April 17, 2016 will mark the end of an era for pop-punk fans as the genre's powerhouse band Man Overboard has announced that it will be their final tour date before they go on hiatus. Man Overboard first formed in 2008 in Williamstown, New Jersey. Their first album Real Talk, released in July 2010, was critically acclaimed and received stunning reviews from Alter the Press, IDOBI, and AbsolutePunk.
Man Overboard has since released three more albums, seven singles and extended plays, and appeared on many others. Additionally, they've toured worldwide with other pop-punk staple bands such as The Story So Far and Transit, and are set to be touring this year with Forever Came Calling and Microwave. In 2015, Man Overboard played on the main stage at Van's Warped Tour.
However despite all their accomplishments, the group has decided to take a break from working together for a while. They've cited no particular reason in their latest statement. But based on the name of their upcoming goodbye tour, "Farewell for Now," It seems that this may not be the end for Man Overboard. According to guitarist Justin Collier,
“Nobody wants the band to end forever or break up forever. It’s not some crazy, tragic thing. We’re all still friends. I just think some bands fall off the radar and don’t do anything for a while—and that’s cool—but I think us not having toured for a while, we wanted to let people know these are going to be the last shows for a minute. Come out if you want; otherwise, we’ll see you down the road."
Collier also said in an interview with Alternative Press that members of the band definitely aren’t leaving the music scene. He says Bassist Nik Bruzesse is creating a recording studio with Ace Enders from The Early November; however vocalist Zac Eisenstein is actually a wrestling referee putting together his own league in South New Jersey. However at 27 Collier insists that it is time for the band to take a break and try to find their own identities outside of Man Overboard.
While this may be bad news for some fans of the pop-punk scene, this is hardly the first time a band has decided to take a break for personal endeavours. Back in 2014, Green Day announced that they would be taking a break, and then returned in April 2015 playing a comeback show in Cleveland. Collier has made it rather clear that this certainly isn’t the last we’ll see of Man Overboard, and it’s pretty likely we’ll see them come back one day to defend pop punk to the death.
