Started out the second day of Treefort Music Fest by baking a batch of “friendberry” cookies to deliver to the Press Lounge. From there I went to talk with the artists creating live murals in Julia Davis Park, then stopped at the Gene Harris Bandshell to listen to Deloyd Elze out of Jacksonville, Florida, whose guitar-driven tunes textured with electronic fuzz added spoken word to the mix to satisfying effect. He joked that competing with the loud sounds from the Main Stage was “kind of fun.”
Next stop was the Main Stage where I hooked up with Michael Hawley for Toronto-based The Beaches. Unabashedly sapphic and iridescent with raucous abandon, The Beaches rocked!! Like any gay guy with good sense I was hoping they would make me an honorary lesbian; but, even though they didn’t, I loved them anyway. Michael filmed performances of their 2022 non-album single "Grow Up Tomorrow" and “Did I Say Too Much” (from their 2025 album “No Hard Feelings”).
Idaho has the highest concentration of Basques in the U.S. so it made perfect sense for Northern Spain's Kokein to play Treefort Music Fest on their 25th anniversary tour celebrating their major presence in the Basque music scene. Founded in Eibar, Gipuzkoa in 1999, the band started out singing exclusively in Euskara and has stayed true to that choice ever since. Their appearance at Treefort had value added in that Kokein’s drummer Haritz Lete was able to visit with family members living in Boise. Here's Michael’s clip and mine of Kokein’s Basque Center blast. Michael wondered if "kokein" means what he thought it meant in Euskara, but it doesn’t. The Basque word for cocaine is “kokaina.”
Michael lingered at the Basque Center to hear Keddie’s Resort while I wandered off to the Cyclops stage to catch The Whips. Thrash-punkers Keddie's Resort—aka "Portland's Most Infamous Band"—performed "Cursed" and "Medical Love."
Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, The Whips want to grow up together. Set forth on an impossible journey by a fateful middle school rhythm section bus ride, creating art together remains the singular constant for these four Kansas boys navigating the mercurial landscape of young adulthood. Emanating from the warmth of their 10x10 apartment bedroom studio, their songs sound like the type of late night talks with friends about life, love and loss that you never truly forget. Singing these songs with friends across the country, the Whips have felt less lonely in those lonesome feelings and figured out the only universal truth that actually exists—none of us are truly alone and we’re all going through it.
Michael then joined me at the Cyclops much like members of The Whips joined Wichita, Kansas funksters Rudy Love & The Encore onstage for a fabulous and joyful 13-minute jam where they switched instruments, riffed beats, and filmed each other. This felt like one of those rare spur-of-the-moment events that characterize Treefort.
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