Hey... I'm just wondering exactly how popular is the "scene" music over in UK? Does it get any radio play? What are some of the indy music scene bands over there? Any local faves that need to be heard over in the US?


My fave releases of 2004:

Underoath- They're Only Chasing Safety
Showbread- No Sir, Nihilism is Not Practical
The Chariot- Everything is Alive, Everything is Breathing, Nothing is Dead, Nothing is Bleeding
He Is Legend- I Am Hollywood
It Dies Today- The Caitiff Choir
Unearth- The Oncoming Storm
mewithoutYou- Catch For Us the Foxes
Eighteen Visions- Obsession

THANKS to UK for Funeral for a Friend, The Hurt Process... and of course, Shaun of the Dead.
Shaun got rave reviews here... it easily jumped onto my all-time favorite movies list (at #4).

i love punk but cant stand emo, emo is the stupidly commercial deriviative of post-hardcore. and being scene is evil.

The gross misuse of the word 'emo' really gets on my fucking tits.
Im gonna be a real zealot now, but fuck it. Emo has fucking NOTHING to do with any of the shite Rocksound fucking blathers on about. Emo has NOTHING to do with studded belts, mesh fucking caps, money,merchandise or Tony and Guy haircuts. This disgusting mass idiocy has mutated into an epidemic of awful, misguided young ex-moshers with too much of mothers money to spend.
REALLY GETS ON MY TITS.

Emo is dischordant, raw and poetic. It shares nothing with ANY of the made-for-radio fucking MYSpace shite that gets mixed up with it. Emo came to existance in almost exactly the same way Hardcore did. All the same venues, all the same passion. It was all about DC. It was all about Dischord records.
Emo is Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, Hoover, Indian Summer. More Recently bands like Circle Takes The Square too.
I know i sound self righteous, but living in Cardiff, South Wales Where fucking Funeral For Friend have caused a plage of opportunity for fashion kids, it gets sad.

BUT! Theres some amazing passionate, honest stuff coming out of south wales too, in that vein of things.
Night And The City Of Broken Promises are an amazing dischordant emo band.
Bedford Falls make Jwbox-esque melancholy punk rock.
Of Noble Blood are old-school HC on Staunch
Dignity Dies First are an amazing metal band sound a little like Shai Hulud/Caliban.

The 'scene' in South Wales seems fiercely independant and wont compromise. I wouldnt call myself a part of it, but i enjoy the atmospheres at shows. Just the sheer passion is amazing. Its a mighty big fuck-you to bandwagon jumpers with corporate aspirations. Operating DIY, dependant on nobody but yourself is geniunly exicting. And thats what hardcore punk and emo is about.
(Self-Righteous-Cunt Bit Ends)

I like old punk and currently catogrised "emo"...please dont hate me.

I like the music I listen to, I don't categories it other people usually do that for me.

Anyway as for punk/hardcore/emo, well the only thing that generally get played in the UK its all the comercial major lable mass produced crap, although there are always a few bands at local level there is not really a huge scene here in Liverpool. There was a Nu-metal scene here not to long ago which nicely died and went away, most bands coming out now are indie or just rock, there are a few punk bands, most of the emo bands that do appear round here are usually copying what they've seen on MTV and so don't get very far, thankfully.

Wow, i didn't know that the very word "emo" would strike such fever with people. I only used it because it IS a generalization for a genre... to get people's attention. However, I never really liked the term myself.

I DO recognize that there is a "scene" of music that typically involves all the offshoots of punk, hardcore, and indy rock.... now whether people are all about being "scened-out" is a whole different story.

I'm glad nu-metal has died over here in the US too. UNfortunately, the radio is now chalk full of all these bands that all have the same whiny rock sound.

having sat through the nu-metal phase that britain had, i cant wait till emo just dies out. Most of the 'punk' in this country now is just emo, and quite frankly it's arse. These bands think they are arty and stuff, but then real 'art' bands get no recognition.
*sighs*
the world today sucks.

what do the british consider "emo" I'm assuming its the same thing here but...

I think there's a few good bands breaking onto the radio. I've liked Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria, and Jimmy Eat World before they got big.

I'm not all about the slew of rip off bands tho... like yellowcard, straylight run, modest mouse, and everything else flooding the airwaves with the indy sound.
And they don't put the good emo stuff on the radio... like Emery! Where is emery! They freaking rock!

