A veteran New York punk outfit with a strong melodic emo sound, Bayside rose to mainstream success in the mid-2000s with a series of records for the Victory label. After enduring a tragic 2005 van accident, the group rallied to release 2007’s The Walking Wounded, kicking off a streak of increasingly successful albums including 2011’s Killing Time and 2014’s Cult, which, at number 24 on the Billboard 200, marked their highest chart performance to date. Along the way, the Queens-based combo expanded their sound with several acoustic releases, a live album, and a set of eclectic covers. After releasing 2019’s Interrobang LP, Bayside capped off two decades together with 2020’s Acoustic, Vol. 3.

Singer/guitarist Anthony Raneri formed Bayside in late 2000, taking the band’s name from their local neighborhood in Queens. Raneri , bassist Andrew Elderbaum, and drummer Jason Enz recorded the band’s 2001 debut EP, Long Stories Short, and began to build up their fan base through heavy touring and festival appearances. After a 2003 split EP with West Coast band Name Taken , Bayside signed with Victory Records , which issued their full-length debut, Sirens and Condolences, in January 2004. For their follow-up album, the group defied convention and, instead of using any of their own genre’s go-to producers, hired Shep Goodman and Kenny Gioia, a team whose credits included Lee Ann Womack and Mandy Moore . Their gamble paid off when 2005’s self-titled Bayside album cracked the Billboard 200 and helped usher them into the mainstream. On October 31 of that year, after a tour stop in Colorado, Bayside’s van skidded off an icy patch of road in Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing then drummer John Holohan and seriously injuring bassist Nick Ghanbarian. Raneri and lead guitarist Jack O’Shea were shaken but received only minor injuries.

After the tragedy, Bayside moved on to enlist drummer Chris Guglielmo for their third album, 2007’s aptly titled The Walking Wounded. Guglielmo’s arrival helped cement the consistent lineup that would carry the band through their most successful period. Improving on The Walking Wounded’s already impressive chart performance, their 2008 album Shudder hit number 54 on the pop chart and was accompanied by the group’s first live album, Live @ the Bayside Social Club. At the turn of the decade, Bayside was in the catbird seat, with a strong catalog behind them and a steady live presence. For their fifth album, they hired British producer Gil Norton ( Pixies , Echo & the Bunnymen , Foo Fighters ) and began recording in Woodstock, New York. Released in 2011 by Wind-up Records , Killing Time was both a critical success and a commercial improvement on its predecessor. To commemorate a massive fall tour with Saves the Day , I Am the Avalanche , and Transit , Bayside contributed a track to a four-way single featuring each of the bands.

Raneri issued his first solo project, a 2012 EP, after which Bayside offered up the eclectic Covers, Vol. 1, which saw them taking on songs by Elvis Costello , Billy Joel , and Van Morrison . After signing with the Hopeless label, the group worked again with Shep Goodman, who along with Aaron Accetta co-produced 2014’s Cult. The album peaked at number 24, giving Bayside their highest position yet, and kicked off a year of heavy touring with Alkaline Trio , Seaway , Senses Fail , and others. After 2016’s Vacancy, the quartet recorded a follow-up to their 2006 Acoustic EP, simply titled Acoustic, Vol. 2, which featured stripped-down renditions of songs from recent albums. Bayside’s eighth studio album, Interrobang, arrived in October 2019, along with the announcement of an online Battle of the Bands in which local groups could compete for a chance to open a show for them. In 2020, Bayside were forced to cancel a major 20th anniversary tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They issued Acoustic, Vol. 3 in December of that year. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi

A second-generation punk and post-hardcore act with ties to several earlier emo and screamo outfits, Brooklyn’s I Am the Avalanche emerged in 2005 with a style that pairs considerable sonic heft with raw, emotional intensity. They found success in 2014 with their third full-length effort, Wolverines, which cracked the Billboard 200, and continued to refine their melodic punk and post-hardcore sound on 2020’s Dive.

Singer and songwriter Vinnie Caruana was the leader of the Movielife , guitarist Brandon Swanson was in Further Seems Forever , and bassist Kellen Robson is a former member of Scraps and Heart Attacks. Formed in Brooklyn by Caruana in 2004 after the Movielife broke up (and following an abortive stint with the nascent Head Automatica ), I Am the Avalanche was — unsurprisingly, for a band with emo tendencies — first inspired by a bad breakup. After writing a number of songs about the failed relationship, Caruana enlisted Swanson, Robson, second guitarist Michael Ireland, and drummer Brett “Ratt” Romnes to perform them, taking the group name from a line in one of those songs. (In the band’s official bio, Caruana claims no prior knowledge of the fact that “I am the avalanche” is a key line in Stephen Dobyns’ autobiographical poem “Oh, Immobility, Death’s Vast Associate,” from his collection Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides.)

Signing with the indie label Drive-Thru Records in 2005, I Am the Avalanche debuted on half of a split single with their labelmates the Early November , previewing their debut album with two early demos. Produced by Barrett Jones ( Foo Fighters ), who also adds keyboards, I Am the Avalanche was released in September 2005. The group’s sophomore effort, 2011’s Avalanche United, debuted at number nine on the Billboard Heatseekers charts, and 2014’s Wolverines became I Am the Avalanche’s first release to make an appearance on the Billboard 200. In 2020, the band issued their fourth long-player, the hard-hitting Dive.

Ten Digits Away and Straight North streaming everywhere via Pure Noise Records