(left to right) Jeremy Speakes, Michael Peery, Laurel Horrell, JB Horrell, and Keith Cooper: the latest Aquarian Blood (Photo: Sara Moseley)
Once you delve into their catalog, Aquarian Blood can be hard to pin down. Their 2017 debut LP on Goner was a rollicking, riff-heavy burst of punk guitar and synth noise centered on the hearty screams of co-founder Laurel Horrell. And while there were more minimalist flavors present, such as the moody “Won’t Forget to Die,” few were prepared for the sea change that came with their sophomore release. A Love That Leads to War was an abrupt, acoustic about-face that featured co-founder JB Horell’s delicate picking on a nylon string classical guitar, blended with low-key drum machines and hand percussion, spooky synths, and haunted, primitive melodies in a quieter vein.
And yet the world the Horrells created was no fairy folk land of unicorns and tarot card poetry. These were dark missives from an underground life filled with trauma and desire, and the sheer sound of the home recordings captured what might happen if German sonic artists Can reinterpreted the Incredible String Band. It was intimate and compelling, and, with Covid striking only months after the album’s release, oddly prescient. During lockdown, I wore the album out. And, it turned out, there was more where that came from. In 2022, the band released Bending the Golden Hour, also on Goner, and earlier this year Black & Wyatt Records dropped Counting Backwards Again. Throw in the 2020 EP Decoys, and it’s clear that this acoustic chapter of the band’s career has been fruitful. Indeed, the three LPs and associated material hang together so well, I called on JB recently to lend some perspective to this impressive body of work, and what the future may hold.
Memphis Flyer:I’ve really been digging Counting Backwards Again since it came out in April. And it strikes me that you could call the last three full-lengths a trilogy. They hang together that well.
JB Horrell: Yeah, I agree with that. All the music on those three records was created in the same period of time, between 2019 and 2022. And it’s interesting because there are songs on this third [acoustic] record that predate songs on the first record, and songs on the first record that post-date songs on the third record. There’s this specific body of music that’s broken up over three albums, and all of the songs encapsulate everything that was going on. And it feels good. Three is a good round number.
Is there a narrative through-line to the albums, or is it more oblique than that?
I didn’t choose the songs for the two before this third one. Zac [Ives, of Goner Records,] was a huge catalyst in the entire shift in the band’s approach and sound. Our drummer had broken his arm, so in the down time we were doing this kind of acoustic thing for fun. [We told Zac], “I guess it’s still Aquarian Blood, whatever.” And he was very encouraging. He said, “Well, you guys should try playing a show like that.”
And then Zac more or less curated the first albums, correct?
Yeah. We gave him 23 tracks for the first record, and that ended up being 15 songs. Then there were 32 tracks we gave him for Bending the Golden Hour, and he picked 15 again. So for the Black & Wyatt record, we had 17 left, and I pared it down to the 12 that felt to us, in a very personal way, like the ones that completed that whole trip. That was a really brutal period for all of us, with Covid going on, everybody sort of disconnected, and a lot of personal stuff going on, like losing people close to us in terrible ways. So all that felt like it was of a time and of a process. It was cathartic, a process of grieving and sort of trying to figure out the way forward.
And the band was expanding through those years, as you embraced the wider sonic palette.
Yeah, it had gotten up to seven people. But coming into 2024, it kind of felt like we had cleaned out the closet to make room for new stuff. We knew that there was this imminent change about to take place, and we knew the band was going to downsize to five people, total. I wanted everybody involved in the new lineup to have a lot more of a hand in writing and arranging the songs.
So, since the release of Counting Backwards Again, there’s been another sea change in Aquarian Blood’s sound?
Yeah. We knew that we were ready to turn the page. We had a whole batch of brand-new songs. So we started completely from scratch last winter, with Keith Cooper on guitar, Michael Peery on keyboards, and Jeremy Speakes on drums. Then we took it on the road in June, and it was interesting to be touring, playing nothing that was ever released. I wasn’t sure what to expect about that. We had never played a show with that lineup before the tour! All of it seems counterintuitive, but the opportunity was there, so we jumped at it, and the tour couldn’t have gone any better.
Playing 17 shows in 18 days really locked it in. So, since we’ve been home, we’ve been hitting the studio quite a bit, and the recordings are just stacking up. Our intuition was right. We’ve got this group of people together, taking it somewhere else. The Lucky 7 Brass Band just put horns on some stuff last week. And Krista Wroten and Ethan Baker play violin on it. So the whole thing has become very collaborative. And it feels really good to get out of my head and out of my recording room at home and go out and collaborate again.
Aquarian Blood will play with Vorhex Angel (with members of Jeff the Brotherhood) at B-Side on Friday, November 1st, at 9 p.m.
It’s official: as of its closing moments this past Sunday, Gonerfest 21 has been successfully completed. Now it can drink in the state of Tennessee, the joke goes, and now it has fully embarked on its third decade. And, truth be told, it really did feel like our favorite fest had experienced some kind of growth spurt this year, even if some of its participants chose to go alcohol-free.
See interviews and more from the four-day weekend in this exclusive compilation on the Memphis Flyer YouTube channel.
In fact, the common sentiment seems to be, more than ever, an overwhelmingly head-spinning “What just happened?” Perhaps that vibe was amplified because Sunday, traditionally given over to Gonerfest’s rootsier, less distorted side, was instead dedicated to very much the opposite this year, as Oneida proceeded to forge a new approach to rock music before our eyes.
Taking in all their work as a whole, Oneida excels at musical world-building, blending synth sounds with their chugging rock band foundation in an approach that’s both sonic and harmonic, noise-laden and sing-song. And they bashed out one textured tune after another. “I wanna hold your hand/Between my teeth/I won’t draw blood/Don’t wanna stain the sheets,” as one song went. But it was their finale, “Sheets of Easter,” that really took the audience to a different plane.
