About

It's Not a Phase

Emo Night South Africa was built on the idea of, “What if when we went out, we got to listen to the music we love?”

Starting from a mutual obsession with The All-American Rejects between founders Cassandra Roxburgh and Dominique Lea in 2016, Emo Night hosted its first small but passionate gathering above a karaoke bar in Cape Town’s infamous Long Street.

“We expected to sell 50 tickets,” explains Roxburgh. “Instead, we ended up with a sold out room and people screaming their heads off to Welcome To The Black Parade, which was being played off a laptop.”

From there, Emo Night threw itself into hosting regular events, with Roxburgh developing a DJing style that could only be described as the frontman of a rock band.

“I was inspired by Rou Reynolds of Enter: Shikari, Francois van Coke of Fokofpolisiekar, and Jason Aalon Butler of Letlive. They were kinetic; high energy and brash confidence. I thought that if I inhabited that persona when I got onstage, it would help me overcome the anxiety I felt being perceived by so many people, especially before I transitioned. Eventually, that’s just who I became.”

Following in the footsteps of its western predecessors Emo Nite LA and Emo Night Brooklyn, Emo Night South Africa adopted an ethos of scrappy, fan-first community building and translated it into an African context.

“Blending what was popular internationally with the experiences of South Africa’s alternative community is what has helped us stay engaging for our audience,” Roxburgh explains. “We don’t just look at emo as a genre; it’s a mutable culture, which is why you’ll find a lot of nu-metal and metalcore at our shows. These are significant genres in South Africa and we owe that to the availability of Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and Rock Sound, which helped form the alternative music scene in the 90s and early 2000s.”

In Cape Town, where club events struggle to survive for more than five years, Emo Night South Africa has persevered for a decade – through the pandemic, the rise and fall and rise (again) of emo in the zeitgeist, and even Roxburgh’s own transition at 24 years old.

It is undeniable that the reason for Emo Night South Africa’s persistence is the fans. Whether it’s screaming the lyrics to beloved third wave hits like Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy or That’s What You Get by Paramore, or moshing to local bands like Cape Riot and Heartmachine, the energy of the fans is what makes Emo Night such an electrifying experience. It is this group of regulars that Emo Night South Africa dedicates their existence to, without whom the event and the culture of emo would not exist in South Africa as it does today.