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Jacob Banda sings and dances in the middle of a circle at the Brass Monkey during emo night.

Jessica Felix (left) sings while enjoying emo night at Brass Monkey.

Alex Khoas dances in the middle of a circle at the Brass Monkey during emo night.

Emo night at Brass Monkey may be San Antonio's happiest gathering of angst-ridden souls dressed in black.

On recent Wednesday night at the club on the construction-plagued St. Mary's Strip, hundreds of young men in black hoodies and skinny jeans, and young women in black corsets and skirts danced and sang along to their favorite pop-punk songs from the early 2000s like a lock-in party at Hot Topic.

Through the swirl of lights and video screens around the dance floor, Jacob Banda bopped his jet-black hair and black T-shirt that read SAD AS (EXPLETIVE) as he swayed to the bubbly beats of Avril Lavigne. Then a woman with a silver "Birthday girl" sash and several of her friends commandeered the dance floor for the All Time Low song "Weightless." And when the club blasted emo anthems, such as the All-American Rejects' "Gives You Hell" and Blink-182's "Dammit," the crowd sang louder than what screamed out from the speakers.

As the TikTok meme goes, it was never a phase. Emo, the shorthand term for the emotional, guitar-driven bedroom rock made famous in the days of MySpace and click-wheel iPods, still rocks a generation later.

And when it comes to the emo scene in San Antonio, SATX Emo Club (Facebook: @SATXEMOCLUB) leads the lifestyle with the city's first and longest-running emo night, which goes back to 2016 and runs most Wednesdays. SATX Emo Club celebrates its seventh anniversary Feb. 22 with another free night of emo fun at Brass Monkey.

People gather in a circle to dance and sing to their favorite emo songs during emo night at Brass Monkey on the St. Mary's Strip.

Emo has long been considered a music subculture for loners, those who just don't fit in with their heavy hearts and even heavier eyeliner. So why are so many fans of such introspective hard rock having so much fun on a weeknight in San Antonio at a club buried by roadwork?

“It’s family,” said Brass Monkey owner Mark Manuelle. “It’s like, when the music comes on, everybody knows the words, they sing along, and they sing louder than the song itself. It’s just amazing. There’s nothing like that.

"And emo night gives them a safe space to come in, hear the songs they love and release that emotion or whatever."

Manuelle has been DJing for more than 30 years and still spins his share of '80s, '90s and '00s music. He noted emo nights are by far the most fun despite the genre's navel-gazing stereotype.

"It's kind of like a joke," he said, "because there are some sad songs, and it gets into your emotions, and that's where the 'emo' comes from. But probably 90 percent of the songs have a message (that is) more uplifting or aggressive. It's like, hey, we're not going to just stand around and let someone pick on us."

And there's nothing like sharing that passion with kindred spirits.

Suzan Elkhalili (left) and Heather Williams sing while dancing to their favorite emo songs at the Brass Monkey during emo night.

"It's about the only time I come out to actually socialize," said Eris Garcia, whose long pink hair and rainbowlike top stood out in a river of black that flowed into the Brass Monkey ahead of its opening that Wednesday night.

"I'm very introverted," she said, "so coming out like this is also a good experience for me (to) experience new things, meet new people and just go all out."

Sarah Guerrero, a DJ with SATX Emo Club, has been going to emo nights since 2018. She said they make her feel like she's in a place where she's accepted.

"And then collectively coming to a venue where everybody is into it and we all look alike, it just gives that sense of comfort and belonging," she said. "Honestly, that was one of the main reasons I love going. So continuing to play this music ... and having new faces, it shows that we're still going strong in the community."

Fellow SATX Emo Club DJ Joshua Castro said emo has gotten heavier in recent years compared to its late '90s and early '00s origins. What started out as a brighter punk sound by the likes of All Time Low and Fall Out Boy gradually darkened with edgier acts such as My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Pierce the Veil and the Used.

My Chemical Romance remains one of the most popular emo bands.

The emo look, however, has pretty much stayed the same. Lots of black eyeliner, lots of flat black hair with sharp bangs and, of course, lots of black clothing.

Many of the first to grow up with the music now are adults who can enjoy all things emo both as nostalgia and a counterculture that, like comic books and Dungeons & Dragons, has become more mainstream.

Guerrero, who is in a master’s program to be a mental health counselor, said emo fans now are more likely to meet a fellow dark soul with pierced lips and sharp bangs at a job interview, as well as at the club.

“I think now it’s more accepted because a lot of the adults we come into (contact) with now had that style or something similar to it," she said. “So I think in that sense, society is becoming a bit more accepting and a bit more inclusive."

Castro noted he has a younger brother in school who takes after his emo style.

"In high school right now it’s more accepting," Castro said. "If anything, you’re emo now, you’re not getting picked on nowadays. You could be one of the popular kids and be emo."

And if emo night in the 2020s is about more acceptance, it’s also about more support.

"You know, we let them mosh," Manuelle said, referring to the slam dancing style. "And if someone falls, we pick them up. Everybody's looking out for each other. For their safety, for their well-being, physically and emotionally."

Emo night at Brass Monkey draws hundreds of fans of the pop-punk music just about every Wednesday night.

Which may be why sisters and San Antonio transplants Suzan and Alia Elkhalili have never felt more at home than at an emo night at Brass Monkey, which they've attended for roughly the past two years.

“We used to come when it was just the two of us,” Suzan said. “And now we’ve got a group of 15 people every Wednesday that we hang out with. It’s definitely the culture and the friendships and the music. Because we never grew out of it.”

Then, as if on cue, the sisters laughed as they shouted in unison: “It was never a phase.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly identify Jacob Banda.

René A. Guzman writes about geek and pop culture as well as consumer gadgets and technology. Before joining the Express-News in December 1998, the San Antonio native co-owned a college humor magazine named Bitter, for which he wrote, designed and edited, as well as distributed at various campuses and businesses citywide.