Emo Diaries: The Appleseed Cast

The Appleseed Cast is pretty weird for an emo band. The first album, The End of the Ring Wars, aside, most of the material strays widely from the accepted turn-of-the-millennium formula for emo exemplified by Saves the Day or Alkaline Trio. Instead, these guys take their cues from U2 and Godspeed! You Black Emperor (but in a good, wholesome emo way... I actually don't really like those two bands). That's an awkward way of saying that the Appleseed Cast uses a lot of drone in long songs that typically have the vocals deep in the background.

I saw Appleseed Cast in DC recently at a show that was cut short because there was an after-party for a Ladytron show starting at 11pm. Whatever. The show itself was definitely enjoyable, but it made me think a lot more about the band. These guys just seem beaten. And not only because they were battling illnesses and were almost run over by a tornado recently, but through their songs and performances too. The vibe they give is different from most emo bands - there's a strong sense of doom in a very unironic way. Instead of writing catchy, easy songs for teenage kids, these guys went the opposite direction and paid the price for it. Here they are, coming up on 15 years of existence, and still being booted off stage by some English electro pricks.

It might be the Kansas thing that throws me off. But there's something much more authentically emo about these guys. No flash, no theatre, just pain and resignation. Nobody will be singing the lyrics at these guys' shows, there will certainly be no "whoa-oaa" moments, and if there's anything even remotely like a breakdown, it's hidden under eighteen layers of reverb. Yet their music still speaks, and powerfully so.