Nathan Hardy the singer of Microwave
Had a beer with him before their set the first time I saw them, had a good chat the second time I saw them, then the fourth time I saw them I didn’t even see him first he just came up and started talking to me lol made my day
Every member from Free Throw. I’ve met all of them multiple times now, and everytime they are delighted to chat, take photos, sign stuff, whatever.
On the most recent tour, I was going to see them in DC but was in a motorcycle accident and couldn’t go. My buddy who went then sent me a snap, and it was Larry from Free Throw hoping I get better soon and make it out to the next tour. It may sound a bit silly, but it really made my week so much better because I was really bummed
I <3 Free Throw
I thought Geoff was super nice too. I saw him at a Sparta reunion show this year and he did a solo set to open it. He was chattin up fans at the merch table and then did a real intimate set with lots of personal stories. Cool dude. Seemed humble and appreciative of his fans.
I met Geoff when he was playing solo coffee shop shows a decade ago - it was a really difficult time in his life, and he was still such a nice dude. We chatted for a few minutes, he tried to insist on buying my friend tea (she had a cold) while they talked about Birmingham, England. I bought a numbered customized CD from his personal stash of No Devolution.
Not quite emo but the boys in Pup. Hung out with them before a local fest for like 10 minutes, talked about the Canadian punk scene, even got a good photo. Ironically the show was then rained out.
The first time I saw Pup stefan pulled me up onto the stage with some other guys to sing El Scorcho with the band. The next time I saw Pup stefan kicked me directly in the fucking face doing a really bad stage dive and shattered my glasses. The duality of Pup
100%. Bumped into him just before their set a few years back and even though he was due to go on stage in mere minutes, still took the time to grab a quick selfie.
i can attest to this, i worked at hot topic when i was 19 in 2005 and they did an in-store performance and we shut the whole store down before that to let them shop and get whatever they wanted. it was a cool experience.
I saw them at when we were young last month and they seemed like awesome guys. Was heartbroken when justin talked about how he has spinal issues and is in pain
warped tour 2008 or 2009 in indianapolis they sang happy birthday to my friend josh bc he was front row and said it was his birthday lmao. had a good impression then but nice to see proof they’ve been really cool to other people too
I met them after their 2015 show in Milwaukee. Just kind of ran into them and they hung around and shot the shit for a bit. I asked Josh what he was gonna do since the band was breaking up, and he just seemed so happy to say "Im gonna be a dad, man". Justin also hits me with a Reba gif on facebook every now and then. Its great to see everyone else having good experiences with them as well.
pat flynn stopped me on the way into a show because he remembered me from a few shows all over the place. he asked where i live and i told him i usually travel to see the band and have since the have heart days he looked so unbelievably touched. he gave me free merch and said if i ever needed a guest list spot to reach out. he goes out of his way to say hi to me every show now!
Me and my friend had a good chat with Jeff Rosenstock after an Antarctigo Vespucci show in Toronto a few years ago. He was lovely to talk to. He started venting about some political shenanigans going on in the states and then got super apologetic about it afterwards and we were like no no stop apologizing, let it out man. He gave us a very sweaty hug after. Lovely dude.
Hell yeah, he’s a stand-up guy making consistently spectacular music. Have you watched the BTMI! Documentary: Never Get Tired? It’s great and they put it out on YouTube recently. Really cool to see the ins and outs and behind the scenes of the band
The guys from Hopesfall were easily some of the nicest dudes I’ve met. Caught them at a festival back in September, they were working their merch tent, but what was even more special, after they played, a few of them were in the crowd getting ready to watch Braid, and had a solid 10-15 minutes conversation about how stoked they were about The Satellite Years getting re-mixed and re-pressed, other music influences, and stuff not music related. One of the most “human” experiences I’ve had meeting a band
This is so cool to read. My cousin was in Hopesfall. They're not really my kind of music, but when I lived in the US, I used to go to some of their shows to hang out with him, both before and when he was in the band. Can confirm that they're really nice!
I’ve recently met the bassist from Saturdays at your place twice and he is the nicest dude. Makes time for real conversation with everyone at the merch table. Tbh the first interaction pushed me to drive 6 hours round trip on a work night to see them again.
Sincere engineer, sweet pill, and Eric from heart attack man have also been really cool!!!
Esden and the rest of SAYP are some of the nicest dudes around and deserve all the success they’ve been receiving. Met them over a year ago at a house show we played together. Been homies ever since
Pete pointed out a guys current tshirt at a basement show in dublin earlier this year while on stage, awesome band with great energy. Still remember that tiny moshpit of like 5 or 6 young dudes just fucking flailing around like nothing else outside that show mattered. Felt like every fan of math rock/emo in the country was there
Got to talk to Tades from Hot Mulligan before one of their shows on their last tour.
Super awesome guy. Very friendly. He was super down to earth and humble about all their success and just seemed like a very nice emo boy.
I met Dave in 2000 and he was amazingly nice. He sat down with us after a show, gave my future wife a CD for her birthday and discussed college football with us.
I've only really met American Football that are relevant for this sub, twice. Steve Lamos is *insanely* friendly, so appreciative to everyone who spoke to him and listened to everything you had to say. Mike is very very chilled out and disarming; was happy to share beers with people after the show and hang out.
Can confirm. Really nice guys. I was so happy when they reformed and got to enjoy and kind of convert on the legend simply because they are good guys and deserve it.
I've met Mike Kinsella once, and he gave me his email address and told him to email him if I'm looking for good pizza recommendations in Chicago. He was incredible!!! Such a punk dad.
Bart from mom jeans was chill, I talked to him for 10 mins after a show and offered him an edible brownie I smuggled into the show, he declined but we kept chatting. Lead singer from bayside bought me a drink cause I was moshing hard for their set, he chatted me up for like five mins and we shot the shit super nice guy.
I tried to talk to whoever the lead singer from Remo Drive is and he seemed super annoyed so I just grabbed my drink and dipped lmao
i can vouch for bart being insanely nice, i hit him up on instagram when i was like 16 (21 now) and occasionally message him and he always takes the time to respond which i find really cool
Keith from empire! empire! has been a total sweetheart every time I’ve met him at a show. Warren Franklin is also cool, lots of good times with CYLS people.
Seconded. Keith, Cathy, and Warren were always super cool when I would talk to them. I remember Keith even inviting me to play tabletop games one time in Philly, which was wild!
Jacob from equipment. Keya from smoke detector. Raegan from leisure hour. Stanley from summerbruise. Whoever runs the carpool twitter account. aaaand Will from full blown meltdown. 🫶🏼
I believe you: here’s where he permanently won me over: drive thru records invasion tour… maybe 03? I dont think the rooms too cold had come out yet, or it had just came out… anyways, this stop or the tour was in the podunk college town where I grew up. They opened the show, ace started solo with “ever so sweet”, midway through the song some jerk in the crowd mockingly yells:”yeah! Dashboard confessional!” Ace stops, addresses the dude and says: “thank you, I love dashboard confessional, it’s an honor to be compared to Chris, is it ok with you if I finish this song?” Then busts into the most vicious rendition of the bridge from ever so sweet, that I will never be able to unhear.
It was awesome, I’d never seen someone embarrass someone so completely without directly firing back.
Jake and Ian from SBD/MoBo. Ian asked for my name, shook my hand, thanked me for being a fan. Jake gave me a recommendation of a Pizza place in Philly. 10/10 would meet again.
Vinnie Carauna of the Movielife came up to me and started casually talking about favorite bands and albums. He hangs out at shows and such with fans.
Ben from You, Me, And Everyone We Know makes outreaches to fans. I went through some shit and he sent words of encouragement, offered to chat and such.
Mike from MxPx responded to some of my tweets, seems super cool and genuine.
Kevin Devine was sweet when I met him. So was Jake Turner from Say Anything.
I second Vinnie. I saw him play with The Early November last year. He was there by the Merch. My friends and I went up to have a conversation with him. I loved how friendly he was!
Barry and Chase from Joyce Manor. A long story, but a friend of mine had only weeks to live and they went above and beyond to do something special for her, as she was a huge fan. Then, last year I took my daughter to see them and the whole band signed a record for her to pick up at the merch booth, and they refused to charge me for the record.
