Small Town Hero were a band from Connecticut, formed either in 1998 or sometime before that. Their website was first archived in 1999 but there is a video of them playing a show in 1998. By 2002 they had lost their lead singer and called it quits after that, though I can't say exactly when. Musically, they were a combination of pop punk, emocore, and melodic hardcore, with most of the emphasis being on the first two.
Their first official release was the and so it goes… EP in 1999, though considering their existence prior to that year it's possible there was a demo before the EP. The track listing on the artwork is comprised of four songs but there are actually six on the CD—I sourced the names for the last two songs by matching the lyrics from an archive of the band's 'songs' page. In 2000, the band released a split with A Voice of Reason on Triple Crown Records, Things to Do in Connecticut When You're Dead. This was their last release, but they did post two additional songs to their website that were intended to be on a forthcoming full LP release. Sadly, that album never came to be and the songs are not recoverable.
In terms of representation, this blog tends to bias towards bands from the US. There's a few reasons for that. For one, the US is both a very large country and the birthplace of emo, and therefore the majority of emo bands are from America. Another reason is that bands from the US are simply more visible from within the country, on the internet and otherwise. It's very difficult for me to find bands from local scenes in other countries, especially non-English speaking countries. With the advent of Bandcamp and other online platforms, this is not so much the case anymore, but I know that there are many bands from other countries who existed in the 90s and 2000s that are now inaccessible to me. Despite this, I try to cover bands from everywhere, and like to think that this blog is a testament to the international appeal of emo.
Carrying on the spirit of the legendaryGermanemo scene, Stay Focused are a band from Limburg, active from 2015 to the present. The band was formed from the ashes of two other projects, melodic punk outfit Whiteout Alley and the metalcore band As Seconds Become Centuries. They take inspiration from the contemporary bands of the emo revival, citing Hot Mulligan, Free Throw, and Tiny Moving Parts as direct influences, all of which can be heard—at least on their latest album. Stay Focused's sound changed considerably over the band's nearly decade-long existence.
Their first album, Contrasts, was released in 2018 and although there is a strong emo influence throughout the record, it primarily sounds like a combination of the two previous projects, blending melodic hardcore with a great deal of metalcore (their demo, released in 2015, even features a guitar solo). Over five years later, the band released their second LP, Values, in 2024. On this album, the band embraces the emo revival, leaving behind the metalcore (outside of a few select moments) but not entirely abandoning the melodic hardcore. They are a less twinkly band than most of their influences, leaning on heavier riffs and only rarely getting noodly in the Kinsella manner; good comparisons could be made to Kayak Jones and Arm's Length.
I hope these guys get some more attention within the ongoing emo revival, because I think Values is a great album. I really love the opening track, "Old Wounds", as well as "New Picture Frame." On a more personal note, I relate pretty hard to some of the lyrics as well. If you're at all a fan of contemporary emo, give them a listen.
Short Supply were a band from Metz, France, active from 2001 to maybe 2005. Their website disappeared in early 2006, so they likely called it quits a bit before then. Discogs compares them to Hot Water Music and Empire State Games. Both comparisons are apt, though Short Supply has a bit more screamo influence that you might usually hear, likely because the band shared members with metalcore outfit Dead For A Minute (members of Short Supply would also go on to form skramz act Aleska)
The release I have for Short Supply is something of a mystery. In 2001, the band released an album called Picture Show... on Shinya Records, which appears to be their personal label. What I have is a CDr that combines that release with two unreleased songs from 2003. I don't know where this compilation came from. It could be something the band had at shows, or an unofficial bootleg. The name 'Julien' was all over the CD data, and the band thanked Julien Vanderhaegen of Heart On Fire Records in the liner notes for their split record with The Apollo Program. If it's the same person, then the CDr could be some kind of quasi-official compilation, perhaps done in cooperation with the label. According to the data from the CD, this compilation is called Eclipse, despite using the art from Picture Show.... This title isn't on the CD itself, or referenced on the internet at all as far as I can determine, but I'm using it in order to differentiate what I have from the original Picture Show... CDr.
The band released Picture Show... in 2001, a split with The Apollo Program in 2004, and the Eclipse CDr compilation at an unknown date. Since it has unreleased songs from 2003 on it, it had to have been released between then and the end of the band. The significant gap between the album release and the split makes me think they may have had more material, but as of now I haven't found anything. It's possible the unreleased 2003 tracks were from an unrealized project.
The Apollo Program / Short Supply split is made available courtesy of How Nothing Feels.
The Episode were a band from Richmond, VA, active sometime around the late 90s, early 2000s. There's precious little information on this band available, either in the liner notes or through the internet, a situation only made worse by their name. Whatever the exact dates, they don't appear to have been around very long. Their discography appears to consist entirely of one, self-titled album. The album was recorded and mixed in 1998, but Discogs claims it was released in 1999.
The music on it is a slurry of emocore, post-hardcore, melodic hardcore, and a little screamo, with additional influences from pretty much every single other genre of emo one might care to name, leaning most towards midwest emo. The result is some of the most emo music I've ever heard, like a greatest hits compilation comprised of sounds instead of songs.
6th Avenue were a band from Germany, presumably active in the late 90s to somewhere in the early aughts. There's precious little information about this band available. The liner notes for their album mention they had multiple tracks on promo CDs and compilations, but as far as the modern internet is concerned, they have one release and one release only: 2000's …hope is the last to die. Their sound wavers back and forth between emocore\melodic hardcore and emo pop, sometimes landing in the middle and sometimes landing at either extreme, changing from song to song or within the same song. There's even a little midwest emo thrown in there, though not enough to earn the tag, I think.
A former bandmember has been adding his musical archives to Bandcamp, including this album and a demo, Hope died, which the band attempted to record after their first full-length but were unable to stay together through the stress of both projects. Thanks to Denis we now have some additional material and information on the band, so be sure to check his page out.
Sad Man Said were a band from Spain, active from around 2000 to 2004. Despite their name, which definitely should belong to a screamo band, they began life as a pop punk\skatepunk band, and their first album, Statement, was released in 2000 and is straight pop punk to the point it sounds like MxPx to my emo ears. Two years later, their sound morphed into a combination of melodic hardcore and emo pop, leaning more towards the pop side of things. Their second album, 2002's The Value Of Simple Things, is a quick-moving bit of melodic punk with emo pop vocals. It would be their last release, with the band playing a farewell show in 2004.
1000 Travels of Jawaharlal were a band from Kita-Kyushu, Japan, active from 1999 to 2004. Their sound is what is often described as 'emo punk,' in that it's far too melodic to be hardcore and not poppy enough to be pop punk. Think screamo, but without the emo dynamics and quiet\loud structure, like a rough emo pop version of Yaphet Kotto: that's emo punk. You might call it 'melodic emocore.' 1000 Travels were a superlative example of this particular sound and their sole LP is fantastic from start to finish.
The band's first release was a 1999 demo tape that I haven't been able to find. They followed it up with a self-titled EP, also known as 'Letter.' In 2000 they released a split with Minority Blues Band, and three years later put out their masterpiece, owari wa konai. Their last release was a 2004 split with Aghast, though in 2016 a compilation called Oware Wa Konakatta was put out that compiles the EP, the first split, and the album. There are no new tracks on it and it unfortunately does not include the demo tape, but I'm offering a download of it as it has higher quality files for the pre-album tracks.