Anyway, I'm much more into the heavy stuff.
My current faves include Norma Jean, The Chariot, He Is Legend, Showbread, Dead Poetic, As I Lay Dying, Unearth, Poison the Well, Beloved (rip), Haste the Day, It Dies Today, Underoath, Zao, Misery Signals, etc etc etc

someone has read been diligently reading fourfa

http://www.fourfa.com

anyone who doesn't know what emo is (or thinks they do but is wrong) should try reading it. it's done in a very tongue in cheek fashion, so don't take it entirely seriously. but it gives you a good idea about what emo bands existed many moons ago (i.e the mid 90's).

circle takes the square isn't really emo, they are much to heavy and noisy for that.

makes you realise the nu-metal phase wasnt actualy too bad after all!


admitedly i did get a little sucked in by the nu-metal phase, likeing a few of the bands about but this emo stuff is pretty damn poor!

And what catagory do all thoes shite bands like the rasmus and marron five and razorlight come under?? Is it indoe or something?Coz its bollobcks!


Doom or be doomed!

I know nothing about emo as a genre, my particular genre of interest being IDM. What does it mean, please?

I think "bollocks" covers their genre nicely, to be honest.

Emo is shite, always will be. And I`ll tell you another thing, no band today has the right to call themselves "punk", that really annoys me. Punk is what the Pistols did in the 70s, not what Blink182 or bloody JimmyEatWorld are doing now. Two completely, totally different things.

The closest thing to punk nowadays is The Hives, IMHO. Short, loud songs that you can shout very loudly to.

as posted earlier in this thread:

http://www.fourfa.com

I'd just like to know what "bullocks" means.

Its evident that "emo" now no longer means what it used to. Just like "hardcore". Back in the day hardcore was like minor threat, agnostic front, madball. Now its poison the well, throwdown, terror, etc.

Terms change, i use them in the present sense. I don't think people should get caught up over the terms tho.

i disagree, because it's just mainstream misappropriation of the word. i really don't mind if some shitty band like poison the well is called hardcore, because it has nothing to do with the music i am interested in. i still know that to me, hardcore is born against / minor threat etc... and if other people want hardcore to mean something else it's up to them.



it's a male cow. bollocks on the other hand, means testicles.

ian mckaye from minor threat is in Fugazi, who influenced the whole of the emo genre in one way or another. it's sad that a guy who made this amazing hardcore sound way back when has managed to influence a whole generation of make-up-wearing-major-label-signed-cock-jockeys these days.
*sighs and falls down*

the word hardcore is used way too much now, genres are getting too stupid, if a band cant be pigeon-holed then whay do people still try? goth-rock, post-emo, melodic hardcore - what does it all mean?!

bandwise for me it's all about terror (4th march in Bristol with agnostic front), hatebreed (14th march in oxford), madball, poison the well, circle takes the square, norma jean, destiny, north side kings, comeback kid, shai hulud etc etc and we've got knuckledust playing in swindon on sunday. if there are any hard music fans near swindon then come and check this out .......

yeah... i used to be into that style of hardcore. Back in the day I loved some Strife and No Innocent Victim. But nowadays I can't STAND the stupid lyrics that hatebreed, terror, and throwdown and those guys put out. Ugh. So ignorant sounding. I know they're all about mosh pits and breakdowns, but I like to watch the show and the musicians... and i think we can all admit, those riffs all start to sound the same after awhile. Norma Jean... now THERE'S some crazy heavy stuff I like. Heavy, moshy, but technical, chaotic, great intelligent lyrics, and a great stage performance.

This is what I think of the Hawthorne Hights, Taking back sunday shit. This is a message I left for a friend on his myspace because he like's hawthorne hights (I had him listening to old AFI, SMog UK, Bruce Lee band, Link 80, shit like that when he lived near me, and he moves away and becomes emo) Here it is:

Well mike, I'd rather like freaky clowns than a bunch sex-less whores of society screaming about what they call "emotions" when all they are are conjured up false ideas about some nameless bitch being their life. Or crying about how much life sucks and singing in a whinney voice, but wait!!! They are gonna give it and edge and have what they have labled, oh so originaly, "The Screamer, " scream some really cheesey lyric like your typical "And you broke my heart" or something of that nature. But wait, it gets worse...they then get a whole cult of susceptible teens to follow them and wear there oh so annoying uniform; tight pants, long hair, and wristbands...lots and lots of wrist things. And then what they do to their hair I won't get into, because we've all seen it, they are all the same! So, mike, what I'm trying to say is Baaaah!! at least I can be a black sheep.

THen he replies with,"Lots of bands sing about girls" and I reply:

There's a difference in the way good bands do it and the way those cheesey emo bands do. The emo bands come up with these stupid "poetic" lyrics for their little girlfriends. But the problem is, these lines are bullshit excuses for art and it makes me sick. Also, it's not so much about them singing about a girl, but the problem is, is that they act like they have no life other than their hair, pants, and some girl. As stated in an earlier post they just scream about some girl that left them and act like it's the end of the world. So go ahead and try to tell me AFI or any band I like for that matter goes arround crying about some puppy love.

