Don’t think Famous Last Words is going soft. The post-hardcore act is back with all-acoustic number “I’ll Be Home” on a It’s All Acoustic, a compilation release by Revival Recordings, out today (January 29). It’s a departure for the five-piece from the icy part of Michigan, a group that usually screams out shined-up anger-core that borrows an aesthetic (and a song title) from My Chemical Romance.  But it’s “doesn’t indicate the direction we are going into,” says singer JT Tollas. “It’s just a nice acoustic song to hold the fans over for the big release.”

So while Tollas, along with bandmates Tyler Myklebust and Evan Foley on guitars, and Craig Simons and and Matt Bell on drums and bass, provide fans with  pivot point on “I’ll Be Home,” don’t expect more of the same when their new album drops in spring. Recorded with From First To Last’s Taylor Larson, the new material will reflect the group’s experience from going on tour the past few years with the likes of  Hawthorne Heights, Ice Nine Kills and Red Jumpsuit.

We got the lowdown from Tollas on the new material, and about that time their trailer was impounded while on tour.   

Hometown and Homebase: Petoskey, Michigan (Evan Foley still lives in Florida, though)

What’s the story behind Famous Last Words?

JT Tollas: Our bass player Matt [Bell] and I were in our first band together when we were kids. After I left that band, I started what is now Famous Last Words. We have gone through numerous member changes and three name changes since the band originally formed. I met all of the members on the Internet except for Matt.

Why are you called Famous Last Words?

It took us a while to finally decide on a name when the band was starting to get more official in the beginning. We had already been through two names and wanted to pick something that would stick for good. Essentially we picked Famous Last Words because that phrase represents our music in a very special way.

We always talk about very dark subjects, but the main message of every story, is that no matter how dark of a place you are in, there is ALWAYS a light that you can choose to nurture and grow.

The phrase “Famous Last Words” has that same sort of bittersweet impact. Although they are your last words, you have the choice to make them powerful and strong and to leave a lasting message behind.

Describe your music to someone who's never heard you before.

I’d say our music is deep, theatrical, rock music that panders to a large variety of listeners with all kinds of musical tastes.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

For Famous Last Words songs, I have always drawn a lot of inspiration from musical theatre. We all listen to so many different genres, though; that I can’t really say one band inspires us more than another. For me, the music I listen to changes depending on what mood I am in. I am always drawing inspiration.

Is there anyone you'd love to collaborate with?

I have always wanted to collaborate with someone outside of our scene. Lately I’ve had this crazy idea about how cool it would be to collaborate with Bear McCreary (Composer for The Walking Dead). It’s not very likely to happen at the moment, but a man can dream.

How did you end up signing with Revival Recordings? Are you friends with Alesana members?

Shawn Milke (Revival owner, Alesana vocalist) actually hit me up one day. He got my number from a mutual friend and we started talking. Apparently he was a big FLW fan and had been following our band for quite some time, so we decided to finally meet up and talk.

Alesana is known for doing Concept records, which is what initially sparked Shawn’s interest, I think. So when we had our talk, we spoke about writing concept records, and the die-hard fans that follow and really enjoy concept records. He talked about the Alesana fan base and how he wants to “pass on the torch” to us as a new concept record band, which was a tremendous honor.

Shawn’s favorite movie is Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. I know this because he references the movie all the time. The one thing he said during that meeting that I will never forget is, “ If I were Willy Wonka, you would be my Charlie Bucket.”

The passion he had in his Willy Wonka speech hit hard and was one of the reasons we were initially so interested.

Why did you pick “I’ll Be Home Soon” for the Revival acoustic compilation? Does that signify a change in your musical direction?

When we signed with Revival they informed us that the first release of the year was going to be a label acoustic compilation. They asked if we could pick one of our old songs to re-record as an acoustic song. After us not being able to settle on a song, we remembered an acoustic song we did a few years back which was never officially released. We showed the track to Revival and they were really digging it. So we re-recorded it with better quality, and there you go! Our new album is different than our old stuff, but this single doesn’t indicate the direction we are going into. It’s just a nice acoustic song to hold the fans over for the big release.

You made a short film with Charlie Anderson called A Two-Faced Charade. How did that happen, and where can fans watch the film?

Charlie has been the director for every music video we have done. He has become a great friend over the years and him and I continue to work on other projects together to this day. When we went in to shoot our music video for “The Show Must Go On” I pleaded with Charlie (half jokingly) and said that if the video hit 1,000,000 views, we would HAVE to shoot a short film for the album. He jokingly agreed, neither of us knowing or expecting the success that video would have.

Once it actually hit 1,000,000 views, I got a text saying “ Okay, so when do you want to do this short film?” It was hard to believe it was actually happening until I got the finalized script, shot list, and plane ticket.

You can watch the film here.

What are your home lives like? Is it rock & roll all day?

At home we are fairly regular people. I’m a full time dad, so a lot of my fun is playing Uno, helping with homework, or coloring. We all enjoy going out with our girlfriends and friends every once in a while, but home life is pretty tame. Sometimes, all you need is a good ol’ Netflix binge.

 Does that mean you don’t have crazy band stories?

One time we were in Pennsylvania staying at a friends small apartment and we took our trailer off to go to the store for about 5 minutes. When we got back to the apartment, there were two cops parked in front of the trailer. They ended up impounding it, but were nice enough to let us take out all of our gear and merch. After we took it out we had to stuff it all into our friends apartment, which essentially filled the entire place. Over the next three days I had to go to court and get a lawyer to get our trailer back AND we had to put my dog down the day they took it. That isn’t the “craziest” story, but it was definitely one of the worst. I truly never thought I’d have to go to court while I was on tour.

What are you looking forward to in 2016?

We absolutely cannot wait to release our latest album. We tracked it with Taylor Larson and have some really interesting and unique ideas for the album and how we are planning on releasing it. We also have our fingers crossed for Warped Tour, so if you guys want to see us on Warped, be sure to remember to vote for us.