A night of Dashboard Confessional karaoke was what started it all, but Emo Nite has grown into an enterprise boasting a list of guests that range from Mark Hoppus to Chris Carrabba himself. On Nov. 15, the Emo Nite returns to Phoenix to get everyone bouncing off the Valley Bar walls.
While the trio behind the event is dedicated to its title genre, the Emo Nite playlist expands beyond emo to explore pop punk tracks and mash-ups, creating surprises and experiences for virtually anyone to share.
“We want to make it an experience as well as a party,” said Morgan Freed, co-founder of Emo Nite. “We want people to take shit away from it and redefine what a party can be.”
Co-founder T.J. Petracca said that the party is about raising the bar, whether that means bringing mariachi bands to cover Blink-182 or recruiting a cappella groups to cover emo classics, as they plan on doing in the future.
“(We) challenge ourselves to come up with things that don’t necessarily fit in the genre, but tie it in because that’s how we’ve tied in everything with our lives so far,” Freed said. “It usually works out for the better because everybody likes a lot of different shit and putting it all together is fun.”
The founders liken Emo Nite to a sort of therapeutic experience, where the stress of the day is forgotten and every audience member is completely welcome.
“There’s no pressure,” Petracca said. “Especially in L.A., there’s a lot of pressure to go and be seen and be cool and wear the right clothes. At our parties we’re kind of like, ‘Come in. Come as you are. Enjoy the people that you’re with, and let down that guard for a second.’ It’s not a show where you have to sit there with your arms crossed.”
Though the founders faced criticism from Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara earlier this year due to their event’s old name — Taking Back Tuesday — an official rebranding to Emo Nite has been a smooth transition, thanks to the group’s attention to detail. Their gravestone logo is increasingly recognizable. Their all-caps “Sad As Fuck” t-shirts and balloons are becoming trademarks. People are telling their friends about it. Lines are extending further and further.
Part of this success can clearly be attributed to the group’s innovative marketing. In August, the trio created a mock air safety video as a prequel to their monthly show in L.A. Immediately before the show, a plane flew over the central city to broadcast a message: “Every nite is emo nite #EmoNightLA.”
“We take time in everything that we do, whether it’s the merch or the flyers or the descriptions,” Freed said. “It’s all very carefully looked at. It’s not just putting a flyer up and telling people to come. It’s the way that we would want a party to be.”
Co-founder Barbara ‘Babs’ Szabo also attributes the success of Emo Nite to the community involved, whose members share a desire to reminisce. The party gives them the freedom to sing along to their memories and end up “reliving those moments and making them new.”
“We take requests throughout the night,” Szabo said. “We try to be really mindful of what people are going to hear because in every city it tends to be a little different. It’s the energy of the room that makes the experience what it is.”
In addition to getting the chance to DJ with their heroes, the Emo Nite founders agreed that the most significant part of their work is seeing the effect of the event on attendees, who frequently thank them for putting the parties together.
“We never set out to start throwing a party or sell tickets or anything like that,” Petracca said. “We genuinely love the music and we love bringing people together. We have a really good time. We put a lot of heart and authenticity into what we do. Every single party is really special and important to us.”
Contact the columnist at Emily.Liu@asu.edu.
