The Triforce Festival, a one night showcase, gets underway this Saturday at the Vault in Milwaukee. The festival's name is a nod to the late 80s Nintendo game Legend of Zelda, and as dweebish as it sounds, lets face it, any night that involves throwing beer into your face and inconspicuously noodling an air guitar in the dark corner of a bar while a handful of bands blast through their sets will probably be a fun night. So, suck it up pickle head, set aside those plans you had Saturday night with your couch crying into a box of Cheez-Its, and head on down to the Vault.
The opening act, Dear Astronaut play the sort of tender, heavy strumming and eerie acoustic songs that often explode into a mire of tunelessly tuneful self-hatred and made Eric Gaffney's side of Sebadoh in the late 80s so great. Up next are Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Rapid Adapter who play more straightforward, guttural rock'n'roll that could easily slide back to the dawning of hardcore without making one noticeable skid mark. With the fuzz-drenched ethos of the nineties underground, their salvo of bass-driven and perfectly down-played vocal tracks bleed into their guitar clang like an open sore. And after squeezing 8 songs into their debut 7” EP, Live the Life, it's evident enough that their perforated hearts are in the right place. You can still pick it up directly from them right here.
Homostupids have undoubtedly made their mark so far just releasing a small number of singles over the past couple of years and playing with a sound that smashes hardcore into a tattered, arty wall. Going from life-squelching rackets to weird, almost ominously blown out noise that is heightened by ridiculous eruptions of bile-laced vocals that will have the squares shuddering harder than when they first heard their perfectly abrasive name, Homostupids.
The headliners, Truthdealer, are probably more into skipping bottle caps in beer puddles than John Locke's contribution to Epistemology as their name might imply, but who gives a squirt. They're a 3-piece hardcore act from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who play the sort of building punk songs with mobbish back-ups, and tense song breaks filled with on-edge vocals that will have you shaking your fists before you figure which suspenders to wear.
Masonry, Guzzlemug, and Head on Electric are also performing sets Saturday as part of the Triforce Festival.
