Over the course of a decade and two full-length releases, Lexington, Kentucky post-hardcore band Too Close To Touch have earned continuous praise for their skillful musicianship and intricate arrangements highlighting each member’s technical ability. The glue that held them together throughout it all was beloved front man Keaton Pierce who met his untimely death in 2022. A play on one of his many nicknames, the final TCTT album For Keeps is a celebration of the late vocalist, sourced from a library of unfinished and unreleased material and brought to life by friends in The Word Alive, Cane Hill and Bad Omens. “ ‘For Keeps’ is our last gift to the Too Close To Touch community,” guitarist Mason Marble explains. “We would never have existed without Keaton and will not exist without him in the future.” “To be able to give it closure is a blessing,” drummer Kenny Downey continues. “To have this much of him left, his lyrics and emotions captured... not a lot of people have that.” Offering an explosive mix of indie-rock cool and punk-blasted emo pop energy, the band has toured extensively with the Vans Warped Tour and acts such as Waterparks, Issues and Crown the Empire. The band’s releases include the EP series I’m Hard To Love, But So Are You, Nerve Endings (2015), and Haven’t Been Myself (2016). In 2016, Too Close To Touch won the award for Best Underground Band at the Alternative Music Press Awards. Haven’t Been Myself debuted on the Billboard charts as the #3 Alternative Artist Album, #9 Top New Artist Album, and #133 Billboard Top 200 Current Album. Too Close to Touch is Keaton Pierce (vocals), Mason Marble (guitar), and Kenny Downey (drums).
At every turn, DOLO TONIGHT is determined to take his craft to new heights – literally. In 2021, the LA-by-way-of-Jersey artist made history with his single “Higher,” filming the Highest Altitude Music Video in the Western Hemisphere from the basket of a hot air balloon. This skyscraping success came on the heels of his breakout “Too High,” which launched him into the top five of Spotify’s Top 100 Breaking Artists in 2019 and cemented Dolo Tonight (real name Jonah Rindner) as one of the underground’s fastest-rising names. Not bad for a University of Maine food science dropout who bailed on becoming a flavorist (“Did you know you can basically make grape flavor out of plastic gloves?” he asks with a laugh) to chase his musical dreams at the behest of both his parents and college professors. These blessings led to collaborations with Grammy-winning producer and engineer Michael Ashby (Cardi B), a deal with the legendary Epitaph Records, and a global fanbase drawn to his magnetic personality and shapeshifting musical style. That upward trajectory is once again on display on Dolo Tonight’s debut EP for Epitaph, LIFE’S A PARTY THEN YOU’RE DEAD. The six-track set evolves the hip-hop-heavy sound Dolo amplified on 2021’s Back To Earth EP (Asylum) in favor of what he calls “anti-pop,” rooted in the fundamentals of popular music but subverted in all the right ways as he and his Baggage Claim collective of writers and producers twist convention and catchy choruses into an intoxicating, sun-soaked blend of indie, alternative, rock, and hip-hop. “Anti-pop is all about messing around with structure and sounds and being a little more experimental,” the 24-year-old explains. “When we were putting this EP together, we would ask ourselves, ‘What would someone normally do in this situation?’ Then we would do the exact opposite.” Like the musicality underwriting them, the songs on Life’s A Party And Then You’re Dead tell the stories of those a little left of center: the wanderers (“Tucson”), the dreamers (“Pennies”), the outcasts (“People Under the Stairs”) – the people Dolo feels a particularly special kinship toward. He’s been there before, busking and hustling his way to his dreams, and he’s built his musical world to be universally accepting. If life is indeed a party, everyone is invited to the one Dolo Tonight is throwing. It extends beyond just the music as well. While Dolo is absolutely giddy at the prospect of bringing his new EP to audiences during live shows, he’s equally enthused about expanding the stories he’s telling. Whether it’s the short film he developed and shot as a companion to the EP, a series of Roblox concerts, or simply using the iconic eye of Wes Anderson to inform his art’s aesthetic, he’s determined to continue connecting with fans in fully immersive ways. “My ultimate goal is to build a world and create a space that people can endlessly explore,” he enthuses. “You can take the music at face value, but there’s always a next step I’m working toward. I’ve got a vision for everything that’s all connected. It’s like seeing someone drop a wrench in a Spider-Man movie and then pick it up later in a Doctor Strange movie to connect things. Basically, I’m trying to make the DCU: the Dolo Cinematic Universe.” XX