Queens, NY · emo · punk · punk-rock

Bayside

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Queens punk with a morbid streak and lead guitar lines that owe more to metal than emo — craftsmanship that turned a scene band into a twenty-year institution.

Bayside was formed in Queens, New York, in October 2000 by singer-guitarist Anthony Raneri along with Vinny Daraio, Chris Jackson and Mike Kozak. The band's name came from the Bayside train station they passed on their way to a Drive-Thru Records showcase, where they had hoped to hand New Found Glory a demo CD.

Their records sit between emo, pop-punk and straightforward rock, with Raneri's nasal, wordy vocals set against lead guitarist Jack O'Shea's twin-lead and solo work, which draws openly on classic hard rock and metal phrasing rather than the genre's usual chord-driven approach.

The band's line-up has also included bassist Nick Ghanbarian and drummer Chris Guglielmo. On October 31, 2005, Bayside's van skidded off an icy road near Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing drummer John "Beatz" Holohan and seriously injuring Ghanbarian, who broke a vertebra in the crash; Raneri and O'Shea escaped with minor injuries. The band's Acoustic release that followed included "Winter," a tribute to Holohan.

Bayside signed to Victory Records in 2003 and released its debut album, Sirens and Condolences, in 2004; the self-titled follow-up a year later pushed the band into wider recognition. Six more albums followed on Victory and later Hopeless Records: The Walking Wounded, Shudder, Killing Time, Cult, Vacancy, Interrobang and There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive, released between 2007 and 2024.

The band came up through the mid-2000s scene alongside its Victory labelmates, and its catalogue carries a bleak, sardonic streak. Bayside has kept a largely stable core around Raneri and O'Shea, touring and recording steadily for more than two decades and building a devoted following rather than a chart career.

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emopunkpunk-rock