It’s not just a phase mom
I remember my first concert in the pop-punk scene. I went with some neighborhood friends to see We The Kings when I was thirteen. There were five acts in total and they all had different sounds—from pop-punk, to rap, to electronic. We were packed in a general admission venue in Baltimore called Ram’s Head Live. I had never been to a place like it before. While the openers were playing, one of the headlining band members was giving temporary tattoos to fans on a table near the back. The room was small and I could feel the notes in the air as the guitarists strummed. The main singer was right there in front of us. The whole experience was intimate; It was transcendent. Afterward, we got pictures with an opening band named “Like the Movies.” They made me feel like our interactions with them meant something as they gave us hugs and signed our CDs.
Pierce the Veil. Sleeping with Sirens. Mayday Parade. Of Mice & Men. Bring Me the Horizon.
Do you have any idea what is in common with all of these names? An avid punk rock fan would feel proud that you don’t and that they do. These are some of the more well-known bands in the punk rock and post-hardcore genre of music. People who listen to these bands take pride in the fact that popular media shies away from showcasing the music’s tough sound. This type of music involves traveling to a small music venue to listen to it live and engaging in mosh pits as the musicians play. This culture is profoundly special and appealing to those within it. The music is what draws people in, but the culture is what makes people stay.
The culture isn’t exclusive to one particular sound, look, or style. The most important defining factor is that the musical act is typically an underground artist that cares about their fans. As a middle schooler, a typical concern for students is being able to fit in. If a social outcast couldn’t fit in at school, there is always an artist’s group of fans that will provide a welcoming community. What is incredible about this resurgence of punk and scene culture is that more genres are able to blend in with the gritty, rebellious sound of punk rock, and that there is a solid community of fans that accept their songs.
The most popular musical festival of the punk/alternative genre is the Vans Warped Tour. This all-day music festival toured the United States with over a hundred musical acts, gathering thousands of people at each show. There were multiple bands performing simultaneously on various stages throughout the open music venue. The bands would range from full on death metal bands that would wear body paint or costumes and shower artificial blood into the sky, to rappers, to electronic dance music artists, to pop performers. Even Katy Perry performed on the Warped Tour in 2008. Although the festival stopped touring the entire country in 2018 after 24 years, it will continue with running only a few tour dates this upcoming summer.
Many people who would eventually come to subscribe to this culture, tend to find themselves not fitting in with their normal environments. They might feel rejected and lonely for not fitting in with societal norms as easily as their peers. Society tends to place unrealistic expectations of what certain people are supposed to look like. For girls in America, their hair should be long and straight and bodies should be slim and tan (don’t go so far as black though, that isn’t an admirable color). For guys, their hair should be short and naturally colored while bodies should be toned with muscle. The internet soon became a gathering place for people who didn’t necessarily fit these confining traits as a result of this.
It wasn’t until a group of people who labeled themselves as “scene” became magnified in the 2000s, priding themselves as not being like popular society. Hair dyed jet black or bright colors became the standard. Shying away from sunlight for days to have pale skin became the goal. Wardrobes contained black, white and red clothes only, and the more skulls and crossbones on them the better. Piercings were considered highly attractive and stretched earlobes were incredible. Individuals who posted sad photos of themselves on social media were gawked at over admiring onlookers. These are most of the people who show up to punk rock concerts.
To the mainstream, punk/rock music is just as "abnormal" as the people who listen to it. A signature of the metal, hardcore, and alternative genres include the vocal technique screaming, more casually known as screamo. Although many new listeners to the genre may find the noise off-putting and barbaric, screaming takes skill. If done incorrectly, a singer could damage their vocal chords. In an interview with MTV, Sonny Moore, the former frontman of a post-hardcore band named From First to Last, mentioned that he developed a nodule on his vocal chord that required surgery. This formed after Moore sang for two years in the band without ever properly learning how to scream safely. Now Moore refrains from singing in his music as he is an EDM producer that goes by the stage name Skrillex.
This screaming tactic can be used to emphasize certain words or phrases in the lyrics and to signify transitions in the song. When an artist has overwhelmingly strong feelings of sadness, anger, heartbreak, or isolation, singing sometimes just isn’t enough to convey to the listener the intensity of what they were feeling at the time that they wrote the song. This fierce screaming can appeal to misunderstood teenagers dealing with intense emotions. Additionally, it is just fun to do and listen to.
People who identify as scene or emo are typically within the age range of twelve to twenty-five. During this developmental time period, there are many transformations that occur to the average individual. Whether it be because of rocky relationships, struggles with mental health, grief, or career aspirations, the adolescent years can be turbulent. Having been a high schooler myself, I found release listening to screamo music. I had an abundance of emotions that I didn’t fully understand that the music helped me process and release. Whether I was dancing along to the music on blast alone in my room or with my friend at a concert, it made me feel energized and powerful.
