Catch Your Breath Mended The Broken Souls of New York City

Catch Your Breath brought their Broken Souls Tour, their first ever headlining tour to the iconic Gramercy Theatre in New York City, marking this the band's biggest show in New York to date. The show also saw support from If Not For Me, Archers and The Funeral Portrait.

Fans got themselves warmed up to the Pennsylvania-based metalcore band If Not For Me. Since forming in 2018, If Not For Me had been crushing it in their local scene and its surrounding areas but it wasn't until they got signed to Thriller Records in 2023 and their summer 2024 tour supporting Electric Callboy that the band would start reaching new heights. The band's identity is found in their aggressive breakdowns, catchy choruses and energetic riffs, all of which are amplified in their explosive live performances. They have spent the past year touring with the likes of Set It Off and From Ashes To New and have made an appearance at the annual Christmas Burns Red festival last December. Last November, the band released their latest single "Say It To My Face" which features Left To Suffer vocalist Taylor Barber. The band is currently made up of Patrick Glover (vocals), Hayden Calhoun (guitar), Zac Allen (bass) and Cody Frain (drums). If Not For Me's set was filled with energy and heaviness, which caught everyone's attention. Packed with songs like "Demons", "Alone", "Tragedy", "Fearless" and "Feel Me Now", If Not For Me either got the mosh pit riled up or had the crowd sing their hearts out. Glover had everyone get their phones out during the melodic "Alone" and lit up all of Gramercy and the pit opened up once the breakdown of "Say It To My Face" dropped. The band picked up the intensity at times like on "Tragedy" and Glover called for a mosh pit once again on "Blameless". The band wrapped their set up with "No Thanks To You" and "Feel Me Now", with the former seeing an increase in moshing and the latter an increase in crowd surfing and singing along.

Next up was the genre blending Archers. Archers emerged out of Wisconsin in 2015 and won a following over with their songs that touched on topics like mental health and relationships. The band is made up of Nathanael Pulley (vocals), Ben Koehler (guitar), Oscar Porter (bass/vocals) and Grayson Mesarosh (drums). The band started nice and slow with Pulley coming out first and singing the opening words to “Perfect Strangers”, with the crowd. The rest of band came out after, kicking the music in and Porter let out a scream before breakdown dropped. They kicked it up a notch on “Made For Love” and the mosh pit opened up on the song's heavy breakdown. This continued into “Drag Me Out” with Pulley commanding the crowd to keep it going. The catchy "Say This Sober" had fans singing along and jumping off their feet. Archers then played a new song called “Never Enough”, the song has only been out for about three or four weeks now, being released on February 7th, and has already landed #5 on Spotify with over 200,000 streams and Pulley thanked the fans for making that happen. After playing through "Composure", Porter spent time talking to the crowd while Pulley brought out an acoustic guitar. The band decided to take it easy for a bit and played the single "Before You Go". This beautiful performance set a very moody vibe and the whole room was vibing out and singing along to the words. Everyone got their phone lights out too which helped further set the mood. Archers didn't end it on that note though and picked the intensity back up with "Bitter". With one more song left, Archers make it a mission every night to end every set as heavy as they possibly could and played their heaviest song of the set, "Blackmarketmonkeymagic". Pulley was letting out some intense screaming and the security at the front was getting pelted with crowd surfers. Pulley ordered the floor to split open and the pit went into a frenzy when the breakdown dropped, bringing Archers' set to an explosive end.

The party was about to turn up because The Funeral Portrait was next to take the stage. The Funeral Portrait is an emotional rock band from Atlanta, Georgia that has been giving a space for outcasts and misfits a safe place since 2014. With a sound that is described as a blend of bands like My Chemical Romance and Motionless In White, the band has aimed to make music that hits hard and resonate with those who felt casted out from society and give them a safe space where they can be themselves. Combining this with over-the-top theatrics and dramatics has made The Funeral Portrait a standout act in the scene. The band currently consists of Lee Jennings (vocals), Cody Weissinger (guitar), Caleb Freihaut (guitar/keyboard), Robert Weston (bass) and Homer Umbanhower (drums) and are signed to Better Noise Music. The Funeral Portrait kicked it off with “Generation Psycho” and had everyone clapping their hands together during it. Before starting “Blood Mother”, Jennings directed the left side of the room to say ‘Hell’ and right side of the room to say “Yeah”, signaling each side to scream their part on the chorus as loud as they could. The band then dedicated the next song, “Voodoo Doll” to anyone with an addiction. Weissinger played an eye-catching guitar solo and Jennings had everyone wave their hands in the air on the last chorus. After finishing the next song "Chernobyl", Jennings took the time to talk to the crowd and dedicate the next one, “Hearse For Two” to his grandmother, the person who raised him since he was a kid. For the song, Jennings took out a bouquet of black flowers and was waving it back and forth. The fans followed him along and waved their hands even when they took out their phone lights as per his request. With only three songs left, it was time to reach the 'dark thoughts' in our minds. with the next song "Dark Thoughts". “Dark Thoughts” is one of the band's most popular songs, sitting at #2 on Spotify with over 3.8 million streams, and touches on the personal subject of dealing with inner demons and the evil thoughts that trespass our minds. Everyone recognized the song immediately and sang every single word from beginning to end. The band then took everyone to Church and blessed them with “Holy Water”. Everyone was clapping their hands together and preaching the song's choir out loud. In concluding their set, band brought everyone in their Black Hearse and crashed it into the gates of the last song “Suffocate City”.

