Author: Chris Shaw & Andrew Earles

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Music Music Features

Rest in Peace Jerry Gibson of River Records

CREDIT: Jameson Sweiger

Last Thursday afternoon someone entered River Records and fatally shot longtime proprietor Jerry Gibson during what police suspect to be a robbery. Police were called to the store around 5 p.m. and found Gibson unresponsive and bleeding just inside the front doorway. They have no suspects as of this writing but are canvassing the area and reviewing nearby security/CCTV footage for any evidence.

Jerry’s brother, Lowell, is the founder of Gibson’s Donuts but also spent many years managing the store’s comic book inventory, while Jerry handled the mountains of vinyl on hand. Local musicians Jeffrey Evans and Greg Cartwright of the Oblivians and Reigning Sound both logged several years as employees of River Records.

Jameson Sweiger

Jerry Gibson

River Records’ veritable maze of bins (under and atop tables) and shelves and leaning towers of records attracted vinyl hounds from around the world. Many of us in town harbor great memories of blocking out an afternoon to engage in said activity while simultaneously enjoying some conversations with Gibson, who regularly spun (true) tales of A-list celebrities and famous musicians who’d shopped at the store. Jameson Sweiger, a local DJ and store regular, remembers his relationship with Gibson as a close one.

“When I first moved here, I was a daily customer, just coming in every day. When I left Memphis, he would send me letters around the holidays, and he even sent my mom a letter once with $20 in it,” Sweiger said.

“A lot of people might not have that charming view towards him, but once you got to know him, you’d see that he was a very happy and positive person. He always talked highly of his regulars when they weren’t there. It was the first place I stopped whenever I came in town.”

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Music Music Features

Valentine’s Day Weekend

Plenty of bands — both touring acts and locals — are packing in clubs all over town this weekend for Valentine’s Day. Forget the flowers and candy, here are three very different shows worth checking out with your significant other. From shoe gaze to metal to garage rock, there should be something for just about everyone.

Friday, February 12th

Before the latest crop of bands like Manateees, NOTS, or Aquarian Blood, the Oscars represented the “Goner scene” of Memphis garage rock. Made up of Chuck Wenzler, Sam Burnett, Scott Patterson, and Abe White, the Oscars played Memphis often, performing their off-kilter, always-weird garage punk in unconventional places as well as every dive bar in town. After a long hiatus following Burnett’s departure from the country, the Oscars are back with a show at Otherlands Friday night. — Chris Shaw

The Oscars at Otherlands, Friday, February 12th, 8 p.m. $6

Saturday, February 13th

The Finnish institution known as Children of Bodom is one of the higher profile bands to expand upon a musical backbone of melodic death metal over the last two decades. The band has maintained a sizeable fan base for its unique hybridization of melodic death/black metal and other strains of the steely stuff like power, neo-classical, and traditional heavy metal. Children of Bodom formed in 1993 and released three demos under the name Inearthed in as many years before switching to the former moniker prior to the release of 1997 debut album, Something Wild.

Since 1997, the band has centered around guitarist/vocalist/lyricist/co-founder Alexi Laiho, drummer/backing vocalist/co-founder Jaska Raatikainen, classically-trained jazz pianist Janne Wirman on keyboards and backing vocals, and Henkka Seppälä on bass/backing vocals. The debut album made an immediate impact in the metal underground by elevating the keyboard to a lead instrument, packing catchiness in the riffs and chord progressions, plus Laiho’s fretboard fireworks and showmanship on the stage. Across subsequent albums, a formula was honed to worldwide success that saw less busy song structures and an organic shedding of abrasive elements. The more melodic and less cluttered Children of Bodom, with the help of incessantly touring their memorable live show, would make the band’s third album, 2000’s Follow the Reaper, the first to hit gold certification in Finland. It has since been certified platinum, and the band’s seven subsequent albums have achieved gold status in the band’s homeland, making them one of the country’s best-selling artists. Children of Bodom’s ninth album, I Worship Chaos, was released last October by Nuclear Blast Records. — Andrew Earles

Children of Bodom and Havok, Saturday, February 13th at the New Daisy. 8 p.m. $17-$25.

Sunday, February 14th

Local recording studio 5 and Dime has started throwing shows around holidays like Halloween and Christmas, and the gigs mostly feature bands that have worked in the studio, or are loosely associated with it. The 5 and Dime Valentine’s Day Show features Switchblade Kid (5 and Dime founder Harry Koniditsiotis’ shoe-gaze/punk band), Wray (Birmingham, Alabama), and new local band Margins. Featuring members of Burning Sands, New Intruders, and Wooden Mouth, Sunday’s show will serve as the Margins’ debut.

