Your Renaissance Fest - LA, 24/05/25 - 25/05/25

    This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Your Renaissance Fest in LA. The trip was a whirlwind of emotions and constant movement, but now that I've had some time to process the experience, I wanted to write a little about it. 

The Spirit of Versailles

    The lineup was incredibly stacked with great bands ranging from new to old, and emo to screamo to metalcore. It was incredible to see the new generation of kids play, followed up by 90s legends Portraits of Past, In Loving Memory and The Spirit of Versailles. The mash-up of current-day emo and 90s emo was an interesting comparison with how the genre has shifted over time. I wasn't around back in the 90s, but since getting into emo, people who care about it have been few and far between in my experience, so seeing the number of people and specifically kids who showed up for this fest and who are playing in these new bands was surreal. After years of desperately wanting to find more people who care about this music, I couldn't believe how it felt to be surrounded by hundreds of them. Seeing a crowd of 20 people get on stage and scream along with Febuary gave me chills. 

    At times, I do find it hard not to wish the scene could be more like it was back in the 90s, more true to its roots, but time only moves forward and regardless, it is absolutely surreal to experience this massive resurgence of emo. I honestly never expected it to get this attention, at least any time soon. I'm so grateful that this scene is actually thriving again.

Herlovebeheadsdaisies

    Seeing Portraits of Past was the highlight for me, no doubt, they have always been one of my favourite bands, whom I never imagined I'd get to see live. They absolutely blew me away last weekend. It is hard to give the experience justice with just words. I felt an overwhelming sense of emotion, some mixture of excitement, awe, and sadness that completely took me over. My friend and I cried and embraced while Portraits of Past played and I was reminded that this is exactly why emo is so special to me. The catharsis in experiencing such emotional and intense music alongside the audience and the band itself, and letting it take you over, that is something I've never felt with any other type of music. It is truly a unique experience. There is some kind of unspoken connection that becomes present in those moments between everyone experiencing it. For a brief period, you can feel exactly what the band is feeling and what they felt when they wrote the music. It's a feeling that transfers and applies itself to whatever you are going through, whatever each person needs in that moment. It is both an individual and personal feeling, as well as a connection to the whole community. An experience that will stay with me for life. 

Portraits of Past

    Highlights of the fest are hard to even pick because there were so many amazing bands, but the ones that stand out to me the most are Portraits of Past, The Spirit of Versailles, Febuary, Herlovebeheadsdaisies, Journal, Habak, Knumears and Train Breaks Down. In Loving Memory is an honourable mention, but I unfortunately missed a big chunk of their set due to being kicked so hard in the nose that it bled for hours.

    I have to say, Febuary really struck a chord in me with how intense and emotional their set was. I could feel the pain exuding from the vocalist's raw, gutwrenching screams. It makes me very happy to see a band of mostly femme-presenting individuals in this scene, something that is unfortunately pretty hard to come by. 

Febuary

    It was also such an amazing experience to get to meet up with my "internet" emo friends who live all across the US and get to meet some of them for the first time, along with meeting a bunch of new great people. The unspoken connection is instantaneous when all gathered from across the US and Canada for a shared love of emo. Huge special thank you to Elias from LA for hosting us all in your lovely home and cooking us a delicious meal while listening to your emo records. That memory will be forever cherished.

In Loving Memory

    So grateful to have been lucky enough to attend this festival. Huge thank you to all of the bands and to Christian from Your Renaissance for organizing such an amazing event. 

Barb Higgins - Live At Foxfire House July 1997

     Barb Higgins was an emo hardcore band from Calgary, Alberta. They shared a guitarist with The Alex P. Keatons. The only proof the band ever existed is this one incredible live video on the 90s All Ages Calgary Punk and Hardcore youtube channel. Apparently they never got around to recording anything, so I took the liberty to rip the audio and clean it up a little. The audio is... passable; you can kind of hear what is going on and they sounded really good. There was a lack of women in the scene at the time; which is spoken on in the video, it's refreshing to see a band with a femme singer kicking around back then. Barb Higgins has a intriguing, dark and languished sound that you could compare to contemporaries like Joule and Jon American Car. I'd recommend giving this live set a quick peek if you are a fan of those bands.

