Discussing Every Band At When We Were Young Fest 2022
I hope your black eyeliner is on!!!
Click “view in browser / view in app” at the top of this email to read the entirely of this post via your web browser or Substack mobile app.
*yawns* Hi, Otters. This is Ottavia Paluch and you’re reading Things You Otter Know.
I’m hitting “send” on this post from the first floor of the UTM library. I was supposed to give you this a week and a half and a morning ago, but things have been moving at a faster speed than I’d like to admit. I wrote my first midterm ever last week. I’ve been writing a ton, though, so I’m not rusty writing-wise. That’s because I’m on tight deadlines for 3 separate publications right now, on top of uni homework and pretending to have a social life. I’m also supposedly on a tight deadline for this Substack, seeing as I try to send out a new post every Monday morning. The good news is I have a solid amount of backlog posts to draw from over the next few weeks, so you should be seeing me in your inbox more regularly from here on out.
ANYWAYS. Let’s talk about this monstrosity.
That is the lineup poster for When We Were Young, a new festival that Live Nation put on last weekend and this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. You might’ve heard about the first day being cancelled due to high winds. That was crazy. But I figured we’d deconstruct the lineup a little bit since the sheer amount of bands on here is insane. The sheer amount of GOOD bands on here is insane. The whole thing is the DEFINITION of ridiculousness.
I’ve put every artist on this list into groups or tiers or whatever. The higher the number the better the bands are. The only two bands I’m not going to talk about here are Wolf Alice and festival headliners My Chemical Romance, because I already talked about them at length in a previous post:
Group 1: Who the Hell Is That???
There are a shocking amount of artists on here that I have never heard of before, including: 3OH!3, Acceptance, Atreyu, HorrorPops, Lil Huddy, The Garden, Jxdn, Kittie, Millionaires, Nessa Barrett, Prentiss, Royal & the Serpent, TV Girl, and The Ready Set.
If you know about or care about any of these artists…
Group 2: Artists I Am So Disappointed To Not Have Listened To In My Life Because I’ve Heard Good Stuff About Them
That takes out Glassjaw. Ice Nine Kills, and I Prevail.
Group 3: Artists Whose Music I’ve Listened To, Like, Five Times Max
Armor for Sleep. I like that song, “Car Underwater.” Found it a few weeks ago.
AFI. I used to listen to “Girl’s Not Grey” in fifth grade before I knew what good music was.
Alkaline Trio. Matt Skiba—now formerly of blink-182—yeah, that’s his band. Tom DeLonge likes them for some reason. They have that song, “Mercy Me”. That’s about all I know.
Boys Like Girls. These guys have a SHOCKING amount of Spotify streams for a band I only know about because they did a song with one of John Mayer’s exes.
Sometimes I’m having a great day and then I remember that John Mayer had the audacity, the balls to date a 19-year old Taylor Swift when he was 32. Oh well, at least that gave us Speak Now!
And “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” easily the best song on Midnights even though it’s not even on Midnights.
Poppy. Yes, that Poppy. She does metal now! It’s inSANE!
The Starting Line. I know ONE Starting Line song. “Inspired by the $”. I used to listen to it in grade ten. What dollars, exactly, are they inspired by? My bet is Canadian.
The Story So Far. At the event I was reading poems at a week and a half ago —I’ll tell you more about it in a future post—Iris did The Story So Far’s most famous song—this finger-picking thing called “Clairvoyant.” It reminded me of Real Friends for some reason. (Why are Real Friends not on this lineup? They’d be PERFECT for this fest.)
Story of the Year. I ALWAYS mix these guys up with The Story So Far. I think I should give them more of a chance.
Group 4: Bands That I’ve Listened to More Than Five Times But That I Cannot Get Into
Dance Gavin Dance. Their lead singer’s name is Jon Mess. How apt.
Black Veil Brides. Just a little too heavy for me. Sorry, Jay.
Four Year Strong. Nails on a goddamn chalkboard.
The Linda Lindas. They’re SO young and they have SO much time to develop as artists. I actually feel like they’re being rushed into putting out these cliché, mediocre songs because they signed to Epitaph so quickly after going viral.
