It’s the first show, first song, and first word out of his mouth, and Johnny Geek hurls himself into the crowd. Such is the approach of Oakland, California rock quartet Triclops! If it isn’t in some way confrontational, then it’s probably not worth doing. “We want to make music that puts people on edge, makes them uncomfortable, or at least makes them think. I don’t want to be making something that people put on in the background for dinner,” says guitarist Christian Beaulieu. Geek agrees, adding, “I feel that the only worthwhile ‘punk’ is music/art that challenges the listener to wrestle with it.”
Geek comes from Oakland’s chaotic Fleshies (now a studio project), whereas Beaulieu played guitar for San Francisco’s defunct scuzzballs Bottles and Skulls. The two had become friends through mutual shows and touring, and began talking about doing something more expansive than what could be done within the context of their other bands. “Fleshies made a conscious effort to backpedal from the thoroughly enjoyable acid-punk excesses that we were starting to really get a handle on with The Sicilian,” Geek says. “As the band wrote more good-time rock music, I began to Jones for the uncomfortable side of things.”
A post on Craigslist turned up drummer Phil Becker, and Beaulieu recruited Larry Boothroyd, formerly of long running punk-jazz outfit Victim’s Family, at a gig for one of the bass player’s many projects. “I had never heard of Victim’s Family, but I saw Larry playing with Hellworms and knew that he was the bass player for our band,” says Beaulieu. “He was the only one who could do it.”
After a string of choice opening slots and a 2007 SXSW tour with Qui and 400 Blows, Triclops! signed with Alternative Tentacles and released Out of Africa in March of 2008. The album is a collision of genre and style. Boothroyd’s hyperactive bass lines complement Beaulieu’s purposefully out-of-whack guitar. “I’ll come up with a guitar line and John will say, ‘Make it sound worse, make it ugly—that’s too attractive.’” Becker’s drumming pushes the insane-o-meter and Geek’s howls and screams are often implemented with effects. The overall result is visceral and disconcerting—definitely not for dinner.
Bands that share their name with Masters of the Universe.
For those of you that weren’t children of the ‘80s, you might not remember that Tri-Klops was the name of one of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors. (Triclops, coincidently, is a character in the Jedi Prince Star Wars Novels, but we NEVER get to talk about He-Man, so…)
Cobra Khan
Named after Kobra Khan, this New Zealand punk band lacks the power to spray “sleep mist,” but who wants to sleep at a rock show anyway?
Grayskul
Underground hip-hop duo from Seattle whose second album, Bloody Radio, was released on Rhymesayers in late 2007, share its name with He-Man’s HQ.
– Nate Daly