Bobby Matador of Oneida (Photo: Tad Lauritzen Wright)
Kicking off with the phrase, “You’ve got to look into the LIGHT,” the song then consists of the band relentlessly, mercilessly repeating the last word, mantra-like, along with a single chord hammered out in eighth notes for approximately 19 minutes. “Light, light, light, light, light…” they sang, though the syllables began to morph after a while. Live stream viewers may have refreshed their connections, thinking the video was glitching. It wasn’t! Naïfs like me, unfamiliar with the song, were bewildered, amused, or offended, not knowing how or when it would end. Was it performance art? An MK-ULTRA-like experiment in which we, the audience, were lab rats? A sophomoric prank? Personally, I went through something not unlike the five stages of grief as I listened, from denial to anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance.
It was truly one of the most surreal experiences I have had at any festival. As Zac Ives, co-owner of Goner Records, explains, the “song” is an old favorite by the band. “I don’t know how often they do it now, because it was on a record that they did 20 years ago, but it’s always insane. There’s not really much like it. Some listeners are horrified, and others are like, ‘Thank you for playing this amazing song.’ So yeah, it’s very divisive.”
Yet there weren’t many grumblers after it was done. Everyone, the band included, was too raw from the hypnotic onslaught. Finally, Eric Friedl, Goner’s founder, announced, “This concludes Gonerfest 21! After Oneida there is only light…go out into that light! Thanks to everyone who made this happen, the sound crew, the video crew. We made it through the rain, we made it through the not-rain.” And with that simple summation, the four-day roller coaster ride was over.
Looking back, then, one might well ask, “What just happened?” With too many bands to give every one of them a fair shake, one is left with only the most incendiary moments, burned into one’s brain.
The Pull Chains, a new collaboration between Greg Cartwright, Jesse Smith, Joseph Plunkett, and Eliza Hill, marked a refreshing return to harder rock territory for Cartwright, with echoes of the old Reigning Sound, but with all new material. And, as Cartwright notes, nearly every song was “a full four-way co-write from scratch, and they still seem to resonate with a single storyteller perspective. Such a joy to write songs with good people!”
Okmoniks (Photo: Anton Jackson)
Later that day, Okmoniks singer Helene Grotans was on a tear, perhaps trying to outdo the hurricane with which she shared a name, delighting the crowd with her Category 4 vocals and frenzied-yet-precise work on the Farfisa organ. “I usually play an Acetone,” she quipped, but nonetheless praised the beauty of the onstage instrument provided by Goner with an assist from Graham Winchester. Later, she raved about the Pull Chains, saying, “The Reigning Sound is my favorite band! Well, them and the Mummies!”
Revealing her classical training, Helene of Okmoniks demonstrated deft derrière technique on the Farfisa. (Photo: Alex Greene)
Regarding the opening night’s closer, local muso Jeremy Scott posted on social media that Derv Gordon and So What “killed it, just like they did seven years ago.” While the heavier, almost glam sound of So What contrasts with the old records by The Equals, they supplied solid backing for Gordon’s rich vocals, and, despite any audio issues Gordon encountered, had the crowd bouncing for the whole set.
Derv Gordon and So What (Photo: Alex Greene)
It’s Raining, It’s Streaming Friday was marked by near-constant rainfall, but that did not slow down Gonerfest 21. As Ives notes of the move from the outdoor to the indoor stage, “We were able to deal with the rain really well on Friday, because of the team that we have with us, and GM Jeremy over at Railgarten and his staff. It took a whole lot of work from a bunch of people to be able to make all that stuff happen and pull it all off. And the community that we’re able to bring in, everybody just almost wills this thing to work well, you know? I think we’re really lucky that that it works that way.”
Railgarten, with both an outdoor and an indoor stage, offered a uniquely adaptable venue for such contingencies. And fans could also stay at home, given the reliability of the live streamed video, co-directed by Brent Shrewsbury and Alik Mackintire and executed by a crew of camera operators and other techs.
Availing myself of that option, I found the clarity of the videography and the brilliant online mix to be excellent, especially when running it through big speakers. Surprisingly, Ives himself watched some of the livestream on Sunday.
“I couldn’t be there [due to a mild case of Covid], and I was sort of crestfallen that I couldn’t. But the fact that I could sit there and watch from my quarantined house meant everything. I sent an email to Brent and Alik afterwards saying, ‘You completely saved my day.’ And not only that, that stream is an unbelievable way to watch everything. It is just on a different level now. They’re directing and cutting that stuff real time on a multi-camera shoot. The sound is unbelievable. The video is unbelievable. The real time editing is great. And then all of the in-between stuff that they’ve added in production this year, with Chris McCoy and Ryan [Haley] doing these interviews [see them in this exclusive compilation on the Memphis Flyer YouTube channel], and then taking footage that we’ve collected from the archive over the years and putting that all in, it’s amazing. It was the first time I’ve ever sat at home and watched that way. And I was completely blown away by our team.”
In retrospect, the weather for Gonerfest 21 was perfect. There was just enough bad weather to make comrades of us all, thankful we were spared the worst of it. No doubt the storm’s impact on festival-goers’ own kith and kin in the Carolinas, Georgia, and elsewhere was being felt, but Memphians were largely subject to mere rain (and the odd dead limb crashing down here and there).
L’Afrique, C’est Chic Oneida wasn’t the only act to leave heads spinning. One of the festival’s most unpredictable moments was the triumphant return to Memphis of Niger’s finest Afro-beat groove band, Etran de L’Aïr. When Goner brought them here for the first time last summer, their show at Growlers was the talk of the town for weeks. This time around, they exceeded even those rave reviews.
Etran de L’Aïr (Photo: Anton Jackson)
While the two-guitar, bass, and drum lineup was conventional, the sounds that emerged as they layered cascades of electric notes over galloping rhythms were nigh otherworldly. Something about the weaving guitar arpeggios created a whole greater than the sum of the parts. After a while, the various overlapping overtones created a kind of aural illusion of other sounds, something several listeners commented on. “I thought I heard harmonicas,” exclaimed one friend, and I did too. Most importantly, the sweep of sound and rhythm proved irresistible to the crowd, who collectively threw their hands up after each tune and gave perhaps the weekend’s loudest roars of approval.
