Amy Fleisher Madden began leaving her mark on the music world as a teenager in the mid ’90s with her Florida-based fanzine Fiddler Jones, and in 1996–when Madden was 16–that turned into the launch of her record label, Fiddler Records. Her first signing was The Vacant Andys–fronted by a young Chris Carrabba–and Fiddler went on to put out early releases for New Found Glory and Carrabba’s solo project Dashboard Confessional before expanding outside of Florida and releasing music by Recover, The Bled, Name Taken, Juliette & the Licks, and more. She put out her first novel A Million Miles in 2014, and she’s also done work as a music photographer. Now, she’s gearing up to release a new photo book, Negatives: A Photographic Archive of Emo (1996-2006).
As the title suggests, Negatives documents the second and third wave of emo, and it features rare and previously unseen photos of over 80 bands from the ’90s and 2000s, including American Football, Alkaline Trio, American Nightmare, Armor for Sleep, At the Drive-In, Bayside, Boysetsfire, Braid, Bright Eyes, Cap’n Jazz, Chamberlain, Christie Front Drive, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, Cursive, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott, Engine Down, Fall Out Boy, Far, Further Seems Forever, Hey Mercedes, Hot Rod Circuit, Hot Water Music, Jawbreaker, Jejune, Silverstein, Something Corporate, Straylight Run, Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, Texas Is the Reason, The Anniversary, The Appleseed Cast, The Early November, The Format, The Get Up Kids, The Jealous Sound, The Juliana Theory, The Movielife, The Promise Ring, The Starting Line, The Used, Thrice, Thursday, Jets to Brazil, Jimmy Eat World, Joan of Arc, Karate, Kevin Devine, Knapsack, Lifetime, Midtown, Mineral, Motion City Soundtrack, My Chemical Romance, Name Taken, New Found Glory, No Knife, Paramore, Pedro the Lion, Piebald, Planes Mistaken for Stars, Rainer Maria, Recover, Rival Schools, Samiam, Saosin, Saves the Day, Say Anything, Sense Field, and Senses Fail.
Negatives also features essays by Norman Brannon (Texas Is The Reason, New End Original, Anti-Matter), Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, L.S. Dunes), Jesse Johnson (Motion City Soundtrack), Andrew McMahon (Something Corporate, etc), Bob Nanna (Braid, Hey Mercedes), Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids), and Geoff Rickly (Thursday, No Devotion, United Nations), and a foreword by Chris Carrabba. Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:
While the term emo has become a familiar label, there was a time when that wasn’t the case. Many bands of the mid-to-late ’90s would never have classified themselves as such. With the advent of the 2000s, the previously underground emo scene was put on the map, and the term and sound of the genre morphed into something new. Today, the musical and cultural impact of this movement is alive and well, responsible for some of the biggest and most influential acts of the 21st century, from Jimmy Eat World to My Chemical Romance, and the emo label has been reclaimed by those who can’t imagine life without it.
Through rare and never-before-seen photographs Amy Fleisher Madden, founder of Fiddler Records (Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Recover, and more), thoughtfully and lovingly put together this moving archive of the second and third waves of emo. With a foreword by Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and revealing essays from Frank Iero, Geoff Rickly, Norman Brannon, Matt Pryor, Jesse Johnson, Andrew McMahon, and Bob Nanna, as well as insights and bite-sized narratives from photographers and other musicians of the era, this heartwarming time capsule expounds an extraordinary moment in music history—a scene that gave life to not only numerous big names but also to a powerful sound and even more powerful friendships.
Amy herself wrote the following about the photo of Hot Rod Circuit’s Casey Prestwood on the cover:
This photo, which I wholeheartedly believe sets the tone for the book and encapsulates the spirit of the second and third waves of emo perfectly, was taken by Day19, also known as Jeremy and Claire Weiss, who are the loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.
And the band, if you don’t know, is Hot Rod Circuit, but specifically in this photo is Casey Prestwood. At a super young age Casey dazzled all of us nightly by completely pouring every ounce of his energy into the band’s set (alongside fellow superstars: Andy Jackson, Jay Russell, and Mike Poorman) night after night, whether it was to a crowd of five or a crowd of 5,000. Of all of the photos I have of Casey flying through the air or dragging himself across the floor like a horror movie victim mid-exorcism—this is it, this is Negatives.
And yes, you will have to bear with me while I gush over every band and every photo and every photographer because this book would not have been possible without everyone involved—the amount of people that came together for this is insane—and I’m eternally grateful to everyone that’s come on this wild ride with me.
You can pre-order Negatives in the BV store, and see the cover art and a few of the featured photos–of Fall Out Boy, Alkaline Trio, Jejune, Jimmy Eat World, Mineral, Something Corporate, and Texas is the Reason–below.
