Blue October's Justin Furstenfeld feels 'really appreciative' for 'Foiled' ahead of 20th anniversary tour

Now Playing

Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM

Blue October launches a U.S. tour in October celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's 2006 album, Foiled, and they've just announced a 2027 leg kicking off in January.

Foiled spawned Blue October's signature hits, "Hate Me" and "Into the Ocean." Frontman Justin Furstenfeld tells ABC Audio that he was surprised those songs became as popular as they did, especially since he felt out of place among the big rock bands at the time.

"I'm more of, like, a Cure guy or a Smiths guy," Furstenfeld says. "I just remember writing 'Hate Me,' and when it took off, I just remember thinking this is crazy that this song's taking off, and I guess this is what it feels like."

Furstenfeld feels he "really didn't really appreciate" the success of Foiled at the time, noting, "there was just so much going on." He was also in the throes of alcohol and drug addiction, which affected his relationship to those songs and the way he performed them.

"Back then it was like, 'We're going through the depression right now, man. It's so dark,'" Furstenfeld says.

Now 20 years later and over a decade sober, Furstenfeld feels "really appreciative of how far that [Foiled] has let us come."

"It's gonna be a lot of fun to be able to perform it with everybody out of that headspace of like, 'Oh god, we gotta do this!'" Furstenfeld says. "It's more like, 'These are the songs.' They've stood the test of time, and we're really proud to play them."

Presales for Blue October's 2027 dates are ongoing, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit BlueOctober.com.

A vinyl reissue of Foiled will be released May 29.