Tag: Goner Records

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Goner and Unapologetic Join Forces For Downtown Meltdown

The true genius of Memphis music has always been our willingness to mix and match. A show tonight in a Downtown alley proves that tendency is alive and well.

“We keep it fresh by following this one idea: If it doesn’t intimidate us, we didn’t think big enough,” says IMAKEMADBEATS, mastermind of the Unapologetic label. “Every show we throw, we try to do something we’ve never seen or done before. We try to scare ourselves with our own ideas, and then we take the necessary steps to make it happen. The adrenaline alone pushes us somewhere new in each show.”

Goner Records co-owner Zach Ives says when he was approached by the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) about scheduling a show, he thought it was a great idea.

“I love what [IMAKEMADBEATS] is doing over there,” Ives said. “We’ve met up and talked some over the past year. Nice to share experiences. While our avenues are different, there are plenty of similarities. We are both doing it our own way and figuring it out as we go along.”

Both Goner and Unapologetic follow in the Memphis tradition of independent record labels making and selling the music they want to hear, and then creating the audience for it.

In the case of Goner, Ives and his partner, Eric Friedl (aka Eric Oblivian), that music is the raw, rootsy garage punk that emerged from the Antenna and Barrister’s scene of the 80s and 90s.

For Unapologetic, it’s cutting edge hip hop.

“I really believe people value sincerity and vulnerability in music over everything else,” says IMAKEMADBEATS. “I think things like genre and other divisions come second to those things.

“These kinds of shows are great for us for the obvious reasons of getting in front of new people with open minds, but also because people like the good folks at Goner understand pushing boundaries and creating the kinds of atmospheres that allow people to be unapologetically themselves.

“Beyond the music, shows like these are great for the people, how they feel there, and the kinds of minds they’ll meet there. It’s great for community.”

Ives says after the initial conversation with Unapologetic, “One thing we both agreed on, our different parts of the music community don’t interact enough. This seemed like a good opportunity to try and correct that.”

The show will kick off around quitting time on Thursday, July 12th with Unapologetic rapper PreauXX and wunderkind producer Kid Maestro.

“There are few people as naturally talented as PreauXX,” says IMAKEMADBEATS. “[He] can go anywhere and share the stage with anyone and be a showstopper.”

New Orleans-based retro-synth wizard Benni will echo his spacey vibes  through the Downtown cityscape.

“The Unapologetic guys are super into Benni, so it was a no-brainer!” says Ives. “They demanded it! Also, he has a new record about to come out next month, so it made sense to get him back up and fill Downtown with new space sounds. It also felt like a good transition with the Unapologetic artists.”

Unapologetic R&B sensation Cameron Bethany will lend his smooth, emotive voice to the chorus.

“Cameron found me, actually,” says IMAKEMADBEATS. “We’d met before because someone I was working with in the studio called him in for some background vocals. He told me that he’d kept up with some of the things I was doing with PreauXX years ago.

“One day in 2015, Cameron called me and told me he wanted me to produce a single for him. We met, talked some business and artistic direction, then set a date for him to come and work on the record.

“The music on his Soundcloud page was mostly cover songs and when I’d asked peers about him, a handful mentioned an amazing voice but no one knew what his music sounded like. We started working on his single and after hearing the hook on it, alone, I knew we had something special. Something different. I listened to it on loop after Cam left the studio for almost 3 hours.”

Fresh off a sold-out European tour with Superchunk, Memphis punk legends The Oblivians will be joined by New Orleans vocalist Stephanie McDee.

The Oblivians covered McDee’s “Call The Police” on their last album, Desperation.

“It’s such a party anthem,” says Ives. “And her original version is soooo fast! We’ll see if the guys can keep up. Can’t wait to see what happens.”

The free show, sponsored by the DMC, begins at 5 p.m. in Barbaro Alley Downtown. 

