Since forming in 2020, every single second of music recorded by Koyo has been completely and utterly genuine. Formed in Long Island, New York by five childhood friends who grew up together—vocalist Joseph Chiaramonte, guitarists Harold Griffin and TJ Rotolico, bassist Stephen Spanos, and drummer Salvatore Argento—Koyo’s music is the sound of Stony Brook summers flipping between Taking Back Sunday and Silent Majority while driving to the beach, living in songs that feel just like home.
Three years after their formation—and hot on the heels of a slew of acclaimed EPs—Koyo is now taking their next step in the hallowed halls of Long Island hardcore with Would You Miss It?, the band’s debut album. Following in the footsteps of the giants of hardcore, pop-punk, and emo that came before them, Koyo are aware of the weight a debut album carries, and they’ve been slowly crafting it since the band’s earliest days. “We really slow-cooked this record,” says Chiaramonte. “There are songs on it that go back as far as being written just after Painting Words Into Lines came out. Even as we were writing for Drives Out East, we knew certain songs had to be allocated for certain things. We’d just keep them in the bank and develop them over time.”
Despite all the planning and tinkering, there’s nothing contrived about Would You Miss It?, because there’s nothing remotely manufactured about Koyo. Every element is a genuine representation of the people creating it, and the album was concocted in the most authentic way possible: with five friends, all together, writing songs. “We have great chemistry as a band and as songwriters,” says Griffin. “That’s the beautiful thing about Koyo, that we can sort of fit into everything. We never try to box ourselves in, because no matter what we do, it will still be us.”
To fully immerse themselves in the recording process, Koyo decamped to a barn in rural New Jersey with producer Jon Markson (Drug Church, Regulate, One Step Closer) and spent six weeks digging into every detail of the record. The product is songs like “You’re On The List (Minus One),” “Message Like A Bomb (ft. Daryl Palumbo),” and “Anthem,” tracks that build upon Koyo’s established foundation, but feel sharper, stronger, and even more singalong ready. “This record was a labor of love,” says Chiaramonte. “Not just because of the work that went into it, but because of all the life experiences that shaped it. The record was a life-fulfilling, life-affirming thing to make, but it hurt a little bit to make, too.”
That’s no metaphor. Nearly every day working with Markson was a marathon 10-hour session with the band poring over every single detail to ensure their debut album met their expectations. Meanwhile, Griffin was learning how to walk again after an onstage accident precipitated a major ankle surgery. “The first week we were at the studio, I was in a wheelchair with my foot up and could not do anything,” says Griffin. “Three of the songs on the album were written from that wheelchair. I had a physical therapist a mile away from the studio, so I learned how to walk while living at this farm for six weeks.”
For Chiaramonte’s part, the lyric writing process forced him to dig deep into himself. Musically, Koyo’s songs flow out of Griffin and Rotolico as naturally as a conversation at an all-night diner but, for Chiaramonte, writing lyrics proved to be a deeply introspective experience. He’d drive somewhere remote and sit for hours with a notepad until what filled the page was an honest, open-hearted sentiment. “Life’s A Pill” is a prime example, and a perfect encapsulation of the range of emotion Koyo captures throughout each of the tracks on Would You Miss It?.
“‘That song is about a family member of mine passing away from a drug overdose when I was on my first full U.S. tour,” says Chiaramonte about “Life’s A Pill.” “Ultimately, I chose to stay on that tour. I didn’t want to grieve. I didn’t want to think about it. It was all so overwhelming that I just opted to shoulder how I was feeling, finish the tour, and deal with it another day. I found that I started to do that with a lot of things because I started to tour full time that year. There were so many interpersonal problems that I was just smothering. That song dives into that. The loss, the avoidance, and what I was doing mirrored what some people turn to drugs for. It’s a giant song about loss and escapism.”
Would You Miss It? is the kind of album that could only be made by a group of self-proclaimed genre-obsessives. It’s why Koyo can seamlessly transition from playing the This Is Hardcore festival to opening for Bayside, because they make perfect sense no matter what bill they’re on. That natural musical dexterity is what fostered collaborations with Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo (“Message Like A Bomb”), Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife (“What’s Left To Say”), and Vein.FM’s Anthony DiDio (“Flatline Afternoon”) on songs where each part was written specifically with the guest vocalist in mind. Each person fits right into Koyo’s musical language, and expresses the range of sounds and feelings the band can express at any given time.
