(Post) A Show For Lovers...

The story of our show Sept 3rd 2026.
I actually was not planning on making a post for this one believe it or not!

I have to prepare for a work trip abroad which I leave for tomorrow and haven't packed yet...

I was thinking I wouldn't be able to find the time. But I definitely want to write about this as it was a beautiful moment in time. So here is me giving a try at writing something in a day which I never have done before...

Usually I like to write these things sorta chronologically so I will start with that. It all begins at the start of this August at New Friends Fest in toronto. But to be honest it starts a long time before that. Now, I have been a fan of emotional hardcore since I started high school around the 2015-2016 mark (ik I'm an unc HAHA). Around this time emo was not really popular, although there are some banger releases in the late 2010s, there wasn't really a scene for it especially in the small town I grew up. This led me to discover 90s emo and the early 2000s screamo and midwest emo just kinda by myself in solitude. I became pretty obsessed, it was just the perfect genre of music for me growing up with 90s grunge and alternative and wanting something more sincere and complex musically. As I grew up with this music in my ears I developed a taste for the more post-rock inspired projects (found a lot in Canadian emo btw). There was only a handful of artists in this space that I was able to find but the builds leading to emotional peaks was just my perfect niche and largely did not exist anywhere anymore (especially in the canadian scene where we used to have a lot of it). You see this trend with a lot of the bands that inspire me. I've learned to drive at this point and now I start screaming songs on my way to work and driving to and from my LDR in Kitchener (shout out bea for being a crucial part of my emoification <3). Before this point I was too afraid to frontman or even take the stage, let alone sing. I never had any dreams or aspirations for this as I thought it would never be possible for me. In fact I wasn't even playing music at the time outside of the school band. I was a shit guitar player and terrible on stage and afraid all the time. But man I needed more of this music to exist. The way I was able to feel seen by the songs and scream my heart out and feel understood. Being a depressed teen and not being able to turn off voices of self hatred and perfectionism, I felt something rise from me that was free of all that when I listened to my favourite emo songs. A will to live and a will to survive. I needed to make emo music (the canadian way haha with builds and singing and screaming when the drive is turned on). And so I did. Showed my brother everything (he ofc fucked with it) and well, fast forward and now we are an emo band. All this to say this silly little emo stuff is a serious thing for me. It is definitely not a phase XD. So when I found out there was an emo festival in Toronto, I had to go, I knew every band on the bill (and when I found out about the fest fucking Newfound Interest In Connecticut was playing XD). I started going when moridori was still new (around 2023). After my first year going, it became a dream for moridori to play. My first and second years I was too scared to really talk to anyone, I often think who would want to listen to me shill my band, like who the fuck cares, and we don't even have an album. NFF 2026 I vowed to change that LOL, muster up some confidence and tell people we exist and actually let people know Ottawa is a place with an emo scene, one that we we're building. NFF 2026 was special; we do a trip with all my friends around this time and it just so lined up that all the homies were going to this. Most not emo fans but they were going anyway XD. It was amazing to bring my friends into my world and tell them everything I knew about the bands and make guesses on which ones they might like based on their personalities. And well, just have fun in a mosh pit listening to my fav songs and pushing my friends around...

Anyway I had a mission, and thanks to UFO we locked in and made a connect with an older emo band from Ottawa called Ultra Love (which I had no visibility on up until their show). They took to us very kindly, they were awesome people super open to helping us get our start into more emo scenes. They told us they had another show in Ottawa and initially asked if we were able to play it LOL, but it was too short notice. If I was going to play with this band I wanted to bring it. Their show was at this place called Le Spot, so we decided to show up. It is a tall garage owned by a collective of people that have it open as a rehearsal space and venue. It was an awesome show and I remember meeting a lot of people and being so happy there was a DIY place like this near Ottawa. As a lot of people know we have been trying to build our own DIY community here in Ottawa, so it was nice to see that we weren't alone. I talked to some of the owners briefly about wanting advice for building my own community. We also made a couple new friends, kicked off from conversations of the band shirts we were wearing. We left inspired and hopeful for the future of DIY in Ottawa, expressing our plans on how we could connect our like-minded communities.

