Tag: Murphy’s

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day

CREDIT: Celtic Crossing/Facebook

Celtic Crossing/Facebook

Memphis’ Irish pubs have responded in many different ways to the coronavirus and the social distancing advice from government officials that would dampen their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Brass Door said it was wide open:

Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (3)

Murphy’s cancelled its event. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Murphy’s said, “St. Patrick’s Day celebration event at Murphy’s has been cancelled. Thank you for understanding.”

Celtic Crossing took a middle road, offering up a scaled-back version of its usual blowout event.

Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (2)

Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day

The annual Memphis Irish Society St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled after Memphis Mayor Strickland revoked all public events permits on Sunday.

Of course, last week the Beale Street Merchants Association postponed its annual parade, scheduled for for this past Saturday, March 14th.

Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (4)

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News News Blog

Fiery Suicide Galvanizes Midtown Music Community

CREDIT: Alyssa Moore

Everyone knew something was up with Alyssa Moore last Friday, according to Kim Koehler. Koehler was playing at Murphy’s that night, and as they spoke, Moore, who runs sound at the bar, was constantly interrupted with texts. “I think some of the texts were from him,” said Koehler. “He was letting her know something was going to happen.”  Alyssa Moore

By now, most of us have heard or seen the horrific events that took place at Murphy’s that night. Jared McLemore, local audio engineer and musician, committed suicide by self-immolation, attempting to harm and terrorize others as he did so. His troubled psyche was not a secret to most of the community in recent months.

Moore, his estranged girlfriend, had reported him to the Memphis Police Department multiple times, starting when he first threatened to kill her last September. She had a restraining order placed on him. After that, he was institutionalized for a time, only to gain release and make his way back to Memphis. Only days before, he sent Moore an image of himself with a gun to his head, then broke into her home and threatened her again. He was clearly more disturbed than ever. A concerned roommate called the Memphis Police Department well before the incident at Murphy’s, but to no avail. Moore, who also engineers and manages the rechristened Move the Air Studio next door, was at her usual job at the Murphy’s mixing board that night.

The best account of what happened next comes from the GoFundMe site (www.gofundme.com/alyssa-moores-recovery-fund) where Jessie Anäis Honoré initiated a campaign to raise money in support of her friend:

“[McLemore] walked through the crowded bar, making his presence known to all of the patrons. He crossed the street, and when he saw Alyssa had walked outside, he quickly doused his body with more kerosene and lit himself on fire, streaming on Facebook Live, in full view of onlookers concerned for Alyssa’s safety.

Murphy’s patron Paul Garner tried to stop Jared and ended up hospitalized with second degree burns. Jared ran for Alyssa, in his final attempt to take what he was supposedly denied, by trying to catch her on fire too. Jared underestimated Alyssa though, because she didn’t freeze in fear. She held the door to Murphy’s open for everyone running from him inside to safety. When Jared finally reached the door, Alyssa held it closed trying to lock it to keep him from her and anyone else. He pushed his body against the door and the heat from the flames finally became too much for Alyssa to stand. She made a fast decision and screamed at everyone to ‘RUN!’ and then she ran too.”

To some, this highlights how determined, resourceful, and strong a woman must be in the face of terror, even if she has done everything right. Koehler faced a similar situation in Knoxville over a decade ago, yet could not get the local mental health professionals to respond. It too culminated with her ex trying to burn her alive – she was saved by a thunderstorm – and then killing himself. The memories were overwhelming as Koehler joined other patrons’ efforts to extinguish McLemore.

Like Koehler, Moore had been compassionate in the months leading up to the incident. As her family wrote, “We want to make clear that this happened because of a perfect storm of domestic abuse, the stigma around it, and the visceral reality of mental illness. Alyssa tried to help Jared, and she also had to keep herself safe from him.”

Garner feels the incident could have been avoided if the police had responded more quickly. Some point to the under-staffing of the MPD as the problem. Therapeutic care has also received short shrift since Ronald Reagan slashed federal funding of mental health programs in the 1980s. While progress has been made in recognizing domestic violence and its links to mental health, last weekend’s events underscore how far we have to go.

“Many situations like this just fester in darkness,” says Koehler. “There are still men and women out there who are suffering silently and alone and who have done all the right things, and are still having the person come and mess with them. And now were are left to deal with the effects. But this violent act does not need to define us, or defile us. We are beyond what the perpetrator did. ”

Those needing support for domestic violence issues or mental health assistance can contact the Memphis Family Shelter at 901-278-2728.