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Music Music Features

Wreckless Eric Returns to Memphis

It’s been 21 years since Goner Records co-owner Zac Ives happened across a Wreckless Eric cassette tape passed from Greg Cartwright to the late Jay Reatard. Another decade has passed since Wreckless Eric, aka Eric Goulden, made his Memphis debut at the original location of the Hi-Tone, thanks to Ives, who tracked him down while on vacation in England. Ever since, the punk singer/songwriter, best known for his 1977 Stiff Records hit “Whole Wide World,” has made Memphis a stop on his infrequent U.S. tours, performing at a variety of venues including Gonerfest, Burke’s Book Store, and the Galloway House. He’s played solo, with his wife Amy Rigby, and once, with reunited cult faves the Len Bright Combo on their only American tour date — coincidentally their second gig in a quarter-century. This Sunday, he returns to headline the second installment of the spring River Series at the Harbor Town Amphitheater, which begins at 3 p.m.

Eric Goulden

Goulden remembers that first Memphis gig, which occurred in July 2006, with lightning precision. “It was like playing to a lot of braying idiots,” he says. “You Memphians think you know about music because of Elvis Presley and Alex Chilton, but you know fuck all about music because you just talk about yourselves. I had to wonder, is there someone who is listening?”

Of the Burke’s Book Store gig in October 2012, Goulden says, “Things changed; it was the first time I felt people were listening.” The next fall, when Goulden returned to play Gonerfest, he decided that Memphis was “quite fun.”

“There must be a Memphis outside of Goner Records, but I don’t know it,” Goulden says, constantly referencing the Cooper-Young record shop, as he names the landmarks he knows in the city. Burke’s is “the bookstore around the corner from Goner,” and Galloway House, where Goulden and Rigby performed in spring 2016, is “that chapel down the road from Goner.”

Yet Goulden is a fan of more than just garage rock. “I grew up loving Stax Records, Otis Redding, and Booker T. & the MGs,” he says. “I’ve never been to Graceland, but I have been driven past Elvis’ Audubon house. Memphis is fascinating — of course it is, that’s a dumb thing to say. It’s another world. You can walk around and go into the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.”

He gulps, pauses, then utters a soft expletive. “When I come down there, history comes alive for me. It’s almost overwhelming. Even the Mississippi River is something I can’t quite take in — that it somehow comes from Minneapolis and ends up flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.”

Goulden’s Sunday performance will mark the fifth stop on a three-country tour promoting his inspired new album, Construction Time & Demolition, which was cut at his home studio in Catskill, New York, finished and mixed at the Bomb Shelter, Andrija Tokic’s Nashville studio, and released last week on Southern Domestic Records.

“I was gonna call it Forty Years, because it was supposed to come out exactly 40 years after my first album,” Goulden says, “but all these other people already did that. It’s been 40 years since the Damned, Stiff Little Fingers, and the Sex Pistols, and I thought, I don’t want to be involved in that nostalgia trip!”

Despite the title change, Construction Time & Demolition adroitly documents Goulden’s trajectory from his youth in East Sussex and his stint in art school to his career during and after the Stiff Records years. Moody, brilliant, catchy and frequently hilarious, it also tackles the apathy of the Trumpian world in true punk fashion.

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Gonerfest 14: Friday

Gonerfest Friday went all day and night.

Thunderroads take the Gonerfest leap.

For a second day, the weather gods smiled on the afternoon show. This one, at Memphis Made Brewery, featured a truly international cast, with Magic Factory from New Zealand being the farthest afield.

The Memphis band Model Zero made something of a debut with a groovy, hybrid drum machine and live drummer setup.

Model Zero

The atmosphere was friendly, with some kids running around and old friends reconnecting. Allison Green, a New Orleans photographer, has been covering Gonerfest for four years. “It’s my friend’s bachelorette party, so I’m taking it a little easy. I love shooting candids at the day shows more than anything.”

She says Gonerfest has been one of her favorite events to photograph. “Visually, Ty Segall’s set he did a couple of years ago was brilliant. He knows how to put on a show.” she recalled. “Hank Wood and the Hammerheads blew me away. They had two different drummers, and it was the best I’ve ever seen that done. There were tribal undertones, with traditional drums on top, and it was amazing.”

The highlight of her Gonerfest so far was Thursday night’s Sweet Knives performance. “I love Alicja Trout. I was a huge fan of the Lost Sounds. My buddy Rob and I were working in the darkroom—we went to college together—and he said, ‘You need to come to this show with me!’ That was my introduction to the Memphis scene in Chicago. It was 2004, probably? That’s when I saw the Lost Sounds. Alicja’s just the nicest human being in the world. I adore her. It’s very nostalgic for me.”