That's my take, and while we are on the subject of music, check out one of my band songs if you'd like, we have a diverse sound, if you do or don't like this song, but would like to here the other stuff we do just let me know:

This is not my bands site, it's jsut a site I use to host mp3s the band is called Evil Illegal if you wanna check us out www.stlpunk.com/evilillegal
and here's the mp3 I would like you to take a listen to:

http://www.audiostreet.net/artists/012/150/fluz.html.

i don't like to categorize what i listen to. it's all music to me. i listen to all genres (except country...what the hell is that?!) i just appreciate what music does to enhance my moods. now i'm a friggin hippie. thanx guys...

--mitch

Hahahaha. Although I do admit to liking stuff like Taking Back Sunday and Thursday... you hit the nail on the head. Hilarious!

I think my favorite T-shirt i saw at a show: Front said "Fashioncore". Back said "Fighting. Moshing. Good hair." LOL

Yeah i don't follow the "scene" style at all... although I love the scene music... but I'm very limited on the "emo" type bands I like... I love mostly hardcore.

everyone who likes this music go check out Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, and The Secret (IT) on purevolume.com. They RULE!

I like it when people talk about the music I listen to.

Because I just SCREAM IN THEIR FACES AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS SHARING MY EMOTIONS IN A WAY THAT ONLY I CAN UNDERSTAND.

Do you read me? Because I sure don't.

right then *Takes a deep breath*

Emo music is a for of music that is driven by emotion... As all Music is driven by emotion be it a negative or posative emotion that means ALL music is emo... This also means that Emo is therefor a void genera... Cause something that hads everything in it can't TRUELY be a genera can it?

Now punk, It used to be an atittude, The need to get accros s an opinion or expression in as simple a way as possible... You didn't need to be talented to get your point accross... it was just an easy means for it... There was some great punk... and there was a whole heap of shit punk!... Nowdays punk is just a fashion statement used by people who are singing about wanting to fuck a dog in the ass and random doll manufacturers.... oh... and Vivian Westwood... but don't get me started on her...

Now days everone seems to use the phrase that punk is dead.... Which although not totally true... is accurate in the sence that old punk no longer lives... But now days there are still a few bands that are singing about things that matter in a good old punk fashion (step in Refused, Amen, even bands like Kinesis) but then its all a matter of preferance.

The true spirit of punk now days seems to be inhabiting the two generas of Industrial and Indie where it has given half of its power to each one... Some bands choose to use it... alot of them don't... And now I'm gonna shut up!

*Breeths*

Feel free to know tell me how much crap I've spoken

That's just what I was going to say. The fact that all these bands categorised their music by it being driven by emotion was bloody arrogant in assuming that no other music was.

I appreciate the fact that they're trying to be different and unconventional. Unfortunately, anyone can be different and unconventional but that doesn't automatically make it good, like they seem to think it does. I have friends that are into emo, and occasionally get forced to listen to some, and everything I've heard is either plain and ordinary when it actually sounds musical (quite the opposite of what they seem to be trying to achieve), and when they're being "dischordant" or "raw" or "angular" (a word i've heard used to describe it), it just sounds like a big bloody horrible mess.

There also seems to be a new "best band in the world ever" every single week, who no one's ever heard of. And the amount of times I've been told that it's so great how you can go to a gig and see about "8 bands for a fiver!!"... That's because they're probably all utter shit...

I don't usually like to rant about types of music I don't like, since I can appreciate that just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's bad. On the other hand, I don't mind ranting about a type of music that I get forced to listen to, which applies in this case (makes a change from it being pop music).

i like both types of music, country AND western

I must admit i catergorise things, purely because im lazy and i find it hard to explain, so me explaining things would be diabolical, like this for instance.

exactly... SHEESH i didn't realize I was going to open a can of worms about the useage of the word "emo". Geez its like saying "bomb" in an airport.

Ok people, lets get off our rants about what "emo" does and does not mean and talk about the bands that typicall fall into the Indy music scene, be it the heavy side or "hardcore" (GASP he used a categorization) or the light side a la "emo" (GASP again, more categorization!)

What rocks for you!?!?!?

And i'm still trying to figure out if that was sarcasm or not, since I know you listen to a lot of the same bands I do. haha. And nick looks like he's trying to kill me, and its scary. I think i'll go write an emotional song about my fear of nick frost in that picture, and maybe dot it with my tears...

