Members
Former members
Former touring members
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Timeline
The Brave Little Abacus | |
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| Origin | Sandown, New Hampshire |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2007–2012 |
| Labels | Quote Unquote |
| Spinoffs |
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| Past members |
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The Brave Little Abacus (or simply Brave Little Abacus) was an American emo band formed in Sandown, New Hampshire, in 2007. The band consisted of vocalist, guitarist, and drummer Adam Demirjian, bassist Andrew Ryan, and keyboardist Zach Kelly-Onett. They were joined by Nick Morrone on drums in 2011.
The Brave Little Abacus first released a demo in 2008 titled Demo?. [1] That same year, they released a split titled S/T with fellow New Hampshire musician Matt Aspinwall. [2] In August 2009, the band self-released their first album, titled Masked Dancers: Concern In So Many Things You Forget Where You Are (often shortened to Masked Dancers.) [3] In May 2010, the band self-released their second and final album, titled Just Got Back From the Discomfort—We're Alright . [4] [5] The album was listed at number 27 on Spin magazine's list of the "30 Best Emo Revival Albums, Ranked". [6] The Brave Little Abacus's final release, an EP titled Okumay, was released in 2012 on Quote Unquote Records, featuring a cover of the song Introducing Morrissey by The Ergs. [7] They played their last show at the Vic Geary Center in Plaistow, New Hampshire, on January 28, 2012.
Demirjian and Morrone are currently members of Boston-based power pop band, Me in Capris, and Kelly-Onett has pursued a solo career as a modern classical musician. Demirjian is the drummer for Boston-based power pop band Lilith. [8] In recent years, many publications and musicians have cited the Brave Little Abacus as an under-appreciated band. [9]
Former members
Former touring members
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Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Screamo is an subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego–based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, formed in 2000. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Steineckert, and Justin Shekoski.
Planes Mistaken for Stars was an American rock band. The group was founded in Peoria, Illinois in 1997 and later relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1999. Working with several different labels, they released three studio albums and four EPs before breaking up in 2008. While rooted in the post-hardcore and emo scenes of the turn of the century, Planes Mistaken for Stars developed a distinctive musical style strongly influenced by heavy metal and rock and roll. Reuniting for live performances in 2010, they went on to release their fourth album Prey in 2016.
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is the third studio album by American rock band Brand New. It was recorded from 2005 to 2006 in studios in Long Island and Massachusetts with producer Mike Sapone, and released on November 21, 2006 through Interscope Records, making it their major label debut. The album arose following the online leaking of several unfinished demos that were meant to be early blueprints of the upcoming record.
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The emo revival, or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and flourished until the mid-to-late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third-wave emo, with Pennsylvania-based groups such as Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing eschewing that era's mainstream sensibilities in favor of influence from 1990s Midwest emo. Acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater drew from 1990s emo and especially its heavier counterparts, such as screamo and post-hardcore.
Algernon Cadwallader is an American Midwest emo and math rock band from Yardley, Pennsylvania. They were originally active from 2005 to 2012. In 2022, the band regrouped and began touring again. Stereogum referred to the band as the "heroes of the emo revival".
The Hotelier is an American indie rock band from Worcester, Massachusetts, currently signed with Dreams of Field Recordings. The band's second album, Home, Like Noplace Is There, has been featured on Spin's "The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s" list and is considered an "essential emo album" by AltPress. The group has performed at the Pirate Satellite Festival, the Pitchfork Music Festival, and the Primavera Sound festival.
Home, Like Noplace Is There is the second studio album by American rock band The Hotelier. Released in 2014, the album received widespread critical acclaim and became recognized as one of the best emo revival albums of all time.
Merchant Ships was an American midwest emo and Screamo band from South Bend, Indiana.
Midwest emo refers to the emo scene and/or subgenre that developed in the 1990s Midwestern United States. Employing unconventional vocal stylings, distinct guitar riffs and arpeggiated melodies, Midwest emo bands shifted away from the genre's hardcore punk roots and drew on indie rock and math rock approaches. According to the author and critic Andy Greenwald, "this was the period when emo earned many, if not all, of the stereotypes that have lasted to this day: boy-driven, glasses-wearing, overly sensitive, overly brainy, chiming-guitar-driven college music." Midwest emo is sometimes used interchangeably with second-wave emo. Although implied by the name, Midwest emo does not solely refer to bands and artists from the Midwestern United States, and the style is played by outfits across the United States and internationally.
Brave Bird was an American emo band from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Daddy's Hands was a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, by singer/guitarist Dave Wenger, bassist Emily Bauslaugh, drummer Jonah Fortune, and saxophonist Jonathan Pollard. Wenger and Bauslaugh had been involved in the British Columbian hardcore/emo scene before forming the band, being in bands M Blanket and Ache Hour Credo, and the band Floragore respectively. Daddy's Hands has released two demo tapes, one EP and two full-length albums. The band gigged extensively in the 90s, even playing a radio show with Nardwuar. Despite achieving little commercial success, the band has been referred to as highly influential in the West Coast music scene. Lead singer Wenger, highly regarded by some critics, has been referred to as Montreal's Peter Laughner.
Remo Drive is an American rock band from Bloomington, Minnesota. They are currently signed to Epitaph Records. They released their first full length album titled Greatest Hits on March 16, 2017. Their second studio album Natural, Everyday Degradation was released on May 31, 2019. Their third, A Portrait of an Ugly Man, was released on June 26, 2020. Their fourth, Mercy, was released on February 23, 2024.
Mom Jeans is an American alternative rock/indie rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 2014.
Push Over is an American post-hardcore musical duo composed of American musicians Thomas Erak, of Prog Rock band The Fall of Troy, and Kurt Travis, of rock band Royal Coda. Formed in 2017, the band released one demo extended play in February 2017 and were originally set to release their debut studio album in 2021, yet was postponed indefinitely. The duo are currently on hiatus and pursuing their respective endeavors.
Really From was an American band from Boston, Massachusetts, originally known as People Like You. Their final album, Really From, was released in March 2021. Their sound has been described as mixing indie pop, jazz, emo, and math rock. They referred to their own sound as "indie jazz".
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