Please interview Jay Palumbo from Elliott.

Great guests & stories! Still waiting on an Aloha (Polyvinyl) episode! Keep it up, Tom!

Incredible guests, great conversations, and meaningful insights. Tom examines emo with the artists who gave the genre shape and those who are advancing it.

Thank you Mullen for keeping these unique bands in the public realm. I especially like 211 and John’s POV for all us kiddos growing up and wanting something different than what pop radio was playing. What he described was how I felt growing up in “the heartland” This Fightin Irish/ Christian fan is a fan of “weird” music that should be kept relevant now to appreciate the evolution of music history. Keep up the good work!

Great guests on this podcast but the narrative of “eyeliner mall pop” ruined emo is exhausting and repeated mechanically on every episode. There’s also a grandiose and overripe level of “I was at that show back in ‘98” talk that borders on flatulence, and while the host’s questions are usually thoughtful and unique to the guests, I personally find the content more of an attempt to insert himself into the scene than an objective look at the era of emo. Yet, still an entertaining show and probably the best podcast on the subject currently.

Tom is a treasure trove of knowledge about the emo/indie scene and these in-depth conversations are unlike interviews you’ll hear anywhere else. Whether you were around in the nineties or are a recent convert to this world, I can’t recommend this podcast enough. Maybe most importantly, it also provides a vehicle for songwriters who have been historically overlooked by the mainstream press. Keep up the great work, Tom!

the best podcast

I’ve been listening to the show since 2016, and every episode provides so much perspective into a band or an artist’s work. I’ve been amazed by how much my perspective changes on the music after listening to an episode and connect with it on a much deeper level. Between this and the books, Tom is the best source for all things Emo. Keep it up man!

Insufferable social media accounts

Easily my favorite podcast.

Man, I found this podcast just now after listening to the Ian Metzger episode. What a great episode. I miss that band and love the gentle hits too. Thanks for the nice reminder of one of my favorite bands. You got another fan of the podcast bc of it. Thanks and can’t wait to start listening to all the episodes.

Excellent.

I really enjoy listening to your podcast! As a dude who grew up in the 90s emo scene I had the pleasure of seeing most of your guests play in their hay day. It’s great to take a trip down memory lane each episode. In the early 2000s I stopped following emo as it really started taking a turn for the worst with the whole “scene kids” My Chemical Romance garbage. It’s cool to hear what some of the OG emo bands went on to do after I lost interest. I really got into Album Leaf after your episode. If possible please interview Brandon (or whoever if he’s not available) from Boys Life. They were one of my favorite bands.

These episodes are definitely binge worthy, I am loving every episode.

Interviews unlock a corner of time that was truly magical. Hearing interviews with Kevin Devine, John Bunch, and Kenny Vasoli really take you back to the scene. Now I just need to track down all of my old band tees.

Absolutely incredible podcast! I’ve spent so many hours listening to nearly every episode and have learned so much about the genre because of Tom and his always great guests. I can’t recommend highly enough.

Great Show. This guy should do a documentary of the 90’s scene. It’s due time.

It’s rare that people are TRULY excited and passionate about the music they love these days. Even more so if your favorite music is Emo. Never too apologetic, except for maybe the name of his show, Tom is such a knowledgeable and infectious host. Honestly the best part is he’s a true fan. These interviews, more often than not, sound like old friends catching up. Reminds me of many nights discussing music with my best friends. Bonus points for turning me onto some great “new to me” music.

This podcast would be way better if it were more inclusive and nil on the implicit sexism. It took over 120 episodes to finally get a woman on the podcast. Another didn’t get in for months after that. Comments are littered throughout every episode, implicitly reminding the listener how much of a “boys club” the music scene was/is. If you can find a guitarist from a band that broke up 15 years ago and has been working in finance ever since, how hard can it be to find a woman who is still active in the music community? I really wanted to love this podcast. I just couldn’t listen to it anymore.

in-depth information about a music scene so many people love,

Find one guest that you might have any little knowledge of and start there. That’s all I did and I was hooked from there. I’ve learned of a lot of great music from these interviews. I could go on and on.. Just give it a listen already!

Not only does Tom get great guests, his knowledge is unparalleled. More please!

Good podcast. The host gets some solid guests on the show

I don't know why all these people are saying this is nostalgic. Every artist featured on here is highly relevant with me! Oh god. I wonder if that's a serious problem.

This podcast rules. I love that it features guests from all the various eras of emo, but that Tom obviously knows what emo is and is not (unlike most of the other people doing Emo Nights across the US). Check out this podcast, and go to Tom's emo night if you're in the NY metro area.

One of the best music podcasts and THE best podcast about emo. Tom Mullen is the man and is the personification of the emo revival

This is such a great podcast to listen to. I love hearing about all these bands that impacted my life so much! Great show!

This podcast toucehs all over the place and in a very good way. To early second wave guys to the gents and gals who hit it big in the emo explosion about 10-15 years ago. Thank you for such a diverse group of guests, from groundbreakers like Sergie Loobkoff to dudes hitting their stride now like James Alex (finally)! Truely impresssive guest and great conversations. Always look forward to this every week - Thanks Tom

Was listening to the new TSL ep and searching around and found this pod. Listened to the Kenny V. Interview. I remember being at that skate and surf and watching them on the side stage. Was such an amazing 3 days. During NFG set on the main stage a buddy and me are helping people crowd surf next thing I know Kenny is next to me rocking out and helping us put people up. Looking forward to listen to old interviews and new one. Keep it up

Can't believe I just found this. It's awesome going back and hearing these interviews with some of my favorite bands from when I was 19

Excellent podcast interviewing excellent people. All episodes have been great, with the exception of the Chris Carrabba episode.

This is a very cool niche podcast. The guests are people whom I respect and Tom is an excellent interviewer if not perpetual fanboy. But it's a good fanboy-dom, why? Because that's what it takes to make a good podcast, to be a fan first.

total memory lane trip. completely forgot about the emo diaries. dial in the sound quality and its a 5 star experience.

Please do another buried treasure episode! My friend left a burned cd of miscellaneous emo bands prior to 2004 don't remember what the song sounded like or any of the lyrics but it sounded like something in between mineral and Texas is the reason. I constantly listen to this podcast for old emo bands to check out in hope of finding that band/song

Remember the days when the label of emo referred to bands like The Get Up Kids, Braid, The Promise Rings, At The Drive-In, and Knapsack? If you answered yes then you should really give this podcast a listen. These guys get members from some of the early emo heavy hitters to talk about they're beginnings, they're break ups, what they're doing these days, and how they feel about the label of "emo" now. Great episodes to check out are the interviews with Blair Shehan (of Knapsack and The Jealous Sound), Josh Berwanger (of The Anniversary), Bob Nanna (of Braid, Hey Mercedes, City on Film…). Now if only they would do an interview with Tim Kinsella of Joan Of Arc.

This is such a great podcast. Bringing back some bands that carry a lot of memories for us over 30 :). It's inspiring to hear their stories and how almost all of them are still creating music. Rock on!