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Bane, an east coast hardcore band, performs at the Railyard in Billings July 29.

Members of Bane, a hardcore band from Massachusetts, checked another state off their list of places to perform at Wednesday’s all-ages concert at the Railyard.

The band, formed in the mid-1990s, played to 30-odd people, but it didn’t matter. Lead singer Aaron Bedard was pleased to be on stage performing and dishing his distinctive take on society, a combination of lyrics fulminating against sexism, racism and inequality and anecdotes between songs.

Bane vocalist Aaron Bedard performs at the Railyard in Billings July 29.

As Bedard looked to the back of the bar, he asked patrons how many of them payed to get into the concert. After a show of hands, he said, “I will never pay $12 to look so bored.”

But for the handful of fans that lined the stage, Bane was a band worth the ticket price. Bedard spoke between songs of his “silly little codes” of honor.

“No matter how old I get, I never let go of things that keep me whole,” he said, listing stage dives, skateboarding and late nights. Vociferating against complacency, Bedard made sure his audience knew in this day, sitting quietly and accepting injustice was “a sad way to live.”

“If punk rock has taught me anything, it’s that it’s okay to stand on your own, to stand up for what you believe in.”

Aaron Dalbec, Bane guitarist and former member of Converge, performs at the Railyard on July 29.

East coast hardcore band Bane performs an all-ages show in Billings Wednesday, July 29 at the Railyard (Photo by Future Breed)

Bane (noun): That which causes ruin or woe. Also, an underground hardcore band based in Worcester, Mass. Created in 1995, Bane is a project of guitarist Aaron Dalbec (former member of Converge).

Bane has sporadically released albums, including 1999’s It All Comes Down to This and 2001’s Give Blood, an album touted for revitalizing the east coast’s stagnant hardcore scene. The band was quiet for several years until The Note, released in 2005.

Credited with progressing the underground hardcore movement, Bane is also touted for sincerity in lyrics and passionate live performances. Relentless and at times frenzied, Bane’s music is an emotional firestorm of hardcore entrenched in a deep love of the form.

The majority of Bane’s members are committed to principles of straight edge, an anti-drug lifestyle popularized in the 1980s by musicians including Minor Threat, and some of the band’s songs deal with this ideal.

The band is making a stop in Billings Wednesday, July 29 at the Railyard, performing an all-ages show beginning at 6 p.m. This is Hell, a Long Island, N.Y. hardcore punk band known for high-powered live performances, opens for Bane. Local metal band From Womb to Tomb opens the show.