Tag: Hash Redactor

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Lucero Family Christmas Rocks Minglewood this Friday

CREDIT: Dan Ball

Memphis-based Americana band Lucero hosts its annual Family Christmas show at Minglewood this Friday.

With two decades of hits like “Nights Like These” and “For the Lonely Ones” under their belts, the band has developed a strong fan base in Memphis and around the country — so much so that they’ve spent as many as 250 days a year touring, playing venues like Red Rocks in Denver. But the band continues to stay true to their local fanbase and their hometown with annual Family Christmas and Block Party events, like the 2018 Block Party, where Mayor Jim Strickland declared that day “Lucero Day.”

Dan Ball

Lucero

“We’ve got a piece of paper to prove it and everything,” says guitarist Brian Venable. “It was pretty awesome.”

Two years later, Venable says he still can’t believe the band has been together for more than two decades.

“When we first got together, we were just punk rock kids, and we started this kind of weird band,” he says. “And then we started touring, and people came to see us. Then we started touring for a living. So the fact that we actually made it to 20 years or more is still kind of outlandish. We’ve seen a lot of history.”

Now, they celebrate Christmas with their annual Family Christmas, which comes with the tradition of supporting and featuring a fellow local artist.

“Hash Redactor, a local band from Goner Records, is opening,” says Venable. “So that’s pretty exciting for me. I like getting to play with local bands. At this point, it’s just tradition. It’s a nice tradition.”

Lucero Family Christmas, Minglewood Hall, Friday, December 13th, 7-11:30 p.m., $21.

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Not Hanging Back: Atlanta Trio The Coathangers Returns!

CREDIT: Jeff Forney

Jeff Forney

The Coathangers

The last time Atlanta garage-punk trio The Coathangers played Memphis, they ended their set at the old Hi-Tone with a merch manager – their drummer’s then-boyfriend – that barely had his arm attached to his body.

“His elbow was dislocated, it didn’t even look like it was connected,” bassist Meredith Franco tells the Memphis Flyer of the 2013 gig. “We just kept playing. He sat behind the merch booth the whole time and was like ‘nah, I’m okay.’ It looked like [his arm] was hanging on by a string.”

Though it was a simple stumble that caused the dislocation, and sheer belligerence that kept it that way, it’s definitely was a punk rock moment typical of The Coathangers’ long, energetic journey that will see them play Bluff City once again at the Hi-Tone this
Wednesday. They’ll be supported by Philadelphia punk trio Control Top and local heroes
Hash Redactor.

Formed in 2006, the band’s first gig was at an Atlanta house party where mastery of their
instruments – “I’d never even played bass before this band,” Franco says – was secondary to the performance itself. After their self-titled 2007 debut, put out through Rob’s House Records and Die Slaughterhaus, The Coathangers begun a long relationship with Seattle’s Suicide Squeeze Records – early backers of Elliott Smith and Modest Mouse – that has seen them release five albums in the last ten years.

“[Suicide Squeeze owner] David [Dickinson] is our number one fan, and we’re his number
one fans,” Franco says. “He really gives us a lot of freedom, whatever we want to do, he
supports us basically.”

Their most recent offering, The Devil You Know, released in March, shows a band that
haven’t taken a step backward from their devil-may-care roots during what has been a
tumultuous time – both politically and socially – in recent American history. With songs like
‘Hey Buddy’, addressing street harassment, and ‘F the NRA’, The Coathangers – named for a DIY abortion technique – was always going to come armed with a response to it.
“Yeah – especially a song like F the NRA,” Franco says. “It’s not like we’ve not ever been ‘not political’, but I think in the past we didn’t want to be [too] preachy. But why not? This is our way to express how we feel, why wouldn’t we write something we believe in? If someone doesn’t like it, fuck off – don’t listen to it.

