{"id":261142,"date":"2026-01-28T03:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/261142\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T03:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:27:12","slug":"the-story-of-the-post-hardcore-takeover-that-didnt-quite-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/261142\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of the post-hardcore takeover that didn\u2019t quite happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nu metal<\/a> was the biggest mainstream takeover in heavy metal history, but by the early 2000s, the genre\u2019s shine was beginning to fade. Limp Bizkit<\/a> lost Wes Borland and released the disastrous Results May Vary; Korn<\/a> slid down the charts with Take A Look In The Mirror before also finding themselves down a beloved guitarist; and Deftones<\/a>\u2019 self-titled album was a commercial disappointment that cost $2.5 million to make. The writing was on the wall and something needed to be done.<\/p>\n

In response, major record labels plundered the post-hardcore underground in search of the next big thing. Between 2001 and 2004, punk- and emo-influenced bands with almost nothing in common \u2013 My Chemical Romance<\/a>, AFI, Thrice<\/a>, Cave In<\/a>, Glassjaw, Thursday, Poison The Well, Coheed And Cambria<\/a> \u2013 were hurriedly plucked from the underground circuit and had commercial pressures thrust upon them. Only a small handful would become the cash cows that the suits hoped for, with the rest tumbling back to their underground scenes or even flat-out breaking up.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was this feeling of everything getting lumped together in ways that didn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d remembers Thrice singer\/guitarist Dustin Kensrue, whose California band inked a deal with Universal\u2019s Island Records in 2003. \u201cIsland signed Thursday too, and I think, in their heads, they went, \u2018You guys both have TH at the start of your names and you play screamo, right?\u2019 Nothing against Thursday, but they were a very different band to us. These were all different bands, but it was turning into this weird thing that the powers that be were trying to cash in on and have a name for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cave In – Inspire (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Cave<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

The label higher-ups may have been trying to force a lot of square pegs into one big, round hole, but there was precedent for their post-hardcore signing spree. In 2000, Glassjaw generated big buzz with their Roadrunner-released debut album, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence. The unlikely success of At The Drive-In, whose major-label effort Relationship Of Command topped the US Heatseekers chart shortly before they broke up, also indicated that a scrappier kind of music was on the rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was trying to find the lightning in the bottle that was At The Drive-In at the time,\u201d remembers Adam McGrath, guitarist for former RCA Records signees Cave In. \u201cThey were the hype and it seemed like they were the benchmark. They played on David Letterman [and people thought] \u2018Oh my god! They made it!\u2019 I don\u2019t know if people were looking for the next At The Drive-In, but they were trying to capture whatever that lightning in a bottle was, and trying to find it in the world that we came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally a band from the same New England scene as Converge, Cave In signed to RCA in April 2001, after their album Jupiter saw them transition from their metalcore<\/a> roots to post-grungey space rock. They\u2019d been heavily courted by the majors, with one representative taking them to their local comic book shop and offering to buy them whatever they wanted. \u201cIt was like stuff you see in the movies: \u2018If you come with me, this time next year, you\u2019ll all be driving Corvettes,\u2019\u201d Adam remembers.<\/p>\n

The band eventually went with RCA because the label promised they could put them on a tour package with superstar signees Foo Fighters<\/a>. \u201cWe were all Nirvana<\/a> fans and Foo Fighters fans,\u201d Adam explains. \u201cBruce Flohr [RCA\u2019s then-Senior Vice President of A&R] brought Dave Grohl to see us play, and Dave was very nice to us. Being on the same path as them, in the same arenas, was appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Many others followed in Cave In\u2019s footsteps. In January 2002, Glassjaw announced their signing to Warner Bros. AFI, already a horror-punk institution on the West Coast, joined the DreamWorks roster that same year. Thursday went to Island in May \u201902, followed by Thrice. Reprise Records (now-home to Green Day<\/a>, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young and others) picked up My Chemical Romance in \u201903.<\/p>\n

