A Very Algernon Cadwallader Reunion

No one in their right mind should ever desire to go on tour with an emo band. It’s hours in a cramped cargo van with unidentifiable smells, driving to a venue that looks like all the others, loading in impossibly heavy gear, soundchecking longer than your actual set, performing (fun), loading out your gear (less so), sleeping in a hotel if you’re lucky but just as likely a sticky punk house floor, waking up way too early, getting in the van, and doing it all over again the next day.

But no musician is in their right mind, and neither am I. Armed with earplugs and a few Kodak FunSavers, I joined Algernon Cadwallader on the road for a week to document their reunion tour.

For the uninitiated: Algernon Cadwallader, in addition to being a mouthful, is a beloved math-y band from Yardley, PA, credited with kicking off the first of many waves of the emo revival. Formed in 2005 and named for the first mayor of their hometown, the band started with Colin Mahony and Joe Reinhart on guitars, Peter Helmis on vocals and bass, and Nick Tazza on drums. Nick left and Matt “Tank” Bergman took over. Colin left and was irreplaceable, so they ended as a trio. (What that says about Joe, nobody knows, and I didn’t ask, because I didn’t want to be stranded in a Wawa parking lot.)

I never saw Algernon before they went away in 2012, but I knew about them. Everyone in Philadelphia knew about them. (Ed. note: And Scott knows everyone in Philadelphia, so that’s saying something.) AC built the stage for a generation of emo-y DIY bands to follow, an influence so palpable “Philly” became an indie rock genre unto itself.

I eventually became acquainted with members of the band over the intervening years via their various other musical projects (Helmis, Tazza, and Reinhart went on to form the short-lived but much celebrated Dogs On Acid with Snowing’s Nate Dionne) or just around town. My friendship with Helmis stems from long dwelling at the same bar where the bartender is overly generous with his pours.

Anyway, 10 years after they called it quits, the boys decided to get back together again and hit the road for a five-and-a-half week tour, traversing much of these United States and Toronto. After a few weeks of intensive practice in West Philly, joined by front of house sound engineer Chris “Doc Bag” Baglivo and tour manager Oliver “Carlor” Bunyaner, they were off. I tagged along for a few dates at the top of the tour—Brooklyn to Philly to Boston to Philly again (what did you expect?) to Baltimore and D.C. I had a blast; they even invited me on stage for our last show together to play the vibraslap.

But the tour was a gamble. Would people still want to see a band who hadn’t played in 10 years? A string of sold out shows to screaming along crowds answered a resounding “YES.” Ten years later, they finally played the stage they built.