Looking over the schedule for Gonerfest 18, taking place September 23-26, I was flabbergasted to see all of the performers will be from the continental U.S. The festival known for sounding a clarion call to every punk, skunk, lunk, and hunk (and lovers of innovative music) across the world had gone nationalistic on us! Then I realized, no, it’s just a Covid thing (sigh). Still, this Gonerfest will be like no other, so I hit the speed dial to Goner HQ to get the skinny. Who should answer but Eric the Erstwhile Oblivian?
Memphis Flyer: It’s odd that the international aspect of Gonerfest is missing. I didn’t realize that until I dove into the schedule.
Eric Friedl: Yeah, we didn’t really either. We thought, “Okay, the bands are going to be local or driving in,” but we quickly realized that our international fans were going to miss out on this one. Hopefully they’ll be there on the livestream. We’ve sold a bunch of tickets to the stream. And there’s a handful of Canadians determined to come. I think they have to go through mandatory quarantine afterwards, but they’re willing to do that. Very impressive, their dedication to do this. So it’s all American bands and all American fans! [laughs] Which is a little bit different. And the response has been really overwhelming.
All the performances are at the Railgarten outside stage. Did using only one venue limit the possible attendance at all?
Well, we actually have a bigger capacity. We looked at the space and said, “How many people can you get in there?” They told us, and we were like, “Well that’s more than we’ve ever had at any Gonerfest!” We capped it at half capacity, but it’s still bigger than any ticket sales we’ve ever had. So it’s kind of the best of both worlds. People are going to have space to hang out, and everybody that wants to come gets to come.
Have you had to refund some tickets as Covid has changed the situation for some people?
Yeah, we’ve refunded. We sold out and stopped selling tickets, but then we refunded tickets and made those available again. So right now there are tickets available. We are going to do some walk-up sales for each night, like 50 tickets. So if people do want to get a ticket, there are golden passes at gonerfest.com. If we have them, we’ll sell them at the gate.
What are some of the highlights this year?
Wreckless Eric’s playing — he loves coming down here! Kings of the Fucking Sea has members of the Quadrajets,
The Ettes, and The Little Killers. They’re a full-on, heavy duty rock band. So that’s one extreme. Then we’ve got The Exbats from Tucson, who are a father/daughter team, and that’s more ’60s jangly stuff. The drummer, Inez, sings. We’ve got Sweeping Promises from Boston, who are like the new wave of new wave. Their new record has gone bananas in our underground underground.
And then you’ve got the Memphis folks that people come to see. Jack Oblivian and the Sheiks, Alicja [Trout], and the Reigning Sound Memphis lineup, along with Nots, Model Zero, Ibex Clone, Big Clown, and Aquarian Blood. They’re something special for people from out of town. Quintron and Miss Pussycat recorded their last record with less Quintron and organ and more full-on rock band, with lead guitar and all this kind of jazz. So they’ve been itching to play with this lineup. And we’re ending it with the Wilkins Sisters, the late Rev. John Wilkins’ daughters, who backed him up when he would perform. They’re going to be the last act on Sunday.
We have so many bands playing a short, sweet little set. All of them should be featured more than they are at Gonerfest. If anyone came upon them in a club show or something, they could spend more time with them and really get into their thing.
Visit gonerfest.com for more information on Gonerfest 18.
