Horse the Band

Horse the Band formed in Lake Forest, California in 1997 and spent the better part of the following two decades building a following through some of the most deliberately chaotic music and live performances in the heavy rock underground. The band's best-known contribution to music taxonomy is the genre nickname "Nintendocore" — a tongue-in-cheek label for their habit of layering 8-bit keyboard sounds reminiscent of classic video game soundtracks over down-tuned metal guitar riffs and aggressive percussion. Whether or not you accept the label, the combination is immediately recognizable and has been cited as an influence by a generation of acts who followed.

Their 2003 album The WWE Halls of Pain and 2005's R. Borlax are the foundation of their catalog, but the band's reputation was built largely through touring — marathon runs that became known for spontaneous, unpredictable performances that fans documented and traded like bootleg tapes from an earlier era. Joining Dance Gavin Dance on the road is a reunion of sorts with the post-hardcore world that has always been their closest scene neighbor, and for fans of heavy, technically adventurous music, seeing both bands on the same bill is the kind of lineup that gets remembered long after the night ends.