Late Night Desperate

 Prior to becoming emo notables Jena Berlin, several of that band's members were in Late Night Desperate, started in 2001 and active until 2003. Sonically, the band has a lot in common with its descendant, though there are some major differences. Both draw from post-hardcore (and in Jena Berlin's case, emocore) and both retain the melodic instincts of emo pop, but Late Night Desperate has far more midwest emo in its makeup. This is especially true for the 2002 material, which makes up the bulk of their output. Their 2003 demo showcases a new singer and finds them starting to sound more like the band they were about to become.

The band had three releases in 2002: A three-song demo, a compilation track, and their only album release, the Pictures Not So Perfect EP. In 2003, they recorded a demo that my information says went unreleased. In a bit of an oddity, one of the tracks from that demo found its way onto a split 7" with I Dreamed of Pompeii in 2006, well after Late Night Desperate had become Jena Berlin. I don't know for sure that it's the same version of the song, but considering the band had been inactive for three years at that point, I kind of doubt they rerecorded it.

Late Night Desperate Discography

Fiction

 Fiction were a New Jersey emo pop outfit, formed in 2000 and at least partially comprised of members from Wholesale. The band appears to have been a short-lived project; their website was created in 2000 and went offline in 2004, but was never updated during that time. With their only release coming out the same year of their formation, I'm not sure the band lived to see 2001. In terms of sound, the obvious comparison here are bands like The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day. This is late-90s emo pop punk, complete with bouncy choruses and a keyboard that alternates between warbling and plinking.

The band's one and only release is 2000's Five Seconds Of Silence.

Five Seconds Of Silence

Ribbon Fix

Burning bright for a brief period between 1996 and 1998, Ribbon Fix were a second wave emo band who straddled the sonic line between emo pop and midwest emo, similar to bands like Friends Unseen or Rainer Maria. The band shared members with other legendary emo bands like Shroomunion, The Shivering, and Amber Inn, and bassist\vocalist Andi Camp continues to fly the emo flag today in projects Temper & Hold and The Holdout.

The band's first release was a collection of material written prior to the departure of Brian Gathy, released in 1997. However, it is not a compilation, instead being the band's first EP. Later that same year the band would release their first LP, some Saturday this has been, complete with some awesome custom packaging. The band's second album, released in 1998, is called camp fire dares the sun and while its packaging is not quite as elaborate as the first's, it's still above and beyond the typical. Later in 1998, the band would put out its final release, straight, no chaser, which for whatever reason is a cover EP of drinking songs. The band has only one compilation track that I know of, on the legendary Atmosphere Only Gets You So Far.

Digital and physical copies of Ribbon Fix's releases are available through Grafton Records

Bandcamp

Compilation Track

6th Avenue

 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.

…hope is the last to die