No lie, Bayside fans are some of the coolest people I’ve met in my life. In honor of the band newly releasing b-sides from their Killing Time record, I thought I’d do a spotlight on these legends. One of the OG members of my DC emo meetup group, Ron, first got me into Bayside in 2022. I remember when I first met him I was just thrilled to meet someone as equally enthusiastic about ALL things emo and pop-punk as me, and when he told me how obsessed with Bayside, I immediately thought, “I MUST check out this band, this guy really knows his stuff,” and BOY was he right! My jaw literally dropped listening to the guitar parts in songs like “Strangest Faces.” Bayside superfans walk around with the mantra, “Bayside is a cult,” because its fanbase has been so loyal over the past two plus decades. Let’s dive in to why Bayside has kept its devoted following in the punk/emo scene over the years!
A Brief History of Bayside
Bayside was formed in Queens, NY in 2000 by friends Anthony Raneri, Vinnie Daraio, Chris Jackson, and Mike Kozak looking to form an emo group similar to the sound of New Found Glory. The band got its name from the Bayside train station in Queens while driving to a Drive-Thru records showcase realizing they didn’t know what to call themselves, yet the name stayed with them for many years to come. Bayside was first signed in 2001 putting out their fist EP, Long Stories Short, where their deep understanding of emotive lyrics and post-hardcore melodies put them on the rise. After undergoing several lineup changes, the band found stability with Jack O’Shea on lead guitar and Anthony on vocals.
In 2003, the band signed with Victory Records and released the album, Sirens and Condolences, with a similar sound to the likes of Thrice that built them a strong fanbase. Nick Ghanbarian became a permanent replacement on the lineup at this time as well as John “Beatz” Hollohan on drums. The release of their following self-titled 2005 album cemented hits like “Devotion and Desire” and “Montauk” as staples of the post-hardcore scene (and are classics today).
On the cusp of becoming the legends they are today, tragedy struck on Halloween 2005 when the band hit a sheet of ice in Wyoming whilst on tour, killing John Hollohan instantly and leaving other bandmates hospitazlied. Truly shaken by the incident, and taking some time off to heal from the incident, Raneri and O’Shea decided to move forward even stronger, finishing out the tour as an acoustic duo and promoting the John Hollohan Bayside Memorial fund in honor of their friend. Because the acoustic sets received such an emotional response from fans on the tour, Bayside went on to release the acoustics album in 2006 of many of their favorite tracks stripped down in honor of Hollohan.
Drummer Chris Guglielmo went on to join the band and in 2007, the album “The Walking Wounded” was released, detailing the band’s intense emotional states while trying to heal with trauma. The track “Duality” about the highs and lows of processing grief became the record’s standout, even making a feature on the latest Resident Evil film.
In 2008, Bayside released their album Shudder touring alongside Alkaline Trio and continuing to go strong with emo and post-hardcore hits, and then the band went on a brief hiatus before returning with a new label and new album, Killing Time, in 2011, which was their best reviewed album to date.
Later in 2013, the band went on to sign with Hopeless Records, a a label Raneri said the band felt very much “at home” with alongside other emo powerhouses, and the band released their appropriately titled album Cult referring to their dedicated fanbase and Vacancy in 2016 with a collaboration from Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. Their following album Interrobang in 2019 was an indie rock masterpiece and 2024’s heaviest album yet, There Are Worse Things than Being Alive, a return to Bayside’s post-hardcore form. Through all the ups and downs and Bayside’s sheer perseverance and vulnerability in their music they have cemented themselves as the true underdogs of the punk scene with one of the most loyal fanbases to date. Check out what guitarist Jack O’Shea has to say about what the legacy of the band has meant to him over the years:
Till Next Time,
XOXO,,
Meagan