Haha...

i'm not modest mouse's biggest fan or anything, but they've been around for nearly 10 years. i don't call that being a rip-off band.

a lot of Bands these days who get classed as hardcore are nothing more than thrash/death metal, they aint got a clue what hardcore is - especialy these karate idiots at gigs who think harcore is about acting/trying to look tough ect. and kickin the crap out of each other. If that happened back in the day the band would tell em to wise up or theyd stop playing. Hardcore is hardcore - like the bands you mention above, its about caring and sharing, having a good time - save the violence for politicians and fatcat scum. it was always rough at a good gig, but not to the extent where wearing a gumshield was a good idea! you see these so called hardcore fans these days doin the martial art crap to slow boring heavy stuff but as soon as a fast part comes in they dont know what to do with themselves. I love real hardcore and always will. All these stupid genres screamcore, metalcore, emo, ect are just shit

stop the rot - keep it real

Hmmm... wonder if the folk here have seen our 'How to be EMO!' thread.

I have a question. Can you really call 'emotional' or 'emo' music emotional when all it is is (this is just an opinion boys and girls) a pretentious and self indulgent soundclash?

Interesting first post, zoff - reviving an almost 9-month-dead thread...

Shuttup, man - you don't understand. They're deep. They're troubled. They're artists.

Oh, of course. I couldn't possibly understand what that's like because their depression is REAL.

So, by asking my question, have I just offended them and now I've made them even more miserable and now they're going to write a song about it with the word 'BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH' screamed really loudly between choruses?

They`re pretentious depressing over-sensitive wankshafts...

"nothing more"? I don't particularly like the fact that you seem to be saying that hardcore is in some way a superior genre to thrash or death metal.



Back to the point that ALL music is supposed to be emotional, so the fact that they use it to describe and distinguish their music is pathetic, and dismissive of all other genres as being shallow. That's what annoys me about emo. As for the music itself, it's like anything else. If you don't like it, don't listen to it. I think that it's rubbish, but each to their own. It's not like pop music where you just can't escape it, because it's forced on you wherever you go (which is why I believe pop to be a kind of music worthy of any slagging off it gets).

See, man, you're just like their mummies who wouldn't buy them that second car. You don't understand how hard it is. Only when your have over-treated hair in your eyes, a lip ring, and the latest £120 hoody on your back can you truly understand what it is to be so gifted and superior.

Ahh, perfectly captured, bravo.


I believe the only good hardcore is hardcore punk , and that idealy being from 1980-84. You need only to listen to Discharge after 1984 to get why. Simply awful.

76' to 1980, and discharge sucks.

I believe the only good hardcore is hardcore punk , and that idealy being from 1980-84. You need only to listen to Discharge after 1984 to get why. Simply awful.

[/quote]

Yes, hardcore is hardcore punk, anything else is a cheap immitation. There are still good bands out there though. Hes anyone heard forward to death? The albums called death therapy. Now thats a good example of hardcore. Dead nations another good band, dont know if their still about mind.

No, when I have my foot embedded in an EMO cuntwhiff's sphincter, and I`m wearing him as wellieboots, that's when I'll understand what superiority is, tyvm.

Marvellous.

I was kind of reffering to the 'second wave' of British punk , which was at it's height in the early 1980's. Rightly or wrongly , I tend to associate 76'-1980 as 'first wave'. (which was also very good stuff)


and discharge sucks.
Each to their own I suppose.

'second wave' is not really punk to me, but i should probably drop the subject considering i was not alive at the time...

Neither was I.

(Subject dropped)

I'm not familiar with this 'emo' music but according to the Wikipedia article about emo, "the term 'emo' was an abbreviation for 'emocore', short for 'emotional hardcore'" Thus the genesis of the term seems quite understandable, not a comment on all other music but rather derived from it's relation to 'hardcore'.

Also, you said the term, to paraphrase, accuses other music of being shallow because it suggests they aren't as emotional as it is. However doesn't that depend on what you consider makes music shallow and if music can even be shallow. If emotionality was a gauge of deepness/shallowness then mighten we consider a terribly soppy love song very deep?

EMO, is about teenage whining about how bad a place the world is. But unlike protest music, emo is very selfish about it, usually focusing on how bad the world is for the person singing it. Cue failed love affairs, love affairs that haven`t even started and never will, women laughing in your face, and so on.

It really is just teenage angst, and I didn`t even do that when I was a teenager, so I`m not likely to now.

Only these days. As I and anyone who knows about hardcore might like to tell you, as Wikipedia tells us, emo used to be (and still is, in some circles) very high-energy punk. Nowatimes, it's sort of failed-goth whineybitch indie.