Events

For as much as the world has changed since Real Friends first emerged in 2010, the band’s mission hasn’t. The Illinois quintet continue to bleed without apology and write songs that make it okay to feel everything: the ups, the downs, and anything else in between. Rather than shy away from emotion, the group run right towards it with distortion cranked and hearts opened, tightening their careful distillation of pop and punk on each subsequent release.

When the band—Dave Knox [lead guitar], Kyle Fasel [bass], Eric Haines [rhythm guitar], and Brian Blake [drums]—welcomed new vocalist Cody Muraro in 2020, the goal stayed the same as they crafted new music for Pure Noise Records. In 2021 they released “Torn in Two” to a nothing but positive response from fans. In 2022 the band is set to release more new music. 

Formed in 2012 by high school friends, With Confidence made a name for themselves in their hometown of Sydney, Australia with two highly esteemed self-released EPs that led to a Hopeless Records deal in 2015.  Three successful full length albums and 200 million Spotify streams later, With Confidence have established themselves as an international touring band running over 200 shows across the world to North America, UK & Europe, SE Asia & Japan and Australia alongside artists such as 5 Seconds of Summer and State Champs. Most recently, With Confidence shared the stage with their best friends in Stand Atlantic across the US and Australia and now they are gearing up to hit the studio to follow up their critically acclaimed self-titled third studio album.

Growing up in the early 90’s & 2000’s pop punk/ pop rock scene, for Taylor Acorn it was never a phase. Hailing from the small North Central Pennsylvania town of Wellsboro, Taylor had always dreamed of a career in music and in 2014, dropped out of Kutztown University to pursue just that, setting her sights for Nashville in 2017.
 

She first left her mark in the country music world with her 2017 single “Put It In a Song” followed up by an EP she wrote solely on her own, which now garners nearly 50 Million streams, releasing several singles to follow. However, she never felt at home creating country music and in the midst of the 2020 pandemic went back to her pop punk roots with her cover of “Jamie All Over” on Tik Tok, sparking the attention of many elder emo fans as well as Mayday Parade themselves. 

Since then, she has gained the attention of many emo/pop punk bands with her newly rendered versions of their songs. Covers aren’t the only thing that’s been grasping the attention of fans though. With her infectiously relatable releases of “Do That Again”, “In My Head” and “Shapeshifting”, Taylor is now leaving her own footprint in the pop punk community giving her fans a place to feel safe and to feel heard, by tackling tough subjects such as mental health by sharing her own personal struggles. She wants to give her listeners a space where they can feel free and vulnerable, a place where healing is accepted no matter who you are or where you’ve come from.