With Etran de L’Aïr not being your typical Goner band (is there such a thing?), Ives was relieved to see them win over the crowd. “After seeing them completely destroy that Growlers stage, I was super excited to see what would happen,” he says. “And then when everybody just completely embraced it and was completely into it, it rejuvenated my whole sense of why we do this thing and how great the audience is at Gonerfest. And I had a whole funny conversation with with a friend about that, about how he was not a ‘world music’ fan. Now, he’s open to it. This was the first world music band that he likes.”
Ladies’ Night Without any particular agenda in mind, many festival-goers independently singled out the amazing women in the various Gonerfest bands this year. It was a notable, if low-key, contrast to other festivals’ less diverse lineups. Many raved about Py Py‘s co-vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Annie-Claude Deschênes, whose magnetic presence drew the crowd under her spell, especially when she had fans hold her mic cable aloft as she made her way from the stage to the bar and back.
Tube Alloys (Photo: Sean Davis)
There was also the charismatic charm of Okmoniks’ Helene, noted above. And one friend raved about “that woman playing the Guild SG [guitar]” in Tube Alloys, an L.A. band named after the U.K.’s secret World War II nuclear weapons development program. Given their mastery of fuzz/crunch, the name is appropriate, fueled by their co-ed lineup.
Meanwhile, Angel Face, Japan’s latest purveyors of classic punk sneer-and-shout riffs, were powered by the unrelenting attack of their female drummer, Reiko. With punk/D.I.Y./indie attitudes seemingly more inclusive than ever, strong women players would appear to be par for the course in today’s Gonerfest universe.
Angel Face (Photo: Sean Davis)
All this barely scratches the surface, of course. In answer to the query, “What just happened?” the best answer is likely, “You had to be there…” And, as Ives notes, right there at Railgarten is likely where Gonerfest will be for the foreseeable future. “We were slightly up in terms of ticket sales this year,” he says, “but there’s not really any room to grow. I think we’re basically at capacity for the space. But that feels like a good spot to be in. We were still able to offer day passes for all three nights. So it didn’t feel like we were leaving anybody out, but it also felt like we were maximizing the space and, you know, maximizing the good feelings from everybody there.”
The traditional Gonerfest “alley photo” was moved to Railgarten this year. (Photo: Sean Davis)
While Gonerfest is known for bringing cutting-edge bands to Memphis, one can’t forget the keen sense of history that also informs their bookings. This week’s Gonerfest 21 is a good reminder of that, with the opening night’s headliner being Oakland’s So What fronted by Derv Gordon, the original lead singer of The Equals, a band founded in 1965. They could have hit it big in America like so many during the British Invasion, had they ever bothered to invade. But, being one of the first multiracial beat combos ever, they had mixed feelings about that.
“We didn’t want to tour the U.S. because we wouldn’t have been able to cope with this ‘no Blacks’ business and not being able to stay in certain hotels or whatever,” Gordon recalls today, speaking from his home in England. “Still, ‘Baby, Come Back’ made the Top 40.” But with no U.S. touring, they never made it big here.
Though The Equals’ blend of freakbeat, soul, ska, and bubblegum rock was plenty cutting-edge (and plenty infectious) at the time, having a group with both Black and white players pushed the envelope even further. Booker T. and the MG’s may have been the only such small combo to precede them. But The Equals were more of a rock band, paving the way for later groups like The Foundations, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Love. And while they did find greater success in Europe and Asia, race still factored into everyday London life. Harassment by the cops was a regular feature of life for Black Londoners, and that in turn led to the creation of one of The Equals’ most enduring songs, “Police on My Back.”
“I left the guys at rehearsal and went to a main railway station to get some cans of drinks,” Gordon recalls, “and as I walked into the station, two huge men, one on each side, picked me up, lifted me off the floor, and said, ‘You’re nicked.’ I said, ‘I’m what? Why am I nicked?’ They just said, ‘You’ll find out,’ and they took me across the street to the police station. I was there for what seemed like forever. I gave them all my information, then said, ‘Excuse me, can you tell me why this is happening to me?’ A policeman says, ‘You resemble someone who murdered his girlfriend.’”
Gordon cleared things up only after requesting that his band be brought in to vouch for him. As they entered, “I could see them coming in with big grins on their face,” Gordon recalls. “Bastards!” Humor aside, the incident was a wake-up call for them. Soon Eddy Grant, The Equals’ lead guitarist and main songwriter (who later gained worldwide fame with his solo hit, “Electric Avenue”), would pen arguably the best song about being on the lam, later made famous via a cover version by The Clash, with its heartfelt cry, “What have I done?” And Gordon’s voice brought the phrase to life.
The band had other politically charged songs, including 1970’s anti-war “Black Skin Blue-Eyed Boys,” but their primary focus was on fun and groove, with charging rock riffs paired with infectious beats and Gordon’s fiery, soulful vocals, often portraying whimsical characters: “Soul Brother Clifford,” “Michael and His Slipper Tree,” “Viva Bobby Joe.” And while their sound got heavier and funkier by the late ’60s and ’70s, The Equals always kept things short and sweet. “I don’t think Eddy enjoyed doing long guitar solos,” quips Gordon now.
That makes The Equals’ music perfectly suited to the D.I.Y., short-and-sharp vibe of so many Gonerfest bands. And that’s an aesthetic shared by retro-stomp rockers So What, with whom Gordon first played in 2017, including an incendiary performance at Gonerfest 14 that year. Gordon feels they’re the perfect group to play Equals songs: true to that original stripped-down spirit, but with their own self-described “junkshop glam/bubblegum/proto-punk insanity.” Gordon notes that So What’s bassist, Sean M. Lennon (not the son of a Beatle), “is the only bass player I’ve ever heard actually do all the bass runs in ‘Police on My Back.’ And Jason [Duncan, singer and guitarist] actually knows more about Equals songs than I do!”