In the original edition of the song “With Ears to See, and Eyes to Hear” by Sleeping With Sirens, the lead vocalist Kellin Quinn begins the song with clean vocals over a moderately calm backing track: “True friends lie underneath/These witty words I don't believe/I can't believe a damn thing they say, anymore.” Former backup vocalist, Jesse Lawson, then comes in with the hardcore screaming vocals of “Lie, liar you'll pay for your sins/Now, liar I know all the places you've been” overpowerful chords. This transition from clean vocals to screaming intensifies the emotion of the lyrics. This song never fails to give me goosebumps.
As a teenager I revisited screamo music again, taking a liking to songs that had both clean and screaming vocals. Gradually I began to understand what the vocalists were saying and the emotions behind the noise, when before the screams sounded like a bundle of incomprehensible words. When I first was exposed to the genre as a ten-year-old, the screaming frightened me. Playing the video game Rock Band 2 with my sister, we stumbled across the song “Visions” by Abnormality. Shocked by the switching between low pitched growling and high pitched screaming backed up with banging drums and electric guitar, I hid behind a chair and covered my ears! Granted, many of the video game’s players weren’t aren’t a fan of the song either. I think Rock Band 2 included the track in the game just because it was so difficult to play. Even listening to this song now, I still dislike it.
Many bands that utilize screaming aren’t afraid to address topics such as depression, either through their songs or in interviews. The infamous band Nirvana was highly influential in this regard back in the nineties. Sleeping With Sirens has merchandise that says “Wrists are for bracelets, not for cutting” to address the saddening occurrence of self-harm. Although the music may be loud and violent sounding, some of its messages are positive.
As a black woman living in a predominantly white area, I felt like I didn’t fit into any social group that I saw. I didn’t have a proper outlet to sustain proper mental health, so I flocked to music. Concerts were one of the few places where people came together to appreciate a positive part of life. The people in the crowd have one thing in common, they all love the band There is no other feeling than finally seeing the guitarist that you have followed on Instagram for the past three years on stage, performing your favorite songs in the world right in front of you.
However, some concerts aren’t specifically designed for an intimate experience with the performers like my experience with We the Kings. Some concerts’ full purpose is an excuse for thrashers to gather in a mosh pit. Instead of organized dance moves to the steady rhythm of the music that was prevalent during the disco revolution, punk culture instead embraces the heavy and loud beats of metal music as fans throw themselves around in a crowd, whether it be running in a circle, or engaging in a “wall of death.”
Every time I went to Warped Tour I left the crowd when they started moshing and I despised crowd surfers. The potential of broken bones didn’t seem appealing to me. Mosh pits are dangerous, plain, and simple. But, they are a huge portion of punk culture. The motivation behind them is just to let loose. Secretly, I wished I was on top of the world, coasting on top of the crowd with the best view of the band. It is admirable to be able to put your unfiltered, pure, animalistically-motivated self out there to achieve pure joy and freedom in a group of people. In social settings, people are expected to act in a certain way. In day-to-day social experiences, we must use manners, carry ourselves respectfully, dress nicely, and conceal any negative emotions that we are feeling until we are in a private area. The demands of society can eventually wear a person down, and it is important to be able to have a release every once in a while. For punk fans, running around wildly without anyone restraining you is that release. Other people may engage in exercise, meditation, or even drinking to find their release, but moshing is ideal for punk rockers. For those few hours of time, a fan can let out their emotions in any way that they choose, and feel free.
But eventually, before I even noticed it happening, other types of artists began to draw my attention. Other musicians like Ed Sheeran and EDEN drew me in with their gentle expressions of powerful emotion, in contrast to the brash expressions of screaming that fill the punk genre. Calvin Harris and Zedd provided me with colorful electronic beats to dance to in my room as an alternate release. At nineteen, I found myself back at Ram’s Head Live with a friend that I used to go to pop-punk concerts with, but this time we were at an EDEN concert instead, gently swaying back and forth in tune to the music.
This lifestyle doesn’t last forever. Many people went through a scene phase during middle or high school, dyeing their hair neon colors or wearing bracelets and shopping at stores like Spencer’s or Hot Topic. But eventually, the laced chokers and skull earrings stop becoming stylistic choices. My friends and I joke about how we are still emo, but we have stopped wearing all black every day.
Vera Armstead is a writer aspiring to be a mental health counselor. Vera is currently pursuing a degree in Psychology with a minor in English at St. Mary's College of Maryland. She is an Editor of Avatar literary magazine and has publications in Teen Belle Magazine, along with Her Stry.