Mayday Parade. I have no idea how these guys have released SEVEN whole entire studio albums. The only song of theirs that I can recall off the top of my head is “Miserable at Best.” That’s the sad one about the girl. (There are a lot of sad emo songs about girls, but trust me on this one.)
Meet Me at the Altar. They’ve got a great social media presence, they’ve been opening for what feels like every huge rock band on the planet for the last year, and they have a highly anticipated first album coming soon—but I can’t get into them. I don’t know why. Guess it’s an acquired taste?
Palaye Royale. Ewwwwww!
State Champs. I need to listen to them more. It doesn’t feel fair writing them off when they’re one of the biggest names in this current wave of pop-punk.
We the Kings. They’re bigger than I thought they were but I’ve never really checked them out. Speaking of checking, “Check Yes Juliet” is a good song.
Group 5: Artists I Don’t Care For All That Much But Who Have, Like, 3 Good Songs
A Day to Remember
When I was, like, 12 or 13, I used to be obsessed with this YouTuber called Chad Neidt, this really talented singer-songwriter-jokester. He’s no longer on YouTube but only writing this have I realized what a big influence he was on me. (I just turned notifications on for his channel in case he ever posts again.)
Chad was a fan of ADTR, so that’s how I found out about them. I have been aware of 3 of their songs for a long time: “The Downfall Of Us All,” “All I Want,” and “If It Means a Lot to You,” a certified emo CLASSIC that I think my old band was planning to cover up until when COVID hit.
Like, this terrible fan-made lyric video for that song has 70 MILLION VIEWS! I remember seeing these types of things in my feed all the time as a kid. YouTube circa 2008 must’ve been pretty boring. Just bad lyric videos and Charlie biting fingers. Ew!
Bayside
No idea why these guys don’t get enough love. Everything I’ve heard from them has been pretty good. “Devotion and Desire” and “Prayers” especially.
Knocked Loose
These guys do hardcore punk. If you don’t know what that is, imagine…yeah, imagine the sound of a power drill.
But apparently people love power drills! These guys might honestly be the biggest thing in hardcore punk or metalcore or whatever. They played Toronto a few weeks ago and I swear 80% of the scene friends I know went to that show, You should SEE the mosh pits and walls of death they’re able to conjure. Actually, let me show you. The always-reliable hate5six has a ton of good ones, including this:
Motionless in White
Speaking of heavy bands that go off live! I have no idea why I can tolerate these guys and not Black Veil Brides, but I honestly can’t say that I hate Motionless. They’ve got a big fanbase made up of mostly hot goths with tattoos. I found them through the video below of them doing “Reincarnate” at Warped Tour (long live Warped Tour). They’ve got cool costumes and their synth player alone is a reason to live. If you’ve ever had the urge to snap your neck from headbanging, this should help.
Neck Deep
Like pop-punk, but make it Welsh. Yep. That exists. Got a few good tunes, too. “In Bloom” (not a Nirvana cover), “December,” and “Fall” are nice.
Saosin
When I was in grade 10 or 11 I really, really liked Saosin’s biggest hit, this post-hardcore thing called “Seven Years.” I’m not sure if I enjoy it as much now. But yeah, that’s my brief history with Saosin. Next!
Senses Fail
“Can't Be Saved,” “Bastard Son,” and “Calling All Cars”? That’s an actually kind of impressive set of songs for one band to have! Just checked and I still know the words to “Calling All Cars,” even though the last time I listened to that song was a millennium ago. So that tells you something.
Group 6: Artists I Don’t Care For, Except For One (1) Absolute Total Firecracker of a Song I Will Defend To The Death
The All-American Rejects
This is a fun one. These guys were big when I was a toddler. Their singer’s voice is sorta whiny. I don’t like their big hits at all, honestly—“Gives You Hell” and “Dirty Little Secret” are both kind of annoying (but maybe that’s because I’ve heard them too many times at Walmart). “It Ends Tonight” and “Move Along” are slightly better pop songs. But there is one AAR song that I absolutely LOVE, and that is “Swing, Swing”.