Gonerfest 21 runs from Thursday, Sept. 26th, through Sunday, Sept. 29th, at Railgarten, featuring dozens of bands. Visit goner-records.com for more information. So What takes the stage at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, and Derv Gordon joins them at 10 p.m.
Today, Goner Records announced the initial lineup for Gonerfest 21, which will take place at Railgarten this September 26th – 29th. Once again the Goner team have managed to craft a roster that’s both historically rich and cutting edge, drawing on bands, MCs, and DJs from around the world.
The festival has always had an international bent, and this year is no different, with performances by African desert blues collective Etran de L’air, Japanese garage punks Angel Face, and Kiwi psyche rockers Bailter Space on the slate, not to mention a reliable Australian contingent, including Split System, Gee Tee, Michael Beach and RFMC.
But the most stellar international artist would have to be Derv Gordon, front man for Swinging London’s now legendary outfit The Equals, back in the ’60s and ’70s, now performing those songs and more with the Bay Area’s So What. The band promises to offer “stompers, hand clappers, and all the riffs that matter” on their Facebook page, and indeed they do, especially when paired with Gordon.
After the young/old outfit’s incendiary appearance at Gonerfest 14 in 2017, The Memphis Flyer wrote:
“So What did a fine job of staying true to the old Equals arrangements, harmonies and all, but with a bigger, louder sound courtesy of Jason Duncan’s Gibson SG through a Marshall. Derv’s voice was in fine shape, from crooning to belting to singalong mode. Most of your favorite Equals tunes were revived and given a new jumpstart by So What: ‘Diversion,’ ‘Police on my Back,’ ‘Michael and his Slipper Tree.’ Of the latter, Derv confessed that it was originally written as a ‘nutmeg tree,’ until Derv himself made the more enigmatic lyrical change. The crowd was revved up, joining the band in nearly every chorus of every song, not satisfied until the encore brought the house down. Clearly Memphis is Equals territory.”
The Rip Offs, also headlining, attained a legendary status of their own in the ’90s with a unique approach sometimes dubbed “budget rock.” Garage rock legends Jon Spencer and the Cheater Slicks were also announced today. Here’s the complete list so far:
The Rip Offs, Derv Gordon and So What, Etran de L’air, Angel Face, Gee Tee, Jon Spencer, Split System, Cheater Slicks, Schitzophonics, Bailter Space, Michael Beach, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, Pull Chains, Tube Alloys, Sleeveens, Th’ Losin Streaks, Sex Mex, RMFC, Feeling Figures.
Goner Records, often tagged as the premier punk presence in the Bluff City, is actually all that and more, and their recent show bookings have included music that’s decidedly not punk, yet nevertheless decidedly out there. That is to say, artists that are beyond category, and that’s about all one can say about artists like Tatsuya Nakatani, Jack Wright’s Wrest, Quintron’s Weather Warlock, or even the ostensibly Afrobeat Etran de L’Aïr: All of them defy categorization.
This Friday, February 23rd, Goner presents another artist who fits that description, the irrepressibly inventive drummer Chris Corsano. Gonerfest fans may recall that he performed with no wave/noise guitarist Bill Orcutt last year, but that only scratches the surface of Corsano’s creativity. “Jazz” fans may also know him from a release on our region’s premier free improv-friendly label, Mahakala Music in Hot Springs, who brought Corsano together with two other luminaries from the New York improvisation scene, trombonist Steve Swell and tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee, on the 2022 album Sometimes the Air Is.
He’s also worked with Tennessee’s free jazz luminary Zoh Amba, several “rock” artists (Sir Richard Bishop, Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke), not to mention Björk on her Volta album and world tour. And while those are just a few of the artists he’s appeared with on over 180 albums, he’s a renowned solo performer in his own right, with a record due out later this year on the Drag City label.
The Memphis Flyer caught up with Corsano yesterday to hear more about this pioneer’s solo work and what to expect at the Goner show.
Memphis Flyer: How would you describe your approach to music as a solo performer?
Chris Corsano: I’ll do different things as a solo set. I’ve been on tour a bunch since August, doing a lot of solo shows, and I’m trying to keep them different. So I’m improvising, and it’s kind of heavy on the prepared drum aspect of it, maybe more so than a lot of other people. I’m just trying to get the drums to not sound like a drum solo. Or what people tend to think of as a drum solo. Like, I installed a couple of cello strings on the snare drum rack tom, and with bowing techniques that accentuate the harmonics you can get little melodies happening, even though you’re not playing like a violin or a cello. You come up with a third path. It’s not drums and it’s not another instrument. But you know, drums are great resonators. And I’ve got other things that I make myself and then a lot of extended techniques, which are pretty common in the universe of improvised music.
That “third way” makes sense because in free music you’ll often hear horn players or other kind of instrumental players playing percussively, tapping their valves and that sort of thing. So it makes sense to kind of blur the lines in the other direction from the drums into tonal instruments.
Sure, but there’s also a long history of melodic playing. Drums are awesome melodic instruments in the right hands. Ed Blackwell was a huge influence on me; Ornette Coleman was some of the first stuff that I heard on record. And Blackwell’s melodic sense on that stuff was always life-affirming and also really eye opening in terms of how you can play melodies.
I’ve also played with a lot of sax players. In doing so, basically playing as a duo, you can fill up a lot more space and you have a lot more responsibility for bringing the music, whatever that means. Playing solo, it’s all on you. It’s up to me what I’m going to do, what I should do next, and how I’m going to make a piece of music. So yeah, melody and things some people don’t associate with drums, that’s all open to me because nobody else is covering that space.
I’ve read that you also incorporate reeds, circular breathing through reed instruments. Is that happening?
Yeah, I’ve been doing that for about 20 years now. My first solo record was in 2006. You know, it was always a fascinating thing that some sax players would do, so I tried to see what I could do with it. Right now I have an alto sax mouthpiece playing through half of a clarinet, which doesn’t really do all the things a clarinet can do. But I play it alongside the drums so the drums resonate with certain pitches and harmonics, and that fights against the pitches, or works in conjunction with the pitches, coming out of the bell of the half-clarinet.
