i do. the sad thing is, the people here seem to post something derogatory before reading anything we've posted.
keida: youre right about the thing about the amps. thats why i got myself an mi audio crunchbox because its said to be a jcm800 in a box. and it delivers. i get the "wall of sound" and i can adjust the volume knob on my guitar to go clean haha.
WARNING. GEAR TALK.
since were talking about guitarists lets talk about guitar gear
the real "emo" amp is the JCM800. most emo bands from the late 80's and early 90s loved the jcm for its biting tone and crunch. gibson sgs were the axe of choice back then but ive talked with bands abiding by their telecasters and strats. oddly, only a few use les pauls. emo has a lot of clean parts and recently, reverb and delay add to the effect. the japanese band ENVY and michigan band MEN AS TREES use delay/reverb a lot.
http://myspace.com/indiansummersongs
my ideal jcm tone. thats a jcm800 50w and a gibson firebrand walnut sg.
there arent really that much "chops" based emo bands back then. the most technical i know was saetia/hotcross (two diff bands but they practically have members from each other). nowadays we have circle takes the square (http://myspace.com/circletakesthesquare)
emo (the real one) has got to be one of the most dynamic genres i know. going from super fast drumming and screaming to slow, droning plucked parts that let your ears relax after the onslaught of roaring twin jcm800s panned to boths sides of your headphones. 90s emo bands are great lyricists too. and no they arent cheezy.
yeah, pansin ko nga na puros sg paborito nila.
one time kasama ko gitarista ng village idiots (90's san pablo pop punk darlings) sa pier and we saw this black setneck mavis sg. di sya makatulog ng mahimbing buong linggo. hahaha!
i got into earth crisis and neurosis at the same time.
earth crisis was just a huge bulldozer of grooves, brute metal and hardcore riffage and ecoactivist/sxe lyrics.
neurosis was just a huuuge wall of sound. slowly pounding into your consciousness. there was nothing that sounded like them. they paved the way for the ambient/art metal so popular nowadays. theres a thread here about psychoacoustics or something like that, and neurosis was the perfect example of that being put to terrifying use. they were the perfect soundtrack to a world's demise.
then came the day i heard
engine kid...
i crapped in my pants hearing the amazing dynamics of their songs. i guess they were one of the first bands that opened the doors for me to that period's "emo/indierock" noisy then hushed guitars, the buildups, and release, the near but not-so-whiny vocals, and the haunting forlorn lyrics.
then these bastards shifted to jazzcore then called it a day and moved on to form
goatsnake then later on, the ever bewildering
Sunn O))) 
---
the most obvious link "emo" has with punk and hardcore is the diy ethics, the importance of the message and substance over technical virtuosity. bands like these function as a unit as opposed to other types of rock that sometimes serve as a podium to show off individual skills (eg, glamrock).
i guess what attracted me to these types of bands (HC/punk/indierock) was the way they played with their hearts on their sleeves (pun intended). as if their lives depended on it. irregardless of their technical capabilities, or lack of, there was always an urgency that transcended beyond musicianship.
the emo bands these people label nowadays, i dont know what to call them anymore. i listen to some that are still fun to listen. but its hard to distinguish one from another with all these record companies/radio stations/marketing folks riding on whatever's the big tag word. people tend to just listen and wait instead of search and learn new things. that's why 80% of people on this thread associate "emo" with bands they hear on the radio. of course we wouldn't hear indian summer, rites of spring, saetia, the promise ring anytime on the radio soon. it just wouldn't sell. the sound isn't just popular enough.
these "emo" kids we see are no different from "punk" kids we see roaming around summerslam and the likes, up to the neck with punk gear, a huge anarchy symbol on the front, and a huge
slapshock or
queso logo on the back.
.png "lol")
if they describe themselves as such, well, it;s a sad fact that i never see these kids at punk/hc shows (there are exceptions though). its quite a phenomenon.
the best allegory would be what someone did with connecting the "emo" now with new wave fashion. if you were into it, then most likely you would be sporting
chong fashion. there was really good new wave music, and there were tons of crappy ones too.
dont hate them because they're like that.
i guess lets just let them grow out of that phase.
everyone gets "emo" during teenage years. it's just unfortunate now that there's such a term like that which everyone loves to hate.
its best to educate others to new forms of music, their origins, and broaden their view of what may be out there outside of the world of the commercial music landscape. look at how people in general view philippine punk music, theyre stuck with the image of phil violators, betrayed, the wuds, iov, and all the trc/brave new world era stuff. they are all greats. i have much respect for that. but it did not end with them. it has grown beyond that, under the radar we have such a diverse and dynamic punk scene with all these bands, publications and labels. local bands have been released internationally, and the philippines has been a popular leg for bands touring the ASEAN region. a local documentary on punk has featured the punk scene from its early days, then jumped to the next generation of punk bands playing clubs today. there was no mention of the local community of zinemakers, indie distros, and of course the bands involved with it.
that's how the media perceived it. brave new world. the end.
same thing with emo. they just notice the fashion, and the whiny pop music and the depression.
its sad because people know what's only fed to them.
everytime na naliligaw ako to the forums on rakista.com i cringe when i read comments like
anu poh fave emo band nyo? akoh typecast forever. aztig xe cla eh! or something like that.
i really appreciate paeng giving his insights and where to start on this genre.
like its close cousins, it has been misunderstood, bastardized and commodified.
though a times we might sound preachy, but my apologies, because these genres have become close to heart and mean more to us than just being music you can rock out to.
educate, question, keep an open mind.