I was going to put this band in a later, greater category because of this song alone. I would pay to see them live because of this song alone. That is how much I love “Swing Swing.” I found it last November and it was all I listened to. I have no regrets about that. It’s become one of my go-to songs for when I’m in a really good mood and wanna jump around. It’s just pure fun, but not cotton-candy fun like their biggest hits are. More like Miss Vickie’s salt and vinegar kind of fun. Only a song this good could have a chorus that rhymes “tangles of” with “former love” and get away with it.
Hawthorne Heights
The only, and I mean the only Hawthorne Heights song you and I have ever heard is “Ohio Is For Lovers.” But what a BANGER it is.
Emo gets a bad rap because of really cliché and stereotypically, explicitly emo songs like these. But that RIFF. The quiet-to-loud dynamics reminiscent of grunge. The screams! My emo friends make fun of me for loving this song but you can cut my wrists and black my eyes (CUT MY WRISTS AND BLACK MY!! EYYYYYYYYYYYESSSSSSS!!!!) because I have no shame.
The Maine
I really should listen to more songs from these guys. I’ve always had a thing for “Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu”. Don’t think it was a big hit—I found it in my Discover Weekly when I used to bother to listen to those every week—but it holds up. I wish it was a little longer, honestly. It feels a little too brisk for me now.
Mom Jeans
Didn’t know where to rank these guys—apparently they’ve done some really stupid stuff—but I know I once really enjoyed “Edward 40hands”.
PVRIS
You’re supposed to pronounce it like “Paris,” like my really cool friend named Paris, but I can’t stop my brain from thinking that it’s actually “Peevris.”
Peevris is a bold, dramatic band with fans in both emo as well as pop circles. Kind of like CHRVCHES, but darker. Singer’s got a big voice.
This song, “Holy,” is one that my old boss at Body Without Organs, Courtney—without whom I wouldn’t have a writing “career”—loved. She turned me onto this song and it always reminds me of that time on my life when I knew literally nothing about everything. She was a good person. The first person to ever publish my work. Almost gave me the Editor-in-Chief job when I was 15 volunteering for them as a submissions screener and blog correspondent. Part of the reason I started this blog was because I loved writing those articles and essays so much. I think Court edits for Half Mystic now or something. I hope she’s doing well. I have a lot to thank her for.
Thursday
Geoff Rickly is a post-hardcore pioneer who cannot sing to save his life and yet I admire his efforts. Especially “Understanding in a Car Crash.” That opening drum flam-flam is a jolt of electricity the likes of which they have never been truly able to replicate since. Yeah, there’s “Signals Over The Air” and “War All The Time,” but come on. Do those really stand a chance? I’d honestly pay to see Thursday do “Understanding” live and just…walk off stage. They haven’t dropped an album since 2011 (I was eight years old, for reference) but they’re still going strong, having just opened a few arena dates for My Chemical Romance. Good for them!
Group 7: Artists Who I Am A Casual Fan Of
Avril Lavigne
I mean. She’s not someone I listen to every day but has she ever kicked ass for 20 years or what. Got so many hits. A true Canadian treasure. Great singer, too. I’m not even going to link to one of her songs because you already know what they are.
Anberlin
I initially had Anberlin in the lowest group before I realized, “oh my god, I know these guys!” I only started listening to them a few weeks ago. They’re kind of good? Like if Trapt were actually good. I’ve been digging “Paperthin Hymn” and “Godspeed” and “Impossible”. And then there’s “Feel Good Drag.”
There are two versions of “Feel Good Drag”. The first is from 2005, off their second album, and it has 62 million Spotify plays. The second is from 2008, off their first record for the big boys at Republic, and it has 37 million Spotify plays. So that song is easily their biggest hit. But it rocks. I totally get why it was all over alternative radio when I was a baby. It’s nice to see that these guys are still active. Maybe they’ll have a little bit of a resurgence.
Dashboard Confessional
When I think of emo—specifically good emo songwriting—I think of raw, aching, (broken)heart-on-your-sleeve showing instead of telling. I think of wordy, but always angsty, choruses. I think of Chris Carraba, and Dashboard Confessional, and songs like “Screaming Infidelities”.