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Music Music Features

Dan Montgomery at Murphy’s

This Saturday afternoon, Dan Montgomery will release a new single at the Murphy’s. Released by Philadelphia label Platterhead, Montgomery’s new record is heavily impacted by equal parts Staple Singers and the Flamin’ Groovies, two extremely influential acts that are important for very different reasons. While the Staple Singers cranked out hits like “Respect Yourself” and were ultimately inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Flamin’ Groovies were incredibly significant to the overall powerpop/pop-punk community, inspiring bands like Teenage Head, and former Goner Records band CoCoComa even paid homage to the band’s iconic artwork with their 2007 self-titled release.

Dixy Blood

Also on the show are the Klitz, Memphis’ first all-female punk-rock band. Shaped by Alex Chilton and championed by garage-rock labels like Spacecase, Goner, and In the Red, the Klitz have returned several times over the last few years in the form of reissued records and a handful of one-off performances. While there have been many female-fronted punk bands to come from Memphis since the Klitz made a racket (Lost Sounds, NOTS, Pistol Whipped, Toxie), the nostalgia of the first wave of Southern punk is still alive and well with the band, and seeing them live after the reissue of the “Hard Up” single and their latest release, Live at the Well, should be one of the best live-music opportunities of the month.

Rounding out the show are Philly punk legends Dixy Blood, who are making the drive down from the City of Brotherly Love to help Montgomery celebrate his new record. This will be Dixy Blood’s first time in Memphis, but with a stacked bill of seasoned rockers, it should be a gig to remember.

**Due to the Buccanneer closing, this show has been moved to Murphy’s. 

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Music Music Features

Swing to a Shoulder

CREDIT: Coco DeTeau

The debut record from Atlanta’s Omni seems like it was made for the end of summer. The 10 tracks on Deluxe slide between garage rock and post-punk, and the vibe of chasing the last rays of summer sun can be found throughout the album, from the catchiness of lead single “Afterlife” to the hazy, half-stoned vocals on “Jungle Jenny.” I caught up with Omni vocalist Philip Frobos to learn more about the band playing Murphy’s this Sunday night. —Chris Shaw

The Memphis Flyer: How long have you guys been a band, and what were you doing before Omni started?

Philip Frobos: We’ve been a band for about a year and a half. Frankie [Broyles, guitar] and I had been writing the songs before we started, and at the time, I was running an espresso catering business in Atlanta while Frankie was traveling with some other bands. In the meantime, we were just writing songs together whenever we had time.

There’s been a lot of references to Devo and Pylon with regard to your debut album. What other bands are influential to Omni?

I was thinking about this the other day. For me, at least, the Monochrome Set is a band that doesn’t get mentioned a lot with us that definitely influenced the record. We were also listening to a lot of that band Shoes — their first three records that is, not when they got signed to Elektra. The more bedroom-y kind of stuff that they do was influential.

I definitely think it’s funny that we get compared to Pylon, because we don’t really have anything in common with them other than that we are both from Georgia. I think it’s kind of annoying when you see the whole journalist copy and paste thing.

Who came up with the name?

I suggested it. We had this other band name idea, Landline, and I was wearing my Landline shirt recently, and someone came up and said, “Oh Landlines is great,” so I’m glad we didn’t stick with that name.

We were just really tired of trying to come up with band names, and so I just suggested Omni. Omni was an old stadium in Atlanta. It was where the Hawks played in the ’80s and ’90s. It was a concert venue as well. A lot of classic rock bands played there.

How did you get linked up with Trouble in Mind?

We played with Dick Diver in Atlanta, and Bill [Roe, Trouble in Mind cofounder] was driving them around, and he started talking to Damon Hare [Atlanta promoter] about us. We kind of forgot about it for awhile, but when we were going to Chicago, we told Bill to come out, and he hit us up and came out to the show. We talked about our plans, and by the time we got back from tour, they were drawing up the contract for us to sign.

What’s the story behind the song “Jungle Jenny”?

That one was written in the middle of the record. It was written somewhere in the middle of the writing process. I guess that song is a little more British than some of the other songs. I really wanted to write something that sounded like “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” That was kind of the influence there. The lyrics are just about how incestuous living in Atlanta is, and Frankie actually named that song.

