If you get caught up in thinking about why certain hardcore immediately make an impression on people, you will likely turn your brain into mush. But every so often, there comes a long a band where it’s perfectly clear from their kinetic energy, live AND on record, that they’ve tapped into a reserve that’s going to be special to a lot of people. I felt this buzz with MODERN LIFE IS WAR when they started doing something musically that was almost in outright defiance to the last gasps of early 2000s youth crew revival / AMERICAN NIGHTMARE takeover. The ship steered into brooding waters. Half a decade later, TOUCHE AMORE recreated the feeling when they premiered with an uptick in tempo and noisy irritation that led a pointing finger to under-appreciated 90s screamo, a missile strike that could not seem any more at odds with the slick genre-mutations spewing from crabcore affiliated labels and the like. In just a few years, TOUCHE AMORE’s musical maturity shot out like circus cannon on the release of their second full-length Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me. Pastepunk writer James Hepplewhite interviewed lead singer Jeremy Bolm about the new release in June of 2011. - Jordan

Pastepunk: Lyrically, the focus of Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me seems to be a lot more inward than …To The Beat Of A Dead Horse. Why?

Jeremy Bolm: Our first record wasn’t written with the intent of having a full length, it just so happened we had enough songs to do so. So lyrically those songs are about all different topics of things that we’re bothering me. This new record was written in about two months so all the songs are focused on what was happening with me at that time.

Pastepunk: “Searching For A Pulse” hinted and “Wants/Needs” more or less confirms it, that you weren’t so enamored with LAanymore. What happened or what did you see?

Bolm: I will always have a piece of myself at home. There are plenty of things that I enjoy about Los Angeles. I have got to a point in my life though where I feel like a stranger in my own town. It’s not so much LA’s fault, but my own.

Pastepunk: There’s a line on “Hideaways” that I thought was really good: “You can’t expect to understand love when you admire lonely singers.” Where was your head at when you wrote that down?

Bolm: Just that. I realized that every lyricst I admire/look up to/am influenced by find themselves lonely and lost.

Pastepunk: I have to imagine the last couple years have crossed a number of things off the bucket list, a full length on Deathwish, direct support for ENVY, split releases with your friends and world tours. What remains?

Bolm: Haha! I really don’t know. I’ve been able to tour with my favorite bands that changed my life. Put out a record on my favorite active punk label, and release records with people I admire. If the band broke up tomorrow I wouldn’t be the least bit upset about it. I’ve been able to travel and see things that no one in my family has ever been able to see or do, all because of screaming for 20 minutes a night. I don’t take a single day for granted.

Pastepunk: How did you prepare for recording with Ed Rose for only five days? Were you all frantically practicing the songs the week before the drive out to Eudora? The real question: Did you sneak any parts on Parting using Get Up Kids equipment?

Bolm: We had moved our rehearsal schedule up a few days more than usual a week. We worked pretty hard to the point where we felt comfortable in ourselves. We actually recorded the drums on the set used for the On a Wire tour!

Pastepunk: Did any of the songs on Parting get written in Black Lodge?

Bolm: Nope. All we’re written in California. Some songs were changed slightly, but nothing from scratch.

Pastepunk: Company man time. Here’s a hypothetical: Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Bannon mishandle the Deathwish Inc. finances to put out the STARKWEATHER discography on 16xLP, causing the label to go under. However, you, having not blown your money on STARKWEATHER vinyl, can save five and only five Deathwish Inc. records from being sold off to keen-eyed investors. Which five? (And yes, double records count as a single record.)

Bolm: CURSED – I / CONVERGE – You Fail Me / SOME GIRLS – The Rains / BLACKLISTED – No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me / MODERN LIFE IS WAR – Witness

Pastepunk: What’s the best thing at home that you missed because you were on tour and what’s the best single night experience that you had to have been on tour to have?

Bolm: I’ve missed some great shows that I even had tickets to. Belle and Sebastian and The National both played during our last tour. Those are two of my favorite bands so that was rough. Single best night of tour is probably impossible to come up with. There have been some incredible nights.

Pastepunk: Finally: A soapbox. Is there anything on your mind? New projects that need to be plugged? The space is yours.

Bolm: I’m always thinking of ideas but never do them. I’m afraid to even mention them anymore because I’ll procrastinate too much. Maybe a book, maybe another band, maybe a split. Who knows.