“[With F the NRA], some people were worried that it was going to get negative [press] and
people who are all about guns were going to like come after us, I don’t know. People were
worried, but we were like, the reason we do what we do is to say what we want. Isn’t that the whole point of music in general? If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.”

Though Atlanta was the starting point, The Coathangers now find themselves in three
different corners of America. Franco moved back home to Massachusetts to care for her
ailing father (who she wrote ‘Memories’ for), lead singer Julia Kugel-Montoya relocated to
Long Beach while drummer Stephanie Luke remained in Atlanta.

The Memphis connection doesn’t just end with an ex-boyfriend of a drummer who dislocated his elbow, though. The Coathangers were good friends with Memphis punk legend Jay Reatard, dedicating their 2011 track ‘Jaybird’ to his memory.

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Gonerfest 16 Recap: Saturday

CREDIT: Kandi Cook

“It’s crazy,” says Johnny, the doorman at Murphy’s on Madison, the afternoon venue for Gonerfest 16’s Saturday performances. “It’s never sold out before.”

The gold passes have sold out in years past, but this year, weeks before Goner Records’ annual festival of punk, alternative, no wave, and all music left of the dial, individual passes to Friday and Saturday night were sold out. The sea of people inside and outside Murphy’s makes it hard to believe the daytime show hasn’t sold out as well. But, up walks a woman without a wristband. She balks at the cover charge and asks Johnny what’s going on.

Gonerfest is going on, and I’ve never seen so many people at Murphy’s before.

Kandi Cook

The Resonars

Out back, New Orleans’ Total Hell rips through a heavy set. They’re all guttural vocals and crunchy guitars as the audience bakes in the Memphis autumn sun. In the crowd, I can spot folks who seem to have come directly from Memphis Pride Festival, with rainbow stickers and other accoutrements.

Jesse Davis

Aquarian Blood played to a packed house at Murphy’s during Gonerfest 16.


Heading back inside in a (failed) attempt to secure a good spot close to the stage for locals Aquarian Blood’s set, I bump into Frank McLallen of Model Zero, the Sheiks, and the Tennessee Screamers. Like so many of the attendees, he’s got that Gonerfest glow — a sheen that could be sweat or sprayed beer and a happily dazed expression. “As a working local, I was able to make it out on Friday,” McLallen says of the festival so far. “It was nice to see the Oblivians and Quintron. It was a heroic set. Later than night, I played a show with Model Zero at DKDC for the late night [show]. It was a wild scene. We opened for Quintron’s Shitty Stones, a shitty Rolling Stones cover band from New Orleans, and it inspired us to get all ’70s glammed out. The scene was just wild and wonderful.”

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I ask McLallen if he’ll be at the festivities later that evening, and, if so, what he’s most looking forward to seeing. “I want to see the Mummies,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing them. It seems like a circus.”

Inside, Memphis’ own Aquarian Blood starts up the first song of their set. It’s haunting, with slightly overdriven acoustic guitar, just enough to give the tone some texture. Their second song begins with drum machine and acoustic guitar. It’s got a mellow groove, with tasteful bends on the acoustic. I stand near the bathroom, as close as I can get, and listen. Murphy’s is a sea of people, all transfixed by Aquarian Blood.

Jesse Davis

The Resonars


The Resonars from Tucson, Arizona, play outside. They’re a band of Fender-wielding guitarists with a tight rhythm section and driving, thrumming bass. An ex-Arizonan, I detect a whiff of the desert in their Southern sound with a slight power-pop vibe.

Jesse Davis

Michael Beach & the Artists

Michael Beach & the Artists begin their set with a steady beat on the floor tom and guitar chords left to ring out. It’s not unlike the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin,” at least, that is, before the Melbourne-based band really leans into the performance and dials the energy up to 11.