Live At Foxfire House July 1997 

Saetia, City Of Caterpillar, Pg.99 - Live in Chicago 28/04/2024

    This weekend I was lucky enough to travel to Chicago, Illinois to see Saetia, City Of Caterpillar and Pageninetynine. In addition to seeing three incredible bands, I got to meet people I've been speaking to about music and archiving for over a year. It was genuinely such a surreal experience to meet people who I feel like I know well, but have never met in the flesh. Talking to them about the criminally underrated 90s emo scene felt so refreshing because so few people in my life care about it at all. Shout out to Chelsea (check out her Portland-based radio show Sadderstar.fm!), Elias (check out his incredible podcast Not Just A Phase!), Tenzin (fellow archivist who sometimes writes on this blog as Shasahara), and the lovely Mary! I could go on listing people but you get the idea. I really can't thank you all enough for being in my life and giving me the chance to come to this show and just hang out with you all! You guys are the fucking best! Hope to see you again someday soon. 

    Moving on to the bands themselves, I can't even describe how much this show meant to me. Leading up to the weekend of course I was excited, but the second Pageninetynine started playing their first song a chill ran through me that was indescribable. When I first got into the "emo" scene, all three of these bands were distinct starting points for me, and while I haven't listened to them lately as much as I used to, hearing the songs I had on repeat played live and with breathtaking passion was an entirely new experience for me. While I may never get to see a lot of my favourite bands from the scene, this was a life-changing memory that I know I will hold on to dearly for the rest of my life. I think before the show I just had no idea a live band could make me feel so deeply, I've been to some good concerts but this blew everything far out of the water. The bands and the scene I care so deeply about and spend so much time writing about, listening to, talking about, and being inspired by were genuinely there in front of me and with all the passion and energy that they had in their prime. Being in their presence amongst the vast crowd of people who care just as much as I do felt like a moment of rare connection among so many different individuals, from all over the world. 

    I lucked out and got to see Pageninetynine two nights in a row (thank you so much Elias!), the second being the big sold-out show at Metro, but the first being in a smaller much more intimate venue along with Massa Nera. I couldn't pick a favourite of their sets, they both were mindblowing. However, I will say that on the first night at Subterranean, that feeling of shock and elation really hit me. Being right up by the small stage and watching all (9?10?) members of the band play so perfectly in sync with one another was insane. I can barely manage to play in sync in my three-piece band, I could not imagine doing so with so many people. Despite it being a long time since they were initially an active band, they have not lost their energy or power. They sound just like they always have and continue with their weird performative antics. One vocalist climbed the staircase on stage, hanging from the bars while another member drummed on another's shoes all the while still sounding perfectly tight and on time. After watching countless live sets of my favourite bands in the 90s, this honestly lived up to my expectations and more. I've always liked Pageninetynine but they haven't been at the forefront for me, after seeing them live in their pure chaos, I have a love for them that is stronger than ever. I've never felt so lost within the music at any show ever than when they were playing. They play with such precision and perfection and yet display a contagious chaos I've never experienced in person before. 

(Videos from the PG.99/Massa Nera show the night before)

    City Of Caterpillar has such an interesting sound even within its small scene, the vocalist (who is also in Pageninetynine) has a voice not quite like anyone else I've heard and man can he still use it. The crowd swayed to the melodic, melancholic guitar riffs and went absolutely wild for the heavy bits. After seeing Saetia and Pageninetynine I can't say this is true anymore but leading up to this show City Of Caterpillar was the one I was most excited for as they always resonated with me the most. After seeing the others I have a renewed respect and enjoyment of them, but City Of Caterpillar will always remain a favourite. My favourite track "A Heart Filled Reaction To Dissatisfaction" played live was breathtaking. 