Taken in full, Would You Miss It? is the coming-of-age tale of five friends joining together to take on the world. Fueled by a love for music, and a shared creative bond, Koyo sets the bar for the new wave of Long Island bands. As Chiaramonte notes on “Anthem,” a lyrical love letter to Long Island scenes of the past, present, and future, “the best is yet to come.” Pay attention, because you won’t want to miss it.
Although the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is something that Oklahoma four-piece Ben Quad knew before they began making their new EP, Ephemera, they decided to wholeheartedly ignore it. Since forming in 2018, the band—Sam Wegrzynski (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Henry Shields (backing vocals/bass), Edgar Viveros (lead guitar) and Isaac Young (drums)—have released three split EPs and their 2022 debut album, I’m Scared That’s All There Is. Those records, alongside tours with Hot Mulligan, Arm’s Length and Forests have helped establish Ben Quad as one of the emo/indie/punk bands around—a hybrid all those scenes and sounds that works incredibly well, both live and on record.
With Ephemera, the band’s new EP—their first since signing with Pure Noise—the four-piece have blown all expectations out of the water. Opener “I Did Not Create The Rules” begins with a brief electronic flourish before bursting into a blisteringly intense screamo anthem. Its first line (‘It’ll be like this forever/Always lost, confused’) pointedly lays out the constant struggle of living under capitalism as the music itself violently introduces the band’s new musical direction. While there was a hint this change might have been coming in 2022’s single “You’re Part Of It”, this EP’s five songs double down hard on that sound. It’s a decision the band made because—surprisingly, given listeners’ usual disdain for bands experimenting—they’d actually received a host of messages from fans expressing how much they liked that sound. Encouraged, the band leaned into it fully.
“We did that original screamo track as a flex,” admits Wegrzynski, “and it then becoming our most popular song gave us the courage to go all out.”
“At the end of the day, we’re making this music because we like it,” adds Viveros. “Bands like Alexisonfire and Underoath were really formative for me, so being able to put those influences into our music is super gratifying as an artist. The fact people dig it is just a plus. We’d be making it even if people thought it sucked.”
It certainly doesn’t suck, but neither is there any capitulating to those fans. Ben Quad aren’t turning this corner because it’s what other people want them to do, but because it’s what they want to do. Those who like the glimpse they’ve heard should like this even more. The passionate intensity of “I Did Not Create The Rules” is followed by the equally ferocious “You’ll Get Nothing And Like It”, an emotionally pulverizing one minute and 52 seconds of pure catharsis, before “Your Face As An Effigy”—combining hyperactive drums, math-rock noodling and some killer hooks—ups the ante. It’s one long crescendo from beginning to end, and just when you think it can’t get any faster or more furious, it does. “Exit Wounds” picks up where that leaves off, dominated by overwrought screams and heart-torn vocal melodies, and while there’s a brief lull during the beginning of the closing title track, emotions and sanity soon start to fray throughout the song as the refrain ‘We were made to throw away’ is sung and screamed as if the band’s life depends on it.
Of course, anyone can interpret these songs how they want and apply them to their own life, but most of these lyrics are astute indictments of modern society and political establishments. Yet for all the sharp political undertones and insight that form the baseline of these songs, most importantly , they also reveal the devastating effects that capitalism and other oppressive systems have on people on a more personal level.
“Lyrically, this EP has a lot to do with the current political climate,” says Viveros. “whether that’s stuff overseas in the Middle East or the cost of living, which is going up like crazy. That’s where the existentialism comes in—how am I supposed to survive in this world that doesn’t care for me? You have these people in power that are meant to provide for you, but they’re not really providing for you–it’s all literally just for capital gain. This record is really questioning those current structures and exploring themes of feeling helpless. Because even though we can burn this all down and do something about it, it seems like the world is stuck in complacency.”
Ephemera, then, is a call to arms against that complacency. Produced by longtime collaborator CJ Cochran from Outline In Color, the recording process was broken up by the band going on tour. That break allowed for extra contemplation and consideration about what they were making, and the result is a set of songs that combines the personal and the political to devastating effect. There are still hints of their old songs contained within these ones, so while they don’t sound entirely like a new band, they definitely present new iteration of it with added chemistry and confidence.
“The current view of us,” says Wegrzynski, “is that we are just a bunch of teddy bear emo whiny boys, but I’m hoping this EP changes that. I hope it makes people who feel like they otherwise wouldn’t have a voice feel like they can actually one. I hope it gives them a little bit of empowerment.”
Give Restraining Order a room, and they’ll whip it into a frenzy.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a basement, a house, a club, or a festival stage. They bring the same unbridled and unrestrained energy everywhere they go, leaving their mark (and the crowd hoarse from screaming along!).