Kyle Johnson and Alyssa Moore keep Gonerfest sounding good.

Memphis bassist Jeremy Scott said it’s important to pace yourself during these long day/night show combos. “I love the outdoor shows at Murphy’s. Blood Bags, out of New Zealand, played last night, but they first played last year, and I saw people in the room with their jaws dropped. They were just that freakin’ good. Heavy, no bullshit, straightforward rock.”

He has played Gonerfest four times, but last year’s Reigning Sound reunion was his favorite. I don’t think we knew we were going to do it ever again, so to have that go off as well as it did was a lot of fun.”

I didn’t get pictures of anyone I talked to, so here are a couple of random guys.

Thunderroads, a Japanese band, closed out the after with a spectacularly athletic set that ended with  Masahuru, brother of Seiji from Gonerfest favorites Guitar Wolf, leaping from the landscaping.

Masahuru of Thunderroads

Friday night at the Hi Tone started off with Frantic Stuffs from Osaka, Japan playing a charming, English-challenged set. Outside, Goner Records founder Eric Friedl was happy with the way things were going. “The first band is killing it, and it’s as full as it was last night already.”

Finding bands to fill out the weekend is a year-round job, he says. “There are a range of bands you would like to get. Then some people approach us and say, we’ll build a tour to get there, or we’re going to be on tour, it would be great if we could play. Then other people we ask. It’s kind of a random mix. We don’t have enough money to say, ‘We want you. We’re going to fly you in and put you up.’ So it has to be a collaboration between the bands and us. That’s why it works, I think. People really want to be here. People like Mudhoney, Cosmic Psychos—these bands could make more money other places, but they want to be here.”

In the crowded Hi Tone, San Fransciso’s Peacers delivered noisy power pop seeped in Big Star harmonies and Husker Du noise meltdowns.

Gonerfest 14: Friday (3)

Foster Care from New York City blew the roof off with rude, old school hardcore. When the crowd started to throw beer cans onto the stage (a sign that things are going well at Gonerfest) Foster Care’s bassist upped the ante by emptying out the contents of a trash can onto the audience, then wearing the trash can while he played.

Foster Care, with trash can.

The set ended with a punk puppy pile.

Foster Care gets intimate with the fans.

Lindsey, a Memphian attending her fourth Gonerfest, was there for one band. “Nots are my favorite!”

Gonerfest 14: Friday

Nots had their coming out party at Gonerfest a few years ago, and now they’re a staple of the festival. This year, fresh off the road, they did not disappoint, putting forward some new, synthesizer heavy songs, mixed with guitar-led screamers.

Gonerfest 14: Friday (2)

Tyvek, another veteran Gonerfest band, rose to the challenge the Nots laid down. pushed and swayed.

Tyvek

Sydney, Australia punks feedtime’s drummer was rejected for his visa, so the band played their headlining set with Anthony from San Francisco’s Leather Uppers sitting in. At that point, the Hi Tone main room was so packed I couldn’t make it in the door. I paused for a moment to talk to Elise from Salt Lake City, Utah. “I’ve been to Memphis, but this is my first Gonerfest,” she said. “It’s fucking awesome. I like everything about Memphis—the culture, the people, the music.”

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Gonerfest 14 lineup announced!

Goner Records have announced the final line up for the four day extravaganza known as Gonerfest. Now in its 14th year, Gonerfest has serious momentum and pulls in bands and concertgoers from all over the world. And while many associate it with purely punk sounds, Goner proves once again they’re not just one trick ponies. Indeed, the Goner folks are not ponies at all, but rather untamed, genre-burning dragons of the mind.

Take for example the headliner, Derv Gordon, who, with the Equals, belted out such hits as “Baby Come Back,” “Police On My Back,” “Back Streets,” and many other great songs that don’t include the word “back.” Springing out of the 60s London club scene, the bi-racial Equals were a rare hybrid of bubblegum, soul, and beat boom music – genre-burners in their own right. Writers often remind us that their personnel included the great Eddy Grant, who played guitar and wrote many of their songs, but, though their heyday was over when Grant left the group in 1971, they soldiered on without him into the 80s. At the core of the group was singer Derv Gordon and his brother Lincoln on bass.

