This is Tour Diary, where artists give us a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road. Dying Wish are coming off a tremendously busy year. In the spring, they supported Spiritbox across North America, where vocalist Emma Boster occasionally jumped onstage for “Soft Spine.” They played Louder Than Life and opened for Poppy’s They’re All Around Us tour, then got asked to join Malevolence and SPEED on the road in Europe during the fall — a pace that encompasses their “sleep when I’m dead” mentality. While this was happening, they were counting down to the release of their third full-length, Flesh Stays Together, where the band challenged themselves with expansive songwriting, huge (albeit dark) choruses, and dialled-up cleans. All the while, the album remains “a discovery, a journey of grief, and a statement… Flesh is a vicious wake-up call. Slowly and painfully, we approach the end we deserve.”
Read more: Fan poll: 5 best hardcore albums
Dying Wish are currently on their own North American headline run with Static Dress, Gouge Away, Orthodox, and Boltcutter. Before they cap the tour in their hometown of Portland with their annual Dying Wishmas holiday show, Boster took us through its many highlights. That includes meeting up with the models from the Flesh… album artwork, building their own stage props, and a proposal in the pit.
The band does our own merch. I handle all of the inventory, set up, and tearing down. Pedro and Mackey trade shifts selling and alternate every day. This has been hard work during this tour, but it’s fun! / Ian Enger
This was show three in Charlotte. The first two days were so stressful between making sure the production was working, playing new songs, and just having the jitters. This show was where I started to snap out of it and have fun again. The crowd was so loud! There was a sold-out rap show next door, too, so their crowd was standing outside listening to our tour play breakdowns. It was a good vibe! / Ian Enger
Ian Enger
Ian Enger
Ian Enger
Ian Enger
Ian Enger
The preshow ritual looks different for everyone but is always important. Mine consists of makeup, a boiling pot of tea, stretching, and warming up my voice. Warm ups start with humming, into lip rolls, into vowels. We play at 9:45 every day, so we have lots of time to warm up and prepare for the show. / Ian Enger
Ian Enger
We have a fan named Bri who will go to many shows when we tour on the East Coast. She has a tattoo from “Path To Your Grave” and knows the words to every song. Her partner reached out to me that he was planning to propose to her at our show in Richmond! I was so nervous I can’t even imagine how he felt. During a break before we played “Lost In The Fall,” I gave her a little shoutout, and she turned around to see Cory on one knee. She said yes, and it was electric. Ian snapped a photo of the moment, and it’s one of my favorite photos of all time. Congrats, you guys! / Ian Enger
This is only our second tour with a lighting package (the first one was a very minimal ground package on Spiritbox). The tallest trusses are 8-and-a-half feet tall, and the light show is super cool. Our guitar player Sam builds our sessions and directs our live production. Huge shoutout to him for making this all happen. / Ian Enger
Baltimore never disappoints! Probably the loudest show of tour so far. / Ian Enger
The band photographed in Brooklyn with Taylor and Brett, who are the models for the album artwork! We also did the “Revenge in Carnage” music video with them as well as the “Nothing Like You” visualizer Taylor and I did together (which we call “gay heaven”). Shooting with these two was a dream. Even though the artwork is so violent, visceral, and extreme, these two are so delicate and wonderful. Couldn’t have asked for a more passionate and awesome couple to work with, and I’m glad they ended up being on vacation while we were on tour in NYC! / Ian Enger
Philadelphia! The biggest show of the tour so far and one of my favorite places to play. Unreal energy. / Ian Enger
Sam chopping it up post set with some folks in Baltimore. / Ian Enger
Photographed backstage before the show in Brooklyn. / Ian Enger
Part of our collective post-show ritual is a little huddle before we play. Usually I make a little speech or whoever is feeling it. Sometimes a guest hype person works, too. / Ian Enger
We wanted to do something different outside of just the lights for the production on this tour. We had talked about incorporating plastic wrap because of the cover, and that sparked the idea of replacing the grids on our dummy cabs with mirrors. Sam managed to pull this off by turning them around and applying carefully. As the tour progresses, some of them are cracking, which I think looks super cool. We also have some fake flowers that I turned into realistic-looking wilted flowers (real wilted flowers wouldn’t last a single night in the trailer because they are so fragile). I accomplished this by buying fake flowers and soaking them in coffee grinds and water for a few days and then melting the edges. / Ian Enger
This photo was taken at our show at Amityville Music Hall on Long Island. While four of us are from Portland, our bassist Jon Mackey is from Long Island. This tour ends with a show in Portland, so it was nice to have a hometown show for Mackey on this run. / Ian Enger