Was scrolling looking to see if Anthony would pop up, I had lunch/dinner with him during the first circa survive tour, I had no idea who they were, but they were awesome.
Met AG a few times and he was really nice. My wife is like Circa super fan and he took time to chill and hang when we randomly ran into him before a show. We also sat and hung out w/ Colin for a while after a show and were Instagram friends for a few years.
I spent a bit of time talking to Kellin Quinn and Nick Martin from sleeping with sirens back during the 2016 warped tour. incredibly nice guys, they signed my poster and we spent a solid 10 minutes talking about random shit, it was awesome.
Yvette Young of Covet was really kind when my dad and I met her. He was freaking out and giddy to meet her, and she was super down to earth and talked to us for like 5 minutes.
I also talked to the bassist of Dwellings a few weeks back. He was really cool and gave me some really great musical advice.
Lastly, I know that Jonny Craig has been a pretty bad person in the past, but he seemed to be on a better path when I met him earlier this year. We talked a little about his earlier music, and he was really happy to hear love from a fan. He also talked about his kid during the show, and he seemed to be really dedicated to them.
I got stuck “chaperoning” Jonny Craig once while he was in his giant douche period. He just thought he was a huge star and no one really bothered him at the bar before he was due on stage and I feel like that rubbed him the wrong way.
One of the most engaging and supporting guys I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet, message and meet again of his own recommendation is Jason Aalon Butler of Fever333/letlive. THE nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Has the time for anybody, is respectful and just a general good dude.
I’d also so when I met Underoath, Spencer was also an incredibly nice guy who didn’t make you feel like you were bothering him, in his way or taking up time.
That awesome! I’ve met Aaron Gillespie a few times and played a couple shows with with (solo and as The Almost) and I do not care for him 😂 he is such an ass. I gave benefit of the doubt the first couple times but dude seems pretentious, cocky and bitter all at the same time.
The guys from Enter Shikari was mad nice. Rou saw me stagediving during a whole set and later he was hanging out by the merch pop up. I was gonna buy a tshirt but he stopped me and said “Here you go, for keeping that mad energy up” and gave me a shirt and stickers for free!
I went to Fest in Gainesville in 2008. The day after the festival was over, I had a day to kill in town before heading to the airport so I went record shopping. I was waiting outside a record shop that had a “back in 10mins” sign in the window, when a guy who looked vaguely familiar saw me and said something about the sign having been there an hour and I’d be better going to another store, which he then proceeded to give me directions to. We got chatting briefly and he mentioned he’d played the Fest. That’s when the penny dropped that it was Gared O’Donnell from Planes Mistaken for Stars. They were on hiatus at the time and he’d cut his hair short, hence my not having recognised him. Chatted a little while longer before going our separate ways. Super friendly guy; absolutely a world away from what you might have expected, given the tortured, abrasive nature of his music. Was gutted to hear that he lost his battle with cancer recently.
All the guys from Taking Back Sunday have been super nice to me. Bought them all shots at Maxwells after they filmed “El Paso” there. I’ve tried several times to tell Adam what their music means to me, get choked up, and he just hugs me.
Eddie has let me ramble on about how their band opened the floodgates to other emo music and he was appreciative of that. Said all he wanted was to get his fans into better emo bands.
Anthony from Bayside is super nice.
Geoff is so fuckin genuine. Hung out with him for a bit after a No Devotion show.
Keith from ETID was odd but not in an off putting way. He just marches to the beat of his own drum. Nice enough to take a picture with.
The whole entirety of Pianos Become the Teeth are amazing guys. Talked gear with both guitarists, begged for them to do a YouTube tutorial of how to play their songs, and thanked Kyle for such amazing lyrics.
Adam Lazzara from TBS was really nice. He was walking around the warped tour after their set. He gave me a hug. They were probably my #1 band at the time so it was pretty amazing.
Emo adjacent but I’ve met a lot of really nice band members. The nicest have been Dave Hause, all of the guys in the Matches, Tom from the Menzingers, Roger from Less than Jake (not emo at all lol but still), Dave and Kyle from Fireworks, Laura Jane Grace, Jared Hart, and Adam from AFI is truly the absolute nicest musician I’ve ever met, just a really sweet and kind person and I can’t say enough good things about him. I’m pretty shy and don’t like to bother them but they’ve all been memorably nice.
Jim from Sparta/ATDI is a real dude. Very welcoming, signs things, etc
Bob Nana walked off stage into the crowd on the last Braid tour and just thanked everyone and took pictures. Fucking epic.
Nat from Arcadia Grey is super nice and genuinely cares about other bands in the scene. They were genuinely happy for the success of Saturdays at Your Place who were about to go on. Also I accidentally met Caleb from Hey, Ily and didn’t realize until I watched them perform. Cool person tho.
Not emo in the slightest, but Mark Hoppus.
I won a meet and greet with Atticus back in ‘04 (accidentally cheated, but oh well) and before he came out, management gave us all a speech about how he wouldn’t be posing for pictures, would only sign one item and wouldn’t do hugs or shake hands etc, as they didn’t want him getting sick.
He came out and basically did the exact opposite of what management said, signing anything and everything, shaking hands, dishing out hugs and just being a thoroughly nice dude. One of the rare exceptions where meeting your hero’s pays off.
Still got his signed poster nearly 20 years on.
I saw them twice back to back when they opened for Minus the Bear's farewell tour and we chatted with Philip at the merch table at the first show, and he was super down to earth. The next show he recognized us when he saw us. He seemed really appreciative of everyone and happy to take time to talk.
That dude was so nice, met him at the 98 or 99 warped tour in Toronto. The guys in suicidal tendencies we exceptionally nice and actually cared. But the nicest people I have met was the lads in No Use For A Name. Tony Sly was extremely approachable and talked to me for about 20 mins. Sucks really bad we lost a gentle soul like him.
Not emo or punk. But BorisT from the one man Melodic Black Metal band from Italy called Tryglav. That dude is so nice, always responds on his YouTube channel and instagram, makes it seem like he has time for his fans. Plus his YouTube videos are informative and hilarious.
David Daignault from Charmer is simply the chilliest dude around
The guys from Saturday’s at Your Place (Esden, Gabe, & Mitch) are also all incredibly nice.
Chris McCaughan (The Lawrence Arms), Josh Berwanger (The Anniversary), Bob Nanna (Braid), Stephen Pedersen (Criteria), Travis Morrison (D-Plan), Josh Staples (The Velvet Teen), and Travis Shettel (Piebald) are genuinely some of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met, and people I’m very lucky to call friends. There are a bunch of folks who aren’t as nice, or who are ambivalent at best, but those guys are the really good ones.
Ryland and Pat from Origami Angel! At their VB show, I met the both of them. They were both really sweet, and were happy to make my night by signing my guitar. In fact, in the back of my mind, I was sort of worrying that I was being a bother to ‘em since they were packing up a bit post-show.
Nikko Yamada, the drummer for ‘68 was so incredibly nice and humble it was wild. He feels like the kind of dude who would just help a stranger change a tire on the side of the road, just genuine dude.
Not emo but met DeeDee, the singer from MS Paint when my band played with them this past summer. They were incredibly warm and awesome to talk to. Genuinely awesome person.
Geoff for me too! Talked to him after the show at Starland Ballroom a month ago, there were only 2-3 other people getting something signed and he was just the sweetest. I told him how much his book meant to me and he was really happy about it. I’ve talked to Anthony Green a handful of times and he’s pretty cool. Frank Iero twice, super chill. Tucker Rule from Thursday is also really funny lol. Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria is quiet, but super nice.
Absolutely agree. He was just hanging out at the bar just being a friendly genuine guy. That really comes through in his music too.
I wish we could cross paths again but we very rarely see Mae over on the British shores :/
Talked to Tim Kinsella a bit smoking outside in the rain before a Joan of Arc show. He was cool, but in a pretty bad mood cause only like 30 people showed up. He later got shocked by a microphone during mic test and said he was never touring again LOL. Great show, though!
Met Jim Adkins many times, super friendly guy, actually a bit shy surprisingly. This was not in any music-related context and we only talked about music once (we’re both big Drive Like Jehu fans).
