Famous Last Words (band)

Hailing from Petoskey, Michigan, Famous Last Words formed in 2010 and quickly began to make their mark within the scene. Utilizing heavy guitar riffs, catchy hooks, folly, and symphonic elements, the band took things a step further and introduced detailed stories into their lyrics and album structure; transforming their band into more of an art project. It was characteristics like this that lead the independent label InVogue Records to sign the band in 2012.

They released the EP You Could Have Made This Easier in 2010. This appeared in self-initiative. After the name change this was followed by the EP's "In Your Face" in 2010 and Pick Your Poison in 2012. The latter has already appeared at InVogue Records.[1]

Their first studio album, Two Faced Charade, released April 30, 2013. This is the first of their concept albums, a story about an outcast (who has schizophrenia), who falls in love with his neighbor, Elise (Welcome To The Show). Situations escalate, and he ends up following her into town (Victim of the Virtuoso), and finding out she has a boyfriend (The Relentless). He grows enraged, and starts to hear a screaming internally, one very similar to the one he feels inside. This scream is soon followed by a voice, the form that his previously mentioned schizophrenia takes (Voices). It starts telling him the actions he must take to have Elise as his (Lust of the Lost). He eventually makes a plan, when the boyfriend is about to go on a business trip, the main character stops him outside and acts concerned, since it seems as if the boyfriend was heavily drunk. He brings the boyfriend inside, and proceeds to murder the boyfriend (Legends and Legacies), and then hesitantly cut up the body, and then bury it into the ground (To Play Hide and Seek With Jealousy). Afterwards, he uses the boyfriend's phone to text Elise, in the perspective of the boyfriend telling her that they're done for, and that the stress of this job that the boyfriend took was too much. Elise gets heavily upset and the next day, when the main character goes over to her house to act like he was just coming to have breakfast, she rejects him kindly, explaining how they got broken up over text. The main character tells her everything is okay, and eventually that he took care of the boyfriend (Searching for a Home). She gets extremely confused when he says this, and once the main character realizes this, he runs back to his house, with Elise on his tail. She walks into the house, and into his bedroom, where the main character is (Even A Ghost Has A Sanctuary). She sees the bloodied knife and turns to the door, smelling the stench of blood and bleach. She walks into the bathroom and sees the blood, and the main character reassures her that he took care of her boyfriend, and that it's all okay. After she calls him a monster, he grows extremely angry and yells at her that he did this all of her and himself, before she says he did it all for him. He smashes her head into the wall vigorously, before realizing what he's doing and stopping himself. Realizing he just accidentally killed Elise, he turns to the mirror and tells the "inner-demon" that he had messed up his life, before the main character cuts himself down the wrist, killing himself. (The Show Must Go On, Prt. 1 and 2) There's a short film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCTaNoT22bg) and a short story (https://www.wattpad.com/29148228-two-faced-charade) both written by the lead singer, JT Tollas. He even directed the short film, and starred in it.

The band premiered the single "Council of the Dead" on January 27, 2014, and announced their second studio album, Council of the Dead, on the same day. The album is set to be released on August 26, 2014 through InVogue Records. On May 6, 2014 the band announced "The Hope Revolution Tour" beginning late August through September with fellow acts Hawthorne Heights, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and New Empire in the US.[2][3]

On August 1, 2014, the band released the music video for two new tracks, "One In The Chamber" and "The End Of The Beginning", from their upcoming album Council of the Dead.[4] Famous Last Words have revealed the artwork and track listing for their upcoming sophomore studio album, Council of the Dead was released on InVogue on August 26, 2014 nationwide.[5]

On August 25, 2014, the band released Council of the Dead. It reached #91 on the Top 200 and #18 on Independent Albums on Billboard's charts. On October 10, the band announced "The InVogue Records Tour" beginning late November through December with fellow acts For All I Am, Kingdom of Giants and Whether, I in the US.[6]

On February 19, 2015 the band announced "The Touring Dead" beginning late February through March with fellow acts For All I Am and Tear Out the Heart[7] in the US.[8]

On January 5, 2016, it was revealed by Revival Recordings that they had signed Famous Last Words, and that the band was working on their third studio album. The first single, "Pretty In Porcelain," as well as an acoustic rendition of "I'll Be Home Soon", from the label's upcoming compilation was released on iTunes, along with a promotional lyric video.[9]

On June 10, 2016, the band announced "The Method to the Madness Tour" beginning late July with fellow acts Outline in Color, It Lives, It Breathes and Open Your Eyes in the US.[10] On July 9, 2016 the first single, "Pretty In Porcelain", from their upcoming album was released on iTunes, along with a promotional music video.[11]

On September 30, 2016, the group released their third effort, "The Incubus", marking their only release on Revival Recordings.

On November 10, 2016, the band announced "The Incubus Tour" beginning late November with fellow acts, The Funeral Portrait and Versus Me

On June 13, 2017, founding member and drummer Craig Simons announced his departure from the band, citing personal issues as his primary reasoning for his departure, and wishing his bandmates luck in the future.

On December 11, 2017, the band announced their departure from Revival Recordings, and wished all other bands on the label their best.

On October 26, 2018, the band released the first track "No Walls" off their new EP titled "Arizona".

On May 16, 2019, the group released the extended play Arizona under SBG records, marking their first release under the label and their first non-concept effort. Commenting on the EP, Tollas stated: “Arizona is the result of us, as a band, living through and emerging from a really dark place. At the end of 2017, we weren’t sure what the future of Famous Last Words looked like. Or if there even was a future. We decided to channel all of that emotion and anger into the music you hear on this EP. The decision to abandon the concept format for this project was no accident. We had pain, anger, and emotion that we wanted our fans to understand were not anchored around a fictional character. These songs tell the stories of the things we were dealing with.”

On December 9, 2020, Tollas tweeted that he had finished "tracking the last bit of new FLW tracks" and that new music is coming soon.

• Famous Last Words on Facebook