The way I think about it, what I’m looking for is that chocolate and peanut butter kind of thing. That third thing happening that is different than either of the two things together, and hopefully unexpected. And hopefully somebody enjoys it.
It sounds like what you’re doing involves paying very close attention to overtones, and playing with those almost as a melodic element.
Yeah, definitely. I don’t have a lot of things which are pitched, but I’m a little bit more trying to get those harmonics and have those be the thing that are creating the melodies, instead of just the fundamental.
We’ve recently heard shows by the Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra. Do you use gongs and bells also?
A bit, but also a lot of thrift store pot lids — there’s a certain kind that sounds a certain way. If you get the right ones, they’re not made to be a specific pitch, but if you get the right pot lids together, you’ve got these microtonal things happening. You might you hit it a certain way and hear the fundamental an, then hit it again, and there are other harmonics in there. So sometimes I used gongs and things, but mostly using things in the “wrong,” quote unquote, way. I’m always trying to repurpose them somehow.
Chris Corsano will appear with Robert Traxler at the Goner Records store on Friday, February 23, 9 p.m. $10. Click here for tickets.
The Mummies work the crowd at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
When Shalita Dietrich, vocalist and bassist for Lewsberg, left the stage after entrancing a full house at Gonerfest 20, I asked her, “Did you have fun?”
“No!” she said, her shoulders slumping. “It’s hot up there! We’re from the Netherlands. We get maybe five days like this a year. I’ve never been so hot!”
“We get about 200,” I said. “Stay hydrated!”
Marrit Meinema and Shalita Dietrich of Lewsberg onstage at Gonerfest 20 (Photo: Chris McCoy)
Lewsberg’s Velvet Underground-inspired grooves went over like a cool drink of water on Saturday afternoon. Traditionally, this has been the outdoor portion of Gonerfest, with bands playing all afternoon in the back parking lot at Murphy’s. But since the pandemic forced the festivities to move to Railgarten, it’s always the outdoor portion. The new venue also has the advantage of a larger capacity, and this year, Gonerfest hit it. On Thursday night, I remarked to Goner co-owner Zac Ives that it was the largest opening night crowd I had ever seen, and he replied that more than 200 people had yet to pick up their passes. By the time the Gories tore the house down on Friday night, the sprawling nightclub compound was bulging at the seams.
The Gories rip it up on Friday night at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
Dietrich was not wrong. It was hot as blazes Saturday afternoon, and the sun was shining mercilessly on the converted shipping containers that make up the Railgarten stage. After Osaka’s The Smog sent people scrambling for their smartphones to figure out which of the many bands with that name they should add to their playlists, Dippers from Melbourne, Australia (where at least they have some experience with heat), doled out the catchy hooks. Then ’90s Memphis punk supergroup Cool Jerks proved they can still get nasty with the lowest of ’em.
Jack Oblivian sings with the Cool Jerks at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
I was doing double duty with the Gonerfest Stream Team and as Flyer correspondent, so I was happy to see Christopher Reyes of the revived Live From Memphis running around with his giant lens, so we could get some good pics for this post. We’ve been livestreaming Gonerfest since before it was either practical or cool to send live music over the intertubes, and this year, under the direction of Geoffrey Brent Shrewsbury, it was better than ever. HD cams! Wireless setups! B-roll! Is Gonerfest finally growing up?
Vital equipment for the Gonerfest 20 Stream Team (Photo: Chris McCoy)
Maybe. Much of the audience was looking a little grayer in this twentieth year of the gathering of the garage punk tribes. But there was a lot of new blood, too. On Thursday, the first night of the fest, I asked randos if they’d ever been to Gonerfest before. Five people in a row said it was their first time in Memphis. The newbies were treated to a lineup that combined stalwarts with new, wider ranging sounds. In the case of Bill Oreuett & Chris Corsano, they were assaulted with sounds. The guitar/drum duo went free jazz with squalls of lashing distortion and thundering rolls. Railgarten’s stage is right in front of the railroad tracks that run through Midtown, and a freight train rumbled through about halfway through their set — a dream come true for an abrasive noise band!
OG Gonerfest was represented by the sundown set. King Louie Memorial Family Band gathered players from the many bands of the late, great Louie Bankston to play his songs one more time. It was a primal scream of grief and love, with each perfect rock song hitting harder than the last.
Bennett Bartley of Missing Monuments sings to Abe White during the King Louie Memorial Family Band set at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
As the day’s heat dissipated, Philadelphia’s Poison Ruin laid down some sludge. Courettes got the swelling crowd dancing by exposing the thick vein of girl group melodies that flow through garage rock. Singer Flavia Couri had everyone in the palm of her hand from the opening beat.
Flavia Couri of The Courettes works the crowd at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
Gonerfest vets Marked Men took some poppy melodies and rolling around in the dirt with them as a warmup to the night’s main event. If you hear there’s band called Mummies, your first question is probably, “What, are they guys who play punk rock dressed as mummies?” The answer is yes, that is what they are, and they are the best at what they do. The cult San Francisco band caused the capacity crowd to erupt in mayhem. High energy doesn’t begin to cover it.
Crowd surfing with the Mummies at Gonerfest 20 (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
On Sunday afternoon, I was marveling at the Mummies’ performance with Meredith Lones, who played Friday with Ibex Clone. “How many organs has that guy broken, I wonder?” she said.
Turnt, the Lamplighter house band led by the high priest of Memphis punk, Ross Johnson, gave one of the most memorable performances of this or any other Gonerfest. Johnson was the drummer for the chaos-billy godfathers Panther Burns, and this current ensemble, which meets every two weeks at 2 p.m. at the Lamp, delivers the full, disorienting noise experience. Guitarist Jimi Inc. directed the band through what I can only describe as song-like sonic sculptures. Little Baby Tendencies’ Haley Ivey stole the show going full Yoko, interjected with punishing jazz flute runs, while dressed as Snow White. The band was dressed in T-shirts specifying which of the seven dwarves they were, and burlesque artist Felicity Fox appeared as the Evil Queen to feed Snow White a poisoned apple. Then, Monsieur Jeffrey Evans joined the band to help things make even less sense.
