Blurring the Lines Between Band and Fans: How Touché Amoré’s Poster Project Brought Art and Music Together on Tour
Words by Felix Bartlett | Feb 26, 2025
Touché Amoré are back in town, and this time they’re bringing more than just their infectious post-hardcore sound to European stages. Guitarist Nick Steinhardt decided to shake things up by blurring the lines between band and fans, collaborating with talented artists in each city on their ‘Spiral in a Straight Line’ tour to create a series of unique, limited-edition posters available at each show.
Nick spoke with us about this innovative project, where fans and designers from every tour stop contributed their artistry. From curating a “who’s who” of local talent to navigating the creative process, Nick shared how this initiative not only celebrated regional artists but also deepened the connection between the band and their audience. Jump in below to discover how this project came to life.
Can you give me an overview of the project and what it is you’ve been doing in partnership with fans for this tour?
Nick: “We’ve long been fans and collectors of gig posters, but we’ve only really done them in the past for special events like anniversaries or one-off shows. I thought it would be fun to dip into the deep pool of collaborators I’ve had as an independent art director/designer and curate a “who’s who” of artists in each territory we’re touring in to create poster designs for us. It’s been a fun way to both independently advertise specific shows or runs (Germany, UK, Paris, Scandinavian shows each had a shared poster) as well as expand our merch line with limited items.“
How did you go about selecting the artists for each location? Was there an open submission process, or did you personally reach out to certain designers?
Nick: “No open submission—mostly reaching out to friends, colleagues, or artists that we’ve directly been fans of. I wouldn’t be opposed to an open submission! But I somewhat feel unethical about having people do work on spec and then ultimately not go with it.“
What was your level of involvement in the designs? Did you provide creative direction, or did you let each artist interpret the band and tour freely?
Nick: “My approach was different with each artist! I started with familiarizing them with the record cycle we’re touring on—really, the aesthetic behind Spiral In A Straight Line. That would include context clues about color palette, support fonts, and some overall themes that inspired the album. From there, especially when working with someone who’s pretty stylistically diverse, I generally like to point them towards a specific “thing” that they do, in case it’s helpful to narrow since we aren’t working with the craziest of budgets. Generally speaking, they would send me a few options, we’d tweak a couple of details, and then it was off to print!“
Were there any particular posters that stood out to you as personal favourites? What about them resonated with you?
Nick: “Yes! Braulio Amado is a Portuguese designer I’ve been a huge fan of for years. He puts out a book every year of his prolific poster designs. They’re super unusual, energetic, and amazing—his design for the Lisbon show blew me away, and he’s such a pleasure to work with. I think it will go on my office wall.”
How important was it for you to collaborate with fans in this way, rather than working with a single artist or professional designer?
Nick” I would say these artists are some mix of fans AND professionals. I would love to do a “casting call” for fans’ portfolios so that I can consider going even deeper in the pool, so to speak. I think over the years, how forward the visuals have been to our band’s career has cultivated a fan base of artistically minded people or students.“
What was the reaction from the fans when they saw the designs for their city? Did any responses surprise you?
Nick: “There was definitely a nice reaction on social media! I wasn’t standing at the merch booth, so I couldn’t tell you much there.”
Logistically, was it difficult to coordinate a new design for each stop of the tour? Would you change anything about the process in the future?
Nick: “Yes, this was a bit of a challenge. Some artists print their own posters, some you need to arrange with a print shop nearby, some had to be printed and shipped … but I now have a pretty nice range of printers throughout Europe to tap into in the future! They all did an amazing job. Shoutout to Lavandaria in Lisbon, Krueger Vormgave in the Netherlands, Kjetil Brandstal in Norway, and Schfeuer in Germany.“
Would you consider expanding on this idea—perhaps by incorporating fan art in album packaging, merch, or other band-related visuals?
Nick: “Honestly, I’m not so sure here, unless there was a specific concept that was community- or collective-focused. Our art is so personal and related to Jeremy’s lyrics (which would not have been released at the time) that, for an album, I don’t know that any outsiders could really go as deep into the process as we could.”
Do you see this becoming a recurring part of future tours, or was it more of a one-time experiment?
Nick: “Absolutely! Both an experiment and a case study in how to do it better next time.”
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