Omni, NOTS, Tobotron, Sunday, August 14th at Murphy’s. 9 p.m. $7.

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Music Music Blog

Andy Human and the Reptoids at Murphy’s

Tomorrow night Oakland art-punks Andy Human and the Reptoids kick off their east coast tour with a show at Murphy’s. Performing under Andy Human and in the band Lenz, the Oakland outsider has cranked out many memorable punk offerings, and Thursday’s show should pack a punch, especially with locals Aquarian Blood opening the show. Check out songs from both bands below, with a bonus Andy Human track because the song rules. 

Andy Human and the Reptoids at Murphy’s (3)

Andy Human and the Reptoids at Murphy’s (2)

Andy Human and the Reptoids at Murphy’s

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Music Music Features

Spray Paint Live at the Hi-Tone

Austin, Texas, noise rockers will celebrate the release of their new album Feel the Clamps this Monday night in the Hi-Tone’s small room. Goner Records is releasing the album, and the vinyl was pressed at Memphis Record Pressing, making Spray Paint one of the newest out-of-town bands to take advantage of the pressing plant. After releasing records on notable underground labels like S-S, Upset the Rhythm, Homeless Records, and Monofonus Press, the Austin three-piece took their talents to Goner Records, a label that has already had a killer year with their release of the Angry Angles compilation. The show will serve as a release show for Feel the Clamps and for a single featuring songs that didn’t make the album. If post punk or noise rock is your thing, Spray Paint are certainly worth the price of admission.

Spray Paint

Rounding out the bill is Aquarian Blood, another Goner Records band who have been working on their new album for most of the year. The band features members of many notable local groups, but almost all the tracks the band plays were cooked up by singer/guitarist JB Horrell in his home studio/practice space. Goner Records has been staying true to releasing some of the best garage/punk the city has to offer, and many will be happy to hear a new LP from Memphis powerhouse NOTS is also coming sometime this year. As for the Hi-Tone, the venue has a stacked calendar throughout the summer, including shows from bands like Every Time I Die, the Black Lips, Chain and the Gang, and Goner alumni Guitar Wolf. Get to the Hi-Tone by 9 p.m. on Monday and start your week off with some noisy punk from two bands in their prime. What could possibly go wrong?

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Music Music Blog

Black Panties live at Murphy’s

St. Louis rock and rollers Black Panties return to Memphis tonight for a show at Murphy’s with Stereo Burners and DJ Neutral Flex.

The band has records out on Total Punk and Windian, and they’ve played Memphis before at the lamplighter with now defunct band Gimp Teeth. Check out a couple tracks below, and get to Murphy’s by 9 p.m. with $5 in your hand. The show is 21 and up.

Black Panties live at Murphy’s

Black Panties live at Murphy’s (2)

Black Panties live at Murphy’s (3)

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Music Music Features

Bitchin Bajas at Murphy’s Tuesday

CREDIT: Jeremiah Chiu

Bitchin Bajas was launched by Chicago musician and engineer/producer Cooper Crain (who has recorded albums by Circuit Des Yeux, Moon Duo, Times New Viking, Running, and Endless Bummer, among others). The rock- and structure-resisting, mostly improvisational Bitchin Bajas (a trio of Crain, Dan Quinlivan, and Rob Frye) have amassed their own sizeable body of work that tastefully and sometimes beautifully reimagines a vast array of past-drone, minimalist, ambient, pastoral psych and electronic touchstones.

At its strongest (see 2014’s double-length, 77-minute self-titled album on Drag City), the trio adds and subtracts layer upon layer of synths, tape machines, assorted loop-generating effects and instruments, flutes, guitars, bass, organs, xylophones, field/found-sound recordings, processed vocals, and many other sources of sound to create rewarding experiences of pulsating and relaxing prettiness for the willingly immersive listener.

Jeremiah Chiu

Bitchin Bajas

The most recent release by the band is a definite curveball and should no doubt increase the trio’s profile exponentially. Released on March 18th, Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties (Drag City/Palace Music) is a democratic and epic (nine tracks across an LP and 12″ EP) collaboration between Bitchin Bajas and one of America’s most accomplished, unique, and timeless songwriters, Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham). After the Bajas served as Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s crack backing band for a Record Store Day one-off in which the trio properly dialed back to allow for the singer’s unmistakable voice to take the wheel, the immensely-prolific Oldham invited the trio over to his house for a recorded jam session.