Turnt’s Haley Ivey as Snow White swoons from a bite of Felicity Fox’s poisoned apple at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Chris McCoy)
Olympia, Washington’s Morgan and the Organ Donors made a rare appearance outside the PacNor, with some garage rock that harkens back to the ’60s origins of the form.
Olivia Ness plays bass with Morgan and the Organ Donors at Gonerfest 20. (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
Gonerfest loves to close out Sunday afternoon with a nod to North Mississippi roots music. Sharde Thomas of the Rising Star Fife and Drum is the granddaughter of the late Othar Turner. She carries her handmade bamboo fifes in her boots after losing one of the irreplacable instruments when she checked her luggage on a European trip. The banging “Switzerland” came from a jam that appeared on the first day of the tour, when she was forced to make do with a standard flute. The deeply charismatic Thomas swept up the audience with “Minnie the Moocher” and closed with the oddly appropriate “May The Circle Be Unbroken” before she and drummer Andre Turner Evans descended into the crowd for a final up-close-and-personal drum jam.
Andre Turner Evans and Sharde Thomas of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band closing out Gonerfest 20 (Photo: Live From Memphis/Christopher Reyes)
As he thanked the crowd for making the biggest Gonerfest ever so great, Eric Friedl said, “Don’t tell anyone else about it. We can’t fit any more people in here!”
Once Gonerfest hits its first full day, as Gonerfest 20 did yesterday, pacing is everything. Is this not what the immortal Keith Richards taught us? (Keith’s other bit of advice? “Always insist on medical grade product…”). And one could not possibly see all the bands present. Yet, all pacing aside, there was a large turnout for the day’s opener, Memphis’ own Optic Sink. We took a deep dive into that group’s new album earlier this week. Now it was time to hear how it would translate to the stage.
Optic Sink (Credit: Alex Greene)
A host of fans were curious, braving the blazing sun to see their 1:30 p.m. set. And while many lingered on the peripheries of Railgarten, clinging to the shade, just as many stood defiantly in the open area before the stage, just to see this one-of-a-kind band up close. And it was clear they were knocked out.
With Keith Cooper added on bass, the group has ramped up their stage energy considerably. Also contributing to this was Natalie Hoffmann’s increasing use of guitar in Optic Sink. And Ben Bauermeister’s increasingly imaginative drum programming ties it all together. As Hoffman alternately strummed or played synth, the rhythms marched on. And the crowd was primed for dancing, doing the Ratchet, the Twitch, and the Energizer Bunny as they baked in the sun.
Other bands kept them moving, and from that point on it was clearly “Aussie Day” at Gonerfest, with Vintage Crop, 1-800-Mikey, Tee Vee Repairmann, C.O.F.F.I.N., and Civic all hailing from Down Under. Many raved about 1-800-Mikey, but for my money Tee Vee Repairmann was the afternoon’s real shot in the arm. Both brought an intoxicating pop sensibility to their punkish underpinnings, but it was the latter band that has “hooks a mile wide,” as the Gonerfest program guide notes.
C.O.F.F.I.N. and Civic, meanwhile, demonstrated the heavier side of Down Under. I sat with friends as the former band played, parsing out their influences. “There’s clearly some AC/DC going on there,” said one. “Yeah, but I hear a bit of Southern Rock in their riffs,” said another. Both were right, as the band, sometimes verging on hardcore, steamrolled all over us. The raw power went to our heads, or was it Memphis Made’s special Golden Pass Gonerfest brew?
The day was not without its hiccups. After a captivating start, local post-punk heroes Ibex Clone were only able to play six songs or so, after which singer Alec McIntire was heard telling the band his voice was shot. Furthermore, the Skull Practitioners were delayed in even getting to town, hailing as they do from that land of sudden flooding, New York City. This left a hole in the afternoon lineup, gamely taken up by the New Memphis Legs, featuring Goner’s own Eric Friedl. Though they were more of a presence a decade ago, it clearly came back to them like riding a bike — a very noisy one.
Sweeping Promises (Credit: Alex Greene)
By the time Sweeping Promises appeared, after much buzz and anticipation, the crowd was pressed up to the stage, and their sparse, dynamic drive with hints of angular melody and otherworldly vocals from singer Lira Mondal drove everyone mad. With one of the most identifiable sounds in in recent memory, echoing the odd niche that Lene Lovich occupied many decades ago, they were also incredibly propulsive after extensive touring recently. Caufield Schnug’s guitar lines were thin and reedy, a perfect complement to Mondal’s overdriven bass. A power trio, yes, but not in the conventional sense.
For a power trio with an emphasis on power, one needed look no further than the delayed set by Skull Practitioners. With current Dream Syndicate guitarist Jason Victor backed by only bass and drums, they managed to conjure up the biggest sound of the night, specializing in heavy rock with some tasty feedback-swathed soloing from Victory. Between songs, Victor was so amiable that you could have introduced him to your mother, expressing gratitude that their delayed flight had not squelched their Gonerfest dreams, but only deferred them to a later, shorter slot before the evening’s headliner.
That, of course, was The Gories. As emcee Dane Perugini said in his introduction, “If you don’t know who they are, what the fuck are you doing here?” As the group took the stage, Mick Collins, Danny Kroha, and Peg O’Neil were not as jittery as they were when they first played the Antenna Club over 30 years ago, with reunion shows making consummate professionals out of these erstwhile garage-dwelling guttersnipes, but the same energy was there once they launched into “Going to the River.” The two guitars over O’Neil’s soulful thumping hit the crowd like a cool breeze. The sonic palette of the group was far more minimalist and blues-based than many of the heavier rock bands of the day, but the interplay between the three was so perfect as to galvanize the audience. The lust-fueled “Queenie,” with its manic, screamed chorus, was a highlight.
