From CBGB to the LIE.
Just when you thought it was “so last summer,” the iconic punk rock/emo and hardcore scene is still moshing hard on Long Island.
The Big Apple’s far east neighbor is home to massive bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Movielife and Brand New — which is touring this summer for the first time since 2017 — and promoters said there are no signs that the beloved angsty genre is slowing down.
“Out-of-state bands specifically ask to play Long Island,” Lina Mavruk, 24, a promoter for the Bored Friends Presents booking company and resident of Lawrence, told The Post. “If the dates don’t work, I’ll offer them a spot on a Brooklyn show, but they’ll say they’d rather play a Long Island hardcore show.”
One of the bands living the pop/punk and emo dream is WAIVER., which formed in 2021, with its melancholy and introspective lyrics captivating the crowd.
The band – singer Nick Valero, drummer Dan Avellino, bassist Dave Carroll and Joey Valero, and Stin Barrow on guitars – have spent the last few months juggling recording new material with their day jobs and often mingle with their dedicated fans after their sets.
The Valero brothers are Local 3 Electricians from Bethpage, while Avelino is a teacher, Barrow repairs guitars, and Carroll studies music at SUNY Purchase. The latter three hail from Massapequa.
“Nick would teach the audience the lyrics, and everyone would climb on top of each other singing just the one song,” said Carroll, 20, of Massapequa. “On Long Island, people keep coming back having learned more of our songs.”
After then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s sweeping nightlife restrictions in the 1990s, the hardcore scene moved to the New Jersey and Long Island suburbs, where shows were initially held everywhere from dive bars to VFW halls.
Today, Amityville Music Hall (AMH) is the center of Long Island’s hardcore universe and will host roughly 250 events in 2025.
Miles to Go (MTG), Golden Hour Bookings, and Bored Friends are the biggest hardcore, pop/punk, and emo bookers on Long Island, running multiple shows nightly.
Ronkonkoma native John Scanlon, 33, has been booking shows since 2012 and said he booked 143 shows as the Calendar Manager at AMH and another 165 shows through MTG in 2024.
“Many factors can indicate how future shows will do,” Scanlon said. “Sometimes a band has a new singer since you last booked them, or no one likes their new record, so no one wants to go to the show this time.”
And the business has been good for Lindenhurst native Steve Levy, who’s photographed about 70 punk rock shows annually since 2021.
“I’ve gotten kicks to the face, and the flash broken off my camera,” said Levy, 30. “I don’t mind that at all.”
Taking photos sometimes gets Levy into shows for free; other times, bands hire him to take portraits or at gigs, but he doesn’t let money get in the way of his place on the scene.
“I value shows, music, and photos, but I more appreciate being in the community and giving something back,” said Levy.
Hardcore punk band Pain of Truth has blown up, performing throughout North America and touring Australia, Colombia, Japan and the UK since their first show in October 2021.
“Long Island hardcore has always been sought after across the world,” says band guitarist Nik Hansen, 28, of Babylon. “It has its own style.”
Hardcore, emo, and pop/punk trace their roots to the West Coast, Washington, DC, and New York City punk-rock scenes of the 1980s.
Chris Payne dedicated a chapter of his book “Where Are Your Boys Tonight? The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008” to Long Island’s influence on the national scene. He said the genres have unique personalities.
“Hardcore is punk rock with heavier elements, like screaming and big breakdowns that get everyone moshing,” Payne said. “Emo is a more vulnerable, melodic subgenre that spun out of hardcore in the mid-1980s and during emo’s 2000s commercial heyday, it had a good deal in common with pop-punk as a catchier, more accessible, less intimidating punk rock.”
For many, their place on Long Island’s scene is longstanding.
Nick Lopardo, a 37-year-old married father of two, has played in local bands since 2006 and now performs solo as “Minimum Champion.”
“Long Island people tend to stay on Long Island,” said Lopardo. “You either do sports or try playing in a band.”
Lopardo has opened for noteworthy hardcore bands such as Agnostic Front, Mad Ball, and Sick of It All, but doesn’t make money doing what he loves. He works as a home heating technician six days a week to fund his recordings and family life.
“I’m not necessarily doing this to get a record deal,” Lopardo said, “but for people to hear my music.”
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