Concert Review: Trifle Tower, Dark Forces at the Jackpot

Saturday’s matinee punk bill at the Jackpot was a sorely underattended show. If one counted band members and bar employees as part of the crowd, there was at most people 30 people at the Jackpot. Everyone there got a good, if slightly short show from Texas bands Trifle Tower and Dark Forces. It was the sort of show where everyone in attendance could fit on the Jackpot’s front porch—and did, actually. If I’d not popped out front with everyone in between bands, I’d’ve been sitting alone at the bar.

Both bands played variations on the post-hardcore sound. They had a lot in common sonically with bands like Fugazi or—more contemporarilly—Hot Water Music. The two takes on the post-hardcore genre were similar enough to make the bands a good fit together as a touring unit, but dissimilar enough to not feel as if you were listening to the same band twice. You’d’ve been forgiven a bit of confusion, however, as both acts shared a drummer.

Dark Forces had that Hot Water Music melodic background, but the vocals were somewhere in between crust punk and old time hardcore. Their lead singer hopped off the stage after the first song. He spent the rest of the set pacing back and forth in front of the stage, down with the sparse but enthusiastic crowd. The guitarist and bassist shared a mic while they provided equally enthusiastic backing vocals.

Trifle Tower sounded a lot like Song of Zarathustra, and could have easily been playing with someone like Season to Risk as Dark Forces. Their two-guitar attack allowed for a fuller sound, and it seemed like the band was attacking their instruments as they played them, and the vocals were delivered as shouts, more than they were sung. I was pretty much taken aback, as the band sounded nothing like the songs I’d heard from them online. Live, the band is a totally different act than MySpace would suggest.

Much was the same with both acts, really. I’d nearly stayed home, as it seemed like both acts would be all “bleargh! rawr!” crust punk. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, as Joel and the rest of the guys at Punks On the Prairie book pretty much everything under the banner of punk, not just the usual suspects.