Archive for screamo

Phoenix’s Midvale Park to Scream Their Way Through Boise for the First Time Tonight at Realms Arcade

Posted in Concert Previews, Interviews with tags , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Well, thanks, eardrums. It’s been real. Unfortunately we’re going to have to part ways at this point, as there’s a certain band from Phoenix playing Realms Arcade in Boise tonight, and they’re gonna rip you out of the ear holes of all in attendance. Why, you ask? Well, let’s let vocalist Alex explain …

Congrats on the release of your Pursuing One’s True Identity EP. How long was it in the making?

The EP was in the making since around February after we got off our first run of out-of-state shows. We took “Frail” and put it on the EP with the other four songs we made.

Did the EP turn out as you envisioned, or did it evolve in unexpected ways?

Not really. We wanted to make an album, but we slacked too long on making more songs, so it turned into an EP of the collection of songs we had made in those six months (plus “Frail”).

It seems to me that the EP really speaks to the pain that people – young people in particular, I imagine – are facing in this day and age, given that the world is so fucking hostile and cruel. “Frail” seems especially powerful because, at least in my interpretation, you’re empathizing with people who feel hopeless yet swaying them away from suicidal ideation. Is that at least somewhat accurate?

The EP name came from my issue with knowing who I am as a person, but the songs are were really just my emotions at the time – besides Frail. “Frail” is actually speaking about those who hold higher status than others and how they abuse it, the end is just saying how much I hate it.

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Pet Sounds #80: ‘Dogs Are Like Tattoos … You Get One and You’re Hooked,’ Saetia’s Tom Schlatter Says

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , on 02/10/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the 80th installment of The Bad Penny‘s Pet Sounds series. We have a very special one for you today, because the pet owner who graciously participated has had such an immense impact on hardcore punk and screamo, the genres might have gone in different directions were it not for him.

The gent in question is one Tom Schlatter, a major character in the proverbial book of hardcore music. Since 1997, he has served as a member of, or otherwise collaborated with, 16 bands as a guitarist, bassist and drummer. His loyalty and integrity were tested when one of those bands, Saetia — which formed in broke up in October 1999 two and a half years after they formed.

Lucky for Schlatter — and the screamo community, Saetia reassembled in 2022 and, last year, released its first song in 26 years, much to the delight of punk-rockers listeners (especially those who were sold on the band in the first place, a quarter-century prior). Two more songs followed, and an EP should be on the way.

So, how did he handle all that turbulence, not to mention the pivotal roles he played in a plethora of other acts? Well, with pets, of course; they make everything better. Schlatter has more than most — two cats and two dogs — but, as he told The Bad Penny, he wouldn’t want it any other way. He explained why (and divulged a whole lot more) in an email we received on Friday.

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Osie
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