It’s a weird hit song, this thing. But Chris Carraba has written a bunch of weird hit songs. All these emo bands—a lot of the emo bands on this lineup, actually— have, for the most part, pretty crappy, clichéd lyrics. And then this guy knocks off this song, and “Hands Down” and “Vindicated" (my personal favourite). Those are all absolute classics. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s like the Rob Thomas of emo. Dude’s written all these songs from the bottom of his heart and it’s led to a long and successful 20+ year career. At their peak these guys played Madison Square Garden! That’s insane for an emo band. Definitely an unproblematic casual fave.
Silverstein
Canadian pride and joy! I swear, half the bands in the scene here in Toronto—there’s a whole Ontario hardcore movement here that’s really wicked—think they’re the next Silverstein. No one can touch Alexisonfire, obviously, Alexisonfire are the shit, so Silverstein are the next best thing. I didn’t hate their new album. It’s got pretty cover art. I especially like “Bankrupt,” which is basically three minutes and twenty-two seconds of straight heat:
Group 8: Artists Who I Definitely Like
Bring Me the Horizon
Sometimes I forget how huge these guys are. Lots of hits and they continue to push the envelope as to what metal can be. Every time I see a video of them performing, without fail, as soon as I see Oli Sykes open his mouth, I cringe because I’m scared he’s going to tear his vocal cords out. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he actually might have once!
Car Seat Headrest
Here’s the thing. Car Seat Headrest has (have?) a ton of good songs. I mean, “Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales”? What a barnburner. But that last album…man. It broke me. I was so disappointed with that thing. It just did not hit. It was like all the personality and energy was just sucked out of their music like a vacuum. I hope they can rebound with the next one. I’d love to see them prove me wrong.
Jimmy Eat World
When even was Jimmy Eat World’s peak? 2003??? They still kind of kick ass, though, so maybe I shouldn’t lump them into this category. Counterpoint: nothing will top Bleed American.
Manchester Orchestra
I have zero clue how these guys got on an emo festival lineup because they are absolutely 100% NOT emo.
This band has a lot of overlap with a lot of artists that I love way more than them. Lead singer Andy Hull has collaborated with Touché Amoré (a band I just adore) and, through the side project Bad Books, with Kevin Devine (a singer-songwriter that I just adore). They were just on tour where Kevin opened for them. I didn’t go to the Toronto date because I wasn’t that willing to pay to see a band that I don’t even like all that much. To be totally honest, I just find a lot of their music boring. You’d think I’d love long, meandering, philosophical songs like the ones they make, but they haven’t hit in ways that other bands have. Maybe I just haven’t given them enough of a chance. Like, their new album wasn't that bad, I just kind of forgot about it. The song above is from that album. I like it a lot even though it doesn’t really sound like them.
Pierce the Veil
I have friends who are super into PTV but they’re just not a band I return to as often as I’d like. I like their stuff a lot but sometimes they’ll come up on shuffle and I’ll be like “nope.” Not because the music sucks but because it’s a little too intense for me. However. This new one they put out a few weeks ago…man. What a joint.
If you like heavyish music you’ll like this. It’s a little more modern than their older stuff but it goes SO HARD. You don’t underSTAND how many times I’ve headbanged to this while doing chores. Whenever this new record of theirs comes out I am SO ready for it. I would totally love to hear a full album of songs like “Pass the Nirvana.” Pass it the hell over!
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Everyone I know, save for, like, two people, sleeps on this band. Imagine having “Face Down,” “False Pretense,” and “Your Guardian Angel” on the same record. On your FIRST record! Ridiculous. These guys and Cute Is What We Aim For should’ve been way more famous.
You know what I bet it was? The names. Those two bands have two of the worst band names I’ve ever heard in my life.
Sleeping With Sirens
I need to give that new album a listen this weekend. Angel’s gonna kill me when they find out I haven’t heard it yet. (I’m so behind on new albums, guys.)
