Emo, post-grunge, dirt rock, or whatever crass way you specifically describe the genre, the touring trio of Balance and Composure, Seahaven, and Creepoid brought it to the Paradise Thursday night as one of their final stops on a North American tour. Despite the abolition of my fake nose ring persona long ago, song after song of canned angst brought me back to the emotional roller coaster that I rode in circles around my freshman and sophomore years of high school. With that said, the night had a similarly up-and-down fluctuation.

And I guess I’ll start off by identifying the peak: Creepoid. The four-piece from Philadelphia opened the show and, in my opinion, should have closed it too. From their easily followed songs to their extremely conversational demeanor, Creepoid was the type of nice-but-badass club that I longed to be a part of.

Tracks off of last spring’s full-lengths Wet and CREEPOID accurately showcased the fruits of the group’s most recent labor as well as their accessibly punk style. And I guess “accessibly punk,” refers to the amount of opportunities Creepoid gave me and my powder blue collared shirt to “fit in.”

Even the group’s more intense tracks, like “Blurry Slumber,” had strong underlying melody for the more straight-laced folks present, and Anna Troxell [bassist] couldn’t have been more adorable at segwaying from how cold Bostonian weather is to the fact that sweatshirts were available at the merch table. She also shredded harder on bass than my mom does on used coupon books. Trust me, that’s a pinnacle.

After Creepoid, Seahaven was welcomed to the stage by a sufficient crowd of fan-girls, which wasn’t shocking given their half-baked-but-sort-of-suave stage presence. Truth be told though, if I’m up-keeping this parallel between the show and my time as a choker-wearing emo, this set was definitely the distraught duration where I sat in a corner and whined over my broken skateboard. In less contrived terms: I wasn’t a huge fan.

Despite my immense appreciation for the Los Angeles five-piece’s newest album Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only, I never quite got over the harsh, forced way that Kyle Soto’s voice came across. It was also supported by an almost perfectly in-tune chorus of eclectic attendees, which begged the question “Who should my eardrums be hanging out with right now?” In the coastal songwriter’s defense though, his mic was up too high for comfort. Oh! And I’m also a prick. That too.

High frequencies aside, the playing was both prime and characteristic of Seahaven’s West-coast style. Powerhouse tracks off of the group’s 2011 album Winter Forever, such as “It’s Over” and “Black & White,” satisfied the amateur crowd-surfers present, and a beautifully nostalgic-sounding “Silhouette (Latin Skin)” was enough to induce the goosebumps that I had been waiting for.

After these peaks, valleys, and tepid plateaus of opinion, Balance and Composure closed the ride. The lights dimmed dramatically as the band took the stage, and although I couldn’t see the newly dense crowd behind me, I could certainly feel and hear its tatted-up presence.

“I love you Jon!”

“Fuck yeah!”

*spills beer*

“Sorry man.”

“Fuck you!”

And as disappointed as I was to hear the charming overture end, Balance and Composure’s set was incredibly escapist: my favorite kind of “-ist.” Catching a case of my own ninth-grade self was inevitable, for the Doylestown-born grunge band delivered the emo-inspired concert that I had never gotten to receive. The group pounded out tracks from both last year’s The Things We Think We’re Missing and 2011’s Seperation, with some of the crowd favorites being “Tiny Raindrop”, “Back of Your Head” and “Enemy.”

The relatively clear stage almost replicated a typical “battle of the bands” setup with plenty of space for thrashing and ambiguously questioning ex-girlfriends. However, Jon Simmons [lead vocals, guitar] seemed far from a small-town newbie, living up to the group’s name throughout the entire set. The playing was clean and the periods of screamo were, unexpectedly, even cleaner.

Although the five-piece never got around to doing any acoustic stuff, a well received “More to Me” certainly filled the crowd’s I’ve-just-got-so-many-problems void. Simmons introduced the song by giving sage relationship advice that I unfortunately don’t remember since I’m more of the single-cell-organism type. Most people near me closed their eyes as the whole room reiterated “There’s more to me than I have yet to find.”

It was like we had all been simultaneously dumped, and the only prescription was whatever interpretive dance the wobbly girl next to me was doing: group therapy at its finest. Following a two-song encore, Simmons even went on an emotional rant regarding his love for Boston: “This has really been a great night that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Considering the music, the banter, and an appearance from my former, emo self, I think I’ll remember it too [ends weird roller-coaster-youth metaphor].

Scribscrubz is a feature where we capture your favorite local and national acts by putting pen to paper. If you see a hand furiously sketching in a crowd, that might be us, come say hi (we’re nice, I think!). If you’re interested in more artwork from Louis, check out the Squishy Sandwich Art Facebook Page.