Turns out Ultra Love made good on their intentions and put in a good word for us with a couple bands on tour coming through Ottawa. Those being Body Nest and Boxcutter. They were coming through Ottawa as a stop on their tour and we were being contacted to be on the bill now for Sept 3rd at Le Spot. Once we got confirmed for the show it became a big deal for me. I instantly went to work, deciding on a vibe, making a website (which I only do when I am motivated enough lol, takes me a while to build these) and making posters. From around August 10th to right before the show date me and my brother were practicing every day after work to lock in the most banger set list we could muster. This was a big deal. It was our chance to enter into the larger Ontario emo scene and we were going to show up for Ottawa and ourselves as a legitimate powerhouse for the scene. These bands were ones I have followed already and am a fan of. I am pretty serious when it comes to local bands and as previously discussed Canadian emo. Out of anyone involved this show was most important to moridori. We were coming off the back of our April 25th show which had a positive turn out and was a powerful example of the strength of our community and how we can all come together and survive and overcome trauma. This show was going to be even better and we were going to represent well what we fight for. With the help of facesucker doing our management now (because 1. I hate using social media and 2. mustering up the energy to reach out/dm people on a regular basis is hard for me), we organized and prepared for a show that was going to be our best yet. Many hours went into this, many fights between me and my brother trying to get over our low emotional states through a gloomy August, blood spilt over drums and guitars as proof we could bring the raw emotion required for our songs. We persevered.

It is Wednesday Sept 2nd and I finally feel the nerves. I know I have something to prove, I know I can bring it, but will I be able to do it when it counts... I breathe in the last of the summer air and look up at the clouds... This stupid music shit is the only thing I truly want to do... The only thing that I can tell people about when they want to know about me... I am a fucking emo god dammit... Tomorrow we usher in an Emo Fall so all lonely voices will be heard. I head to my new house with my girlfriend and begin the unpacking process I have been dragging my feet on because of the prep for this show, someone has to clean all the dust from the bottom of the fridge XD...

It's 8:30pm and I get a message from facesucker we have been cut from the bill. This doesn't make sense to me, like what? My brother is already on his way to my new place and I don't even know what is going on. What could possibly have happened and why?

The drama

First off, I fucking hate drama and people's obsession with it. I rather we just leave each other alone and if someone does have a problem come talk to me like an adult about it. My contact info has been on this webpage since we started. But social media breeds this kind of reactionary, childish, and inhuman environment, which is why we did not have instagram for years when we first started. Why get Instagram now? Well it's how people communicate. We would not be getting shows with other bands if not for Instagram, especially since we are newcomers to the Canadian music scene already and don't have established connects. Instagram is how we were able to coordinate this show, for instance. And well, where does the drama happen? Fucking Instagram. The community-killer, the bucket for all the crabs...

One of the owners of Le Spot contacts us with a poorly screencapped message sent to them about us being misogynists. The message is from a person saying "I'd prefer to stay anonymous". And that they wanted to warn Le Spot that "one of the bands playing this weekend is notoriously very controversial in the scene", that we are "notoriously misogynistic". They use a facebook post from Avant Garde that is from a year ago. Alexi, the bar owner, is problematic in his own right in regards to creating an inclusive environment at his bar. But aside from that, the issue they treat as an example of our wrongdoing is him making baseless public claims about our band, on you guessed it social media, this time facebook. Now to this day I have no idea why Alexi has beef with us as he never explained it to us personally and tbh I don't care. He is a grumpy man that hates when people dance or mosh too much and threatens to kick people out all the time for no reason. A bad venue for an outfit like us. The reason he's posted on facebook about us in the first place isn't even our beef, it is following a member of another band crashing out and sending him a threatening letter and us getting caught in the crossfire of that crashout.



