By the time fallfiftyfeet pulled into Glowfellows in Cincinnati for the final date of their spring headline run, they’d already endured a trailer wheel flying off outside St. Louis, a tornado scare in Alabama, and a series of chaotic but cathartic shows stretching from Texas to Missouri.
The tour, launched in Indianapolis on March 28, followed the release of their new single “Purgatory Blues,” and served as a brutal, sincere road test for material from their upcoming album Counterfeit Recollections, due out May 2.
“Purgatory Blues,” described by vocalist Dave Wallace as being “from the perspective of someone trapped in a horror movie,” threads anxiety and entrapment through a metalcore lens.
With industrial pulses and clean vocals layered over sharp riffs and breakdowns, the track continues the evolution hinted at in their January release “Running from the Sky.”
Wallace says the lyrics reflect a feeling of being stuck: “The lyrics are pretty straight forward in painting a picture of someone kind of trapped in a certain situation with no way out.”
The same could be said of several moments on the road. In St. Louis, four hours into a long drive, the trailer wheel came off on the highway. “We had pretty much exhausted the band fund at this point and we were only 2 days into the tour,” Wallace writes in his tour diary. “Being in a band rocks.” They made it to Columbia, MO late, but played anyway. In Tuscumbia, AL, a tornado forced them to stop mid-set and shelter in a literal shed. “We definitely thought we were going to die for a brief period,” Wallace admits.
Despite setbacks, fallfiftyfeet powered through a packed schedule that included stops in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and New Orleans. In Denton, TX, they joined Kurama on stage to perform “Absent,” a track they’re featured on. In New Orleans, the crowd picked up on their Every Time I Die cover immediately.
It wasn’t all laughs. While on the road, the band learned of the death of Lukas Booker of 156/Silence.
I also want to mention that while on this tour, we received word that our friend and fellow rocker Lukas Booker of 156/Silence had tragically passed away. It wouldn’t feel right to not mention this. I just want to extend our love to his family, our brothers in 156, and their fans. Rest in peace, Lukas! – Dave
This tour nearly broke them—flat tires, tornado warnings, wrong turns, a drained budget, and more sweat than sleep—but fallfiftyfeet came out the other side, bruised, louder, and still standing.
From basements in Texas to black-lit bars in Cincinnati, the band powered through every setback with caffeine, head wounds, fast food regrets, and the kind of camaraderie that makes the grind worth it. Their spring run doubled as a raw, unscripted preview of Counterfeit Recollections, out May 2.
The full tour diary, written by vocalist Dave Wallace, captures every chaotic turn— check it out below.
March 28
Indianapolis, IN at Healer
Bands we played with: Gooseflesh, Luca, Buried Truth, No Means
We started the day off by loading the van and trailer up.
We then headed out to get an early lunch at Honey Baked Ham and hit the coveted Walmart run early on because we forgot our cash box at the house and had to buy a new one. Jim ate an oatmeal raisin cookie. He gave it a thumbs up.
We had to make a stop in Cincinnati to pick up our merch order from Independent Print Shop. They rock. Our friend Drew works there and he took some promos of us outside of the shop.
After we left the print shop, we got some coffee and finally headed to the venue! Healer is a sick venue with a ton of little cubicles with different themes. This was our second time playing there.
This was by far the best show we’ve ever played in Indianapolis. Brady (@317shows) is one of the best promoters ever!
March 29
Colombia, MO at PDM
Bands we played with: Clockroach, Misery, Jezebel
Around 1am, Jim realized he left his backpack at Healer. Luckily, the person who ran sound, Morgan, found it and met up with us at a BP on our way out of Indiana. That dude rocks. We then got coffee and Culver’s, and we smashed those burgers real quick. Unfortunately, they didnt know how to spell “Ethan” correctly.
On our 6 hour drive, we listened to the latest episode of the HardLore podcast and the new Underoath album. Everything was going great until about 4 hours in, one of the wheels on our trailer flew off on a highway outside of St. Louis, Missouri.
After about 2 hours of trying to figure everything out, we got the trailer towed to a storage space, unloaded it and got a U Haul trailer. We had pretty much exhausted the band fund at this point and we were only 2 days into the tour. Being in a band rocks.
It was about 8:30pm when we finally pulled up to the venue. The promoter had pushed the show back for us, which was very kind of them. The show went well, so at least there was that.