    Saetia is a band I used to love but hadn't listened to in quite a few years up until the show but wow they fucking ripped! I had a sense of nostalgia as I heard their guitars play the songs I obsessed over in my first introduction to emo. Their abrupt shifts between soft, emotional guitar riffs and sung vocals to heavy parts with shrieks cried over them never ceases to amaze me. As a vocalist myself I always find it impossible to shift seamlessly from screams to clean vocals and yet Saetia pulls it off like it's their second nature. I crowd-surfed for the first time in my life during their set and though it was only a few seconds I will always remember how I felt in that moment. Unfortunately, I got no live footage of Saetia because I was too busy in the pit. Whoops!

    On top of Saetia's incredible set, before they played the organization the show was raising money for came out to speak to the crowd. The show's funds went to Chicago Freedom School, an organization that works with black and brown people to fight against prejudice, racism and poverty. As the members spoke about their cause, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy that I could even play a small part in raising money for their cause. The 90s emo scene has always been about more than the music to me and to everyone involved I think. It's about inclusivity, safe spaces, a celebration of differences and minorities, gender equality and celebration. Unfortunately, this message has become harder and harder to come by in the hardcore scene and seems completely absent in my hometown Calgary, Alberta. Hardcore has become a competition for who's the toughest, who's the coolest and if you don't blend perfectly into the crowd, racially, gender-wise, style-wise or as any sort of minority really, you won't be accepted. This is one of the most infuriating things to me because to me hardcore is about a safe space for ANYONE who feels they resonate with the music and scene. Hardcore is about fighting for EVERYONE'S rights regardless of differences. Hardcore is about freedom and fighting oppressors. The fact that this show was raising money for such a valuable and meaningly cause gave it an even deeper meaning to me and I'm sure many more. 

    To quote Pageninetynine in one of my favourite songs: "Hardcore should mean freedom, liking and accepting anything that you like, playing whatever you want, as sloppy as you want, as long as it's good and it has passion."

Daredevil - Live (1995)

    Daredevil was a post-rock/math-rock band from California. 

    Daredevil is a band shrouded in mystery, the band was composed of members from Indian Summer and Ordination Of Aaron; supposedly a major label wanted to sign Indian Summer and the resulting argument over it is what finally broke up the band. That major label deal was then passed over to the band that emerged from the ashes of Indian Summer, Daredevil. Shortly after this; a live, bootlegged "demo" tape/CD began circulating in hardcore distros and at shows, i'm not entirely sure if this was the Senseless Beauty set or something else entirely. 

    Daredevil was set to record and release a full length LP with Interscope/Geffen, but the band broke up before anything could officially be released. Contrary to popular belief the band never entered a recording studio during their short active time, there was a rumour floating around that Steve Albini (or Bob Weston?) recorded a 12" with them; but Adam from Indian Summer has since deconfirmed this. 

    An excerpt from Adam Nanaa about the band (Thanks Lennon): 

"Daredevil was the band right after Indian. That band was crazy. I have one cassette of that. Insane math rock. I was mental then. Then I reformed it when I got home. Then it got GOOD. We were gonna record for interscope and no shit Geffen was talking to me. Or a mngr who was planning on pitching it to them. We moved across country together. Practiced five days a week in a basement in Louisville for about 2 months then broke up. Would have been the most insane best thing I ever recorded if we did. Albini was gonna do it too. Would have been rad"

An insert from the Vanilla/ El Vidal Sonido split 7" advertising a future Daredevil Live LP

    Daredevil picked up where The Sky By Sorella and Indian Summer left off; the live set is instrumental and extremely close to The Sky By Sorella in style, with sprawling and dark tracks that sound inspired by the D.I.Y hardcore scene and also bands like Codeine and Slint. The band also still had that intense, talented and emotional sound that Indian Summer had. I would highly recommend checking this live set out if you are a fan of any of the bands I just mentioned.

(another Daredevil live set that surfaced)

    Thisisaproxychannel / Emoencyclopedia went through the trouble of remastering and making custom artwork for the Live At Senseless Beauty set, so all credit goes to him for that. He is unfortunately retired from archiving now but I would highly recommend checking out his channel as he obviously put an incredible amount of effort into digging up unique releases when he was still active.

Live At Senseless Beauty + Philadelphia Set