The fact baseless claims are stacking on baseless claims here is downright annoying. Like I make it very clear in my message a year ago to Alexi. The only result here is that we don't want anything to do with him and his bar, and he can leave us alone and I prefer it would stay that way. There is no talking sense with this guy IMO. Now back to Le Spot. They take these claims at face value. They address my female manager (they know irl btw) directly saying they will not tolerate misogynistic bullshit and "morodori" (XD) is off the bill. Look, keep in mind this is the night before the show, it's a lot of stress for everyone. Le Spot refuses to hear us out after I explain to them my understanding of the difficulties of the situation and how much this show mattered to us (which you readers are aware of <3). To be fair to them they were willing to talk after the show but that was just not going to fly considering how much we put into this event (not to mention all the people we personally invited). So I double-checked if we were 100% off the bill, and he dismissively told me he is in his late 30s and a carpenter and does not have time for this bullshit.

This will be the last time I will talk about Le Spot here. But I will make it clear that we don't want to be haters. Although, I will call out shitty and unjust behavior when I see it. It is better to focus on the future and what is actually the best outcome for everyone (this is often called "being an adult" about things). While it is fun to be "us vs. the world" especially when you feel like you were wronged, this just divides us more against the real tyranny we face that does actual harm against us. Landlords exist, child-raping billionaires are still free, our politicians are criminals, our freedom is under attack and the most vulnerable of our society are being slowly and invisibly killed. We have reached out to Le Spot to make amends, but the ball is in their court at this point in time to meet us halfway.

What it takes to fight

This was a huge hit to everything we stand for. Being misrepresented not only in the Ottawa scene but also to bands that make the same music as us. In a scene we should belong to with open arms, because we are just like them. Caused by one anonymous hater intentionally misrepresenting us, and the speed at which their claims were taken as fact. Moridori has never engaged in misogyny or whichever tyrannical behaviour is popular this month. I have said this one hundred times; but I will let my art speak for itself, if you are reading this I know I am likely preaching to the choir. But, if you don't care about what we actually put out into the world, you should not care to have an opinion at all.

This kind of behaviour is the status quo at work. A post-truth era built to hide the actual truth of what's going on. 90% of tyrants are overt about it and the 10% that hide it are in your scene already! We are actually part of a counter-culture. The status quo is suffocating and abusive to us. We cannot live in a world where this "status quo" persists. So we must fight.

Now this news made me fucking devastated. Not asking for any kind of sympathy here as we overcame it, but ngl this made me suicidal. How could everything I put out in this world, fighting authority and tyrants my entire life, be reduced to this? A false post-truth narrative. Does my voice matter? What is the point of everything I do, the mantle I have taken, if it loses out to lies this easily? But like I said you must try to fight. We are fed up and we are angry about this type of thing persisting and we are so very tired of feeling like this.

It takes community to fight, we could not have done this alone. We are in a privileged position to have close friends around to back us. The day of, we got the homies together (largely introverts and people that don't care for all this bullshit) to lock in and decide together that we would still be playing Sept 3rd. In our rented garage. We all had to lock in, moving equipment from the basement together and clearing out space in the garage. This began in the afternoon on show day XD. I want to pause to say now, thank you to my best friends, Brett, Scott, Bung, Braden, Aido for making this show happen and backing us up during a dark time where all hope seemed lost. Moving on though, we had a lot to set up. Thank you to my gf bea for helping decorate and for your love and support as always, god bless Snow for helping prepare the stage and literally everything you do (bro also helped with promo all ya'll that liked the uma poster well you have Snow to thank HAHAHA), thank you to Scott and Snow for doing doors (which a lot of ya'll paid TY, all funds went to them dw XD, legends), thank you Pict0 for helping us with door knocks and set up, facesucker for bringing posters and Em for helping with decorations, and everyone that came early for moral support. I also want to shout out those who reached out to show support during the time we made our IG post saying we were moving venues. This moment in time was a very dark moment and I needed those words the most to keep me going and fighting. A lot of you messaged with support saying you were standing with us even when you couldn't make the show. To see the confidence in standing by us in a world where that is so hard to do now, meant more than anything. Like seriously the positivity and support were powerful, you know who you are and thank you so much. And last but not least, thanks to UFO for filming, bro is legit documenting counter-culture. Without bro this stuff is not remembered so I am glad it can be saved digitally, and importantly my grandparents can see it from the comfort of their own homes!

