Hardcore music has traditionally been a young man's game, with its thundering drums and guitars and often angst-ridden lyrics lending itself nicely to pissed off young men everywhere since the sound emerged from the ashes of punk in the early '80s.
But No Future, a band comprised of members from some the area's finest hardcore acts from the past decade, are playing some of the loudest, heaviest music Milwaukee has ever heard and discovering that you can grow up without turning down your amps.
The band --singer Andy Silverman, guitarists Brad Clifford and Kenny Siebert, bass player Eric Alonso and drummer Ryan Smith-- have known one another for more than 10 years having played shows together in their various bands including Since By Man, Seven Days of Samsara and Red Knife Lottery.
"We've all listened to hardcore music for so long and I think its rare that you have a bunch of dudes our age that are still into that kind of music and that it still means a lot to them," said Silverman, "I think for people that really love heavy music I don't think there is anything better to them than like really good heavy music... I think it always has been and always will be a huge part of my life."
While all the members have stayed interested in hardcore over the years, the band's formation has a T-shirt to thank.
"It was wearing a From Ashes Rise shirt and Ryan told me to give it to him," Siebert said.
"I was like 'Yo Kenny give me that shirt,' and he was like 'Yeah right' and then I was like 'Yo Kenny let's start a band that sounds like that and he said 'OK'," Smith said of the fateful exchange.
After practicing all summer the band has played sparingly, a move indicative of their casual approach to making music, said Clifford, who spent time touring exhaustively with Florida's Poison The Well in recent years.
"I think it's just a take it as it comes type of thing. We are not trying to push things further than they need to be pushed," said Clifford, "I think it's just nice to start a band with no agenda... We are definitely not trying to be famous in a world where heavy music actually can get you rich. So it's kind of nice not to have any business minded motivations at least for me."
While the band's tunes are delivered at a face melting pace typical of the genre, Silverman said he finds himself tackling lyrics from a perspective that has come with age.
"When I was growing up I felt like a lot of the punk rock ethos was people wanting to help other people, but as I got older that certainly wasn't the case as far as the road people went down," said Silverman, "I guess just from meeting other people in my life I found that the people outside the punk rock scene are putting the people inside the scene to shame as far as like doing hard work to help other people."
And while Silverman sees the band's music call for listeners to rediscover the ethics preached by early hardcore records, it's also an excuse for five long-time friends to bond over their shared affection for brutal music.
"When we first started playing in the band everyone was like, 'Who's in the band? Oh sh!t that's bro central man'," Clifford said.
"It feels good, I've been tight with all these guys since way back and its cool to get to be in a band with them," added Silverman.
No Future plays Friday along with Death Dream, Architects of the Aftermath, and Bzy Bodies at Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave. The show starts at 10 p.m.
