Mikey Frisby and Matt Traynor's high school jam sessions paid off. In 2004, the guitarist and drummer, respectively, formed blessthefall after graduating from school. Three years later, the "screamo" rockers secured a record deal and spot on the Vans Warped Tour with bands like Paramore, MxPx and Coheed and Cambria. blessthefall is currently working on the follow-up to their debut album, His Last Walk. We caught up with the Phoenix-bred band to talk about religion, going postal and their love for JT.

You recently found a new singer, Beau Bokan. Was he hard to find?

It was extremely hard. Not only were we looking for talent, but someone who had the perfect personality to match with ours. We searched for close to nine months, and were having doubts. But the key was to never give up and keep working hard. We found the perfect singer for our band, he is funny and weird just like us and has great talents to help us grow.

You've got a few hip hop inspired beats in your music, what else do you think separates you guys from the hordes of screamo bands out there?

We love the hip-hop beats, can't get enough of them. We give it our all when we hit the stage. Our energy explodes on stage so we can give the best performance possible. We never give up. There were plenty of times we could have just turned away and do something else with our time, but our situations have only made us stronger.

There are a lot of screamo and metalcore bands powered by Christian faith. Isn't rock supposed to be anything but that?

Rock can be whatever you make of it. I personally like it better when bands are faithful and don't live the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll life. I'm not into bands that sing about degrading women or smoking weed or any of that. We live our lives to the fullest, but keep out of all that garbage.

Do you ever feel you have to play down the religious aspect of your music?

We like what we do and don't plan on changing for anything. Bands have to stick to their roots. Change is good, but selling out is not.

You're working on your second album. Is there anything you would like to do that would be considered too 'out there' by your label or fans?

The next album will be a much more mature version of our last. We are very proud of what we have written so far.

In your video for "Rise Up," someone in an office snaps and breaks away from the other drones. Have any of you almost gone postal at a job?

I think we have all snapped while being in the band, things were not so peachy in the past. But we have been having so much fun lately, I can't see us going postal again anytime soon.

What would be your dream collaboration?

blessthefall and Justin Timberlake. You have his number? We would love to have him sing on a song! [Laughter.]

The Devil Wears Prada takes its name from the novel (and movie) about the catty world of high fashion, but the Ohio band says its name is meant to be taken literally: "When standing before God, he won't care about your sweet Prada scarf or Gucci shoes or whatever."

Fronted by vocalist Mike Hranica and Jeremy DePoyster (guitar, vocals) along with Chris Rubey (guitar), Andy Tricj (bass), James Baney (keyboards) and Daniel Williams (drums), The Devil Wears Prada is straight-up about being on a religious mission. During this year's Warped Tour, the band opened their shows by announcing it was Christian before unleashing a set of crunching riffs, galloping drums and gut-wrenching screams. "You’re supposed to tell everyone and not be ashamed to anyone," confirms Hranica.

With songs like Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over, Hey John, What's Your Name Again? and HTML Rulez D00d, The Devil Wears Prada has collected a loyal following on MySpace. But that online-fame could have set up the band to fail in person, according to frontman Hranica: "I kind of get scared, but we've just gotten big because of MySpace, and that doesn't really give us a good representation."

The Devil Wears Prada will drop a deluxe edition of their most latest album, Plagues, at the end of October before embarking on a U.S. tour.

See: myspace.com/tdwp

New Mexico quartet Brokencyde (aka BC 13) combines the club-ready beats of crunk with the blood-curdling screams of screamo and hardcore. The result? A high energy hybrid that makes the Fight For Your Right to Party-era Beastie Boys look tame. We chatted with the self-described "scene" boys – Se7en, Mikl, Phat J, Antz – and asked: WTF?

What's "scene"?

"Scene" is a state of mind. It's a lifestyle that revolves around music. It's a fashion sense. It contains the modern day punk rock rebelliousness. It is a standard of living that uses emotion an music to express each individual.

Why screamo and hip hop?

I've always thought that the type of music you make has a lot to do with where you come from and what you grew up around. We're four poor kids from Albuquerque, so I think that has a lot to do with what we do and what music we make. We grew up in the "scene" and always listened to that type of music, but we also love hip hop and rap. I feel it's pretty hard to compromise our sound.

It's no real secret as to what we are about. We are all about a good time, getting messed up and hangin' out with our homies. That's exactly what our music is about.

You're doing a great job of promoting yourselves on the Internet. Do you think the old school way of doing things, like having a record label, would have been easier?

It's crazy to think how much the Internet has changed the face of the music industry. We can make a lot of money making music now on our own than we would have ever been able to before.

It's a tricky situation, though. Because, even with all the stuff we do on our own, there are still things that we couldn't do without a label, like get our CDs into stores and getting us the type of mainstream publicity and promotion to get noticed by millions of people. We could stick this whole DIY (do it yourself) thing out, but I feel there's a limit and a ceiling you hit when you try and do that for the rest of your career.

So how is this new school way helping you?

I feel that the new way of doing things has actually helped our band thrive even more. It would have been pretty crazy and unheard of to try and release the kind of music we make 10 years ago. I don't know if it would have received the same kind of reaction we are getting today.

The great thing about what we do is that it's relatively cheap for us to do our jobs. For example, it used to take a band to record a song at least a couple days and a bunch of money for studio time. Now we can write, record on our laptops and throw a song on our MySpace within a few hours. I think our ability to use technology to our advantage is only going to help our career in the future.

You mix hip hop and screamo with glitzy electro fashion. What inspires your style?

I feel the music we listen to as well as the music we make has a huge effect on our fashion sense. It's all very high energy, "in your face" type stuff. Our music is loud, so the clothes we wear have to be loud as well. Bright and flashy. We are the Lil' Jons of "scene."

Which do you guys prefer, online life or real life?

Real life will always be better than a virtual experience. There's too many things you just can't do virtually. We will always go with the real thing.

Emo band Avella Ink is probably smiling – on the inside. Not yet two years old, the Mexicali, Mexico band has already been signed to Soundgüich records (Allison, Pastilla) and opened for U.S. goth-pop band Evanescence in México. (Considering emo kids are being openly attacked in Mexico City, that's no insignificant accomplishment.)

Comprised of Mike (vocals), Alexo (bass), Daniel (guitar), Chino (drums) y Marx (guitar), Avella Ink has attracted a devoted following with songs like Corre El Riesgo, a textbook screamo track with chunky guitar riffs, haunting piano lines and throaty screaming and "Cenizas," an acoustic ballad with sweet melodies and sweeping strings.

Avella Ink is putting the finishing touches on its debut album and is scheduled to appear on the first ever Warped Tour México this summer.

See: myspace.com/avellaink