Emo Revival: Community, DIY, and Rebirth in Post-Hardcore and Emo (2008-2018)

The story of the reinvention of punk rock’s most misunderstood subgenre, featuring Algernon Cadwallader, Title Fight, Modern Baseball, and the dozens of other bands who saved emo from implosion.

Emo didn’t start with the rise of bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and it didn’t end with their turn-of-the-2010s drop-offs either. When emo faded from the mainstream, major players in the music industry were ready to move on. The genre looked like a fad that was passing. But it didn’t die; it went back to the basements and VFW halls that it began in decades earlier, fueled by a new crop of bands who kept emo alive when no one else would.

Andrew Sacher explores why and how these bands turned the fourth wave of emo into one of the most impactful underground rock movements of its time. Informed by over 80 original interviews, Sacher offers a deep dive into the generation of bands that restored the musical values and DIY ethos of emo’s past in order to shape its future.

Emo Revival is a story about countless great records and powerful live shows, but even more so than that, it’s a story about community. None of this would have happened without an influx of likeminded bands, record labels, show bookers, and fans who reinforced that “DIY” is really about doing it together.

Andrew Sacher is a prolific music journalist, critic, and podcast host. As the longtime managing editor of BrooklynVegan, he has been passionately covering punk, emo, indie rock, and several other styles of music since 2010. He is based in New York City.