I'll be the first one to tell you that having a wide variety of musical interests is a good trait to have. In my opinion, I don't see any reason why you should limit yourself to a particular genre of music when there is so much more to experience out there in the music world. Well this weekend I had to opportunity to make another small step for mankind but a rather large step for my own musical interests.

Through my long list of personal connections I was able to catch wind of a concert at the Thompson House located across the river in Newport, Kentucky. My connection turned out to be my girlfriend’s step-brother who lives in Los Angeles. He was raised in Cincinnati and was in a band all through high school and college. While he was in town for a wedding his band decided to do a little reunion to relive their high school days. Obviously, I had to ask him what kind of band he was in and I was a little taken back when he said screamo. Now just to paint the picture for you, this is one of the nicest and most relaxed people I have ever come across in my short 21 years on this beautiful planet. Not only is he constantly smiling but I have never seen him be upset or angered about anything! So when he informed me he was a drummer for a screamo band I kind of thought he was pulling my leg. Was I in for a surprise?

Fast forward to the night of the concert. At this point I was still expecting to hear an alternative band or something along those lines. As we entered the Thompson House, which looks like a haunted house straight out of a horror film, I soon realized that he was not kidding with me the week before. We made our way down the stairs to where to stage was to find maybe 30-ish people standing around, drinking, having a good time while a band set up their equipment.

Finally after a much anticipation, his band is up and ready to flex the golden pipes. Right off the bat the lead singer starts the first song with the sound that resembled the growl of a wolf about to feed on its prey. As the guitars and drums chimed in the band was in full force and I truly did find out why they call it screamo music. These people literally scream at the top of their lungs with guitars blaring and drums banging, it was a shock to my unexperienced screamo mind. Another surprise to the experience was the dancing. It was comparable to a mosh pit on steroids. Fans formed a circle around a smaller group who were running across the floor doing martial arts moves nearly missing each other. Personally I think they were all secret ninja warriors or something. Meanwhile, during every song the band is jumping around on stage dancing their asses of but most of all, having a damn good time. I really can't put into words exactly what it sounds like but it is powerful and heart racing. Although I couldn't understand what the lyrics were to the songs I couldn't help but remember that in a lot of music now-a-days, it's almost impossible to understand the actual words, but it is instead more about the rhythm and experience. And that is just what this concert was about... the experience.

The best part of the night was talking to the band after the concert. On stage, they were screaming and jamming out until their faces were purple but as soon as they stepped of stage they turned out to be the nicest group of people. They went around giving their friends and family high fives and hugs just as any other performers would. After talking to the drummer and lead singer for a mere 15 minutes it really did make a great learning experience for me.

I think screamo music has this image of strange people making strange music that is not very high on the general public's popular list. Some might even argue that it not music at all, rather just screaming your brains out with drums and guitar in the background. After my experience, I completely disagree. Everyone has a different taste in music, hell some people don't like music at all! Those people are the real weirdos... just kidding. Anyways, going to that concert taught me once again, to not judge a book by its cover. Those people that I met that night couldn't be more jovial and carefree. I'm not saying I'm going to go out of my way for the next screamo concert that's in town, but would I suggest to people to experience it at least once? Abso-freaking-lutely.