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That night, as I walk into the Hi Tone, Parsnip has just begun their set. They have a lo-fi sound with peppy garage-rock cheerleader backup vocals and some nice keyboard action. It’s my kind of music, without a doubt, and stuck in the back again, I let myself get lost in the sounds of the Aussie rockers. It’s worth noting that the shows at Gonerfest start on time. The heat, the tinnitus-inducing volume, the Gonerbrau (Memphis Made’s commemorative cream ale) all seem to conspire against the performances going so smoothly, but somehow, in the schedule, if not on stage, a strict sanity prevails. That leaves all the madness, happily, to the performers and the audience.

Jesse Davis

Giorgio Murderer plays to a sold-out audience at the Hi Tone.

Giorgio Murderer from New Orleans brings a set of urgently-strummed guitar. It’s classic punk, classic rock-and-roll, hitting every downbeat, with attitude to spare. It’s stripped down, gnarly, and totally at home at Gonerfest.

Next, Memphis-based Hash Redactor makes their appearance with squealing, squalling guitars. Listening to their first song is like being sucked down the drain, with descending riffs and bending guitar strings. The second song kicks off with a bang and ends with a warble. With their third song, they settle into the dark, spooky side they do so well. With members of NOTS and Ex-Cult in the lineup, Hash Redactor is a Goner Records supergroup of sorts, and they were in full form at Gonerfest 16. As I wrote in a review of their Drecksound album, “The guitars alone are worth the price of admission.”

Courtney Fly

The Mummies

It’s fitting that in Memphis’ alternative rock festival, the Mummies close out the night. As Gonerfest attendees pack themselves into the Hi Tone, it’s readily apparent that Gonerfest 16 sold out. I’m loathe to be a broken record, but these performances were absolutely packed. The Mummies earn every second of the audience’s rapt attention. Clad in tattered “bandages,” the band powers through a dynamite performance. The keyboard player lifts his instrument over his head and onto his back. They’re so obviously in lock-step with each other, the tempo and changes so ingrained, that they play with a ghoulish intensity. They change to double-time for the end of a song, all as easy as second nature. And the musicianship is only a fraction of the show. The humor and stage presence are top-notch as well. After some banter about “the sign-up sheet for the human sacrifice,” a Mummy says, “It seems like we’re wasting time, but this is for your benefit.” Another band mate chimes in with lightning-fast reflexes, “We’re waiting for the suppositories to kick in.”

Later, the band gets a laugh by “confusing” Tennessee’s two music towns: “It’s great to be here in Nashville,” a Mummy quips. “Great to be at the Grand Ole Opry.” All in all, the Mummies made an excellent cap to the Goner festivities — a mix of humor, wild energy, and air-tight song craftsmanship. After the Mummies, well, that’s a wrap.

Courtney Fly

The Mummies


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Review: Fresh Releases from Memphis Artists

Model Zero

Model Zero (Slovenly Recordings)

There’s something different going on in Model Zero, the self-titled debut album from members of the Sheiks, Yesse Yavis, and several other Bluff City bands. Model Zero is Keith Cooper (bass, synth, drum machines), Frank McLallen (vocals, guitar), Linton Holliday (guitar, vocals), Jesse James Davis (drums, synthesizer, background vocals) — a supergroup, of sorts, made up of members of bands who usually specialize in punk, garage rock, and roots rock. So where do the pulsing drum machines and swirling, psychedelic synthesizers fit in?

“We were in the lab for a long time,” Cooper says of working out the dynamics of playing the songs live. Part of the danger was the exploration of new musical motifs and temperamental equipment.

“Anything could go wrong because we’re using a lot of old equipment and analogue equipment,” Davis says. “I think it adds to the energy.” And there is an undeniable energy to the album. The band’s cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” pulses insistently; “This Modern Life” is frantic with guitars, percussion, and the refrain repeated like a chant.

“Our first major performance was playing at Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s Lundi Gras at Sailor Jack’s in New Orleans,” McLallen says. “It was the first time the drum machines went through a huge P.A., and there were guys and girls in costumes coming out on the floor and dancing with this sexy verve.” Holliday chimes in: “That’s the secret. We’re a dance band.”

