Senior Shane Moore remembers when he would spike up his hair in middle school. During quarantine, he found an interest in the dark characters and villains from shows and games.

“Just the aesthetic, it really fits me,” Moore said. “I really correlated to it more.”

He slowly began getting into the style, which he describes as ‘early 2000s’ emo, starting with changing up his hair and slowly adding accessories to outfits like chains. His shirts changed from bright colors to black and band tees.

He also started shopping at Spencer’s and Hot Topic, beginning to move more into the ‘emo’ style. Soon, he added makeup into his everyday routine, specifically eyeliner.

It wasn’t until around sophomore year that he began dressing emo. Even though his parents didn’t seem to mind, that wasn’t the reaction for everyone.

Moore heard what others had to say about his choice of style. Many laughed or called him weird, while others seemed to be scared of him.

But the more he began expressing himself, the less he cared about what others thought. To Moore, it was motivation to keep dressing the way he does.

“I’m very aware of what I’m listening to,” Moore said. “Because I eavesdrop a lot.”

He is also an avid drawer. A lot of his drawings consist of characters with long, slim limbs and big heads. The drawings, as Moore says, resemble the stereotypical ’emo’ drawings. Although he likes to sketch them, he can’t really sit down and draw. He considers his art more as doodles than actual full-on drawings.

He mentions that emo culture resides in its music. A way he embraces its culture is by listening to emo and metal music. Some bands he listens to are Pierce the Veil, Fall Out Boy and Motionless in White.

Along with his passion for music, he also has his own band. Although it just recently started, he has it figured out. In the band, Moore plays the drums, while his friend Senior Jonathan Kelley is the bassist, and his friend, Junior Brooke Moore, is the vocalist and second guitarist.

About three months ago, she began talking to Moore in ASL class, which was the beginning of a new friendship.

She has been interested in emo and alternative styles since she was a kid. She tends to take things from the different subcultures and put them all into one.

Brooke also listens to many emo bands herself, and she sees herself as emo in that aspect. What she didn’t expect was to join a band this year. During class, Moore asked if she could play guitar and sing, which led to the question about whether she would join his band.

“I went over to his house for the first time,” Brooke said. “He went downstairs, and started playing the drums super, super aggressively. I just didn’t expect it.”

The band is hard to manage at times, Moore says, but he hopes for it to be a long-term run. He’s still deciding on what to do in life, but he hopes to follow in his family’s footsteps and become a musician.

For his style, Moore wants to continue dressing like this for as it is one of the things that show his true colors.

“It’s a way to express myself…” Moore said. “It kind of shows off just really who I am inside.”