The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower have been described by critics as "abrasive and imminent," "spastic," and "innovative," but those are all colossal understatements in the face of the band's jazz-inspired, post-hardcore blitz. They were voted "Best Punk Band" in 2005 and 2006 in the San Diego Music Awards and they've been banned from the city of Baltimore (a true story that apparently involves urine). Their live performances have induced near riots; their onstage antics have left the crowd with dropped jaws and (in some cases) shirtless torsos; and now, in yet another shocking move, the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower are breaking up.
"There's nothing really exciting to share," says the Plot's singer/saxophonist Brandon Welchez. "It's not because somebody doesn't get along with somebody else; we're all still best friends. We've done everything we've wanted to do and we've exceeded any kinds of goals we've set for ourselves. We want to go out while we're on top, I guess."
They've been a band for five years, and with that history, there's a long list of accomplishments and stunts the band could run through to pick favorites, but the best thing to come from their half-decade career, Brandon says, is the experience of sharing it with friends.
"The best memories would definitely be the tours we got to do, especially the international tours. [My bandmates] are my best friends, so getting to go to exotic places with your best friends... you can't really put a price tag on something like that."
This fall's six-week tour (which includes the Seattle show at the Paradox on Saturday, October 7, with the Assailant, the Pleasure Boaters, and Deadsure) will be the last chance to witness the band's brain-burning live shenanigans. When they get home, they'll play one last show in San Diego ("sometime in December," Welchez says) and the boys are also hoping to release an EP of new material on Three One G from beyond the grave.
"It's still up in the air," says Welchez about the EP. "[It's actually] demos of songs we had written for our next album, but since we're not going to be doing a next album we're going to have them mixed better and mastered."
While it may be the end for the Plot, Welchez is looking forward to a future with his side project, the Prayers, which also features Brian Hill-Peligro and William Graves, the Plot's drummer and bassist, respectively.
"It's polar opposite [of the Plot]," says Welchez. "Reason being, I didn't know that the Plot was going to break up and my taste in music is pretty eclectic. I had all this spare time, our guitar player was in another band and he was really busy with them, so I was home with all this time to kill and I, of course, wanted to keep playing music. Since I was already in my weird, aggressive band, it freed me up to do other things, so it's totally opposite."
R.I.P., TPTBUTET, but I can't wait to hear the Prayers.
