ABSTRACT: "Embarking on a two-week exploration of Milan's vibrant emo scene last October, I found myself immersed in a kaleidoscope of experiences, guided by Luna, an stalwart of the EMO IS FOR LOVERS and Milano's alt scene. From electrifying concerts featuring Fall Out Boy and Neck Deep to intimate emo nights, Milan's subculture unfolded before me, starkly different from the Korean emo landscape I knew. Unveiling six key insights, the city's monthly events, economic disparities, and a distinctive sense of unity painted a complex picture. Milan's emos, fluent in American pop culture and English, exuded a globalized influence that set them apart. The journey, a convergence of diverse narratives, concludes with a call for a kinder, warmer global emo community, inspired by Milan's unique spirit—a prelude to what I dub the beginning of a WORLD RAWR.
Last October I had the opportunity to explore Italy for couple weeks, and fortunately was able to gain pretty substantial understandings of its emo scene in Milan. The story has many layers into it so I will try my best to organize and elaborate in succinct manner.
During my 2 weeks stay, I was hosted by one of the old member of our EMO IS FOR LOVERS community, Luna, who became a really good friend with me. Our friendship started couple years ago online, and had went to Rock For People festival in Czech Republic in 2022. We had a great experience together with few others, as well as filming a community promo video together. During this trip, I had already planned a trip to Italy but I had fallen extremely sick, and had to cut my trip short where I missed my entire plan to Italy including the flight, and accommodation.
I was kicking myself for missing the Italy trip so I planned for another trip to Milano where Luna was able to host me. Luna is actively involved in the alt scene in the city. I remember being utterly amazed whenever I brought up someone I had met from emo nights in Korea, she either knows them or had mutual friends that had direct connections. It is crazy how we tend to say the world is so small but when it comes to this scene, it is even smaller. You cant help yourself but be amazed time and time again at how all the interacts you had are linked with someone you know from somewhere else in the community.
Activities and engagement I had in Milano are but not limited to: 1)Fall Out Boy + nothing, nowhere/ PVRIS. 2) Emo Sucks. 3) Neck Deep+ static dress. 4) Emo Night. I was literally able to meet and talk with so many people involved in the scene and immediately able to observe and feel the differences of local emo community in Milano vs where I live in Korea.
To quickly list down the major thoughts that struck me regarding the emo scene here in no specific reason of order:
1) Three organizations/entities that hold events monthly catered for emo-esque audience. From what I have learned, there are three organizations that host events for the emo scene in the city. This in comparison to Korea, is a lot where there is only one notable emo night organized from a local rock club located in Seoul. Because of this difference, emo is easily approached by not just the emo kids/ elder emos, but also general public who wants to party and have fun. This is conducive to fostering more emos and giving them much easier access to be exposed to the subculture and music which I thought was incredible, and even envious of. I went to two of the three events during my stay in Milan. Lots of moshing, post hardcore, cotton eyed joe, and local Italian emo mix.
2) Economy not favoring the scene/ younger audience. This is a HUGE factor. It only took me couple of encounters with the locals to realize about the working condition of Italy. I immediately noticed the high cost of living in Milan while the consistent theme of the locals were avoiding expenses and saving money because they were struggling financially. Almost everyone was living in the outskirts of Milan to save on costly rents in the inner city while traveling to Milan for events/ work. It was rather odd because clearly the city looked extremely modern, luxurious, and surely not short of cash. It definitely was not flowing down to the younger folks, who are mostly the audience of these emo scenes.
For fun experiment, I browed around Linkedin to get a job in Milan. One of which offered 20,000 Euros PER YEAR for a CX position's starting salary which is 1650 euros per year. A month rent in studio apartments in Milan were at least 800 euros. Another local friend that I made who had studied fashion design, working in a world renowned luxury brand was working full time as an unpaid intern for several months, transportation fee excluded. I felt terrible. It made sense that people hold a level of abhorrence towards the politicians and its state of economy. The structure does not feel right at least for the younger audience of this subculture.
Something that really surprised me was that during emo night or emo sucks, there are more people flocking outside the entrance to the venue to simply stand around and socialize instead of drinking or making any purchases. In Korea, this does happen after the show especially in the hardcore/ live scene but not during an event. Also the people would be self-conscious about not making any purchases and would buy something from the venue so that they can stop feeling "bad"about being there for free. However, in Italy it seemed like everyone was cool with it, including the business. Almost as if they all understand the financial state of the general emos.