Wray

Birmingham shoe-gaze band Wray have played Memphis before with Switchblade Kid, and they’ve been picking up momentum since releasing Hypatia this year on Communicating Vessels records. The Memphis show wraps up a three-day tour for Wray, so the band’s shoe gaze-meets-psych-rock music should be road-tested and ready to rip. Rounding out the bill is the curator of the evening, the Switchblade Kid. The band will be debuting their new video for the song “(I’m Leaving) The Death of Love,” a track Konidsiotis called his “goth opus.”

“In some respects ‘(I’m Leaving) the Death of Love’ is ‘Static Bombs 2’ [Koniditsiotis released a video for the Switchblade Kid song ‘Static Bombs’], but what I love about these outtakes are the mistakes, cars passing, dead flowers, cemeteries, and statues that capture the background of growing up ‘Goth’ in New Orleans in the ’90s,” Koniditsiotis said.  “I didn’t know any actors, so I asked my friends to be the stars.” — CS

The video for “(I’m Leaving) the Death of Love” will be screened during the show.

Margins, Wray, and the Switchblade Kid, Sunday, February 14th at Murphy’s, 9 p.m. $5.

Categories
Music Music Features

Top Local Shows of 2015

CREDIT: Josh Miller

Yo Gotti’s Birthday Bash at the Mud Island Amphitheater, June

White Lamborghini? Check. Nicki Minaj appearance? Check. Enough Patron to fill the Mud Island Riverwalk? Check. From Meek Mill to O.T. Genasis, this birthday party had it all and was proof that Memphis isn’t small potatoes when it comes to premier hip-hop shows. The only way to top this experience is to make a weekend out of the annual event, something I think no one would complain about. –CS.

Josh Miller

Yo Gotti

Jessica Pratt at Minglewood Hall, September

Jessica Pratt opened for Beach House on their most recent tour that stopped through Minglewood Hall, but to me the only thing that mattered that night was Pratt and her amazing acoustic folk rock. Her delicate music might be best-suited for a smaller setting, but the show was still excellent. –CS.

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads at the Hi-Tone during Gonerfest 12, September

Widely considered a favorite of this year’s Gonerfest for a reason, these NYC insular punk/hardcore weirdos brought a double-drummer onslaught that was as heavy with nuance as it was … heavy. –AE.

Cities Aviv and PreauXX at the Hi-Tone, August

The battle for the best underground rapper in Memphis is between two MCs who frequently collaborate with each other, and this late-summer show at the Hi-Tone proved that both Cities Aviv and PreauXX are fit to wear the crown. ­–CS

Jack Oblivian and the Sheiks at the Harbor Town Amphitheater, April

The River Series at the Harbor Town Amphitheater wrapped its second season this year, with each show well-curated and well-attended. Seemingly made for this type of gig, Jack O. and the Sheiks rocked on the river to a packed crowd, and the free hot dogs and Wiseacre beer made this show one of the best of the year. –CS

Torche at the Hi-Tone, March

The reliable deliverers of one of the best marriages of pop hooks and insane heaviness returned after a little while away from their perennial stops in town and didn’t stop short of expectations. –AE.

Evil Army Record Release Show at Murphy’s, December

The kings of Memphis metal recently returned to Murphy’s for a packed show, and all was right in the heavy music realm of Memphis. After everything that Evil Army has been through over the past few years, it was good to see the three-piece back in action, with a killer new EP in tow. –CS.

Destruction Unit, Ex-Cult, and Gimp Teeth at the Hi-Tone Small Room, March

I fancied myself accustomed to extremely loud live bands until Destruction Unit’s brutally intense yet oddly hypnotizing set literally caused something close to vertigo, and a few minutes of fresh air were required to set my head straight. –AE.

House of Lightning, WRONG, and Mayfair at the Hi-Tone, June

I went for the melodic prog-metal guitar acrobatics of the Torche/Floor-related House of Lightning, but got there early enough to be blown away by local heavy post-emo shoegaze outliers Mayfair, who have recorded a full-length (for release next year). Keep an eye on this band. –AE.

Public Image Ltd. at the New Daisy Theater, November

The New Daisy brought the prince of punk back to Memphis, and the band absolutely destroyed the place. John Lydon may be all about peace, love, and understanding these days, but his ability to captivate an audience with his abrasive stage antics and hilarious stage banter is still very much intact. –CS

Coliseum at the Hi-Tone, March

The busy but still unfairly overlooked Louisville trio that’s played Memphis many times put on a fantastically tight show of their heavy and dark post-punk earlier this year in the wake of their first full-length on Jacob Bannon’s unstoppable Deathwish Inc. label. –AE.

Show I wish I went to: Tommy Wright III at Juicy Jim’s, May

Tommy Wright III played at Juicy Jim’s this summer, and I’m still kicking myself for not being at what had to be one of the weirdest and best shows of 2015. Oh well, there’s always next year. -CS