H2O

H2O is a band that had beginnings like any other band. No one could have guessed that a few guys and a former roadie from New York would start a band as a one-song side project and it would turn into a world-touring powerhouse. They took humble roots and worked their way to add their chapter to the long history of New York Hardcore and they would define the term “melodic hardcore” that would become so common years later. From 1996 to 2003 was unavoidable- four albums on Blackout!, Epitaph, and MCA records with over 300,000 copies sold, constant world touring with the likes of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rancid, AFI, Pennywise, & the Used, Sick Of It All, the Misfits, 7 Seconds, and Madball, as well as runs on the Warped Tour-they established themselves as a household name and inspired countless others in their wake. In the pre-internet world of hardcore and punk, H2O was the band that blended the heavily-tattooed, unbridled rage of New York bands like the Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front, with the punk melodies of bands like the Descendents and Token Entry. It’s hard to argue that bands a decade later would take the melodic hardcore groundwork laid by H2O to wider audiences.