“It’s been 13 years since we played Gonerfest,” quipped Kroha, expressing the band’s love of Memphis, instilled when they came down in the spring of 1990 to work with producer Alex Chilton. But they made it clear that they were proud Detroiters, and saluted the Keggs, a much-loved ’60s group “from the wild suburbs of Detroit,” as Kroha put it. “We’ve got a nice little Detroit contingent down here,” he went on. “Toledo is also represented — the Great Lakes states!”
The Gories (Credit: Alex Greene)
Meanwhile, Collins was fiddling with his guitar, which he clawed at through the night like a feral cat. “Man, this thing is still in tune,” he exclaimed. “Incredible! For us it is…”
Decadent bourgeois concepts like tuning mattered little as the band launched into one classic after another, and not only their own classics. They made covers of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and the Keggs their own, combining the looseness of the blues with the attack of a Motor City V8 engine. Kroha even rocked a mean blues harp for one number. But it was their cover of Suicide’s “Ghostrider” that brought the house down, as Collins screamed “America, America is killing its youth!” to the wildly gyrating crowd. It culminated in one of the greatest feedback-drenched guitar solos ever heard on a Gonerfest stage. The amp and guitar seemed glued to Collins’ hands as if he was being electrocuted, while the gear at his command howled in protest. And then, all too soon, it was over. The midnight hour approached, the day was done, and as The Gories surveyed the battlefield, the audience before them scattered and slain under the harvest moon.
Standing around between bands during last night’s opening salvo of Gonerfest 20, I saw none other than Graham Burks walk by, decked out in headphones and other comm gear, toting a Sony Handycam. As part of a small army of camera operators making the Gonerfest 20 live stream happen, his exhilaration was contagious: he’d just shot an incendiary set by The Kids, who were clearly not phased by having to play borrowed instruments.
The Kids (Credit: Sara Moseley)
“You bastard!” sang front man Ludo Mariman on “Fascist Cops,” a prescient clarion call the Belgian band released in 1978. The band was hitting on all cylinders last night and conjured up that first wave of punk as if it were yesterday. And Burks, having been in the heart of the action as the band played, was glowing like he’d been playing along himself.
Such exhilaration was common among the camera crew. Another of the videographers, Kim Lloyd, had just finished her shift after shooting the French/Swiss band Jack of Heart, who had a similar old-school punk vibe, with echoes of hardcore but still loose enough to pull off a roaring cover of “You’re Out of Time” by the Rolling Stones. Though discharged from her duties for the rest of the night, Lloyd exclaimed “I don’t want to quit! What a rush!” It’s the next best thing to actually playing in a band at Gonerfest.
Live video production headquarters at Gonerfest 20 (Credit: Chris McCoy)
But when I saw Burks, it was obvious that he was not done, nor was the night. “The next band is going to be wild!” he exclaimed with a manic grin moving back to his post onstage. And he wasn’t lying: next up were Osees, aka Orinoka Crash Suite (1997–2003), OCS (2003–2005, 2017), Orange County Sound (2005), The Ohsees (2006), Thee Oh Sees (2006–2017), and Oh Sees (2017–2019). Their reputation as one of the most explosive bands of the last quarter century clearly preceded them, and they did not disappoint.
But they didn’t quite bring the frenzy from the start, opting to start their set with a sonic wash of noise until the beat kicked in with a vengeance. Featuring two drummers, bass, and synth/second guitar backing guitarist and lead singer John Dwyer, the band is a steamroller that blends punk, psychedelic post-punk, and even hints of guttural death metal. There were plenty of pogo-worthy moments, as the mosh pit made clear, but also slower, stop-time beats that allowed plenty of space for the guitar crunch to hang in the air.
Many flipped birds also hung in the air, as Dwyer saluted the crowd with them repeatedly, always receiving them in return with aplomb. “This one’s for you mom!” he shouted with a jeer, before stepping back and saying sincerely, “Seriously, this one goes out to your mother…”
A barefoot John Dwyer (guitar) with drummers Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon, (right) and keyboardist Tomas Dolas (left) of Osees (Credit: Sara Moseley)
But he also showed Memphis some love. “This one’s for the Oblivians!” he said before unleashing a volley of solo guitar noise. Apparently, the noise was a little off: he stopped mid-riff and announced “I fucked up!” before launching the tune again. Later he quipped, “We’re one and a half months into a tour…and we’re only getting worse!”
Not that he came off as the humble type. Indeed, Dwyer’s mix of bravado and self-disdain perfectly complemented the pounding machine of the band, who also sported some intricate arrangements and varied textures thanks to the telepathic interplay between Dwyer and synth wiz Tomas Dolas, even as the front phalanx of dual drummers (Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon) and bass (Tim Hellman) propelled them onward. As it turned out, the Gonerfest program guide was not far off in noting what to expect: “Full mania. The biggest act of the fest!”
Laundry Bats (Credit: Alex Greene)
They were the capstone to an evening that began on a more local note with Memphis’ latest supergroup, Laundry Bats, led by erstwhile Manatees member Abe White “in inimitable Abe-Style,” as Goner’s guide notes. Singing his own songs and playing guitar, he was backed by an enviable collection of superfriends: Jack Oblivian on drums, Alicja Trout on guitar, and Greg Cartwright on bass. Together, they unleashed scratchy twin-guitar rock that harked back to the Golden Age of the Antenna Club. Though all are seasoned pros by now, they exuded a youthful enthusiasm, especially as Cartwright and Jack Oblivian locked down the rhythm. “I’ve never played bass in a band before,” noted Cartwright after their set. “It’s fun!”
Alien Nosejob, the solo project of Ausmuteants’ Jake Robertson, then brought a unique mix of pop-punk that chugged along like a locomotive covered in graffiti. By then the audience had filled in and the crowd surfing had begun. As the night progressed, that and the moshing would gain momentum in the zone in front of the stage, even as hundreds pushed in from the peripheries of Railgarten to get that much closer to the intoxicating sounds.