Model Zero’s album release concert at DKDC Friday, June 28th, at 10:30 p.m.

Alyssa Moore

The Farmer’s Revenge (Self-released)

This is what it sounds like when a talented multi-instrumentalist and audio engineer exorcises her demons — and has fun doing it. With her third solo effort, The Farmer’s Revenge, Alyssa Moore confronts new horizons, the joys of independence, and life after trauma.

“It’s a sequel to The Girl Became a Farmer,” says Moore, solo artist, bassist for math-rock outfit Strengths, and owner and operator of indie recording studio Move the Air. “The lyrics and songs were more about getting up and going forward [this time],” she says, explaining a shift on the new record. “The last [album] was put out as a way to release some emotions about the event that happened,” Moore says, referring to a violent public assault by her ex-boyfriend in 2017. With The Farmer’s Revenge, however, Moore explores new territory; most of the work, she says, fit the motifs of freedom and independence.

Alyssa Moore

“I just locked myself up here and recorded it all,” Moore says. “Everything on the album was written, recorded, and played by me. When I hear the term ‘solo artist’ or ‘solo album,’ I think of a single person doing the work.”

Moore makes no bones about sticking to any one style with her new release. On “Here Comes the Thunder” she alternates whispers and screams during the refrain. With “Cat’s Cradle,” cut-time drums and a bed of acoustic guitar share sonic space with swaggering squalls of electric guitar. The result is as dynamic as the person who crafted it, at times joyous, sometimes dark, and overflowing with personality.

Alyssa Moore performs at Midtown Crossing, Thursday, June 27th, 10:30 p.m.

Hash Redactor

Drecksound (Goner)

After a heavy touring schedule in 2018, Hash Redactor released their debut album, Drecksound, in April via Goner Records. The pairing is hardly surprising, as the band is pure Goner. Fronted by guitarist Alec McIntyre of Ex-Cult and with Meredith Lones (bass) and Charlotte Watson (drums) of Nots laying down rhythm, the band is a Goner supergroup. George Williford on guitar rounds out the lineup.

It’s not just Hash Redactor’s c.v. that screams “Goner.” The songs come in fast and hard, propelled by booming bass and tight drums. Watson and Lones share an easy comfort playing together; their confidence oozes from every song. McIntyre sneers the vocals, an antihero decrying humanity’s self-destructive tendencies and looking cool while doing so. The guitars alone are worth the price of admission.

Hash Redactor performs at Bar DKDC, Saturday, July 13th, 10 p.m.

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The Rebel at the Hi-Tone

This Saturday night Ben Wallers returns to Memphis as the Rebel, alongside tour mates Spray Paint and local openers Hash Redactor. Wallers has been making controversial racket since he formed the highly influential yet highly offensive garage band the Country Teasers in 1993. The Country Teasers specialized in making audiences uncomfortable with deconstructed garage-rock songs chock full of historical commentary that was equally as offensive as it was socially relevant. The band had a successful run of over 20 years, releasing records on A-list garage-rock labels like Crypt, In the Red, Guided Missile, and Fat Possum.

The Rebel

If it was possible for Wallers to get weirder with age, the British songwriter certainly achieved it with the Rebel, the project he’s been performing under for nearly two decades. Early recorded output from the Rebel doesn’t stray too far from the oddball country songs that Wallers cooked up with the Country Teasers, but, just as the Teasers got weirder toward the end of their discography (see the band’s cover of the Ice Cube classic “We Had to Tear This Motherfucker Up”), the Rebel has also been known to go off the deep end.

Also on the bill are Texas noise rockers Spray Paint, a band we’ve covered in this section before. Spray Paint recently released their debut album, Feel the Clamps, for Goner Records, and they are currently on tour with the Rebel, a trip they’ve opted to do before. Locals Hash Redactor open the show. Advance tickets are available at the Goner Records storefront.