Ready to mosh and crowd surf the night away? 

If you are, The Clyde Theatre will be the place to be on Thursday, March 14, when Beartooth comes to town with The Plot in You, Invent Animate, and Sleep Theory. 

Lightening up

Ohio-based Beartooth are touring in support of their fifth studio album The Surface, which was released in the fall. 

For a lot of fans, the album sees the metalcore group return to their roots but with a present-day sound and a much more positive outlook on life. Previous albums have been on the darker side and leaned into the depressing subjects popular throughout metal and rock. 

Frontman Caleb Shomo has spoken about this topic, saying he was writing what he was going through, but he’s happy now and wants fans to be able to sing about more positive aspects of life. 

Gaining acclaim

Beartooth formed in early 2012 in Columbus, Ohio. 

At the time, Shomo was in Attack Attack!, but he began writing songs outside of the group. 

After adding three members, they began playing live. They found themselves on a couple gigs and made their way into the Warp Tour following their 2013 EP, Sick. 

There have been multiple lineup changes and a lot of fame surrounding the band. They have been nominated for 15 awards and have won five, including Best Breakthrough Band and Best International Artist from Heavy Music Awards. 

Shomo, bassist Oshie Bichar, drummer Connor Denis, lead guitarist Zach Huston, and rhythm guitarist Will Deely describe themselves as “a sound sought by a generation of bands, equal parts solitary musical confession and celebratory exorcism. Beartooth music is an outright refusal to suffer in silence, weaponizing radio-ready bombast to deliver raw emotion mixed with noise-rock chaos. They combine hard rock and hardcore in a way that’s smart, lean, melodic, and irresistible, without apology. 

“Beartooth offers no cure, but the recovery comes in the process; the journey is the destination. So enjoy the ride.”

Making connection

Sitting at more than 2 million monthly listeners, it’s clear Beartooth have made an impact on many people. 

One of those people is Andrea Wolford, who is sure to be in attendance at the Fort Wayne show.

“I’ve been listening to Beartooth since high school, and it has been so amazing to see how much they have grown as a band and how their message has evolved in the past 10 or so years,” she said. “I have been lucky enough to catch them the last four times they have played in Fort Wayne, three of which were at The Clyde, and you can feel the energy coming from Caleb Shomo and the band. It is an incredible feeling to sing those words back to him and having those lyrics get me through some difficult times.”

As she mentioned, Beartooth is no stranger to Fort Wayne. In fact, when live shows were shut down due to the pandemic, Beartooth utilized The Clyde to film a livestream of the story from the graphic novel The Journey Below to give fans the chance to still see some live music being played. 

This was a popular idea at the time as a means to still perform even when the world felt like it came to a halt during 2020. 

Nine shows have already sold out on the tour including Indianapolis. Fort Wayne is the final show for the North American leg of the tour before they head overseas for the international leg.