Trauma

Word.
Also, that was a very good review of Portrait.

Circle Takes The Square aren't sellouts or anything like that, they're very popular because they're very good, and they were in the right place at the right time. Bands like Portrait circa 1996 who were arguably "better" than Circle Takes The Square just didn't have everything going for them at the right time.

My only problem with CTTS is exactly what cassius said. On top of that, they would probably be the biggest band (even more than Ampere) to say "We don't associate ourselves with emo or screamo, we are a combination of metal and punk rock, through and through". This is so ironic just because their sound is probably 100X more "emo" than Ampere, and you know Drew listens to a ****load of bands like City of Caterpillar, Saetia, and Pg. 99; their influence on the band is obvious. That pretense alone is infuriating.

__________________
A mi no me importa nada
Para mi la vida es un sueño

xcassiusx

Well, I'm pretty sure it's the fact they just reject genre terms, as many bands and fans have done in the past (and people continue to now). Some bands, especially a lot of the modern day screamo bands, have finally accepted it, or have no beef with calling their music either "emo" or "screamo"

Guy, from Rites Of Spring, and Ian MacKaye, of legendary Minor Threat and future emo-project Embrace, have both refused the coin term and critized it. They both thought they were playing punk rock, and magazines begin to term these certain D.C. bands "emocore" as a way to help identify their bands/approach with ease. At the time, their bands, along with many others (Gray Matter, Beefeater, One Last Wish, etc) basically WERE playing punk rock. They basically just took one step back from the aggressive hardcore punk wave that exploded in the early 80s and added very small and different elements (for some bands, the smallest difference from an "emocore" band and a "punk rock" band was the lyrics).

As time moves on, emocore/emo/hardcore emo bands began to further and further away from their signature fast and simple power chord and hit the snare and highhats a lot formula. Bands began to incoroporate different writing styles, octave chords, different song structures, low to high dynamics (and vice versa), twinkley guitars, and many more additions over time.

Yet these bands continue to simply associate themselves with their roots. Maybe it's due to the fact they're still just branching off from Punk Rock, or maybe it's the fact they still share the same ol' punk rock and D.I.Y. and political ideologies. Hell, maybe one band can admit they just hate being labeled as "emo/screamo" when all these other trendy fake bands are tagged that as well...

(a lot of bands sticking with their punk rock roots can include pg. 99 (pageninetynine) who really helped spread the word of punk rock and even used the what is now the infamous Kurt Cobain quote at the beginning of document #8. Others are Welcome The Plague Year, Orchid, etc. and apperarantly C.T.T.S.)

Other bands who really stick with their punk rock roots of having D.I.Y. ethics and having more than plenty political minded lyrics, but have also accepted the term "screamo" One major example is Cease Upon The Capitol.