First Day Back

First Day Back are a five-piece emo/indie band from Santa Cruz, California who released their debut LP earlier this year, Forward. This is the good stuff right here; harkening back to an era of midwest emo dominated by the likes of Cap'n Jazz, Braid, Penfold, Rainer Maria, and The Jazz June without sounding like an exact replica of any of them. First Day Back favour bright, crisp guitar tones that wallow in melancholic chords and arpeggios over gloriously strained vocals, with the occasional use of a harmonica or violin that adds a truly unique dynamic layer to their already-tight and sundry sound. This album offers nine unique tracks that ebb and flow as one of the year's stand-out emo releases, so naturally I highly, highly recommend giving it a listen. Enjoy.

Forward (2025)

1. Sure, Ok

2. Upstairs (212)

3. Moving Out

4. Us

5. Gone On

6. Lines

7. Wait, Do You Hear That?

8. Paint

9. Twelve Mile Train Tracks

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Drain

Drain are a four-piece hardcore/crossover band from Santa Cruz, California that began in 2015. Following two EP's, they put out their debut full-length in 2020, which was easily one of the greatest hardcore albums to come out that year. I don't know why I never got around to sharing it then, but here we are two years later, and California Cursed still fucking rips. No band has ever been able to make crossover thrash sound this fun and in the sun, and I cannot recommend checking this out and turning it way up enough. This band has got a great future ahead, and with them now signed to Epitaph, hopefully we'll be getting a follow-up sometime in the new year. They've also got an insane energy live (based on videos), so if you get the chance to see them, go. Enjoy.

Over Thinking (2016)

1. Eighty-Sixed

2. Trapped In My Head

3. Sewn Shut

4. Today Is Mine

5. Couldn't Care Less

6. Tension

Time Enough At Last (2017)

1. The Dean Slam

2. Red Room Blues

3. Don't Believe The Hype

4. The Other Side Of Paradise

California Cursed (2020)

1. Feel The Pressure

2. Hyper Vigilance

3. Sick One

4. Army Of One

5. Character Fraud

6. Hollister Daydream

7. White Coat Syndrome

8. The Process Of Weeding Out

9. Bad Faith

10. California Cursed

Watch You Burn (2021)

1. Watch You Burn

Living Proof (2023)

1. Run Your Luck

2. FTS (KYS)

3. Devil's Itch

4. Evil Finds Light

5. Imposter

6. Intermission (feat. Shakewell)

7. Weight of the World

8. Watch You Burn

9. Good Good Things

10. Living Proof

...Is Your Friend (2025)

1. Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow

2. Living in a Memory

3. Scared of Everything and Nothing

4. Nothing but Love

5. Can’t Be Bothered

6. Loudest in the Room

7. Nights Like These

8. Who’s Having Fun?

9. Darkest Days

10. Until Next Time...

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Website

Scowl

Scowl are a four-piece hardcore band from Santa Cruz, California that formed in 2019. They put out a demo and EP the same year. Their debut full-length How Flowers Grow came out last year, and was without a doubt one of hardcore's finest moments of that year. The band rips through 10 songs in 15 minutes, and the only way I can think to describe it is "aggressively fun". The drums are pummelling, the vocals are scorching, and the band still finds time to change things up on the surprisingly catchy and sunny standout track "Seeds To Sow". They're touring with The Bronx, The Chats and Drug Church in October, so check them out if you get the chance. Based on videos from their live sets, it looks like they put on hell of a show too. Enjoy.

Demo (2019)

1. Scowl

2. Roots

3. Negative Contract

4. False Virtue

5. Just To Be

Reality After Reality... (2019)

1. Retail Hell

2. Pretty Selfish Cretin

3. Reality After Reality...

4. My Turn 2 Play

5. Choke

How Flowers Grow (2021)

1. Bloodhound

2. Dead To Me

3. Pay Privilege Due

4. Trophy Hunter

5. Seeds To Sow

6. Idle Roaring Room

7. Fuck Around

8. Roots

9. Four Walls

10. How Flowers Grow

Psychic Dance Routine (2023)

1. Shot Down

2. Psychic Dance Routine

3. Wired

4. Opening Night

5. Sold Out

Are We All Angels (2025)

1. Special

2. B.A.B.E.

3. Fantasy

4. Not Hell, Not Heaven

5. Tonight (I'm Afraid)

6. Fleshed Out

7. Let You Down

8. Cellophane

9. Suffer The Fool (How High Are You?)

10. Haunted

11. Are We All Angels

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Website

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Jenny Piccolo

 Jenny Piccolo were a three-piece powerviolence band from Santa Cruz, California that were around from approximately 1996 to 2001 (though I could be wrong on that). They were formed by former members of Mohinder, and played an intense style of emoviolence that the California scene defined in the mid-90s. They were almost exclusively a Three-One-G band, even releasing a split with label staples The Locust. Their sole LP, Information Battle To Denounce The Genocide was released in 1996. That album, along with all other recorded material was compiled on a discography release in 2006. This contains all 52 songs by the band, with a run-time that extends just past the half-hour mark. Enjoy.