Gonerfest 14 lineup announced!

Of course, there will be plenty of bands bringing the noise, such as Orlando’s Golden Pelicans, or Sydney, Australia’s Feedtime. But other textures will abound, including the retro synth moods of BÊNNÍ and the Krautrock of Mississippi’s Hartle Road. And while the festival will have its usual globe-spanning curation of bands, from Japan to New Zealand to the UK, Memphis groups will be there in full force. Ex-Memphian extraordinaire Greg Cartwright will DJ and play a solo show, and Jack Oblivian, the Nots, Sweet Knives, and Hash Redactor, among others, will be hometown favorites. Finally, we’ve just learned that film director and Schlitz-fueled street aesthete Dan Rose from New Orleans, writer and director of Wayne County Ramblin’, will emcee the Saturday show.

Check out the full schedule here; follow the links to view profiles of the bands and buy tickets.

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From Hex Dispensers to BBQ glory: Goner hosts Austinite’s food trailer tour

Tom Micklethwait

Austin band The Hex Dispensers were a delicious mix of punk and pop that won over a lot of Memphis fans. They had a good run and even played Gonerfest a couple of times. How things have changed. Tomorrow, one of the band members will be passing through town while touring up to New York for a Goner-sponsored event. But it’s not what you’re thinking. He won’t be playing the Hex Dispensers’ “Pile of Meat,” he’ll be serving it, and you should get on out and git you some.

Tom Micklethwait was always passionate about food, and had a day gig baking for an Italian restaurant. But around 2012, he began delving into the world of barbecue, and it has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Though based out of small food truck, Micklethwait Craft Meats has developed quite a reputation in Texas. As Food & Wine wrote last month, the eatery has been “turning heads at its Austin trailer. Unorthodox offerings like pulled goat, brisket Frito pie, and pork belly kielbasa helped put Micklethwait on the BBQ map.”

It hasn’t dimmed his love of music, either. Recently, he combined his passions by recreating the feast featured in the gatefold of Z.Z. Top’s Tres Hombres album…and ate it. Billy Gibbons reportedly quipped, “I stand in awe of what he accomplished.”

Goner co-owner Zac Ives says, “His BBQ is insanely good, totally unlike anything you can get in Memphis.” At Memphis Made on Friday, you can find out for yourself, while Ives and Hot Tub Eric spin vinyl on the wheels of steel. Oxford’s Tyler Keith will be there as well, playing a solo set. While it may not shake everyone’s faith in Memphis’ reign as king of the ‘cue, it could do us all some good to get some strange for once. It’s free and family-friendly.

From Hex Dispensers to BBQ glory: Goner hosts Austinite’s food trailer tour

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A Record Swap at Ground Zero for Choice Vinyl

Memphis is a record-lovers town if there ever was one. Maybe it’s the city’s storied history, and the megatons of vinyl that originated here. Maybe it’s due to the rich subculture of thrift stores and estate sales, so ripe for bin scavenging. Or it could be the high per-capita density of musicians, who tend to favor the rich sound of analog. For whatever reason, and probably all of them, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to records stores, with three top-notch shops in midtown alone.

But the availability of vinyl is about to increase exponentially over the weekend. The Soulsville Record Swap this Saturday, June 17, will bring together local record dealers and others from as far away as Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, New York, and Minnesota. Hosted by the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, in collaboration with Goner Records, music lovers can expect crates upon crates of vinyl, from the common to the ultra-rare. DJ’s will spin their favorite platters, and food trucks from Arepa 901, Sandwiches & More, and MemPops will be right outside, making this an event worth seeing and hearing even if you don’t buy any wax at all. The event is free, though any early birds seeking that rare copy of The Worms can pay $10 to be the first in the door at 10:00.