For Thrice, the appeal of signing to a major was stepping back from the \u201ccraziness\u201d of looking after themselves on the underground circuit and being able to focus on just writing good music. \u201cWe were looking further ahead,\u201d Dustin explains, \u201cbut not at, \u2018Is this going to make us part of some big thing?\u2019 It was, \u2018Is this going to set us up to do us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Things started well, with Island agreeing to honour the band\u2019s terms of donating a portion of proceeds from their music to charity. Cave In were also sitting pretty at first. RCA honoured their commitment to put them on a package with Foo Fighters, making them a support act on the Seattle band\u2019s One By One European tour in late 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were in Ireland, Dave Grohl came to our dressing room and was like, \u2018I have a private jet. Do you want to ride it back to England?\u2019\u201d Adam says. \u201cIt was like Elvis Presley shit! We all got into white, unmarked cars and drove onto the runway. The next day, we were hungover and partied out. A gentleman on the plane home asked, \u2018Where were you last night?!\u2019, and Caleb [Scofield, bass] was like, \u2018If I told you, you wouldn\u2019t believe me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But, when it came time to make new music, the weight of expectation was sudden and intense. Thrice had to rush the recording of their major-label debut, The Artist In The Ambulance<\/a>, so that they could make it onto 2003\u2019s Warped Tour lineup. Nonetheless, it was acclaimed when it came out, with critics praising its catchy tunes, genre hybridity and technical skill. One journalist even said that the band were doing for hardcore\u2019s guitar-playing what Iron Maiden<\/a> had done for metal\u2019s. It only reached 16 on the American charts, though, after which industry support practically disappeared.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cKROQ was the first big radio station to play [lead single] All That\u2019s Left,\u201d Dustin remembers. \u201cWe were going to put out the title track as a single next, and they were like, \u2018We don\u2019t think that\u2019s the song.\u2019 If you look at streaming, that song is enormously more popular than anything else on that record. Even my wife was like, \u2018Artist\u2026 is the song,\u2019 but I was like, \u2018How do I say no to that station?\u2019 Who knew they were gonna bail on us anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cave In\u2019s only major-label album, Antenna, came out the same year and fared similarly. Despite rave reviews, it limped its way to a meagre 169 on the Billboard 200 in March. The single Anchor hit the airwaves in May, then any backing seemed to be pulled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnchor didn\u2019t do anything, and that was it,\u201d Adam shrugs. \u201cIt was like, abandon ship! Even our A&R guy, who gave you this idea that he\u2019s with you till the end, the day the record came out, he disappeared. He left the label to go work somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Cave In\u2019s A&R jumped ship, Thrice\u2019s was the only label staffer who stayed. Amidst an enormous shake-up in 2004, Island got a new CEO in R&B mogul L.A. Reid, and when Thrice started putting together their second and last album for the label, Vheissu, it became apparent that he knew nothing about rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had this crazy, decked-out office with these huge, white speakers,\u201d says Dustin. \u201cHe was definitely trying to connect with the band, but when he threw on [downtempo ballad] Atlantic, he was like, \u2018Yeah! This is a hit!\u2019 We were like, \u2018In no way is this song ever going to be a hit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Thrice stuck with Island for the release of Vheissu, but the band parted ways with the label shortly after starting work on their next release, The Alchemy Index. Split across four EPs with hardcore, Americana and trip-hop songs, it was pretty much the least commercially viable project they could have attempted. Plus, almost everyone who was at Island when they signed just three years prior had now gone.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Daryl\n<\/p>\n

Daryl Palumbo of former Warner Bros signees Glassjaw in 2003. (Image credit: Steve Grayson\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

Cave In got fed up even quicker. Punk rock<\/a> rebels at heart, they added a bunch of their old, rowdy hardcore songs to their setlists in 2004. The new album they were writing was starting to sound similarly ferocious, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cRCA didn\u2019t like any of the shit we were doing,\u201d Adam says matter-of-factly, \u201cand also, at the time, a lot of the bands that were signed that we\u2019ve been talking about \u2013 At The Drive-In, Cave In \u2013 they weren\u2019t sticking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cave In and Thrice both proudly landed back in the underground, signing to indie labels Hydra Head and Vagrant respectively. And it was the same story with almost everyone else. Glassjaw released one album via Warners then went on hiatus for half a decade. Thursday had a top-10 hit record in 2003\u2019s War All The Time, but after 2006 follow-up A City By The Light Divided disappointed at number 20, they were gone from Island, too. Poison The Well\u2019s one Atlantic album, You Come Before You, barely hit the top 100. A new North American takeover this most definitely had not been.<\/p>\n

The rare bands that flew, though, fucking flew. AFI morphed into decade-defining emo stars, filling floors with the songs Miss Murder and Girl\u2019s Not Grey. Coheed And Cambria became unlikely metal figureheads after their Tool<\/a>-meets-Led-Zeppelin<\/a> anthem Welcome Home dominated MTV. And My Chemical Romance\u2026 well, everyone knows about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a point where My Chem were opening shows that we were playing,\u201d Dustin reflects. \u201cQuite quickly, they weren\u2019t anymore. We opened for them in Canada, and we played a bunch of World Of Warcraft with them. Gerard Way made us all tour passes with our characters on them. I had to quit because it was just taking over my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though things didn\u2019t work out, neither Dustin nor Adam regret their major-label days. Thrice have secured a reputation as one of the most consistently excellent cult bands in the United States, having followed their own muse for more than two decades now. Meanwhile, the members of Cave In have a back-catalogue treasured by fans, Antenna very much included, and still get to tour the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing to me, coming out of all that, is that our band stayed together,\u201d says Adam. \u201cWould it have been nice to make money off the band and live off of it for however many years? Absolutely, but it didn\u2019t happen and I can\u2019t beat myself up over it. It was a really cool, valid attempt, and I had a blast doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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