The Colour Blue

 The Colour Blue are best known for their contribution to the eighth chapter of The Emo Diaries. There are a lot of bands on The Emo Diaries, so if that isn't ringing any bells, perhaps you may remember them as the band that gifted us with the rare (and perhaps only?) emo track which begins with an extended saxophone solo. Yes, it's exactly as strange as you would expect, an addition that gives the emo pop a noir-ish, steamy quality, and it's... certainly something.

However you decide to feel about that, the band's previous songs are nothing like it. The band's first release, 2000's split with Kill Devil Hills, features rough emo pop with a lot of 90s pop punk in it. In the following two years the band would change recording studios and also change their music direction, resulting in the far more polished indie emo sound of The Emo Diaries track, which was taken from a self-titled two-song 7" that was the band's second and last release. While I don't have a direct rip of the 7", I have MP3s for both songs, "Of Our Disregard" and "Circa Us." 

Perhaps deciding that their new direction was too drastic to not require a name change, the band would change their name to Took To The Sea, and their sole release under that name appears to be a split four-way with Unique Chique, Soft Focus, and The Progress called For Starters. I also have a unique track I found on Soundcloud which seem to be a song that The Colour Blue recorded during their transition to Took To The Sea.

The Colour Blue \ Kill Devil Hills + For Starters + Compilation and Soundcloud Tracks

And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots

 When writing the post on Day Of Less, I kept thinking they reminded me of another band. It wasn't until the run up to this post that I realized they reminded me of And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots. Hailing from Leeds, the Robots were part of the amazing emo scene the UK had at the time, featuring bands like Caesura and One Toy Soldier. Like Day Of Less, they mixed hardcore with midwest emo and emo pop, and also like Day Of Less they abandoned this sound after one album and went almost pure hardcore for the second.

The band's first release was in 2001, the self-titled album featured here. It's their only midwest emo-flavored release, mixing hardcore-style vocals with clean riffs; the much-mourned Castevet (later CSTVT) strike me as a spiritual successor in some ways. Their second album, Liebestod, came out in 2002 and kept only the hardcore aspects of the first. The band's final release was called Victory As A Drug, put out in 2003, and it features yet another sound shift. The band revisits the emo pop\hardcore paradigm, at times sounding like a harder-edged Braid. In 2016, the band released a vinyl-only discography which includes four unique tracks, though it omits the hidden track from Victory. These four tracks are mainly in the style of the first album.

Edit 8/26/25: The band has a Bandcamp now, where the demos from the vinyl compilation can be downloaded separately. Even better, the band has reformed and released a new album, Almanac, which is a departure from their earlier work (understandably so, given the decades-long gap) but is excellent regardless.

Self-Titled + Liebestod + Victory As A Drug

Vinyl Discography

summer's last regret

Summer's Last Regret were a band from Germany, active from somewhere in the early 2000s to 2003. They were on Redfield Records with contemporaries like On When Ready, a band they share a lot of similarities with. But Summer's Last Regret don't have much midwest emo in their makeup, instead delivering pure late-90s-style emo pop punk.

The band's only release was the Understanding EP, put out in 2002. Shortly after they called it quits and moved on to other projects.

understanding

Sad Breakfast

 If indeed every nation has it's own Mineral, then Sad Breakfast have legitimate claim to being the Mexican Mineral. Not the only ones, mind you—Invalido should probably throw their hat in that ring too. But Sad Breakfast are definitely in the running, and for my money a slightly better fit. Formed in Mexico City in 1999, Sad Breakfast initially played midwest emo in the mid-90s tradition. Over the course of their discography their sound would incorporate more and more alternative and post-rock influences, but the focus of this post is their first album, which is almost undiluted midwest emo and an audible testament to the worldwide appeal of that sound.

