Photos by Ian Bell.

It’s possible that you’re under the impression that in 2017, emo culture is nowhere to be seen. If that’s the case, you couldn’t be more wrong. One of many things you could do to see emo in all its glory is go to an Emo Nite event. Lose your voice singing along to the likes of Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy – Emo Nite is the party which brings together all your favourite emo anthems, DJed by a variety of artists from the scene. Although a monthly event in L.A., it is also brought on the road – recently brought to New York’s Webster Hall for a night of pure nostalgia. The next day, founders Babs Szabo, Morgan Freed and T.J. Petracca sat down with us to talk about how the event came together and the challenges they have faced.

It all started when Petracca and Szabo met at a mutual friend’s birthday party when the pair did karaoke to Dashboard Confessional. They realised that they would like to have a place where they could go, hang out and listen to that kind of music (just minus the karaoke). Then, when the two were working together in a social media company, Freed was working in the same offices and the three started their journey together. Around two and a half years later, the event has grown into a massive community.

There was never a point where I thought that we would ever be doing a massive Emo Nite at Webster Hall,” says Petracca. “We did this at a little dive bar, walking distance from my house because we wanted to hang out, we thought it would be fun - to just drink beer with our friends and listen to this music. We made a Facebook event that we were personally hosts of and invited our friends, it just kind of snowballed.”

One of the things Emo Nite is known for is the vast array of big-name guest DJs and live performances “Our second one we had Buddy from Senses Fail,” says Petracca. “And then the third one we had Mark Hoppus. I think a lot of it had to do with living in L.A, working in the music industry, but also just the passion and the dedication that we put behind our events to try make it as fun and cool as possible. We never started it to make money or anything, we started it because we love it and we still do it because we love it. I think artists can see that, so I think that attracts them to be a part of it.”

Szabo explains how “At the beginning we would reach out to the people we wanted to come. Like initially who we listened to when we were growing up, who are our heroes, reach for the stars – some artists take like two years to book and for it to come together, some happen overnight. But now, I think especially our L.A. show, we invite people who are a part of this community. They can be like actors DJiing because they grew up listening to this music and they are inspired by emo and pop-punk. We just had the cast of Thirteen Reasons Why play in L.A. because Miles [Heizer], who plays Alex, grew up listening to this and comes to Emo Nite all the time.”

Normally, the DJs remain a secret until it happens “It’s a rare thing that we announce who is going to be at the events,” says Petracca. “We announce the live bands, but not the DJs. Early on we made the mistake of Mark Hoppus announcing it and then people turning up, like Blink fans came out expecting a Blink show, and stood there with their arms crossed and didn’t really understand what the night was about. That was a wakeup call for us, I’m glad we caught it early on – we wanted to make sure that people who were coming out were coming out for the community and for the party, not the show.”

Moreover, they also don’t normally sell tickets ahead of time. It’s first-come, first-served. Aside from 100 skip-the-line tickets that they sell at their Brick & Mortar retail store, it’s just a case of queuing on the day – with the first 100 people getting in free and then $10 after that. Szabo explains that the queue has become part-and-parcel of the event: “It’s almost like the line itself is its own community at this point. There are people who have formed just the strongest friendships that I’ve ever seen, waiting in line. People get in line at 3 PM, doors don’t open until 8.30. They just hang out, they bring lawn chairs, they bring boom boxes, listen to music and get to know each other – I feel like it’s almost as much a part of it as Emo Nite itself.”

Part of this, Freed explains, is also a way of making sure the party starts from the moment the doors open. “We open the doors at 9 and the room is full at 9.30.”

New York’s date included sets from Craig Owens and Matt Good, among many others. Before Captain Cuts (who know the event very well) take to the stage Machine Gun Kelly does his set. Just a few days later he performed to 37,000 people at Caroline Rebellion festival. The intimacy of Emo Nite allows fans to be on the stage with these artists. One remarkable thing is that none of these artists, who have incredibly passionate fans, are being ‘bothered’ so to speak. Everyone is just doing their thing, if anything people are most excited by the music (the opening chords to every single song sees the crowd celebrating, no matter what song it is).

The group talk about how they’ve never really had any problems with anyone overstepping the line with the artists. “That’s one of the best parts of Emo Nite,” says Freed. “How cool everyone is. We trust them, because they trust us to put on a good show. I think that’s why it’s been working.”

Szabo explains that it’s an amicable atmosphere, where everyone just acts like friends. “It’s like if Craig from Chiodos is DJing you just go up like you guys are already friends, it’s not weird like, “hey, can we step aside and take a photo’.”

Speaking of this set up, it’s pretty much one-of-a kind. The easiest thing to try compare it to would be boiler-room-esque, but even that doesn’t really do it justice. This is something that the crew mention as one of the biggest challenges. “A lot of the venues don’t understand what we’re doing,” Petracca explains. “Nothing really exists like it, so it’s hard to explain what it is. It’s a constant battle, every minute of it – booking the show, setting up where the DJ goes, being like ‘don’t put monitors at the front of the stage because they’re going to get wrecked,’ no barricades, it’s just a constant battle because no one can really wrap their head around it.”

The other challenging thing is we have our day jobs,” says Freed. “We own a creative agency as well so just keeping both things in order, and also trying to have a life is pretty hard.” They all settle on the fact that one of the most difficult aspect of what they do is trying to have a personal life.

It’s a lot of work, but once they’re at the events, it all proves that it’s worth it. “We love it so much,” Szabo points out. “I mean last night was so fucking cool, so it’s hard to say that we’re so exhausted that we’ve reached the end.” They talk about how seeing both fans and artists alike having fun, enjoying their night makes it worth it, even bringing a tear to their eyes at times. Once Captain Cuts take to the stage, that’s their time to have a bit of time to enjoy themselves. “It’s my favourite part,” Szabo says. “I have a blast. We don’t have anything left to do, they’ve done it so many times they know exactly what to do and those mixes are so good - it’s my favourite part.”

The three of them are clearly responsible and business minded, whilst also knowing how to enjoy themselves once they’re happy that everything is finished.

Emo Nite gives an alternative to the average night out – a night filled with songs that you might have forgotten about, but soon realise you still know Every. Single. Word. Coming up to their three-year anniversary, which they aim to celebrate with an event bigger than anything they’ve done before and with their merch set to be launched in Urban Outfitters in June, EmoNite has really become its own institution – bringing together music, nightlife, fashion and friendship.