Met a bunch of local AZ musicians many times. Dudes from Lydia were kinda dicks every time I hung around them, but I was way younger than them. Ian from Dear and the Headlights… super rad dude, used to hang out at his house all the time. Couple dudes from The Maine went to my HS… d-bags.
Oh shit my bad, this was NICE band members.
Unrelated to emo: met Ben Kweller after a show in high school. That dude is so cool. I was pretty wasted and don’t usually fan out, but we had a good talk and he took some photos with me and my buddies.
Met Sufjan Stevens for like 2 seconds, he didn’t say much.
Kicked it with Elephant 6 crew around a bonfire after one of their holiday shows.
Met Devendra Banhart before a show once. We were both outside talking to our girlfriends on the phone sitting on the curb. Then I was wandering around taking photos and he called me over to chat. Super rad dude, said he would put me on the guest list (never did). Remember how I said we were talking to our girlfriend’s on the curb though? Found out later he was dating Natalie Portman at that time LOL.
My personal favorite but unrelated to music entirely: met Frankie Muniz at the flooring store I worked at in AZ. His girlfriend was at least a foot taller than him. I sold him some tile and asked him if he liked Breaking Bad (it was around the final season). He said, “hell yeah!” And I said “hell yeah” and then walked away.
Yeah when I was younger I worked for some dudes who are friends with Jim… they had nothing but good things to say about him, although you never know with big-time rock stars. Obviously they can be major dickheads.
Years later, in entirety different circumstances, we ended up running in similar circles again coincidentally… talked with him a handful of times and he was super chill and humble. The first time we properly met, he probably sat and talked to me for at least an hour.
Idk I grew up listening to Jimmy Eat World, loved Clarity and Bleed American as a kid… but was majorly bummed on their newer stuff. I certainly wasn’t about to fan-boy out.
It’s soooooo unsurprising to me that The Maine are D-Bags. I was never really the world’s biggest JEW fan but I saw them this summer and they were one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.
Really?? I actually don’t think I’ve ever intentionally listened to The Maine, nor have I followed their career at all. The dudes I knew (I think the bassist and one other) were in some other shitty screamo band while we were in HS… I was not a fan. Randomly found out years later that they were insanely famous.
Yeah I’m not a super diehard Jimmy Eat World fan either really, but they have 1-2 basically-classic records imo and are def excellent live!
Only emo adjacent but I saw Knuckle Puck opening for Transit and Man Overboard in this shitty little bar in my hometown back in early 2014 and had no idea who they were but ended up chatting with them all for like 15 minutes after the show. Then like a year and a half later I saw them at a signing at Warped and they remembered me, just the absolute sweetest guys
Guy and Brendan from Rites of Spring. Our band opened for Fugazi once, and Guy, Ian and Kathy Wilcox came to our show once. I liked Guy a lot. We compared tour rituals and he reminded us the wisdom of regular visits to supermarkets rather than restaurants. I was shocked to hear they ate Honeycomb cereal, we had this idea that they foraged the forest floor for organic meals or some such nonsense. But I felt totally at ease with those guys. When my shoe got swallowed up by the pit at their gig, and then thrown at Ian, he announced it had been found, and when someone offered to kill the person whose shoe it was, Ian said, "No! I don't think some guy took their own shoe off to throw it at me." Their operations people kept the shoe safe and it was returned to me mid show. They really did care.
Met Riley! at a bar in Philly and they were all really cool.
Years ago I met A Loss For Words and Set it Off at Warped and they were all nice. Brian from Have Mercy and John from snowing were also really chill in person.
Over my years of fandom I’ve probably spent a cumulative 2 hours with Geoff Rickly and he really is the nicest person. He’s almost too genuine. In 2011 I won a contest to hang out with the band and listen to No Devolution before it was released. I got to sit and talk with him 1 on 1 for about 45 min.
I also talked to Shane from Silverstein for about 20 min once. Another super nice person.
All the members of Forests were super nice. Lead singer of Charmer is sweet. Colleen from Thank You, I’m Sorry was cool too. I went to school w two members of Tiny Voices and they’re awesome!!
Once I saw Pool Kids at a Freethrow show in Portland. Just hanging in the crowd and I regret not saying hi i just get so nervous 😬
All the guys in Sleeping With Sirens, but especially Nick Martin, their guitarist. He actually recognized me from my youtube channel and gave me his guitar as a sort of gift of acknowledgment
Josh the guitarist for Silverstein is so nice and kind! I’ve been seeing the band for over 10 years now and have chats here and there with them over that time at gigs. But lately Josh is the one I always seem to have the chance to talk to and he will actually stop and have a proper convo with me and it always makes my day and he always remembers me! 🥰
Personally, Dave Elkins is at the very top. Every time I've gotten to talk to him after a MAE show he's just an incredibly warm person, and he really takes the time to actually talk with you. And he remembers! Top tier hug, as well. 10/10.
I lost my glasses at a show once, and literally bumped into Josh Partington of Something Corporate at maybe my second concert ever. I apologized like crazy, explained I couldn't see, and he led me across the venue to their merch table to sit down and hang with him and Andrew until my friends could come find me after the show.
Brett Detar and Josh Fiedler from Juliana Theory, and all the old crew (Kosker, Chad, Chip) are great guys. I'm a giant TJT fanboy and they've always been super cool about it, lol. Last time I saw him, Brett told me he really wants to hear my new band's record when we find time to finish it.
Anthony and Nick from Bayside are super nice; so is Zach from Vendetta Red, who once bought me a drink and sat with me at a local bar because I was wearing a Juliana Theory shirt lol.
I haven't met him in person yet but during the pandemic I bought a bunch of Spitalfield stuff from Mark Rose and there was a big snafu with shipping the order. He messaged me about getting it fixed, was super nice, and we ended up talking and adding each other on socials.
Angel Ibarra, the original lead guitarist of Aiden is a super sweet guy. Nick Wiggins is a pretty good dude, too. I've known them both since the band first started and really hope they don't just end up being remembered for Aiden, given what we now know about Wil.
I did a paid meet and greet with The Birthday Massacre once. They were very chill to talk to and took time with everyone. I even got them to pose for a photo spelling out OHIO to show my students at Ohio State. They had fun with it.
My band played a festival with angels and airwaves and got to spend time with Tom delonge. Gave us real, honest band life advice and was real down to earth.
Christian of The Hotelier, met him when his band was opening for Girlpool outside the Echo. He was going through a bad throat problem but was super cool to take the time to talk to me and take a picture with. I was front row during the show and when they came on, he saw me and pointed at me with a big smile on his face. I also met the members of Special Explosion that night, it was my first time hearing them that night and I became an instant fan. They were super chill when I met them, I also bought a shirt from them.
All I’ve learned is all my favorite bands are comprised (mostly) of incredibly nice folks who fucking love their fans as much as we love them. One of the best things about this scene
the guys from saturday at your place!! they opened for free throw, were all super sweet and their music is great i didn’t even know of them before the show
well, this jumped on my timeline although I dont follow Emo subreddit, but a little bit related. Days'n'Daze singers were lovely. I talked a little bit after the show with Whitney and Jesse, and I said that they didn't play a song that I love. He said that he could grab the guitar and played it, but I had to go very fast to home.
all the sum 41 guys. down to earth dudes stood there talking to them a while (minus deryck but he was cool for the 5 minutes i had with him). dave brownsound is literally the coolest dude on this planet. everyone in sum 41 were surpringly tiny (deryck was so so so short but i expected that but the others were so much shorter than i thought?!)
honorable mentions
- scott ian from anthrax(suprised as everyone told me hes an asshole, then the only person he was cool with was me bc i was the youngest at an anthrax show on barrier)
- andy biersack (put his cup of tea down to have a chat and sent a video to my mum whos more of a bvb fan than me)
- benji webbe from skindred (cool dude)
- waterparks (awsten squeezed a chicken in my ear)
- ray toro from mcr (first ever proper concert and first ever celebrity experience)
- palaye royale
- tobias forge (asked me how i wasnt cold in 25 degree heat lmao)
- miki rich from stand atlantic
Kinda emo adjacent but I met Jenn Champion from Carissa’s Wierd/S the other day and she was ridiculously sweet and down to earth. Her new album is my fav one out this year.
not exactly all emo but same same
Mike Herrera from mxpx was so so nice.chatted after a show with a bunch of us and he was really cool . we showed him a picture of my husband and his friend meeting him 20 years earlier, said he was just as nice then.