The band's first release was in 1999, an EP called with the sunshine in my eyes (this is also the only one of the pre-album EPs I've found.) Two more EPs followed: Sad Breakfast en vivo in 2001 and Don't Try To Forget in 2002. Their first full length was 2003's don't try to forget… that's why people take pictures, an album that contains a lot of songs from the earlier EPs. It would see a rerelease three years later in 2006 with a bonus track. 2006 was also the year of their second album, The Time… To Come Back, which is actually a compilation of two EPs that were released in 2005 and 2006. The band's final release was a self-titled instrumental EP in 2009.

With The Sunshine In My Eyes + don't try to forget… that's why people take pictures

Sad Breakfast on Bandcamp

Strangers As Heroes

Hailing from Dayton, Ohio, Strangers As Heroes were active as a band from what looks like 2000 to around 2001, though I think they may have been around in the late 90s. Somehow, their website is still active. Their sound is emo pop, but they hit a little too soon to be part of the third wave. Instead, they are heavily influenced by 90s-style pop punk and emo pop; fans of Derail, Notaword, or Greater Than Less Than will find a lot to like here (Punk Planet once described this particular vein of emo pop as "Get Up & Save The Stryder Kids"). These are catchy, energetic songs that bounce along with the kind of emo pop verve that would soon after be replaced with that polished early 2000s sound.

Besides 2000's This Is Not A Result Of Chemistry EP, Strangers As Heroes also had a split with a band called Keaton, Athens Party 2000, as well as a couple songs on a compilation and some demos and acoustic versions on MP3.Com. Additionally, the band released an EP, I'll Make the Call, and You'll Die, in 2001 on their own label. Their website also mentions a compilation that label was supposed to be release, but I don't know if that project ever saw fruition.  All I have right now are both EPs and an acoustic track.

This Is Not A Result Of Chemistry

'Dumped for the Trio'

I'll Make the Call, and You'll Die

Ashes

 Ashes were a band from Maryland, active in the early and mid-90s. They played a cross of emocore and post-hardcore that gradually became a bit more pop-oriented as their releases progressed, though I wouldn't call them an outright emo pop band at any stage. The smooth female vocals are the poppiest aspect of the music, juxtaposed with some emocore-style male shouting. They are reminiscent of Copper or Junction, and I always thought it was a shame that this style of music didn't really live past the mid-90s. The midwest emo\emo pop that it inspired is all great, of course, but any time you hear this particular combination you can almost always date it to somewhere around the early 90s.

Ashes' last release was in 1998, I presume posthumously. Wisconsin Avenue Tour is supposed to serve as a discography; the problem is that it's not a very good one. For starters, the track listing is two songs short. To make matters worse, according to Discogs the track listing is incorrect not only on the back tray insert, but also in the liner notes. I don't have the band's other physical releases so I'm trusting Discogs to have it right.

The discography is also missing several tracks: some compilations tracks and I think at least a couple tracks from early demos. Most of these I haven't been able to find, but I've included two compilation tracks in the download.

Wisconsin Avenue Tour + Compilation Tracks

Jenhitt

Jenhitt were a band who may have been from Maryland, based on their contact info. At the very least, one of their members was attending UMD in 1997. It's very difficult to find any concrete info on this band besides the lineup and some of their later projects. In the early portion of their discography, they played energetic, punchy emo pop similar to bands like Eldritch Anisette, Servo, or The Pennikurvers, though Jenhitt are usually a little more laid back. By the time of their second album, the band started to bring more midwest emo into the fold.

The best look at the band's discography comes from their Bandcamp page, where their works are hosted as part of another project; there is still a compilation track missing, though. The band's first release was the Music For The Royal Fireworks album in 1996 (Discogs says 95), followed by two 7"s and the …Is In Houston EP in 1997. Later that same year, the band would release In The Cold Light Of Winter. The band probably stuck together for a little while after that as they were putting out compilation tracks in 1998. They contributed one last compilation track in 2000, but I don't know if that was posthumously or not. There's also an additional track on the Bandcamp that's either from an unknown compilation or was previously unreleased.

In The Cold Light Of Winter

Jenhitt on Bandcamp