It hits 8:00pm (doors), we already have people arriving, the clock keeps ticking and more and more people are coming. The support and positivity in the air was insane. I have some of the best conversations i've had all year with strangers and friends alike. My nerves were insane before the show but it all washed away. It's just us playing. I pick up my guitar, tune, and call people inside. We had to get the garage door closed due to how loud it was when the door was open (which I thought would not be an issue lol). And people keep coming in, more people come to the front, everyone is right there arms-length and smiling. It got so packed in that garage, but this was the show for lovers after all lol. I feel the first time in a very long time raw and pure joy, I'm tearing up from the feeling but I hope everyone there felt it too. This was the movement and this was the moment. We had more people than Le Spot's capacity in that garage. It was time to play the best show of my fucking life.

The set

Here I usually go over other bands that play and I do actually like doing that. But this time it was just us. Opening and closing is legit a kinda swag feeling. I hate waiting to play and I hate being exhausted when there are other acts to come.

This was one of my favourite sets we have ever done. Personally this one was big for me. We did not change any songs from what we planned to play at Le Spot funny enough, yet somehow it fit a show like this even better.

1. Glass Doll Metaphor (used to be called Epilogue). This song is a brutal one to play stamina-wise, I lose my voice around second verse. This song is about being unable to ask for help and express your feelings properly, leading to dissociation and hopelessness in your own life. But in shattering, faced with an end, not losing sight of what you love and not giving up. It's being faced with brutality and not losing hope basically. Haha what a fitting opener.

2. Future of a letterbomber (or future as a letterbomber, I switch up a lot). I explain this one in the show vid lol, may I remind everyone we did not alter the set list XD. I fucking love this song, it's just about the fight. Sometimes the fight is inspiring and lately we have to fight more and more. May as well claim we "will never be marionettes" and just fucking fight back. Been singing this one for legit years. We gotta arm ourselves with the weapons and words necessary atp, stay ten toes.

3. Definitions (called this "angry man" during the vid lol sorry mind was fried XD). Explained this one briefly during the show vid but it's about outbursts of anger being a valid form of emotional expression, the same as crying. Anger is often seen as a more ugly emotion when compared to crying. But, more often than not, especially with a well-intentioned person they don't want to harm anyone but maybe themselves. This is my song to let those angry criers out there know you're not alone. My tears are screaming and fists in walls sometimes, the fear response people have just validates my own self-hatred in the moment. I am a man and this is about my personal experience here but this also applies to the girlies too (dw I see ya'll, hmu for demolition opportunities XD). Your worst moments do not define you, try to do good whenever possible, but it's valid to respond to a hurting soul (just make amends and take responsibility when you are clear of mind and hopefully those around you understand the struggle).

4. Roots Of My Heart. This one was written by both my brother and I. It's about the struggle of real trauma and victimization. But a promise to fight back and never be a victim. There is evil out there, people obsessed with power that will take advantage of you given the opportunity. We have lost humanity in our culture and the byproduct is that you will be used for everything you got---by people you have no choice but to associate with, or people who have manipulated you into thinking they are something they are not. Lying is a measure of success in this world btw, so the tyrants inherit the earth. People will use the words of real victims to victimize you, and ultimately at the cost of real victims not being believed. People will manipulate you until you are drained of all your motivation, throwing you under the bus along the way so it's impossible for you to recover. This time I promise, there will be blood. I am not a victim and will never let that define me. You will reap what you sow as all my life I have fought the god that you pray to. Your worldview is fundamentally broken, step aside.

5. Burn. Poetic to close with this song. It came after we left a scene full of clout-chasing, self-obsessed, sex-obsessed, "popular" kids. This song is about standing up and fighting even to an end that seems hopeless but is brighter than any future imposed upon you. When you take up a mantle and actually fight for something, people will try to mutilate and hurt you just to stop you. Come try and stop us, as my ending lyric goes, and the sentence that has defined my life for a long time now: "burn my wings, and lift this weight from me". No matter how hard you try we will be here stronger than we ever have. We don't need the beauty or the flight, we will make it happen with everything we fucking got. A lot of you I have found over the years have this fire in you. I hope we can all find the same meaning in this and push onward towards a hopeful future despite everything that is in our way. Never give up, and recognize that throughout the journey you have only gotten stronger and better. I throw my guitar into the crowd and jump onto my friend Simon. I am lifted to the ceiling, one I could not reach by jumping from the floor (trust me I tried before). Earning me my Harrison Bergeron (the band) moment; reaching a place I never have before. I love you all, thank you so much.