We ended the night with some Raising Cane’s.
March 30
Fayetteville, AR at Normads Trailside
Bands we played with: Take//Rest, Hollowed Thoughts, Even More Scene
We started our day off by heading to Seven Brew Coffee. None of us had ever been there.
*Quick thought*
Jim: Not good enough.
Anthony: I need more!
Ethan: It’s okay.
Dave: I’d rather go somewhere else.
Andy doesn’t drink coffee.
Our almost 5 hour drive to Arkansas was thankfully less exciting than the previous day. It was a chill vibe. Anthony drove. We checked out the new Jivebomb album, as well as the new Deafheaven album. About half way through, we stopped at Freddy’s for the first time ever. We like smash burgers… A lot.
We arrived at the venue a little before 6pm. The promoter made us tacos. His name is Stephen and he’s the vocalist of Take//Rest. He rocks.
During our first song, Jim hit me in the head with his guitar and I had the biggest lump to prove it. I was in pain for the rest of the night.
March 31
Denton, TX at Which House
Bands we played with: Kurama, Bone Leech, Alwaysneverstays
We hit the road early and got some Summer Moon Coffee. Anthony said it was too expensive. The rest of us thought it was really good and worth the money. Anthony would have preferred Einstein Bros coffee. He’s wild.
After about 50 piss breaks we finally got to Denton. We hit the local Guitar Center in search of new earplugs and then enjoyed a nice lunch at Dave’s Hot Chicken. I forgot to take pictures.
We arrived at the house venue known as Which House around 6pm. They had South Park on the TV.
We ripped the gig with our friends in Kurama (Ethan’s band) and played their song “Absent” with them for the first time. We are featured on it. Check out their new album NOW.
April 1
San Antonio, TX at Cold Start Dab Co.
Bands we played with: Postal, Public Threat, Houses We Die In, Ghosthouse
We started the day by getting an oil change for the van. Across the street was a place called 151 Coffee. We’d never been there so we decided to give it a try.
*Quick thoughts*
Jim: Better than Seven Brew after one sip.
Anthony: I liked Seven Brew better.
Ethan: It’s too sweet.
Dave: I like it?
Andy doesn’t drink coffee.
We stopped at Buccees on the way to San Antonio and saw an ugly ass brown Cybertruck!
We made it to San Antonio, and in classic fallfiftyfeet fashion, we wound up driving to the wrong venue. So another 20 minutes later, we were there. It was a very hot day and we were dying on stage. It was so bad that we cut a song. We hung out with Houses We Die In though and that was really fun.
We ended the day with In N Out Burger. Animal style.
April 2
Corpus Christi, TX at Boozerz
Bands we played with: Audacious Absurdist, Revenant, Ghosthouse
We woke up around 10 and headed out to get coffee at a local spot in San Antonio called What’s Brewing. They have pinball machines and roast their own beans. They also have house made pastries. Anthony was in a bad mood and needed his caffeine real bad.
*Quick thoughts*
Jim: Gassington.
Anthony: Uhhh… Should’ve got sweet cream.
Ethan: Berry delicious.
Dave: Some of the best coffee I’ve ever had.
Andy doesn’t drink coffee.
We met up with our friend Matt from the band Dream’s End in Corpus. He got us free food at his job and it was sick. We got way too much pizza. The show was very late, so we decided to go kill some time at the arcade.
The show didn’t start until 9pm, but wound up being a good time.
We left at around midnight and finally arrived at Ethan’s house in Houston at 4am.
April 3
Houston, TX at The End
Bands we played with: Pacmanthemovie, Forever with Doves, Crush, Shy Motel
We woke up around noon. The first time we’ve ‘slept in’ all tour. Andy wanted Mexican food, so we went and got some tortas and gorditas down the street. After we ate, we came back to Ethan’s house to kill some time before load in.
We headed out to get coffee before the gig at Coffee Fellows. They got Ethan’s name wrong and called him Ethel. It became a joke for the rest of the tour, of course.
*Quick thoughts*
Jim: I like when a place makes a vanilla latte how I like it.
Anthony: For me, you can say “pretty goaty.”
Ethan: I got a chai latte. Little too sweet.
Dave: Yeah, it’s pretty good.
Andy doesn’t drink coffee.