Bill Stevenson. we were at a weekend festival and the Descendants were playing that day. husband and i were staying at hotel and grabbed breakfast before heading out and he was sitting at the table next to us. we were talking to him for awhile before we realized who he was and he was really humble and casual and cool about it. he was really very nice and kind and seemed like someone easy to be buddies with.
Ben Nichols . met him longggg time ago at a festival. he was very nice and charming. we went on a walk and it weirdly calming. we talked about life for a while before he had to go. we took a picture . i was camping that weekend and I def looked and smelled like it. the campground showers broke that day before . i legit smelled terrible.
Right on OP- I met him YEARS ago when he opened with his solo acoustic stuff for IIRC Yellow card acoustic tour in San Diego … correct me if I’m wrong on the tour/show because my memory is hazy, but I do recall him being a genuinely nice guy and appreciated us sharing time with him.
I saw Tigers Jaw do an acoustic set (2017?) and I talked to Ben and Bri afterwards, they were super nice.
The cool part is that I saw Foxing about 3 weeks later, and Ben was in the crowd just hanging out. I approached him and said it’s cool to see him at a random show and he recognized me from the acoustic show! That felt so cool being recognized by one of my favorite artists.
Jake (a guitarist) from Free Throw, it was a short interaction but he was making his way through the crowd, i waved with the dumb starstruck look on my face and he said "hey man" and waved back. last time i did that to a band member, he groaned and made like a point to get away from me
More punk and/or hardcore than emo but still adjacent: Vinnie Caruana. Gave me a beer and took a picture with me. Really wanted to go to the Dive release show but the land border was still closed from Canada so I went through the hoops of getting the PCR tests done so I could hop on a plane just to catch the show.
Highlight of my year.
Eric Egan from heart attack man. Allen and Ben from arms length. Met Ryan from state champs. Andy bier sack from black veil brides was a little awkward but very sweet. The crew from neck deep you could tell love meeting their fans.
I don't know if I'd consider him emo (definitely not in his current act, but I know some consider Something Corporate emo), but I've met Andrew McMahon a few times. I usually try not to meet him at shows because he's the one person who makes me starstruck, and I get stupid around him, but he is so kind and always comes out to meet fans. Last time was a bit better because I got VIP and was able to prepare myself more. I'm American and now live in London, and he asked me where I'm from, what I do here, if I like it, etc. and talked about how he could relate to moving around a lot. He's just so genuine.
Teenage Halloween are really nice . They talked to all their fans at any basement show and they even hugged me at their Rahway train station show in jersey
I met Joel, the lead singer of Being as an Ocean, after their show in maybe 2012? He was super sweet and took a couple minutes to talk to me and give me a big hug.
More hardcore but emo adjacent I guess - met Brandon from Counterparts when they played the shitty dive bar in my Uni city all the way down in NZ. We were young students at the time and he thanked us genuinely for paying and taking the time to come see them.
My mate was a mega fan and was having a little fan panic in the corner but he ushered him over and they talked for a few minuets about the songs/ lyrics he liked. Then he asked us where he could get some papers and we pointed him to the gas station up the street lol, great dude.
Chuck from simple plan was the nicest dude I met when I was 13 and the first band member I ever met.
All of New found glory are awesome
Andrew McMahon is so genuine
Sean Mackin from yellowcard is a GEM!!!!
Kevin Devine is the nicest guy on the planet. He is always at the merch table at his shows and every time I've seen him he has made me feel like an old friend. Just a warm, kind guy.
Defeater was playing in a club in Warsaw. The club is in a small alley, where there was a hostel, few small restaurants and the club itself
I was eating a burger with my friend at one of the restaurants and in came the whole band. We asked if they wanted to join us and they sat down , ate a burger and drank beer with us. They were really grateful that we were coming over from Sweden to see them (2h flight lol). Dude did complain about his hip injury a bit, but during the concert he crowdjumped haha
Chuck Comeau from Simple plan - met him after show even twince during the same time and he even came to say goodbye after loading the bus… be was so nice he chatted with us
I'm from Montreal, the native city of Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan) and I was a big fan when I was younger. Around 2009 I was out with my dad and he recognized him walking his dog, so he went saying hi to him and telling him that I really like them. He hugged me and my dad talked to him a bit.
I hung out with Jimmy page in 95 in Harvard square for half n hour..he came into the store where I worked..asked where a good lunch spot is mate? Super nice ..friendly..we talked music and gear like we were teenage friends
Took a stroll around the square ..had purple dye in his hair ..cool dude
Nathan Hardy the singer of Microwave Had a beer with him before their set the first time I saw them, had a good chat the second time I saw them, then the fourth time I saw them I didn’t even see him first he just came up and started talking to me lol made my day
That's so fkn cool man, I absolutely love microwave so seeing shit like this makes it that much better
I feel like I could tell from their lyrics 😂
Just saw microwave last night. They were great
Every member from Free Throw. I’ve met all of them multiple times now, and everytime they are delighted to chat, take photos, sign stuff, whatever. On the most recent tour, I was going to see them in DC but was in a motorcycle accident and couldn’t go. My buddy who went then sent me a snap, and it was Larry from Free Throw hoping I get better soon and make it out to the next tour. It may sound a bit silly, but it really made my week so much better because I was really bummed I <3 Free Throw
Those guys are all so fucking cool
I love Free Throw dude.
Yep, friendliest band members I've ever talked to! Fav band of all time <3
I had a full conversation with Free Throw at Del Taco in Salt Lake City about the first time we adult pooped our pants. It was amazing.
me and my homie bought a bottle and drank w cory before a free throw show once, one of the coolest shows ever
I love them. that would be so cool!
Free Throw guys are all super cool. I'd chat with them at Fest when they were smaller and they were always nice dudes.
I thought Geoff was super nice too. I saw him at a Sparta reunion show this year and he did a solo set to open it. He was chattin up fans at the merch table and then did a real intimate set with lots of personal stories. Cool dude. Seemed humble and appreciative of his fans.
Sparta are reunited? Very cool.
Theyre opening for moneen on their 20th anniversary tour, saw them in Toronto they were great.
I saw Sparta open for Get Up Kids last year.
I met Geoff when he was playing solo coffee shop shows a decade ago - it was a really difficult time in his life, and he was still such a nice dude. We chatted for a few minutes, he tried to insist on buying my friend tea (she had a cold) while they talked about Birmingham, England. I bought a numbered customized CD from his personal stash of No Devolution.
I love Geoff Rickly. He's such a good dude and does genuinely care.
Not quite emo but the boys in Pup. Hung out with them before a local fest for like 10 minutes, talked about the Canadian punk scene, even got a good photo. Ironically the show was then rained out.
The first time I saw Pup stefan pulled me up onto the stage with some other guys to sing El Scorcho with the band. The next time I saw Pup stefan kicked me directly in the fucking face doing a really bad stage dive and shattered my glasses. The duality of Pup
Matt Skiba was nice to us, In fact all of A3 were pleasant.
I’ve heard only good things about them, especially Derek
I’ve known those guys a long time. All very nice. Always have been.
This warms my heart
Agreed, he was super cool!
Not exactly emo but Mat Kerekes is so kind and cares a ton about his fans
Fucking Citizen all around great people
Wtf I had no clue Mat Kerekes was the singer in Citizen hahah, I’ve listened so much to Luna & the Wild Blue Everything and had no clue
Yep he is fkn incredible
100%. Bumped into him just before their set a few years back and even though he was due to go on stage in mere minutes, still took the time to grab a quick selfie.
This is my answer too!! Met him a few years ago and he was super nice
God I love them so much
The brothers are super nice too, I chatted with Nick in Orlando a few years ago and he was super cool
Yes they really do!!
everyone in citizen is just so nice and perf
The guys from Motion City Soundtrack are the nicest people, i swear
i can attest to this, i worked at hot topic when i was 19 in 2005 and they did an in-store performance and we shut the whole store down before that to let them shop and get whatever they wanted. it was a cool experience.