Post-emotional hardcore

Best set of my life.

I said this the whole night but:

Community saves lives

This is all I the words I am left with. Thank you everyone who showed up. This was needed and meant the world. I see all of you and I love all of you. This saved my fucking life. This music is my life and to see the support like this was beautiful. Without this kind of support I would have stopped fighting a long time ago, but because everyones will not to give up I can find it in myself not to and I hope I can give that right back. Death to the status quo we will not stand for abuse, injustice and lies. We form a alternative way where we can make our own processes, that although cobbled together and not perfect, it is a community we can actually see ourselves surviving in. It takes everyone to foster a safe, welcoming, kind and forgiving atmosphere. So thank you to everyone that is here, part of this community and movement wherever you are and fights for a better world. Even if you can't make shows, you are felt and your support and input and voice matters. If I can inspire those of you who were silenced, those of you who are scared, those of you who are quiet to find your voice or find it again, I can die happy. This is what DIY actually is. It's counter culture. A community for lovers...

Join thirdculture when you get a moment, the sign up can be found here: hi hi its misaki!!! :3. I swear to god I am almost done as soon as I get a moment to breathe the manifesto will be done and I can be a more open secret.

The war path

Well the fight seems just not to end, as a reminder of who the real bad guys are. Our landlord threatens us with eviction the day after the show (which is harassment btw XD). Not for putting on the show (which would be just as unjust). But because his gardener who comes to our property without notice (and seems only capable of knocking on our door when he needs gas from us) sends a picture of the ride on mower blocked by a few tires to the landlord. Which we planned on moving that friday after the lot of us were home from work. Our landlord being the child with a god complex that most landlords are crashes out and threatens us with eviction and we lose access to the garage. We got this new place in total disrepair and it will be demolished in 3 years for this landlord to build more property on the land when the market is better. He said he will rent to us under the condition he doesn't have to fix or do anything with the property. We took this on and started building a temporary home taking him at his word. Renovating the place to actually be livable for 7 people. Never asked him for nothing but his guys still come here without notice causing problems for everyone and he is too much of a child to actually deal with any kind of responsibility for not following a simple bylaw. Landlords are evil and scum of the earth, this kind of behavior should be punished and not allowed. Culture wars distract us from the real harm we face everyday, leaving us no recourse to meaningfully fight such tyrannical oppression.

I have dreams of some day owning a home, I have dreams of some day owning a bar and venue space. Ownership is a privilege not often afforded to many people anymore. Just know if I ever find myself with such privilege I promise to use it right, to give that privilege back to everyone unable to have such privilege. Which will be a whole lot of us. Fuck the haters and fuck the tyrants I will build it myself. While the rich grow dumb and incompetent, we will grow strong, capable and powerful.

It's a hard path forward but it's the right one. We must all work together to stand for and build the change we need and the change we want to see. No longer can you count on those above you we must work together with those us with the same lot as us. Thanks for proving this is possible Sept 3rd 2026.

The good news haha #swag

Much more to come. But as for right now:

We have a show as our second project naming angels and a bunch more friends of third culture Pomelo Soda and 7innings. Like actually, our community is banding together and doing an event Oct 9th at Parkdale Park. Be there if able it is with what is your name..., literally the best band in Canada rn imo (still unbelievable mizly got this like wtf). Thank you so much mizly for setting this up and scoring a show with the GOAT of niche swag shoegaze music XD. See you all there look forward for us putting all we got in a 4 song (maybe 5) set with our post-emotional hardcore gang naming angels. A band about fighting hopelessness and seeing and "naming" the beauty in the wonderful everyday. More info can be found about the show at the Pomelo Soda Instagram rn but expect crazy promo soon as we always do.

Oct 9th, be there. Third culture on the map. Oh god and I got a work trip, dw I'll represent canada well ahh lock in lock in lock in, ily and goodbye stay true and stay counter culture. We can build something better, Sept 3rd is proof of that. See you all soon!