By Emma Weidmann | Editor-in-Chief
Pat Miranda of the alternative rock band Movements was anxious before taking the Honda stage at Austin City Limits.
On that blistering Saturday, the heat was warping the air and the dust of Zilker Park cast a haze over the crowd.
Though experienced performers, the band typically plays at rock festivals to audiences more accustomed to their heavy sound, Miranda said. He didn’t know what to expect from the ACL crowd. Would they be rock fans, or were they just biding time before seeing Dua Lipa or Chris Stapleton?
But something caught his eye immediately. One sign poking above a sea of neon mesh and cowboy hats read “No. 1 fan since ‘Chain Reaction,’” referencing a small rock venue in Anaheim, Calif.
“Immediately, my anxiety of ‘Does anybody care about us’ was gone,” Miranda said. “The fact that just one person, just one person in the crowd knew who we were and cared so much about us that they were willing to make a sign being like, ‘Hey, we’ve been fans from the beginning, and we’re here supporting you…’ Now I can focus on just doing my job and not worrying about, ‘Do they hate this?’”
The Southern California band made up of Miranda on vocals, Austin Cressey on bass, Ira George on guitar and Spencer York on drums played to a packed midday crowd the day after Blink-182 headlined on the same stage.
Miranda — arms covered in tattoos, healed-over gauge piercings in both ears — has been in the alternative rock scene for a while, and it all started in Orange County, Calif. in the age of emo.
“I think that at our cores, at the end of it all, we are emo kids,” Miranda said. “I’m always going to be an emo kid at heart… because I think emo music for a lot of us is maybe the first step that we take in our own music exploration because it’s accessible, it’s easy and it’s also so poignant to being a teenager, right?
Though it formed nearly 10 years ago, the band’s SoCal roots continue to inspire it. Though the area has a long history of rock music — giving way to the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and Mötley Crüe — it isn’t just one SoCal band that imposes influence on Movements. Rather, it’s the spirit of artistry, creativity and embracing of different walks of life that makes the area a “hotbed of extremely talented people,” Miranda said.
For more than a decade, Miranda was part of a punk subculture called straight edge, defined by their hardcore sound and rejection of alcohol and recreational drugs.
“There are so many legendary hardcore straight edge bands that have come from Orange County and who have all kind of been within that Chain Reaction scene and have had these really legendary moments that really drove me to be like, ‘Damn, I want to be a part of this,’” the lead singer said. “Because it didn’t just feel like a band playing a show. It was like you go to these shows and you are part of something bigger than yourself.”
In the crowd at ACL, the community created by Movements is larger than the sum of its parts. As Miranda goads a mosh pit into existence and plays on while long-haired, shirtless and sunburned fans crowd surf, something that goes beyond the headcount is created.
Songs like “Afraid To Die” and “I Hope You Choke!” whip the eyelinered listeners into a frenzy and swirl dust into the hot air. Miranda doesn’t believe Movements plays emo music anymore. He’s right; the sound is more defined and the emotions more reflective of adulthood than tortured adolescence. Modern as it is, there’s a metallic taste to the newer sound and maybe a sprinkling of Alice in Chains.
Nevertheless, the emo spirit is alive and well in the crowd.
It’s a mass catharsis, something only a hardcore band can do. Themes of mental health struggles and anger set to a driving bass, clashing drums and soaring vocals — it’s all there. That can seem dark or unapproachable to those unaccustomed to the genre, but it provides an emotional release unlike anything else. Though it can be angry and depressing, the music is far better characterized by its encouragement and understanding of the listener.
“We all deal with these emotions, but some of us are just more vocal about how we connect to them and what we’re going to do about them,” Miranda said. “I’ve been a victim of being crushed by those emotions, and it sucks. So why wouldn’t I want an outlet? Why wouldn’t I want to do that? And why wouldn’t I encourage other people, if they feel those ways, to also explore how to navigate them?”
Movements closed with “Daylily,” one of their most popular tracks, which gained traction for its ear-prickling vocal style and an eye-catching lyric in the chorus: “I think it’s time you had a pink cloud summer.”
“Pink cloud” is a euphemism known to many in recovery from addiction or eating disorders to describe the process of healing. Miranda said he firmly believes that healing is a series of ups and downs, but never a constant uphill with a set finish point. To have a “pink cloud summer” is to be constantly “aiming for the best possible version of yourself,” Miranda said.
From the intimate inspiration of My Chemical Romance and the spite-fueled push of Bring Me the Horizon, Movements has always pulled motivation from perseverance. Emo in a nutshell is Miranda’s guide to a “pink cloud summer”: keep your chin up and keep going.
“Even when you’re down, it’s gonna come back up at some point,” Miranda said. “It might take a long time, but hang in there and it’ll get better.”
