We Built this House Episode 2

On today’s episode of We Built This House, we take a deep dive into the legacy of Algernon Cadwallader—a band that didn’t just play music but helped build the foundation of the emo revival. Together, Peter Helmis, Joe Reinhart, Colin Mahony and Nick Tazza all join us starting from their roots as Halfway to Holland, tracing their journey through DIY basement shows, relentless touring, and a punk ethos that defined their sound.

We attempt to walk through every room of their brief yet important discography- from the raw foundation of their debut Some Kind of Cadwallader to the complex renovation of Parrot Flies and beyond. There’s a sort of Sisyphus-like struggle that comes with creating something meaningful from scratch, and if anyone in the revival knew how to do it, Algernon sure did. Without a doubt, the landscape of what we call emo today reaches back to their influence, and it’s all the better because of it.