Reno’s Too Close For Comfort debut new EP at hometown show
Photo Credit: Noah Lake
Too Close For Comfort is a pop-punk band from Reno, Nevada, that has built a solid foundation within the local scene, pulling inspiration from bands like The Story So Far, Turnstile, and Four Year Strong.
Their sound is familiar, yet so very different. The band highlighted this dynamic with new their EP Constants, released on March 6 during their show at Club Underground in Reno. The show sold out and the band joined by local heavy hitters Tiny Paper Hearts, Interstate and No One Good, as well as Las Vegas band High Sierra Club.
Recently off tour, this release show was part of another weekend run of local shows. We caught up with the band and asked some questions before they left for a Fresno stop the next day.
How’d you guys meet?
Tyler Pfiefer (lead vocalist), said “Cooper and I met in our old metal band Convulsions, we wrote really heavy music. Eventually we added Ryan [Gilpin] as one of our guitarists towards the end. When Convulsions ended we started our little local super group: Mira Loma. It featured members from other larger Reno acts and quickly that ended.”
Pfiefer went on to say “Ryan knew this drummer, Evan, for some time and when we were piecing Too Close together, Ryan showed us a video of Evan and he was immediately in.”
Evan Dini (drums) said, “When I got hit up about Too Close For Comfort I was in a rough place, man. I was struggling with personal battles and was on a really bad path. I recorded a video when I was living in Reno and just threw it on Instagram…it was a rough kit.”
Evan took a moment to find his words and said “I honestly was just amazed that knowing Ryan and posting a video got me on a stage in front of so many folks for our EP show. That’s the dream…that’s what I hope to do every night.”
I found a similar comment from everyone in the band which was “I always think about just getting a good paying stable job, but then we do shows like this and it makes me want to do this forever.”
Photo Credit: Noah Lake
What were your inspirations for the band?
The band answered this by saying “We have a roadtrip ritual… we just jam to The Story So Far during the ride.” We started talking about why the majority of the band made the switch from metalcore to pop-punk and they said, “It’s just easier on all of us, we can play more, its less vocally straining, we can still get moshpits going but we feel less strain afterwards which means more shows. We see what other bands in the genre are doing and it really shows how big this can be and we’re getting there. We can do this and still take care of our bodies.”
The band’s release of Constants at the Reno show was a success. The fans were loud and participating, the band was so active and exciting to watch. One fan said “I don’t typically come to local shows but this was absolutely exciting to see”.
Constants Track List:
“In Vain”
“Forward Thinking”
“Dissolve”
“Drown You Out”
At the time of writing this artist spotlight, their song “Drown You Out” has racked in nearly 22,000 streams. For a local band out of Northern Nevada, those numbers are great. After their release show, Too Close For Comfort mentioned their Spotify monthly listeners went up 400 after the show.
If you’re a fan of bands like The Story So Far, Turnstile, Knuckle Puck, or just a fan of the current pop-punk scene, Too Close For Comfort is a band worth listening to. They’re underground enough to not feel too popular, yet still accessible to audiences well beyond Reno.