And if you want to warm up to the event, there’s a pre-swap party at the Memphis Made Tap Room on Friday, where you can hob-nob with fellow enthusiasts. That’s where one can often learn a thing or two. And to keep the conversation flowing, Memphis Made has crafted a special brew, Hop Swap, which will be on tap and in carry-out bombers. Goner DJ’s will be manning the turntables as well. Here’s a little ’45 to get you in the mood…maybe you’ll find a copy for yourself.

A Record Swap at Ground Zero for Choice Vinyl

Soulsville Record Swap will be held at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore Ave. (in the Stax Music Academy Building next door), 11:00-4:00 p.m., free admission; 10:00 a.m. early bird entry for $10.00.

Pre-swap party is at Memphis Made Tap Room, 768 S. Cooper St., 7:00 p.m., free admission.

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Music Music Features

Vinyl Heaven: It’s Record Store Day

CREDIT: Jesse Davis

April 22nd may be the busiest Saturday this spring for Memphis music lovers and vinyl hounds. Shangri-La Records and Goner Records are both opening early to participate in the 10th anniversary celebration of Record Store Day [RSD]; Burke’s Book Store is hosting a reading and concert for Jim Dickinson’s I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone in the Cooper-Young gazebo; and Lucero’s annual Block Party closes out the festivities in the Minglewood parking lot.

I’ve done the math, and it seems like, with determination and careful planning, it’s possible to see Tall David, Some Sons of Mudboy (twice), and end the day on a blanket in front of Minglewood, counting a stack of rare 7-inchers to the sounds of Son Volt.

The official list of RSD exclusives is nine pages long and includes rarities from Link Wray, Emmylou Harris, Prince, Ramones, Spoon, and the Kinks, not to mention a previously unreleased Diamond Dogs-era David Bowie concert. As if that isn’t enough to get any music junkie out of bed early, Waxploitation Records is releasing a “literary mixtape” of stories written by Nick Cave, Jim James, and others. And I haven’t even mentioned the children’s record by Johnny Cash or the third and final installment in Big Star’s three-part release for Complete Third.

“We’re participating in a huge way,” says Shangri-La owner Jared McStay. “We ordered more stuff than we ever have.” McStay says he’s not allowed to let slip which of the RSD exclusives he ordered for the store, but he’s excited about what’s coming in. The store cleared out some space with their Fool Fest sale, and McStay says they have been stockpiling some special rarities as well as local records to put out on Saturday alongside the RSD exclusives. “We’re open early,” McStay says. “And we’ve got a band playing at 2 p.m.”

Last year, while waiting for a show to begin at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, I watched as David Johnson, the leader of Tall David, led the crowd — or at least the Memphis contingent of it — in an enthusiastic sing-a-long rendition of Harry Nilsson’s “Without You.” (I don’t want to add fuel to the feud, but no one from Nashville joined in the sing-a-long.) This year, fresh from an opening slot at Dead Soldiers’ album-release show, Tall David will lead the festivities at Shangri-La with an afternoon performance in the store’s parking lot.

Jesse Davis

“Come expecting to see the world’s tallest rock-and-roll crooner. Come early,” Johnson says of the free show. However, most Memphis music junkies will split time between the Madison record shop and its Cooper-Young counterpart, the holy grail of garage rock, Goner Records.

“One year we had a memorable guitar shred-off with some people playing their best licks back and forth,” Goner guru Eric Friedl says, but this year, Goner is letting Burke’s Book Store take over the performance duties with a reading from Jim Dickinson’s memoir by Mary Lindsay Dickinson and a performance by Some Sons of Mudboy.

“That seemed like enough [live music],” Friedl says, but guest DJs will spin soul and punk records in the store throughout the day. And the store will have coffee and donuts for the early birds.

“We’ve got the usual batch of exclusive RSD releases that everybody’s scrambling to get,” Friedl says. The store is also releasing Golden Pelicans’ Disciples of Blood LP on red vinyl. “We do have a secret release from NOTS that’s only going to be available in the store and from the band,” Friedl continues. “We were trying to figure out the best way to leak the word, but the NOTS Live at Goner [LP is being released for RSD]. We wanted to find a good way to release it, and tying it into RSD from the record store where it was recorded seemed pretty good.”
That’s right; Goner’s dropping a new, used-to-be-secret NOTS record this Saturday. And it’s not the only new Memphis LP coming just in time for RSD. A smorgasbord of spring releases by groups with Memphis roots is bolstering the RSD exclusives.

