With the golden age of “scene bands” now firmly in the rear-view mirror, emo’s mid-2000 era is now mostly remembered for its penchant for sharply angled hair and similarly incisive grooves — the bombastic danger of My Chemical Romance, the spiteful bloodletting of Taking Back Sunday, the wry, doomy wordplay of Fall Out Boy. But beyond the overdriven guitars and angsty post-hardcore howling was a wave of cooler-headed kids armed with a weapon of their own: the piano. Inspired by the bright brashness of outfits like Something Corporate, the eight bands below plied their own brand of joyful noise on the same stages as their grumpier counterparts, you just may not remember them.

Mêlée

Debuting on Sub City, the charitable arm of scene stalwarts Hopeless Records, piano rockers Mêlée made the jump to major label Warner Bros. for 2007’s Devils & Angels. Despite a stint on the Warped Tour and appearances at large festivals like Bamboozle, Mêlée never quite managed to break through in the US. Abroad, though, they found a great deal of success, scoring a No. 1 single in Japan with “Built To Last,” a fact singer Chris Cron recently detailed on an episode of NBC’s The Voice. He sang well, but couldn’t convince the judges to turn their chairs — something Cron is no doubt used to by now.