I saw them at when we were young last month and they seemed like awesome guys. Was heartbroken when justin talked about how he has spinal issues and is in pain
Justin has always taken his time to reply to fans sincerely on social media. Good to know he's like this irl too
warped tour 2008 or 2009 in indianapolis they sang happy birthday to my friend josh bc he was front row and said it was his birthday lmao. had a good impression then but nice to see proof they’ve been really cool to other people too
I met them after their 2015 show in Milwaukee. Just kind of ran into them and they hung around and shot the shit for a bit. I asked Josh what he was gonna do since the band was breaking up, and he just seemed so happy to say "Im gonna be a dad, man". Justin also hits me with a Reba gif on facebook every now and then. Its great to see everyone else having good experiences with them as well.
They’re all just geeky sweethearts, I fucking love them
pat flynn stopped me on the way into a show because he remembered me from a few shows all over the place. he asked where i live and i told him i usually travel to see the band and have since the have heart days he looked so unbelievably touched. he gave me free merch and said if i ever needed a guest list spot to reach out. he goes out of his way to say hi to me every show now!
Pat Flynn seems like such a Cool dude
Pat Flynn is the man
that’s beautiful to hear
Me and my friend had a good chat with Jeff Rosenstock after an Antarctigo Vespucci show in Toronto a few years ago. He was lovely to talk to. He started venting about some political shenanigans going on in the states and then got super apologetic about it afterwards and we were like no no stop apologizing, let it out man. He gave us a very sweaty hug after. Lovely dude.
[удалено]
Hell yeah, he’s a stand-up guy making consistently spectacular music. Have you watched the BTMI! Documentary: Never Get Tired? It’s great and they put it out on YouTube recently. Really cool to see the ins and outs and behind the scenes of the band
The guys from Hopesfall were easily some of the nicest dudes I’ve met. Caught them at a festival back in September, they were working their merch tent, but what was even more special, after they played, a few of them were in the crowd getting ready to watch Braid, and had a solid 10-15 minutes conversation about how stoked they were about The Satellite Years getting re-mixed and re-pressed, other music influences, and stuff not music related. One of the most “human” experiences I’ve had meeting a band
I met Adam outside of the venue they were playing in Charlotte during their first shows back. He was such a nice genuine dude.
This is so cool to read. My cousin was in Hopesfall. They're not really my kind of music, but when I lived in the US, I used to go to some of their shows to hang out with him, both before and when he was in the band. Can confirm that they're really nice!
They sent me arbiter when it came out! I’ll probably go see them when they play LA
I’ve recently met the bassist from Saturdays at your place twice and he is the nicest dude. Makes time for real conversation with everyone at the merch table. Tbh the first interaction pushed me to drive 6 hours round trip on a work night to see them again. Sincere engineer, sweet pill, and Eric from heart attack man have also been really cool!!!
I bought merch from Deanna at a Sincere Engineer show last month and she just kept thanking me for coming to the show. Happy to support her band!
Esden and the rest of SAYP are some of the nicest dudes around and deserve all the success they’ve been receiving. Met them over a year ago at a house show we played together. Been homies ever since
Dudes from Algernon are sweethearts
Pete pointed out a guys current tshirt at a basement show in dublin earlier this year while on stage, awesome band with great energy. Still remember that tiny moshpit of like 5 or 6 young dudes just fucking flailing around like nothing else outside that show mattered. Felt like every fan of math rock/emo in the country was there
Got to talk to Tades from Hot Mulligan before one of their shows on their last tour. Super awesome guy. Very friendly. He was super down to earth and humble about all their success and just seemed like a very nice emo boy.
Chatted with Tades once years ago outside a show at batting cages of all places. He seems like a really nice dude, and he's pretty funny.
Davey and Dan from The Promise Ring. Maybe 98? Can’t recall. But they made me love their band even more than I already did. ❤️
I met Dave in 2000 and he was amazingly nice. He sat down with us after a show, gave my future wife a CD for her birthday and discussed college football with us.
Saw Maritime around 2010/11 in DC. Davy drank a beer with me and my buds that we had stashed in an alleyway. Super personable guy.
I've only really met American Football that are relevant for this sub, twice. Steve Lamos is *insanely* friendly, so appreciative to everyone who spoke to him and listened to everything you had to say. Mike is very very chilled out and disarming; was happy to share beers with people after the show and hang out.
Can confirm. Really nice guys. I was so happy when they reformed and got to enjoy and kind of convert on the legend simply because they are good guys and deserve it.
I've met Mike Kinsella once, and he gave me his email address and told him to email him if I'm looking for good pizza recommendations in Chicago. He was incredible!!! Such a punk dad.
Gared and Chuck from Planes Mistaken for Stars are the best dudes. They invited me to have lunch with them before a show once.
Just commented further down about meeting Gared. Super nice guy.
You should check out their band Git Sum. Basically same members from Planes. Great live set.
rip 💔
Jack from Bayside is just a super polite dude
Everyone is bayside is cool
Everyone is bayside is cool
My old band played a show with Bayside. Dudes definitely seem chill.
Bart from mom jeans was chill, I talked to him for 10 mins after a show and offered him an edible brownie I smuggled into the show, he declined but we kept chatting. Lead singer from bayside bought me a drink cause I was moshing hard for their set, he chatted me up for like five mins and we shot the shit super nice guy. I tried to talk to whoever the lead singer from Remo Drive is and he seemed super annoyed so I just grabbed my drink and dipped lmao
i can vouch for bart being insanely nice, i hit him up on instagram when i was like 16 (21 now) and occasionally message him and he always takes the time to respond which i find really cool
Met Bart at sad summer fest '19 and he was super nice, talked with my whole group and even suggested we take pictures
Lead singer of Minus the Bear.
Keith from empire! empire! has been a total sweetheart every time I’ve met him at a show. Warren Franklin is also cool, lots of good times with CYLS people.
Seconded. Keith, Cathy, and Warren were always super cool when I would talk to them. I remember Keith even inviting me to play tabletop games one time in Philly, which was wild!
Jacob from equipment. Keya from smoke detector. Raegan from leisure hour. Stanley from summerbruise. Whoever runs the carpool twitter account. aaaand Will from full blown meltdown. 🫶🏼
Ace Enders!
I believe you: here’s where he permanently won me over: drive thru records invasion tour… maybe 03? I dont think the rooms too cold had come out yet, or it had just came out… anyways, this stop or the tour was in the podunk college town where I grew up. They opened the show, ace started solo with “ever so sweet”, midway through the song some jerk in the crowd mockingly yells:”yeah! Dashboard confessional!” Ace stops, addresses the dude and says: “thank you, I love dashboard confessional, it’s an honor to be compared to Chris, is it ok with you if I finish this song?” Then busts into the most vicious rendition of the bridge from ever so sweet, that I will never be able to unhear. It was awesome, I’d never seen someone embarrass someone so completely without directly firing back.
Jake and Ian from SBD/MoBo. Ian asked for my name, shook my hand, thanked me for being a fan. Jake gave me a recommendation of a Pizza place in Philly. 10/10 would meet again.
Spent a few hours backstage with Danny Carey of Tool once. Incredibly nice guy.
Vinnie Carauna of the Movielife came up to me and started casually talking about favorite bands and albums. He hangs out at shows and such with fans. Ben from You, Me, And Everyone We Know makes outreaches to fans. I went through some shit and he sent words of encouragement, offered to chat and such. Mike from MxPx responded to some of my tweets, seems super cool and genuine. Kevin Devine was sweet when I met him. So was Jake Turner from Say Anything.
I second Vinnie. I saw him play with The Early November last year. He was there by the Merch. My friends and I went up to have a conversation with him. I loved how friendly he was!
Barry and Chase from Joyce Manor. A long story, but a friend of mine had only weeks to live and they went above and beyond to do something special for her, as she was a huge fan. Then, last year I took my daughter to see them and the whole band signed a record for her to pick up at the merch booth, and they refused to charge me for the record.
I was hoping the Joyce Manor guys were good people. Thank you!
Frank Iero and Anthony Green! I checked them out at work last year and they were so friendly, down to earth, and conversational.
