Gilbert, AZ · rock · post-hardcore · emo

Scary Kids Scaring Kids

2 upcoming festivals ↓

Keyboard-led post-hardcore with a genuinely gorgeous streak under the screaming — scene-era drama back from the vault.

Scary Kids Scaring Kids came together in Gilbert, Arizona, while its members were still students at Highland High School, taking their name from a Cap'n Jazz song. The original lineup paired lead vocalist Tyson Stevens with guitarists Chad Crawford, DJ Wilson and Steve Kirby, keyboardist Pouyan Afkary and drummer Peter Costa.

Their sound was distinguished by prominent keyboards and violin-like synth lines threaded through screamed and sung vocals, giving their songs a theatrical, melodic quality alongside the heavier passages.

A self-financed EP, After Dark, was later reissued by Immortal Records, who put out the debut album The City Sleeps in Flames in 2005, produced by Brian McTernan. The 2007 self-titled follow-up, produced by Don Gilmore, was built deliberately as a single composed piece, with interludes and recurring musical references tying its tracks together.

The band moved to RCA Records but parted ways before finishing a third album, and disbanded in 2009 following a farewell tour. Tyson Stevens later died. Scary Kids Scaring Kids reunited in 2019 and eventually released a third studio album, Out of Light, in 2022, and continues to draw on that full catalogue for shows.

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rockpost-hardcoreemo