illuminated the venue as they sang the last chorus with Pulley. A beautiful and calm moment was about to be flipped upside down as the band asked for pure chaos for their song called “Blackmarketmonkeymagic”. The fans fulfilled the band's wish and moshed like crazy. Crowd surfers were tossed up in the air and people were shoving each other back and forth until the end of the song. Archers thanked the crowd for bringing the energy through the roof and said how much they love coming to New York City. 

The Funeral Portrait:

Next up was The Funeral Portrait. The Funeral Portrait is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in 2014. The band currently consists of  vocalist Lee Jennings, guitarists Cody Weissinger and Caleb Freihaut, bassist Robert Weston and drummer Homer Umbanhower. The Funeral Portrait specializes in a blend of emo, post harcore and alternative rock. The Funeral portrait started reaching new heights after opening for Ice Nine Kills at the first silver scream con. Soon after they supported massive acts such as Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown. The band had dozens of people at the merch line waiting for the opportunity to meet the band. Their fans came to party hard tonight and it showed. The band kicked off the set with “Generation Psycho” from their 2024 album “Greetings From Suffocate City”. The first thing that stands out is Jennings' vocals. He has been compared to Brent Smith of Shinedown in his vocal style and range. His voice is booming and captures attention anywhere he performs. Later they performed a fan favorite song called “Dark Thoughts”. A ballad dedicated to mental illness and the dark thoughts that accompany it. Fans were moved emotionally as Jennings serenaded the crowd while Weissinger and Freihaut ripped a guitar solo that left the crowd in awe. The ultimate showmanship of Jennings was on display. He dedicated the song “Hearse For Two” to his grandmother and held roses throughout the entire song. On a funnier note he wore a cowboy hat for the song “Holy Water” which a new rendition of that song released the next day with Five Finger Death Punch vocalist Ivan Moody. The Funeral Portrait ended their set with their smash hit “Suffocate City” which features Ice Nine Kills vocalist Spencer Charnas. Jennings asked for maximum crowd participation. The crowd started sending crowd surfers like crazy and they didn't end until the end of the song. The catchiest chorus they have was sung by the whole venue throughout the whole song. The band gifted the crowd with a huge breakdown from Weissinger, Weston and Freihaut that had the whole crowd bouncing. Can't forget about Umbanhower dropping bombs on the drums that rattled the whole building. The Funeral Portrait thanked the crowd for an incredible night and praised NYC as one of their favorite places to play. 

Now it was time for tonight's headliner. Catch Your Breath was ready to take the stage for yet another sold out show on the Broken Souls Tour. This is Catch Your Breath’s biggest headliner tour yet. The band has embarked on tours supporting bands such as Falling Reverse, Dayseeker and From Ashes To New. The band signed their first big deal to Thriller records in 2022. The band originated in Austin, Texas and currently consist of vocalist Josh Mowery, guitarist Teddy Herrera, bassist Cianan Madigan and drummer Onell Hernandez. Catch Your Breath specializes in hard rock that blends into more specific sub genres such as metalcore and post hardcore. Catch Your Breath creates their own sound with blending electronic and rap elements to create what Herrera stated as “A new gen of rock”. Their biggest hit is a track called “Dial Tone” which made waves on social media and SiriusXM Octane. The track hit #7 on billboard hot hard rock charts and #3 on Spotify’s metal worldwide charts. That song currently has over 98 million streams on Spotify being by far their biggest hit. Catch Your Breath has one studio album under their belt called “Shame On Me” which was released on October 20th 2023 followed by a deluxe version releasing on September 27th, 2024. Catch Your Breath would play mostly songs from that album on this tour. The lights went out and the intro instrumentals to “Ghost Inside The Shell”. Mowery walked on stage reciting the opening lyrics and the crowd let out a giant roar. The rest of the band followed on stage as the screen above their heads showed the band's logo with added effects. Towards the end of the song the band demanded the crowd to split open the floor and go “wall to wall”. When Herrera and Madigan released the breakdown, multiple people ran into each other at full force. Mowery belted demonic screams which were supported by Hernandez on drums smashing away on the snare. The snare shot out like a cannon and everyone in the venue could feel it go through their bodies. The only song not played off “Shame On Me” was “Criminal”, a single released on September 4th, 2020. They treated their hardcore fans with a true deep cut in their discography. The set was just getting started as there was plenty of music and antics to be had.

Catch Your Breath played another big hit called “21 Gun Salute”. The band asked for full crowd participation as this was going to be a massive sing along. The only movement going on in the pit during this song was a huge conga line that formed with at least 20 people following the leader. After the conga line broke up Mowery asked for everyone to break out the phones and turn on their lights. The final chorus and verse was sung by the crowd as the band soaked in the incredible moment. Phone lights illuminated the venue with a bright glow. The sing along was not done yet as next up was a song called “Good In Goodbye”. The group dedicated this song to Herrera’s grandmother who was the band’s number one supporter since day one. The crowd yet again sang along to every word as everyone could relate to the pain of losing a loved one. Catch Your Breath’s powerful lyricism and emotion united a solid out crowd as one in a touching moment. Following up were their two biggest hits. First up was the aforementioned song “Dial Tone”. If the band asked the crowd to sing the whole song themselves it would have been done. The crowd knew every word and the fans' voices deafened the venue. Next was title track “Shame On Me” another ballad that touched the emotions of every fan in the building. This song is their next biggest that accumulated over 50 million streams on spotify. To no one's disappointment the crowd topped themselves yet again by loudly singing to every single lyric and piling dozens of crowd surfers over the barricade. After the song the band thanked everyone for an incredible sold out show. The lights went out and no one left yet. The fans knew there had to be an encore. 

Catch Your Breath came back out for one last song for the encore. This song was “Y.S.K.W”. The band blessed the crowd with another emotional ballad and that capped off another sold out show on this magical tour. Fans became family on a night of good chaotic fun with four incredible bands. Catch Your Breath is in the home stretch of the Broken Souls Tour with seven shows left before they travel to the United Kingdom and Europe for their first overseas headliner featuring their friends in Until I Wake, and Of Virtue on the Savages Tour