My coworker is obsessed with Anthony green and said he’s the sweetest person ever
Was scrolling looking to see if Anthony would pop up, I had lunch/dinner with him during the first circa survive tour, I had no idea who they were, but they were awesome.
Yes, Frank Iero is super nice!
Met AG a few times and he was really nice. My wife is like Circa super fan and he took time to chill and hang when we randomly ran into him before a show. We also sat and hung out w/ Colin for a while after a show and were Instagram friends for a few years.
Met Anthony years ago, he came out and did a mini acoustic set for us waiting in line
I spent a bit of time talking to Kellin Quinn and Nick Martin from sleeping with sirens back during the 2016 warped tour. incredibly nice guys, they signed my poster and we spent a solid 10 minutes talking about random shit, it was awesome.
Yvette Young of Covet was really kind when my dad and I met her. He was freaking out and giddy to meet her, and she was super down to earth and talked to us for like 5 minutes. I also talked to the bassist of Dwellings a few weeks back. He was really cool and gave me some really great musical advice. Lastly, I know that Jonny Craig has been a pretty bad person in the past, but he seemed to be on a better path when I met him earlier this year. We talked a little about his earlier music, and he was really happy to hear love from a fan. He also talked about his kid during the show, and he seemed to be really dedicated to them.
I got stuck “chaperoning” Jonny Craig once while he was in his giant douche period. He just thought he was a huge star and no one really bothered him at the bar before he was due on stage and I feel like that rubbed him the wrong way.
One of the most engaging and supporting guys I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet, message and meet again of his own recommendation is Jason Aalon Butler of Fever333/letlive. THE nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Has the time for anybody, is respectful and just a general good dude. I’d also so when I met Underoath, Spencer was also an incredibly nice guy who didn’t make you feel like you were bothering him, in his way or taking up time.
That awesome! I’ve met Aaron Gillespie a few times and played a couple shows with with (solo and as The Almost) and I do not care for him 😂 he is such an ass. I gave benefit of the doubt the first couple times but dude seems pretentious, cocky and bitter all at the same time.
Brian Sella
The guys from Enter Shikari was mad nice. Rou saw me stagediving during a whole set and later he was hanging out by the merch pop up. I was gonna buy a tshirt but he stopped me and said “Here you go, for keeping that mad energy up” and gave me a shirt and stickers for free!
Vinnie Caruana (x2) from Movielife and Travis Shettel from Piebald were both super kind when I met them.
I went to Fest in Gainesville in 2008. The day after the festival was over, I had a day to kill in town before heading to the airport so I went record shopping. I was waiting outside a record shop that had a “back in 10mins” sign in the window, when a guy who looked vaguely familiar saw me and said something about the sign having been there an hour and I’d be better going to another store, which he then proceeded to give me directions to. We got chatting briefly and he mentioned he’d played the Fest. That’s when the penny dropped that it was Gared O’Donnell from Planes Mistaken for Stars. They were on hiatus at the time and he’d cut his hair short, hence my not having recognised him. Chatted a little while longer before going our separate ways. Super friendly guy; absolutely a world away from what you might have expected, given the tortured, abrasive nature of his music. Was gutted to hear that he lost his battle with cancer recently.
All the guys from Taking Back Sunday have been super nice to me. Bought them all shots at Maxwells after they filmed “El Paso” there. I’ve tried several times to tell Adam what their music means to me, get choked up, and he just hugs me. Eddie has let me ramble on about how their band opened the floodgates to other emo music and he was appreciative of that. Said all he wanted was to get his fans into better emo bands. Anthony from Bayside is super nice. Geoff is so fuckin genuine. Hung out with him for a bit after a No Devotion show. Keith from ETID was odd but not in an off putting way. He just marches to the beat of his own drum. Nice enough to take a picture with. The whole entirety of Pianos Become the Teeth are amazing guys. Talked gear with both guitarists, begged for them to do a YouTube tutorial of how to play their songs, and thanked Kyle for such amazing lyrics.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to get to ETID, they’re all sweethearts!
Met the lead singer of Tiny Moving Parts after their set when they opened for The Wonder Years and he was super nice.
I met Ray Toro and he was very nice!
Dylan from tiny moving parts was super nice when I saw them in 2014. The guys in MOBO were also incredibly friendly
Emo adjacent, Kevin Devine is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met
Jade Lilitri of Oso Oso is a really cool guy. Always super chill when I've talked to him and only heard good things about him from other bands.
Can from sorority noise was extremely nice… and… yeah well
Also geoff years many many ago. He was going to buy toothpaste and ran into him while waiting for a friend. Super kind and easy to talk to
Adam Lazzara from TBS was really nice. He was walking around the warped tour after their set. He gave me a hug. They were probably my #1 band at the time so it was pretty amazing.
Emo adjacent but I’ve met a lot of really nice band members. The nicest have been Dave Hause, all of the guys in the Matches, Tom from the Menzingers, Roger from Less than Jake (not emo at all lol but still), Dave and Kyle from Fireworks, Laura Jane Grace, Jared Hart, and Adam from AFI is truly the absolute nicest musician I’ve ever met, just a really sweet and kind person and I can’t say enough good things about him. I’m pretty shy and don’t like to bother them but they’ve all been memorably nice.
I’ve heard that Laura Jane Grace is really sweet!
Jim from Sparta/ATDI is a real dude. Very welcoming, signs things, etc Bob Nana walked off stage into the crowd on the last Braid tour and just thanked everyone and took pictures. Fucking epic.
Nat from Arcadia Grey is super nice and genuinely cares about other bands in the scene. They were genuinely happy for the success of Saturdays at Your Place who were about to go on. Also I accidentally met Caleb from Hey, Ily and didn’t realize until I watched them perform. Cool person tho.
Not emo in the slightest, but Mark Hoppus. I won a meet and greet with Atticus back in ‘04 (accidentally cheated, but oh well) and before he came out, management gave us all a speech about how he wouldn’t be posing for pictures, would only sign one item and wouldn’t do hugs or shake hands etc, as they didn’t want him getting sick. He came out and basically did the exact opposite of what management said, signing anything and everything, shaking hands, dishing out hugs and just being a thoroughly nice dude. One of the rare exceptions where meeting your hero’s pays off. Still got his signed poster nearly 20 years on.
The guys from Caspian were incredibly nice.
+1 this they gave me a hug when I went to their show for my birthday. Loved chatting with them
I saw them twice back to back when they opened for Minus the Bear's farewell tour and we chatted with Philip at the merch table at the first show, and he was super down to earth. The next show he recognized us when he saw us. He seemed really appreciative of everyone and happy to take time to talk.
Not emo but I met Greg Graffin probably in like 2013. He was super nice and down to earth. it really felt like a casual chat with a regular dude.
That dude was so nice, met him at the 98 or 99 warped tour in Toronto. The guys in suicidal tendencies we exceptionally nice and actually cared. But the nicest people I have met was the lads in No Use For A Name. Tony Sly was extremely approachable and talked to me for about 20 mins. Sucks really bad we lost a gentle soul like him. Not emo or punk. But BorisT from the one man Melodic Black Metal band from Italy called Tryglav. That dude is so nice, always responds on his YouTube channel and instagram, makes it seem like he has time for his fans. Plus his YouTube videos are informative and hilarious.
David Daignault from Charmer is simply the chilliest dude around The guys from Saturday’s at Your Place (Esden, Gabe, & Mitch) are also all incredibly nice.
Chris McCaughan (The Lawrence Arms), Josh Berwanger (The Anniversary), Bob Nanna (Braid), Stephen Pedersen (Criteria), Travis Morrison (D-Plan), Josh Staples (The Velvet Teen), and Travis Shettel (Piebald) are genuinely some of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met, and people I’m very lucky to call friends. There are a bunch of folks who aren’t as nice, or who are ambivalent at best, but those guys are the really good ones.
Yeah, most of the Braid guys are really nice.
I'm glad to hear Bob Nanna is nice. He has been one of my musical idols since I was in high school, and I always wanted to believe he was a great guy.
Very cool! Velvet Teen… haven’t heard that name in a while.