Inez McLain of Exbats (Credit: Sara Moseley)
By the time Exbats took the stage, it appeared to be the most well-attended Gonerfest in history. The love Memphians have developed for this Arizona band since they appeared at Gonerfest 18 was palpable. Their perfectly minimalist ’60s pop songs by drummer Inez McLain, accompanied by her dad Kenny McLain on guitar, with the bassist and second guitarist chiming in “oohs” and “ahhs” in the background, was like a breath of fresh air. And this fresh air had hundreds of fans dancing and pressing ever-closer to the stage. In the slightly steamy evening, that was the whole night in a nutshell: an audience made up of superfans, hanging on every note, shaking, grinding, and slamming to the beat, thrilling to the freaky harmonies. Gonerfest 20 had begun.
Pressing LPs at Memphis Record Pressing (photo courtesy of MRP)
Music fans know all about Record Store Day, that occasional holiday when buyers flock to their favorite local brick-and-mortar shops to load up on playable media. And while the growth of Record Store Day’s popularity has gone hand in hand with a resurgence in vinyl sales over recent years (see last year’s cover story on the subject here), it’s worth remembering that RSD is media-agnostic. There are even those who come home with nothing but a load of CDs after the day’s grand events. Meanwhile, there’s one holiday for vinyl and vinyl only: National Vinyl Record Day, which falls on Saturday, August 12th this year. And, given the importance of Memphis to every step of the vinyl food chain, it comes as no surprise that there will be a unique celebration here.
Vinyl is clearly no joke here. Memphis Record Pressing (MRP) recently underwent a multimillion-dollar expansion, tripling the size of the company and bringing the total number of presses to 52 and the staff to more than 400. With these changes, the company’s on track to produce 20-25 million records this year. When running at full capacity, MRP can press as many as 125,000 records a day or more than 45 million a year, making it the largest vinyl record manufacturer by volume in North America.
A worker prepares to flatten a lump of vinyl into an LP (photo courtesy of MRP)
Having turned this monumental corner, MRP is now marking National Vinyl Record Day with a giveaway for record enthusiasts. In partnership with local record stores Goner Records, Shangri-la Records, and River City Records, MRP is giving away a limited-edition, specially designed National Vinyl Record Day commemorative pin, to be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the participating stores. MRP employees will also be sporting the pins at work in the week leading up to National Vinyl Record Day.
“National Vinyl Record Day, obviously, means a lot to us, and we thought this was a fun way to mark the occasion and thank all the vinyl enthusiasts who have helped our industry thrive in recent years,” noted MRP CEO and co-founder Brandon Seavers in a statement.
California radio host and vinyl enthusiast Gary Freiberg started National Vinyl Record Day in 2002 to promote the “preservation of the cultural influence, the recordings, and the cover art of the vinyl record.” The date was chosen to honor the reported date in 1877 when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. This year’s celebration comes fast on the heels of the 75th anniversary of the long-playing album, or LP, marked this June.
The event also comes as the vinyl renaissance that began almost two decades ago has reached a new milestone. Vinyl record sales have been increasing steadily for 17 years, and only grew more during the pandemic. Last year, vinyl album sales overtook CD sales for the first time since 1987, with 43.46 million copies sold.
MRPs growth in recent years has been equally impressive. An offshoot of defunct CD manufacturer AudioGraphc Masterworks, MRP has expanded dramatically since opening its doors in 2015.
Meanwhile, what of the city’s veritable temple to vinyl culture and music, Memphis Listening Lab, on this day of tribute to the majesty of wax? “We don’t have anything planned,” says MLL head archivist Jim Cole. “But we’re here if anyone wants to come spin some records.”
To anyone who’s ever complained that Memphis is not cosmopolitan enough, this will be a weekend to remember: For one night only, Memphis will be visited by a celebrated band from one of the world’s oldest, busiest cities to ever spring up around a trade hub.
I’m talking about Agadez, of course. You know, just east of Timbuktu? (That’s not just a figure of speech). Since the 14th Century, the city, in what’s now Niger, has been at the cross section of caravan routes from all across North Africa. Now, this Saturday, July 15th, at Growlers, Memphians can get a taste of the guitar-driven sound that’s been rocking the Sahara for nearly 30 years, courtesy of the region’s most celebrated quartet, Etran de L’Aïr.
Currently touring the U.S. this summer, the band is focusing squarely on the Midwest, with just a smattering of shows on either coast. Perhaps they intuitively gravitate inland? If the inland empire of Memphis is feeling like the Sahara lately, Etran de L’Aïr’s groove should be relatable. Now, the band has releasedLive in Seattle, a two-song live recording of the group performing at Madame Lou’s in Seattle on the last night of their first-ever US tour. This soundboard recording, featuring fan-favorite songs “Toubouk Ine Chihoussay” and “Nak Deranine,” is available on Bandcamp as a Name Your Price recording.
This release is also the latest evidence that Etran de L’Aïr are a consummate live band, having cut their teeth at innumerable wedding parties in the Aïr region of Niger, homeland of the Tuareg people.
Over recent decades, a distinctive approach to the guitar has fomented in Tuareg culture. Agadez’s style is the fastest, with frenetic electric guitar solos, staccato crashes of full drum kits, and flamboyant dancing guitarists. Agadez is the place where artists come to cut their teeth in a lucrative and competitive winner-take-all scene. Guitar bands are an integral part of the social fabric, playing in weddings, baptisms, and political rallies, as well as the occasional concert.
Etran De L’Aïr’s current three-week tour also includes headlining dates at Music Hall of Williamsburg and The Getty Museum, festival appearances at 80/35 Music Festival and Square Roots Music Festival, and intimate appearances at record shops Total Drag and Grapefruit Records. Saturday’s Growlers show is being presented by Goner Records, and includes opener Graham Winchester (click here for tickets).
With a tour itinerary like that, the band is clearly open to fans from all cultures. “We play for the Tuareg, the Toubou, the Zarma, the Hausa,” current band leader Moussa “Abindi” Ibra explains. “When you invite us, we come and play.”