But yeah, really dig SWS. Kellin Quinn sings like he’s on helium but it’s all good. My favourite SWS song by a wide margin is “If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn”. Here’s the original, and here’s the softer, prettier version. I was shocked to find out just how many views both of them have.
Group 9: Artists I Would Pay to See Live—At Their Peak
Taking Back Sunday
Let me make it very clear: I LOVE TAKING BACK SUNDAY. The only reason they’re in this category is because they’re washed up. But they have so many good songs. You could pass off their first album as a greatest hits collection and I wouldn't notice the difference. And a few songs off their second album plus a few songs off their third would make another good greatest hits collection. It’s too bad they’ve lost the spark live. Their shows have no energy anymore. Adam Lazzara does noooot have it anymore. He also gives me douchebag energy. I feel like fans going to see them play the main stage at this festival are going to leave disappointed.
I didn’t want to embed one of their big hits here, because some of you probably already know them by heart, so here’s a TBS song that I think gets overlooked a little too much:
The Used
Let me make it very clear: I LOVE THE USED. The only reason they’re in this category is because they’re washed up. But they have so many good songs. You could pass off their first album as a greatest hits collection and I wouldn't notice the difference. And a few songs off their second album plus a few songs off their third would make another good greatest hits collection. It’s too bad they’ve mostly lost the spark live. Poor Bert McCracken has had a tough go of it. I feel like fans going to see them play the main stage at this festival are going to leave disappointed.
Did you notice that I copy-pasted the TBS paragraph and changed a few words in it? You can’t blame me, though, since the same situation applies. The difference with the Used is that my dad loves them. He started listening to them after I saw MCR and he got hook. His favourite song is “To Feel Something,” a deep cut off their last album. I don’t like it, but it’s nice to know that bands like this can connect with people like my old man. (When I told him that my favourite Used song is “Blue and Yellow,” he rolled his eyes.)
Group 9: Artists I Would Pay to See Live
Alex G
Alex G is playing Toronto next Saturday and tickets are sold out. I am FURIOUS.
FOMO aside, this new album of his might be the best he’s ever made. The guy is just consistently brilliant. Only 29 years old with so much great music under his belt, and with so much great music ahead of him. The guy’s melodies are unreal! And every great song of his just has this one gorgeous moment or little part squeezed in that just absolutely makes the song. In “Runner,” attached above, it’s the part where he screams “I HAVE DONE A COUPLE BAAAAAD! THIIIINGS!!!” Me too, Alex.
Death Cab For Cutie
If you’ve been reading for a while you know I’m a total Death Cab head, so I’ll keep this brief. They just got added to the WWWY lineup for this Saturday! I’d classify them as more indie rock than emo, but to each their own. Could gush about them all day. Transatlanticism is a perfect album. And this new one, Asphalt Meadows, is the best album they’ve made in, like, fifteen years, no joke.
La Dispute
These post-hardcore guys rule SO HARD and the only reason I didn’t go see them play Wildlife in full a few months ago is because I literally couldn’t. They’re like if spoken word had guitars behind it! So really more like yelling word. Highly recommend if you’re into that.
Paramore
I mean, come on. This is bloody Paramore we’re talking about. Other than My Chem, Paramore is the cream of the crop in emo and they’ve been that way for, what, fifteen years? They’re literally a hit machine. Cannot wait for their next album. It’s out in February! They’ve announced it and everything. Their upcoming tour is sold out. It’s insane. They’re insane. Hayley Williams is the most insane.
The Wonder Years
No, not that show! I’m talking about the band. They’re very intense, but not so much in terms of their sound. It’s more in the lyrics. Dan Campbell might be the best lyricist in all of emo. He’s who I wish I was if I was a better songwriter. I love their new record, The Hum Goes On Forever (what an emo title, eh?). It’s among their best for sure. My good mentor-turned-friend Matt Mitchell wrote this feature on them that is a great read and I’m not just saying that because he wrote it. Here is my favourite Wonder Years song:
Oh man, that was a doozy. Never doing that again. Now off to write an article for the Varsity. See you Friday for some Damkeeping.
🦦—O—🦦