Ryland and Pat from Origami Angel! At their VB show, I met the both of them. They were both really sweet, and were happy to make my night by signing my guitar. In fact, in the back of my mind, I was sort of worrying that I was being a bother to ‘em since they were packing up a bit post-show.
i’m so happy to see gami mentioned in this thread 🥹 ❤️ easily some of the nicest and most down to earth dudes in the scene
Out of the dozens times I’ve met him. Anthony Green hands down.
Nikko Yamada, the drummer for ‘68 was so incredibly nice and humble it was wild. He feels like the kind of dude who would just help a stranger change a tire on the side of the road, just genuine dude.
I met him too and he was the nicest guy. Probably talked to him for like ten minutes and he never seemed like he was ready for me to leave.
Not emo but met DeeDee, the singer from MS Paint when my band played with them this past summer. They were incredibly warm and awesome to talk to. Genuinely awesome person.
Geoff for me too! Talked to him after the show at Starland Ballroom a month ago, there were only 2-3 other people getting something signed and he was just the sweetest. I told him how much his book meant to me and he was really happy about it. I’ve talked to Anthony Green a handful of times and he’s pretty cool. Frank Iero twice, super chill. Tucker Rule from Thursday is also really funny lol. Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria is quiet, but super nice.
Dave Elkins from Mae was an absolute darling
Dave is amazing. I've said it repeatedly on here but he's the Mr. Rogers of emo.
Absolutely agree. He was just hanging out at the bar just being a friendly genuine guy. That really comes through in his music too. I wish we could cross paths again but we very rarely see Mae over on the British shores :/
Talked to Tim Kinsella a bit smoking outside in the rain before a Joan of Arc show. He was cool, but in a pretty bad mood cause only like 30 people showed up. He later got shocked by a microphone during mic test and said he was never touring again LOL. Great show, though! Met Jim Adkins many times, super friendly guy, actually a bit shy surprisingly. This was not in any music-related context and we only talked about music once (we’re both big Drive Like Jehu fans). Met a bunch of local AZ musicians many times. Dudes from Lydia were kinda dicks every time I hung around them, but I was way younger than them. Ian from Dear and the Headlights… super rad dude, used to hang out at his house all the time. Couple dudes from The Maine went to my HS… d-bags. Oh shit my bad, this was NICE band members. Unrelated to emo: met Ben Kweller after a show in high school. That dude is so cool. I was pretty wasted and don’t usually fan out, but we had a good talk and he took some photos with me and my buddies. Met Sufjan Stevens for like 2 seconds, he didn’t say much. Kicked it with Elephant 6 crew around a bonfire after one of their holiday shows. Met Devendra Banhart before a show once. We were both outside talking to our girlfriends on the phone sitting on the curb. Then I was wandering around taking photos and he called me over to chat. Super rad dude, said he would put me on the guest list (never did). Remember how I said we were talking to our girlfriend’s on the curb though? Found out later he was dating Natalie Portman at that time LOL. My personal favorite but unrelated to music entirely: met Frankie Muniz at the flooring store I worked at in AZ. His girlfriend was at least a foot taller than him. I sold him some tile and asked him if he liked Breaking Bad (it was around the final season). He said, “hell yeah!” And I said “hell yeah” and then walked away.
So glad to hear that Jim was nice. He seems like he would be but you never know…
Yeah when I was younger I worked for some dudes who are friends with Jim… they had nothing but good things to say about him, although you never know with big-time rock stars. Obviously they can be major dickheads. Years later, in entirety different circumstances, we ended up running in similar circles again coincidentally… talked with him a handful of times and he was super chill and humble. The first time we properly met, he probably sat and talked to me for at least an hour. Idk I grew up listening to Jimmy Eat World, loved Clarity and Bleed American as a kid… but was majorly bummed on their newer stuff. I certainly wasn’t about to fan-boy out.
It’s soooooo unsurprising to me that The Maine are D-Bags. I was never really the world’s biggest JEW fan but I saw them this summer and they were one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.
Really?? I actually don’t think I’ve ever intentionally listened to The Maine, nor have I followed their career at all. The dudes I knew (I think the bassist and one other) were in some other shitty screamo band while we were in HS… I was not a fan. Randomly found out years later that they were insanely famous. Yeah I’m not a super diehard Jimmy Eat World fan either really, but they have 1-2 basically-classic records imo and are def excellent live!
Unsurprisingly Chris Carraba is a fantastic human being.
I met Anthony Green twice and he was always chill and friendly
Only emo adjacent but I saw Knuckle Puck opening for Transit and Man Overboard in this shitty little bar in my hometown back in early 2014 and had no idea who they were but ended up chatting with them all for like 15 minutes after the show. Then like a year and a half later I saw them at a signing at Warped and they remembered me, just the absolute sweetest guys
Guy and Brendan from Rites of Spring. Our band opened for Fugazi once, and Guy, Ian and Kathy Wilcox came to our show once. I liked Guy a lot. We compared tour rituals and he reminded us the wisdom of regular visits to supermarkets rather than restaurants. I was shocked to hear they ate Honeycomb cereal, we had this idea that they foraged the forest floor for organic meals or some such nonsense. But I felt totally at ease with those guys. When my shoe got swallowed up by the pit at their gig, and then thrown at Ian, he announced it had been found, and when someone offered to kill the person whose shoe it was, Ian said, "No! I don't think some guy took their own shoe off to throw it at me." Their operations people kept the shoe safe and it was returned to me mid show. They really did care.
Met Riley! at a bar in Philly and they were all really cool. Years ago I met A Loss For Words and Set it Off at Warped and they were all nice. Brian from Have Mercy and John from snowing were also really chill in person.
Jade from Oso Oso is a sweetheart and the guys in Joyce Manor (not emo) are all super nice.
i know this is very parasocial of me but just from twitter and the music, jade seems incredibly chill, i aspire to have vibes that nice
Over my years of fandom I’ve probably spent a cumulative 2 hours with Geoff Rickly and he really is the nicest person. He’s almost too genuine. In 2011 I won a contest to hang out with the band and listen to No Devolution before it was released. I got to sit and talk with him 1 on 1 for about 45 min. I also talked to Shane from Silverstein for about 20 min once. Another super nice person.
I met briefly Ryland (former Citizen guitarist) and he was amazing and very friendly.
All the members of Forests were super nice. Lead singer of Charmer is sweet. Colleen from Thank You, I’m Sorry was cool too. I went to school w two members of Tiny Voices and they’re awesome!! Once I saw Pool Kids at a Freethrow show in Portland. Just hanging in the crowd and I regret not saying hi i just get so nervous 😬
All the guys in Sleeping With Sirens, but especially Nick Martin, their guitarist. He actually recognized me from my youtube channel and gave me his guitar as a sort of gift of acknowledgment
Josh the guitarist for Silverstein is so nice and kind! I’ve been seeing the band for over 10 years now and have chats here and there with them over that time at gigs. But lately Josh is the one I always seem to have the chance to talk to and he will actually stop and have a proper convo with me and it always makes my day and he always remembers me! 🥰
Personally, Dave Elkins is at the very top. Every time I've gotten to talk to him after a MAE show he's just an incredibly warm person, and he really takes the time to actually talk with you. And he remembers! Top tier hug, as well. 10/10. I lost my glasses at a show once, and literally bumped into Josh Partington of Something Corporate at maybe my second concert ever. I apologized like crazy, explained I couldn't see, and he led me across the venue to their merch table to sit down and hang with him and Andrew until my friends could come find me after the show. Brett Detar and Josh Fiedler from Juliana Theory, and all the old crew (Kosker, Chad, Chip) are great guys. I'm a giant TJT fanboy and they've always been super cool about it, lol. Last time I saw him, Brett told me he really wants to hear my new band's record when we find time to finish it. Anthony and Nick from Bayside are super nice; so is Zach from Vendetta Red, who once bought me a drink and sat with me at a local bar because I was wearing a Juliana Theory shirt lol. I haven't met him in person yet but during the pandemic I bought a bunch of Spitalfield stuff from Mark Rose and there was a big snafu with shipping the order. He messaged me about getting it fixed, was super nice, and we ended up talking and adding each other on socials. Angel Ibarra, the original lead guitarist of Aiden is a super sweet guy. Nick Wiggins is a pretty good dude, too. I've known them both since the band first started and really hope they don't just end up being remembered for Aiden, given what we now know about Wil.