Valerie June’s The Order of Time led the blitz of spring releases, but hot on her heels were Dead Soldiers with The Great Emptiness, Chris Milam with Kids These Days, and Cory Branan’s Adios. At the time of this writing, Milam and Branan’s LPs are barely a week old, but Memphis-based psychedelic rockers Spaceface are dropping their debut LP Sun Kids on colored vinyl the day before RSD.
Though the band strived to record something that felt organic and could be replicated live, there were a few guest appearances — the band invited Flyer favorite Julien Baker to give a guest vocal performance. “[It] has our friend Julien Baker on there. We knew she would kill it,” Daniel Quinlan says.

With live music and new and exclusive releases from every genre, Memphis is primed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Record Store Day. Whether it’s the new NOTS or the new Spaceface, the pop perfection of Tall David, or the country-punk attack of Lucero, there’s something to satisfy every listener.
For a list of all Record Store Day releases, visit www.recordstoreday.com. Tall David at Shangri-La Records, Saturday, April 22nd at 2 p.m. Free.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Aquarian Blood

Today’s Music Video Monday has a taste for blood.

Aquarian Blood started life as a home recording project by husband-and-wife duo JB Horrell and Laurel Horrell. JB is the guitar strangling mastermind behind Ex-Cult, and Laurel is a former member of feminist punkers Nots. The sound they created together is grounded in Memphis punk, incorporating songwriting influences as diverse as 1960s psychedelia and industrial noise. Their new album on Goner Records, Last Nite In Paradise just dropped last Friday. You can see them perform songs from the new album at their record release party at Murphy’s this Friday night. The first music video, directed by Benjamin Rednour, gives the song “Parasite Inside” the psychedelic setting it deserves.

Music Video Monday: Aquarian Blood

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Danny Says Reveals Untold Story of the Punk Revolution

To a lot of America in the 1970s, it seemed like punk rock just appeared out of nowhere to challenge the content mediocrity of the status quo. But that’s not really how it happened. Punk did not spring forth fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus. It was shaped and midwifed by a series of writers, hucksters, and hustlers, the most prominent of whom was a New York promoter named Danny Fields.

Fields is the subject of Danny Says, a new documentary directed by Brenden Toller, that will have a free screening at Studio on the Square on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:30 PM. The film explores the lasting impact the hype man had on American music, from his promotion of The Doors to his careful shaping of the rough public images of artists like Iggy Pop and The Ramones, whose song about Fields gives the film its name. Goner Records and Magnolia Pictures are sponsoring the screening, which, although it is free, does require a ticket to get in. Passes are available at Goner Records while supplies last.

Danny Says Reveals Untold Story of the Punk Revolution

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Sharp Balloons Reunion at Bar DKDC

Sharp Balloons live at Goner Records.

This Saturday night one of the most interesting punk bands to come out of the Goner records scene will reunite for a show at Bar DKDC. Formed after Sector Zero bit the dust, Sharp Balloons featured Joe Simpson (True Sons of Thunder, Rat Traps) Zac Ives (Final Solutions, Son of Vom) and first time bassist Heather Simpson.

Sharp Balloons Reunion at Bar DKDC

The band had an unwritten rule that if a member wrote a song they had to sing it, making for songs that were as unpredictable as they were catchy. Sharp Balloons frequently played the local punk haunts of the last five years, including the final days of the Poplar Lounge, in addition to familiar places like the Buccaneer, the old Hi-Tone, and Murphy’s.

Sharp Balloons Reunion at Bar DKDC (2)

While the gig on Saturday appears to be more of a reunion show than a full fledged re-appearance, Saturday night should serve as an interesting window into the Memphis punk scene of the past. Check out a live video of Sharp Balloons covering the Toy Love song “Pull Down the Shades” in Jackson, Mississippi below, and get to Bar DKDC by 10:30 p.m. this Saturday night. As always, the cover is $7.

Sharp Balloons Reunion at Bar DKDC (3)

Sharp Balloons Reunion at Bar DKDC (4)