3) Distinct sense of unity and coexistence. I believe this is related to the second point I've just written about the economical structure for the young emos one way or the other. I could not help but feel that people are often there for each other and hold interest to one another as long as you are sharing the spot in the venue or the scene. Luna would help friends style themselves, create custom clothings for costumes, and for her it was something she genuinely was happy to help others with. Not completely convinced if this is just her but my general impression is that people were there for each other, even asking me if there's anything they can do for it to let them know. Such gesture itself was a testament that a sense of unity and bonding exists.
Also, introducing your friends to others is something very very common. I was not the only person that was constantly being introduced to new people, but along with other locals living in the city. This is something I love doing myself but is not so common in Korea so I was elated that this was a thing. This also helps to grow the community and sense of unity which I would love to see in the emo community around the world. Though this is not perceived as "normal" practice in Korean norms, I would take the lead in doing so in the local emo scene. Watch out Korean emos!
Also just food for thought but it is my impression that concept of "support groups", and "community" is emphasized and often stronger in the Western world vs the East. The effects of this is visibly and also in intangible ways much stronger in the West where I felt something quite similar in the US while I was in LA. People stick out for each other. Whereas in Korea if I may over generalize a bit, the concept of community or the presence of the scene may even be entirely missing for some people or don't associate themselves to such especially an EMO scene as it is nearly non-existantly small in comparison.
4) US media influence pertaining to the scene is much stronger at an individual level. Italians here understood the American memes, the references, and for the most part all speak English quite fluently in Milan (exponentially more fluent when drunk). They have watched shitty movies of the 00s like Scary movie, American Pie. Such media exposure is disconnected in Korea unless there is strong personal interest to go out of the way to watch these movies. There may be several reasons for such differences notable reason I would pick would be language barrier, but also quite notably the people in the scene all generally had certain level of curiosity about other culture i.e US, and asian culture especially when it comes to fashion such as alt fashion/Japanese style etc. It is impossible to neglect the US when it comes to the drivers of Emo so such plug I believe is somewhat important to understand the context and the vibe of an era whereas place I live may be more disconnected on these understandings.
5) Lots of compliments, attempt to lift each other up. more vulnerable. just in general to each other. I hate to sound like I am continuously shitting on Korea but I need to have a point of comparison to make a point. People are nicer to each other in general. They are more vulnerable about themselves, shares compliments to make each other feel better was a common theme. This was very heartwarming experience to both receive such compliment and see others get lifted. I remember having a conversation about this with Luna and she believes that it is a natural thing as emos are prone to being the emotional humans which made sense to me. This is something I would take and put into practice back to my home ground.
6) Concerts are cheaper, and much more regular. thus audience are also kind of numb to the great line ups vs in Korea. I am not going to sugarcoat it but I can't emphasize how lucky these people have it there. Over at my home, people are literally praying for bands to come on daily basis after a decade of no news, we had given up hopes but still lowkey hoping that miracle would happen. In Milan, you wont even have to think about these and a big name would come by. Much cheaper too. Even yesterday I saw that Sum 41, Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne are going to tour just like that. This is just unimaginable in Korean standards. Yall better be grateful.
Because of this, the audience are so casual to these concerts as well. Go to a Neck Deep concert 20 minutes late, and you can still nearly grab the front fence in the venue, people don't really care. I can only say it'd be a war to be that close in Korea, with people camping out a day early for someone like Fall Out Boy.
--
These above 6 factors are elements that definitely have strong interactions on one another that forms a distinct characterization of the scene in that specific country, and are probably not enough to capture the entire scene in just two weeks but I hope it provides a certain level of depth to the layman perspectives like mine.
Just living for convenience, saving money Korea is much better place but the overall community presence and sense of unity makes people want to stay in Milan, as surely that was the case for several people I've talked to in the scene: you feel at home and people look out for each other, and give you the sense of belonging. Personally, I soaked in so much good elements of the emo scene in Milan, and received a lot of love from the community where I felt accepted. It had already influenced who I am as a person and can't wait to make positive impact to the emo scene of where I live, as well as EMO IS FOR LOVERS. It truly is an experience you have to go through to know but I hope everyone can also practice the wonderful community aspect of Milan and make this global emo community a much kinder and warmer place. This is what I would call a start to the WORLD RAWR!