We got to the venue around 6pm. We played at The End in 2023 but they moved the venue next door, so it was interesting parking in the same spot but loading into a different building. All of the bands killed it. Houston is the best place to play ever. Pablo is the GOAT.
Everything went smoothly and we ended the night with Whataburger yet again.
April 4
New Orleans, LA at Fred Hampton Free Store
Bands we played with: Gall, Face-Off, Knife in a Gunfight
*I totally forgot to take any pictures this day*
We woke up early and went to a local place in Houston that Ethan recommended to get kolaches. They were very good. We also got some Vietnamese iced coffee. It was just okay.
The drive to New Orleans is honestly a complete blur. We stopped a couple times to hit the bathrooms and get gas but other than that, it was pretty straightforward. We passed through Baton Route and saw the Raising Cane’s Arena. That was cool. There was also a building that looked like Tony Stark’s house in the Iron Man trilogy. That’s about all I remember.
This was our first time in New Orleans. We arrived at the venue at around 6pm and loaded in. It was incredibly warm inside and caused us all to start sweating immediately. The boys ordered Wing Stop on DoorDash because they were hungry. The entire van then smelled like Wing Stop for hours to come. The show wound up not starting until 8:30pm and ended around 11pm. It was probably the hottest and sweatiest set of the run. Someone in the crowd recognized the cover we opened with for fun. It was an Every Time I Die song.
We planned to drive to Mississippi to stay with a friend, so we had to skip out on the good New Orleans food and settle for Cane’s again. Ethan was not happy.
After 2 hours of driving, we reached out buddy’s house and passed the fuck out.
April 5
Tuscumbia, AL at The Shed
Bands we played with: Fathom, Encircled Throne, Terrifier
It’s Deathcore Saturday. We woke up and got some coffee from a place we’ve had before in Mississippi. It’s pretty good, but I didn’t include any quick thoughts. Sorry.
The boys wanted Cook Out so we started driving and stopped at one on the way to Alabama.
About halfway through the drive there, Jim realized he left his wallet at our friend’s house. Jim was upset but our friend said he would mail it to him after the tour. That was very nice of him.
We got to The Shed, which is a literal shed, around 6pm. The promoter wound up getting sick and couldn’t make it to the show, unfortunately. The people who run the place got everything set up though. Around the time we got there, we got alerts for a tornado warning in the area. All of the locals said not to worry about it.
Two songs into our set, the people who run the venue told us to stop playing because the tornado had touched down near us. That was great. We moved all of our stuff into the shed and were going to make a run for the house, but the owner told us it was too late and we should stay in the shed. We’re not from tornado country, so we weren’t sure what to think. We definitely thought we were going to die for a brief period. Once everyone assured us that the worst had passed us by, we rushed to load all of our gear and merch into the trailer. Ethan then drove us an hour and change to a hotel in Huntsville through an intense thunderstorm. In the end, we were obviously fine but it was very scary in the moment. Here’s a picture of the lightning. Keep in mind it was pitch black outside.
We wound up getting Subway at a Love’s because we were starving. Big mistake. Don’t go to Subway.
April 6
Cincinnati, OH at Oddfellows Liquor Bar
Bands we played with: Still Burning, The Obnoxious Boot, Midview
We were originally supposed to play in Kingsport, TN – the most cursed place in America – but the show wound up falling through… Because it’s cursed. Our old friend Q set this Cincinnati show up for us last minute instead.
We left the hotel around 10am. We stopped at Seven Brew again to get coffee and it sucked ass this time around. We then drove another hour and a half to get Cook Out again … Because Cook Out is the best.
After several stops and lots of rain, we finally arrived at Oddfellows in Cincinnati about an hour after load in. We walked in and were told to load in down this big set of stairs.
The show was in the basement in a part of the spot called “Glowfellows” which was lit by black lights and everything in the room was glowing. I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was a really cool room. Upstairs was a bar and a kitchen that sold pizza by the slice. It was a last minute gig, so the turn out wasn’t the greatest but a few of our friends came and it was a fun set to end the tour with. We gorged ourselves on pizza after our set and then loaded out.
This tour kicked our asses, but it wound up being a good time overall. We went through a lot dumb shit with the trailer and the tornado, but as usual, fallfiftyfeet persevered. Our new album ‘Counterfeit Recollections’ is out on May 2nd, or right now, depending on when this is posted. Please listen to it. Thank you.