It was now time for the main act to come on; Catch Your Breath. Based out of Austin, Texas, Catch Your Breath broke into the scene in 2017 and have won fans over with their way of evoking emotion into their songs. The band is made up of Josh Mowery (vocals), Teddy Herrera (guitar), Cianan Madigan (bass) and Onell Hernandez (drums) and are currently singed to Thriller Records. The band has been touring nonstop since releasing their debut studio album Shame On Me in 2023 which birthed fan favorites like "21 Gun Salute" and "Dial Tone". In 2024, the band released Shame On Me (Deluxe Edition), a deluxe edition of their debut release featuring three new songs and a reimagined version of "Dial Tone".

Fans were greeted by the sound of the infamous THX deep note sound effect often played before movies and yes, it was THAT loud. Mowery walked out dressed in a shining white jacket and sang the opening words to “Ghost Inside the Shell” with the rest of the band kicking in shortly afterward. Mowery waved his hands that signaled the pit that it was time to open it up which they did immediately. The pit was empty for one second, then filled with moshers the second after once the breakdown dropped. After singing along with the crowd to "Deadly" and "Mirror", the band kicked it up a level and brought the heavy with the 2019 standalone single, "Criminal" which Mowery let out a a heavy scream when closing it out.

Mowery told the fans they were gonna slow it down but still wanted to hear their voices on the next song, "21 Gun Salute" only PSYCHE, that actually wasn't the next song, as Mowery made a mistake. It was actually "Perfect World" so they kept the energy they had going for just a little bit longer. Seeing no reason to rest just yet, the pit kept it going two stepping and pushing with others crowd surfing to the front. Fans sang with Mowery at the top of their lungs to "21 Gun Salute" and vibing along to the catchy melody the song has. This continued into "Good In Goodbye",no moshing just singing along and feeling the song out. Mowery dedicated "Savages" to all of the 'savages' in the house and played "Cycles" for anyone that grew up with neglected parents. With only a few more songs left, Catch Your Breath played one of their most, if not THE most, popular songs, "Dial Tone". "Dial Tone" sits at #1 on the band's Spotify with over 97 thousand streams and resonates with the fans because of its topic of being ghost by a friend or partner without any word of warning or reason why. We have all been in that situation before so this song is a very personal one. This was the song where the fans were the loudest on, singing at the top of their lungs with every emotion they felt.

Catch Your Breath wrapped their main set up with "Shame On Me" and before getting into it, Mowery thanked everyone for coming out to their first headlining tour and how much it meant to them reminded the fans that they are the only reason the band can still do this. The fans cheered back at them and joined Mowery in sining the opening lines of "Shame On Me". For the rest of the song, the moshing and crowd surfing kept going while those up front kept singing along to the words. During the performance, Mowery saw a fan filming on their phone and took their phone and sang the whole chorus right into the phone. That fan definitely left that night with a cherished memory. The band finished the song, said their goodbyes and left the stage and it didn't take long for the crowd to chant 'one more song! one more song!' and it took even less time for the band to come back on stage and ask if they wanted one more song. Knowing that was what they wanted they got into the encore with "Y.S.K.W". The moshing had let up but there was plenty of crowd surfing and singing along happening. This continued for the whole performance and after the song ended, Mowery asked the crowd for a group photo before walking off stage. Everyone gathered as close to the front as possible and waved their hands as high up in the air as they could for the photo. After taking it, the band thanked the crowd again and left the stage, bringing the New York show of the Broken Souls Tour to a memorable end.