Discography (2006)

1. Joined At The Brain

2. Six

3. Wood Breaking Manifesto

4. One Wat

5. Punky Brewster

6. Product Of Power

7. Purity Control

8. Suicide Cliche

9. Jade

10. Traction Reaction

11. Hand That Feeds

12. East Reed

13. Dim Bulb

14. Heavy Metal Weekend

15. Bipolar on Lithium

16. Severe Battery

17. Bore Dome

18. Tank OM Jag Vore en Dods Maskin, Bara Ga Omkring och Slosa Liv (A.K.A.: Have You Seen My Tanks?)

19. Total Alienation

20. Blunt Still Burns

21. Amber Gambler

22. Red Dead

23. Purity Control

24. High School Handgun Fever

25. Cyanide Inhaler

26. True 'til Death

27. Left Behind

28. Bearing Holes

29. State Legal Lynching

30. God's Gym

31. We Are All Illegal

32. Donation To The Deaf

33. Patented Genes

34. Preschool

35. El Salvador's Radio Problems

36. I AM

37. Remembrance

38. Shutdown

39. Freshly Grown Warheads

40. Liberty Machines

41. Followhead

42. Pure

43. Face Extinction

44. Acceptance of Meanings

45. Pain Culture

46. Sink or Swim

47. Forgotten

48. Labor Day

49. Six

50. Hand That Feeds

51. One Year

52. __!

Bandcamp

Gulch

Gulch are a five-piece hardcore band from Santa Cruz, California that have been around since at least 2016, thought its members have been active in tons of local bands prior. They came together to create some of the most unhinged and unpredictable hardcore in recent years, taking on a blend of metallic hardcore and death metal influence to create chaos in its purest form. Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath is a virtually perfect EP, and a good jumping off point to get into one of the most explosive bands around. From the looks of their live shows, they are front runners in setting the bar for hardcore this decade, so I am more than pumped to see what they do next. Enjoy.

Demolition Of Human Construct (2017)

1. Lie, Deny, Sanctify

2. Eco-terror

3. Monolith

Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath (2018)

1. Contemplate/Enact

2. Flesh Pursuit

3. Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath

4. R.S.A.

5. E.P.T.S.

6. Gruel For The Beast

2019 Promo (2019)

1. Cries of Pleasure, Heavenly Pain

2. Self-Inflicted Mental Terror

Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (2020)

1. Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress

2. Cries Of Pleasure, Heavenly Pain

3. Self-Inflicted Mental Terror

4. Lie, Deny, Sanctify

5. Fucking Towards Salvation

6. All Falls Down The Well

7. Shallow Reflective Pools of Guilt

8. Sin In My Heart

Sunami/Gulch (2021)

1. Sunami - Step Up

2. Sunami - Die Slow

3. Gulch - Bolt Swallower

4. Gulch - Accelerator

Bandcamp

Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Kotto were a screamo/emotional hardcore band from Santa Cruz, California that lasted from 1996 to 2005. They've gained an incredibly dedicated following, often being cited as being one of the greatest screamo bands ever. It's a deserving title. They managed to be emotionally cathartic while still presenting a sociopolitical agenda in their lyrics, which is always an impressive marriage. Not only do they have a lyrical duality, but the entire band's music is based on the concept. They, like any great band in their realm, are both melodic and chaotic, and the two blend seamlessly. They have two vocalists, one with a gruffer, hoarse, voice and the other mostly sung, though they both break into all-out screams at times.

The thing that probably gets noted most about this band is the unbelievable guitar work, with the two guitars entwining seamlessly, playing off each other while constructing some of hardcore's greatest riffs ever put to record. I don't think I need to ramble about what makes Yaphet Kotto so special, because it's a truth that's held to be self-evident. Here's their discography, which in its entirety is a screamo/hardcore essential. Enjoy.

The Killer Was In The Government Blankets 7" (1998)

1. The Killer Was In The Government Blankets

2. Second Square

3. Crane Lifting Crane

4. Car Part Three

The Killer Was In The Government Blankets (1999)

1. First Meetings Agreement

2. Torn Pictures

3. Reserved For Speaker

4. Driving Through Natchez

5. Are You Still Working At That Cafe?

6. B And C

7. A Symbol

8. The Killer Was In The Government Blankets

9. Suffocate

Yaphet Kotto/Suicide Nation (2000)

1. Yaphet Kotto - Critical Response

2. Suicide Nation - Collapse & Die

Syncopated Synthetic Laments For Love (2001)

1. Circumstantial Evidence

2. Status Symbol

3. Inquire Within

4. The Weight Of Remorse

5. Fact Or Fiction

6. Syncopated Synthetic Laments For Love

7. Highly Enlightened

8. Blind Leading The Blind

9. Of Epic Proportions

10. Instrumental

Yaphet Kotto (2002)

1. Usual Suspects

2. According To History

Yaphet Kotto/This Machine Kills/Envy (2003)

1. Yaphet Kotto - The Fall

2. Yaphet Kotto - Tracing

3. Yaphet Kotto - Momentary Loss Of Breath

4. This Machine Kills - Define Silence

5. This Machine Kills - Carpet Of Gold/Carpet Of Bombs

6. This Machine Kills - Our Histories Have Burned Holes In Your Flag

7. Envy - A Far-Off Reason

8. Envy - Signal

9. Envy - An Adventure Of Silence And Purpose

10. Yaphet Kotto/This Machine Kills/Envy - Untitled

European Tour (2003)

1. Alive And Dead

2. Momentary Loss Of Breath

3. Tracing

We Bury Our Dead Alive (2004)

1. We Bury Our Dead Alive

2. The Heavy Burden

3. Past On The Stairs

4. Chime The Day

5. Paths

6. The Constant Ringing

7. The Lurker

8. Chime The Night

9. Untitled

Unreleased (2008)

1. Existence Is Pain

2. Full of Mistakes

3. Heritage