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Music Music Features

Fresh Flesh is a Fresh Start for Familiar Rockers

Fresh Flesh is the latest local band to feature the guitar and vocal work of Memphis polymath, Alicja Trout, best known for being one half of the now legendary Lost Sounds as well as other notable bands including Black Sunday, Mouserocket, River City Tanlines, and her solo work as Alicja-Pop. Adding to this list, Fresh Flesh debuted live last November, capping off a year that, for Trout, included several Sweet Knives shows (the post-Jay Reatard so far live-only reemergence of the core Lost Sounds lineup to play Trout’s 1999 – 2005 contributions to that band) and some live activity by way of the River City Tanlines and Alicja-Pop. Unlike these endeavors, however, Fresh Flesh was formed by other musicians and had been practicing and recording under various incarnations by the time Trout was approached about providing vocals and guitar to the songs the band had already written. Formed around the songwriting core of drummer Luke Stubblefield (former member of $7 Sox and Angel Sluts as well as cousin to Lucero’s bassist, John Stubblefield) and guitarist Noel Clark, Fresh Flesh originally featured Fat Sandwich Records proprietor Daniel Drinkard on bass, a position now assumed by Eric Fortenbery (also of Hosoi Bros). Also in an earlier lineup when the band was laying down demos was Josh McLane, now known for his work on the Memphis comedy scene and his “Don’t Be Afraid of the Comedy” series of events.

Live, with Trout on additional guitar and handling all of the vocals, Fresh Flesh’s lean but dynamic noise-pop is akin to an updated take on ’90s luminaries like Velocity Girl, That Dog, and especially the Breeders. It’s an instantly memorable and perfectly unflashy formula that all four members seem comfortable presenting as if the band has far more live gigs behind it than it actually does. Aside from the November 2015 live debut mentioned above, Fresh Flesh played its second show at the Hi-Tone on the 23rd of last month. Fresh Flesh will make its third live appearance as a part of a February 13th three-band lineup including openers JJ Freeze (featuring Jeremy Freeze, Jeff Hulett, and Lost Sounds’ John Garland) and headliners Manatees. I sat down with both Alicja Trout and Noel Clark to find out more about the recent past, present, and future of Fresh Flesh.

— Andrew Earles

Memphis Flyer: Besides Alicja’s long and colorful resume, what bands and backgrounds make up the other members of Fresh Flesh, and how did the current lineup come together?

Noel Clark: Luke played in a punk band called $7 Sox. Eric right now plays with Hosoi Bros. I guess I didn’t really play with anyone locally. I moved around and played with a couple of bands in and after college but nothing anyone would have heard of. I went to college in Jackson, Tennessee, then moved to Memphis in 2008. Daniel Drinkard was my roommate for a while, and he played bass in the band before moving down to Birmingham and opening his record store. This is the first band I’ve been in in which I was responsible for the songwriting, so at first I just sat down and wrote the guitar parts. Then Daniel and I got together with Josh McLane, who does a lot of comedy and plays with a two-person band called the HEELS, and we recorded some of the songs. That gave Alicja something to listen to, and the fact that she was interested in contributing to it … well, that sort of resulted in a dream team of people coming together in the current lineup. Luke’s an amazing drummer, and Eric’s a great bassist, so it was an ideal situation.

Alicja Trout: Luke approached me last year about singing on some of the recordings they’d already laid down. Noel and Luke had been playing together for a while with Daniel Drinkard on bass, but he moved away, and they got Eric in the band. I liked what I heard, and we started practicing, and I added vocals to the recordings. The lyrics had already been written, but I tailored some of them to fit my point of view a little better. There are nine or 10 songs recorded at this point, and these are all just about finished, aside from some correcting of the vocal tracks.

Are there plans for the recordings?

Trout: Not officially, but we’d like to shop them around and see if anyone would be interested in releasing them as seven inches. They’d make a good three seven-inch EPs…three songs per record.

Clark: We’d like to add to anything that’s left over and put together enough for a full-length at some point later this year.

Alicja, any other musical plans at the moment?

Trout: Fresh Flesh is where I’ve dedicated most of my musical energy as of late, but soon there will be a full-length LP of my solo recordings as Alicja-Pop released by the Certified PR label.

