It’s always been about guitar rock for Toni Heartless.
The vocalist for the New Mexico-based Heart Museum has always been into metal and punk, so much that he now organizes punk and metal shows, many of which feature his, along with his friends’ bands. It’s all in an effort to create and maintain a scene that spreads music of the louder rock variety, giving bands places to play and music lovers something great to hear.
If you go
WHAT: Metal and punk rock with Rez Bats, Bad Fix, Heart Museum, Oroku Saki, Treaty
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: The Swarm Venue at the Hive, 1175 Camino del Rio
TICKETS: $10 at door
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.thehivedgo.org
Heart Museum will perform Saturday at The Swarm, the sober, DIY and all ages concert venue inside the local youth space The Hive. Also performing are Oroku Saki, Treaty, Bad Fix and Rez Bats.
“It was always a loud rock thing that I dug, especially when I started to get into my rebellious phase,” Heartless said. “I was couch surfing at a pretty young age, and I met the punk scene through this. I just followed what everybody else was listening to at the time, we were all trading mp3s. I was just listening to everything I could get my hands on before the age of streaming.”
Heart Museum at times is a classic hardcore band, other times exhibiting sounds of crossover bands from the late 1980s. Left of the dial radio would file them under “loud rock,” while Heartless prefers the combination of metal and hardcore – “metal-core” is an apt descriptor.
“We actually started out as a pop-punk band, and we were going by another name. After some band member swap, we wrote a new album and it sounded totally different than our last album, and we ended up deciding to change the name,” he said. “So, it was more on the metal side, that’s where Heart Museum came in.”
Saturday’s bill is a full lineup of bands that embody the DIY spirit; a roster of Indigenous bands that are making independent-minded music for fans of sounds that reach well beyond the low-hanging fruit of music for the masses. Heartless describes a venue like The Swarm as a “diamond in the rough.” A venue unlike a bar, it’s a room where music is the main draw.
“Booking shows is something I enjoy, and they make it really easy, as they provide the space,” he said. “Back when I first started we’d have to use a guitar amp for the vocals, and you couldn’t hear anything. There were extension chords all over, and no professional lighting, just people moshing in dust.”
While the Swarm at the Hive isn’t Carnegie, or even the Community Concert Hall – nor should it be – it is providing an outlet for bands that move about in a low key but highly functional scene, with bands that make music for the love of making music while providing said sounds to people who like their music more aggressive and less glamorous than what you’d find on hit radio. It’s real, and a show like Saturday’s, featuring all Indigenous bands fits into the mission of The Hive.
“As a community-serving nonprofit and all-ages venue on Indigenous land, it is of the upmost importance to include and give ownership of our space to Native communities. The alternative Native music scene has been a constant inspiration to me in my 25 years living in the Four Corners. The level of skill and passion is of the highest caliber,” said Alex Vick, creative director of The Hive and venue manager of The Swarm. “I’ve been floored by the performances of Indigenous artists, from makeup and aesthetic to blast beats and epic solos with lyrics that tell the Native experience.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
