Emarosa

Known as a hotbed of rootsy bluegrass and twanging country music, Lexington, Kentucky also has a passionate underground punk and metal scene from which post-hardcore outfit Emarosa came blasting out of in 2007. Led by guitarist ER White, the band formed at High School and started to build a following with an EP This Is Your Way Out, which helped land a deal with Rise Records to record debut album Relativity. With Johnny Craig as frontman, their screeching heavy rock ballast and slamming dynamic breaks earned them a place on the Warped Tour and support slots with You Me At Six, A Day To Remember and Pierce The Veil, before their second, self-titled album came out in 2010. Numerous line-up changes included former Squid The Whale vocalist Bradley Walden taking over as frontman in 2012, and the band developed a more intense, emotional edge on their most successful album Versus in 2014. Still maintaining the bombast of their early days, Walden's influence meant that they developed more rock and soul influences as time went on. This was evident on fourth album 131 which embraced epic, heart-on-sleeve moments of catharsis and struck a notably more positive and free attitude.