Hailing from the underground music hotbed of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut, the collective—Pat Cozens [vocals], Dylan Tobia [guitar], Kyle Beaudreault [guitar], Jake Miller [guitar], Keith Freeman [bass], and Will Hirst [drums]—play hardcore punk with purity and panache. After amassing millions of streams, earning acclaim from the likes of Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and more, and igniting venues, the group level up on their third full-length offering and debut LP for Blue Grape Music, Future Fortune.
“This is a natural evolution,” notes Will. “We leaned into seventies punk, glam, and classic rock in some of the songs. We’ve always had a rock element in our music, but we weren’t afraid to add more of it to the sauce. On each record, we’ve gained confidence. It’s the next organic step.”
“With everything we put out, we push another boundary,” agrees Keith. “We’re doing different things that still fit who we are and sound cool. The thought was, ‘What do we have to lose? Let’s have some fun with it’.”
Emerging in 2017, Restraining Order hit their stride with 2019’s This World Is Too Much. The latter spawned the fan favorite “Don’t Really Think,” which amassed over 1.1 million Spotify streams and counting. The 2023 follow-up, Locked In Time, incited tastemaker applause. Stereogum hailed it as “a great entry point for the present-day hardcore landscape,” and New Noise Magazine celebrated how, “Restraining Order introduce a new flavor of hook-filled, catchy tracks.” Plus, Revolver christened them one of “7 Bands Leading Massachusetts Hardcore’s New Wave.” Along the way, they shared stages with the likes of Angel Du$t, Citizen, Drug Church, Fiddlehead, Fucked Up, Kublai Khan TX, LustSickPuppy, and more. The group eventually caught the attention of Blue Grape Music in 2024 and signed to the label.
During early 2025, the musicians hunkered down in Sonelab Recording Studio for ten days and recorded Future Fortune with Will behind the board as producer. The band enlisted GRAMMY® Award-nominated Tom Dalgety [Ghost, Pixies, Royal Blood] for mixing and Brad Boatright for mastering.
The musicians embraced an outlier perspective, allowing it to inform the process.
“We’ve always been a black sheep, but we’re also in this weird position where we can play with a lot of different artists,” observes Will. “We don’t limit our sound. The basis is early first wave hardcore punk, but we never cared about rules or limits. We were like, ‘Fuck it. If it’s artistically satisfying, let’s do it’. It’s put us in a position to branch out with our music.”
They come out of the gate swinging with the opener and first single “Know Not.” A head-nodding gallop holds the tempo as a hummable guitar riff buzzes. Pat counts down and launches a peppy bark on the verses, bleeding into the irresistibly chantable chorus, “You know what to say and you know what to do, so put it all together before life turns around on you!”
“It’s definitely inspired by seventies punk and glam bands,” says Will. “Thematically, it’s about personal reflection, pointing out your flaws and self-improvement. It’s a bit like our older material, so you can hear a seamless progression. We all found ourselves singing along.”
The guys rev up “Free Ride” with swaggering guitar and a driving beat, culminating on an infectious refrain, “You got a free ride. Well, I’m gonna take the long way home.”
“It was one of the last songs, and it came together quickly,” recalls Will. “It’s simple, but the hook is huge. We didn’t overthink it. Lyrically, it could be about not taking the easy road. We’ve been a band for eight years, and we’ve taken the long road. We booked our own tours, recorded our own records, and even printed our own merch for a while. It was D.I.Y.”
“‘Free Ride’ makes you think, ‘Where am I going?’,” adds Keith. “You’re working towards a goal; it’s not being given to you. We think this road is better instead of being handed everything.”
Then, there’s “Time To Go.” A thick bass line gives way to a frenetic punk freakout fueled by frantic guitars and guttural vocals. However, it ultimately twists and turns through a psychedelic climax complete with free jazz piano, fret-burning solos, and organic percussion.
“The basis is a four-on-the-floor punk song, but it goes crazy in the end,” smiles Will. “There’s some cool guitar leads and Floyd-esque percussion moments rounding out the song.”
“Were You There” concludes the album with one last blast of emotion and another arena-size vocal.
“Our records typically end with a banger,” Keith states. “This is no different. ‘Were You There’ has a ton of energy and passion. Pat said it’s representative of friendship. It’s relatable. You’re trying to convey someone’s importance.”
In the end, Restraining Order are just the jolt we need to push hardcore punk into another renaissance.
“We take this shit seriously, but we hope everyone else has fun with it,” smiles Will. “We tried to make a catchy rock album, and I think we achieved that.”
“I can’t wait to play it live,” concludes Keith.
