Milwaukee’s 1956 pounds out the heavy, chugging alternative-rock riffs that proliferated throughout the early ’90s, but underneath the grind, the band reveals an unexpected softer side. “Persistent,” one of the standout tracks from the group’s measured 2007 album, Saboteur, is steeped in the same bleary-eyed pensiveness that made The National’s Boxer such a treat. Today the band plays as part of a long lineup of local bands at Summerfest’s all-local stage, the Cascio Groove Garage. They’ll be followed by The Barrettes at 5:30, National Beekeepers Society at 6:30, Disguised as Birds at 7:30, Blueheels at 8:30 and Hitide.Lotide at 9:30.
1956
Today @ Cascio Groove Garage, Summerfest, 4:30 p.m.