Beyond the show on the 13th, are there any Fresh Flesh live plans in place for the rest of the year?

Clark: We’re going to keep booking live shows locally. Right now, and depending on what everyone in the band can do, there are some short weekend trips we want to do over the summer, maybe after we get some more songs down.

Fresh Flesh, Manateees, and JJ Freeze, Saturday February 13th at Murphy’s. 10 p.m. $5

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Music Music Features

Felt Hammer Free Jazz

CREDIT: Jim O’Bryan

A living chapter of the legendary Cleveland punk scene comes to Memphis this Friday when X__X (pronounced Ex Blank Ex) roll through town with current Cleveland rocker Obnox and semi-local heroes True Sons of Thunder. Formed in the late ’70s, X__X mostly gets lumped into the weirdo Cleveland art-punk scene that spawned the Cleveland Confidential compilation LP and served as home to bands like Pere Ubu, the Styrenes, and the Electric Eels. While the Electric Eels (the precursor to X__X) would receive a release on the iconic punk label Rough Trade (home to bands like Stiff Little Fingers and Essential Logic), X__X have always been seen as more of an obscure punk band, possibly because of how short the band’s life was. X__X did leave two singles as proof they existed, but both records came out after the band called it quits.

Now, nearly 40 years after they were originally active, X__X is back with an album on Smog Veil records called Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at the Yellow Ghetto. The record dropped in November of last year and features liner notes from Byron Coley (the rock critic behind Forced Exposure). Recorded in August 2014 and January 2015 at Negative Space in Cleveland, Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at the Yellow Ghetto was produced by the band and John Delzoppo and features eight tracks of weirdo Cleveland noise, including a cover of the title track “Ghosts” by free jazz artist Albert Ayler. The album features John Morton (founder of X__X) on guitar, vocals, theremin, didgeridoo, and electric sitar, Andrew Klimeyk on guitar and vocals, Craig Bell on bass, and Matthew Harris on percussion. After recording Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at the Yellow Ghetto and a few one-off shows, the band decided to book a tour and recruited Lamont “Bim” Thomas (of This Moment in Black History, Bassholes, and Obnox fame) on drums.

Jim O’Bryan

Cleveland’s X__X

Thomas is also a relic of the Cleveland noise/art-punk scene, releasing multiple full-length albums a year through labels like 12XU, Smog Veil, and ever/never under the name Obnox. Just as X__X dabble in all sorts of genres to create their brand of not-easily-digestible music, Obnox has also been known to enter some weird territory, taking elements of hip-hop, roots rock, and heavy metal into the recording studio while being beholden to none. While still considered underground, Thomas is no doubt reaching legendary status with his creative output. He’s collaborated with artists like Orville Neeley (Bad Sports, OBN III’s) and toured the country numerous times, performing at festivals like SXSW, U+N Fest, and Gonerfest in the process. Yes, it’s safe to say that Obnox and X__X were made for each other, making this pairing of left-field instrumentalists that much more exciting. Seeing as both Thomas and the gents from X__X call Cleveland home, my only question regarding this collaboration would be: What took so long?

Rounding out the bill is one of the best bands to come out of the Memphis punk scene in years, the never-normal powerhouse known as True Sons of Thunder. While the band was seemingly on every local show during their early years (a time when bands like Dead Trends, Staags, and Sector Zero represented a small but talented punk scene), it wasn’t until True Sons of Thunder dropped the now-classic Spoonful of Seedy Dudes LP that non-Memphians started paying attention. In a 2013 interview with the Flyer, True Sons of Thunder guitarist Joe Simpson summed up the band’s existence rather concisely:

“We couldn’t do this anywhere else. We are a product of this city. At the same time, our music doesn’t make sense to the people who live here. The funny thing is, people who don’t live here understand what we are doing, but no one here understands it, only we do. That’s been the funniest thing: The people who buy our records don’t live here. But we don’t really care, and maybe that’s the most Memphis thing of all. We don’t give a shit about being liked.”

While it might be true that your average Memphian doesn’t understand what True Sons of Thunder are all about, those who did would readily admit that their presence is missed. Thankfully, the band hasn’t called it quits for good, and they are usually reliable for a few Memphis appearances a year. The band also has a single on Goner Records and the amazingly titled Stop and Smell Your Face LP, both of which are recommended. This one is going to get weird, so plan accordingly.