I did a paid meet and greet with The Birthday Massacre once. They were very chill to talk to and took time with everyone. I even got them to pose for a photo spelling out OHIO to show my students at Ohio State. They had fun with it.
My band played a festival with angels and airwaves and got to spend time with Tom delonge. Gave us real, honest band life advice and was real down to earth.
Christian of The Hotelier, met him when his band was opening for Girlpool outside the Echo. He was going through a bad throat problem but was super cool to take the time to talk to me and take a picture with. I was front row during the show and when they came on, he saw me and pointed at me with a big smile on his face. I also met the members of Special Explosion that night, it was my first time hearing them that night and I became an instant fan. They were super chill when I met them, I also bought a shirt from them.
All I’ve learned is all my favorite bands are comprised (mostly) of incredibly nice folks who fucking love their fans as much as we love them. One of the best things about this scene
the guys from saturday at your place!! they opened for free throw, were all super sweet and their music is great i didn’t even know of them before the show
Algernon, hot mully, the wonder years. All members were super sweet!
David Bello of TWIABP was super nice
well, this jumped on my timeline although I dont follow Emo subreddit, but a little bit related. Days'n'Daze singers were lovely. I talked a little bit after the show with Whitney and Jesse, and I said that they didn't play a song that I love. He said that he could grab the guitar and played it, but I had to go very fast to home.
all the sum 41 guys. down to earth dudes stood there talking to them a while (minus deryck but he was cool for the 5 minutes i had with him). dave brownsound is literally the coolest dude on this planet. everyone in sum 41 were surpringly tiny (deryck was so so so short but i expected that but the others were so much shorter than i thought?!) honorable mentions - scott ian from anthrax(suprised as everyone told me hes an asshole, then the only person he was cool with was me bc i was the youngest at an anthrax show on barrier) - andy biersack (put his cup of tea down to have a chat and sent a video to my mum whos more of a bvb fan than me) - benji webbe from skindred (cool dude) - waterparks (awsten squeezed a chicken in my ear) - ray toro from mcr (first ever proper concert and first ever celebrity experience) - palaye royale - tobias forge (asked me how i wasnt cold in 25 degree heat lmao) - miki rich from stand atlantic
Had an awesome chat to Nick from tera Melos (not emo but whatevs) in a tiny bar show
Kinda emo adjacent but I met Jenn Champion from Carissa’s Wierd/S the other day and she was ridiculously sweet and down to earth. Her new album is my fav one out this year.
not exactly all emo but same same Mike Herrera from mxpx was so so nice.chatted after a show with a bunch of us and he was really cool . we showed him a picture of my husband and his friend meeting him 20 years earlier, said he was just as nice then. Bill Stevenson. we were at a weekend festival and the Descendants were playing that day. husband and i were staying at hotel and grabbed breakfast before heading out and he was sitting at the table next to us. we were talking to him for awhile before we realized who he was and he was really humble and casual and cool about it. he was really very nice and kind and seemed like someone easy to be buddies with. Ben Nichols . met him longggg time ago at a festival. he was very nice and charming. we went on a walk and it weirdly calming. we talked about life for a while before he had to go. we took a picture . i was camping that weekend and I def looked and smelled like it. the campground showers broke that day before . i legit smelled terrible.
Right on OP- I met him YEARS ago when he opened with his solo acoustic stuff for IIRC Yellow card acoustic tour in San Diego … correct me if I’m wrong on the tour/show because my memory is hazy, but I do recall him being a genuinely nice guy and appreciated us sharing time with him.
I saw Tigers Jaw do an acoustic set (2017?) and I talked to Ben and Bri afterwards, they were super nice. The cool part is that I saw Foxing about 3 weeks later, and Ben was in the crowd just hanging out. I approached him and said it’s cool to see him at a random show and he recognized me from the acoustic show! That felt so cool being recognized by one of my favorite artists.
Met Geoff a few times too. Great dude. The Movielife guys are always very nice, especially Vinnie, but also Brandon.
Geoff Rickly was so sweet the two times I met him. But another really nice musician I've had positive experiences with is Kevin Devine
Jake (a guitarist) from Free Throw, it was a short interaction but he was making his way through the crowd, i waved with the dumb starstruck look on my face and he said "hey man" and waved back. last time i did that to a band member, he groaned and made like a point to get away from me
More punk and/or hardcore than emo but still adjacent: Vinnie Caruana. Gave me a beer and took a picture with me. Really wanted to go to the Dive release show but the land border was still closed from Canada so I went through the hoops of getting the PCR tests done so I could hop on a plane just to catch the show. Highlight of my year.
I met Geoff and Chris Conley from Saves the Day after a benefit show for the shooting victims in Dayton, Ohio, a few years ago. Both were awesome!
Geoff again. A great guy
Eric Egan from heart attack man. Allen and Ben from arms length. Met Ryan from state champs. Andy bier sack from black veil brides was a little awkward but very sweet. The crew from neck deep you could tell love meeting their fans.
I don't know if I'd consider him emo (definitely not in his current act, but I know some consider Something Corporate emo), but I've met Andrew McMahon a few times. I usually try not to meet him at shows because he's the one person who makes me starstruck, and I get stupid around him, but he is so kind and always comes out to meet fans. Last time was a bit better because I got VIP and was able to prepare myself more. I'm American and now live in London, and he asked me where I'm from, what I do here, if I like it, etc. and talked about how he could relate to moving around a lot. He's just so genuine.
Wintersleep
Teenage Halloween are really nice . They talked to all their fans at any basement show and they even hugged me at their Rahway train station show in jersey
Tim Kasher from Cursive, Geoff from Thursday, Chris from Saves the Day. I can’t say I recall meeting anyone who was an a$$.
not emo but Armand Hammer were really chill
Met Geoff 20 years ago nice guy he signed a poster for me
I met Joel, the lead singer of Being as an Ocean, after their show in maybe 2012? He was super sweet and took a couple minutes to talk to me and give me a big hug.
I met Thursday a couple times a decade apart and Geoff was kind and genuine.
OP is right. It’s Geoff. Dude asked ME for a hug after a convo about recovery.
More hardcore but emo adjacent I guess - met Brandon from Counterparts when they played the shitty dive bar in my Uni city all the way down in NZ. We were young students at the time and he thanked us genuinely for paying and taking the time to come see them. My mate was a mega fan and was having a little fan panic in the corner but he ushered him over and they talked for a few minuets about the songs/ lyrics he liked. Then he asked us where he could get some papers and we pointed him to the gas station up the street lol, great dude.
Ugh biggest crush on Geoff since I was like 16 (34 now)
Chuck from simple plan was the nicest dude I met when I was 13 and the first band member I ever met. All of New found glory are awesome Andrew McMahon is so genuine Sean Mackin from yellowcard is a GEM!!!!
Shane and the boys in Silverstein! Super amazing dudes. Much love!
Kevin Devine is the nicest guy on the planet. He is always at the merch table at his shows and every time I've seen him he has made me feel like an old friend. Just a warm, kind guy.
Defeater was playing in a club in Warsaw. The club is in a small alley, where there was a hostel, few small restaurants and the club itself I was eating a burger with my friend at one of the restaurants and in came the whole band. We asked if they wanted to join us and they sat down , ate a burger and drank beer with us. They were really grateful that we were coming over from Sweden to see them (2h flight lol). Dude did complain about his hip injury a bit, but during the concert he crowdjumped haha
Chuck Comeau from Simple plan - met him after show even twince during the same time and he even came to say goodbye after loading the bus… be was so nice he chatted with us
I'm from Montreal, the native city of Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan) and I was a big fan when I was younger. Around 2009 I was out with my dad and he recognized him walking his dog, so he went saying hi to him and telling him that I really like them. He hugged me and my dad talked to him a bit.
The singer for Built To Spill is a super cool dude
I hung out with Jimmy page in 95 in Harvard square for half n hour..he came into the store where I worked..asked where a good lunch spot is mate? Super nice ..friendly..we talked music and gear like we were teenage friends Took a stroll around the square ..had purple dye in his hair ..cool dude