Tag: Parsnip

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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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Thigh Master, Parsnip, and Michael Beach Will Blow Memphis Minds at Gonerfest

When Matthew Ford lived in Memphis as a kid, he once went on a school trip to see a “Masters of Florence” art exhibition at the Pyramid. He remembers works by Leonardo DaVinci being on display.

“Now,” says Ford, leader of Australian guitar-pop group Thigh Master, “it’s filled with huge bears and BB guns.”

Time has a funny way of messing with — and informing — the trajectory of all things. Twelve years after leaving Memphis at 14 for his hometown of Brisbane, Australia, Ford is back this weekend leading an Australian pop invasion of Gonerfest 16.

Along with the Flying Nun Records-inspired Thigh Master are highly anticipated all-girl pop quartet Parsnip and Oakland transplant Michael Beach and the Artists. Though Thigh Master was originally Brisbane-based, all three groups now call Melbourne home.

Thigh Master

“There’s always so many Australian bands that play [at Gonerfest], so it’s cool to be able to do it,” Parsnip drummer Carolyn Hawkins says. “There just seems to be a nice Melbourne-Memphis connection.”

You could hook Ford’s history into that vein like an IV drip. The Toowoomba-born 26-year-old grew up in Germantown, thanks to his father’s job, and received his early musical education through his older brother Daniel’s passion for Goner Records.

This month, Goner, whose long-standing Flying Nun Records love is shared by Ford (Toy Love, The 3Ds, Bats, and The Clean are huge influences) — will be putting out Thigh Master’s second album, Now For Example.

“When I was in high school [in Australia], I was listening to a lot of Jay Reatard stuff, King Louie, early Ty [Segall], and then the Flying Nun stuff, so Goner has played a huge role in influencing my musical tastes,” Ford says.

Add them all up and you get what a 2016 article from Noisey Australia described as “emo music for those who drink XXXX Gold mid-morning at the Mansfield Tavern.” For the many non-Queenslanders out there, a reasonable local translation of that might be: “emo music for those who drink Miller High Life mid-morning at Alex’s.”

The needle definitely hits the groove. Beach, who’ll play bass with Thigh Master at Gonerfest in brother Daniel’s absence, says the vibrancy of the current Melbourne scene comes from the fact that sustainable success in Australian music is a virtual oasis — and everyone knows it.

“In Australia, you understand before you set out that there’s very little chance of being big or ‘making it,'” says Beach, a Californian transplant whose earlier bands, Electric Jellyfish and Shovels, previously made waves in the Lucky Country.

“It frees you up to just do whatever the hell you want to do for the reasons you want to do them. In America, it exists a little less because there’s always that feeling of ‘if I just do this, this, and this, I might not have to work a job anymore.’ It’s a pretty special thing in Australia. You develop a bit more of a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor.”

That “pirate-smiling” Aussie mirth is there with Parsnip, whose poppy hooks will remind listeners of Flying Nun pillars Look Purple, Go Blue, but with a sharper dagger than Kiwis can ever muster. Paris Rebel Richens, the band’s bassist and songwriter, is a rising star on the Aussie scene, having already impressed music fans with Melbourne’s Hierophants.

While the rest of Parsnip are first-timers, this will be Hawkins’ third excursion to Gonerfest, having previously attended as a regular punter in 2012 and played with Melbourne guitar pop trio Chook Race four years later.

“It doesn’t feel, like, super industry,” she says. “It feels independent and genuine — and actually exciting.”

The Aussie acts will join an impressive overall bill at Gonerfest 16, some nights of which sold out a month prior to the first show on Thursday, September 26th.

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Too Young To Die: Parsnip’s Paris Richens On Daniel Johnston’s Passing

CREDIT: Charlotte Tobin

Charlotte Tobin

Parsnip

Whether you were in Memphis, Austin, Melbourne or anywhere else where sweet, simple things still matter, a bright light went out on a recent Wednesday morning in Waller, Texas.

Lo-fi legend Daniel Johnston was 58 when he died of a suspected heart attack, leaving a legacy of heartbreakingly melodic albums, such as Yip/Jump Music, Hi, How Are You?, and Retired Boxer. His troubled life inspired lyrics that could really put the dagger in, securing Johnston a cult-like status among his devotees. Paris Rebel Richens  — songwriter, lead singer and bassist for Gonerfest-bound Melbourne pop quartet Parsnip — is one of them.

cbc.ca

Daniel Johnston

Preparing for the group’s first American tour when she got the news, Richens was devastated to hear of the great loss.

“I was pretty crushed to be honest,” she tells the Memphis Flyer on the phone before a recent gig in Kingston, New York. “I feel like he was the one artist who I knew was unwell and wouldn’t be around for much longer, so, yeah, I knew I’d be pretty sad about losing him.”

A fellow Antipodean fan myself, I know the feeling. As a Kiwi farmboy-turned-journalist whose love of Johnston was sparked by Jeff Feuerzeig’s incredible 2005 documentary, my fandom extended to my wedding in Memphis last October, when a close Kiwi mate played “True Love Will Find You in the End” while my wife walked down the aisle.

Johnston only made it Down Under once, in 2010. As well as playing Laneway Festivals in Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, the celebrated songwriter held a handful of memorable side shows as well.

Richens never made it to those gigs, but recently told popular Australian music blog The Southern Sounding that Johnston’s 1984 self-released cassette album More Songs of Pain — especially the track “Poptunes” — was one of the most influential albums on her own songwriting.

Listen to the Parsnip sound and the link to Johnston is both undeniable and thoughtfully provoked. “I discovered him when I was in my late teens and going through some stuff,” Richens says. “He just has own magical world that everyone can be a part of. He had all his demons that he suffered, but he created so much joy. He was so funny as well.”

Too Young To Die: Parsnip’s Paris Richens On Daniel Johnston’s Passing

Richens has also identified the equally troubled alt-pop icon Syd Barrett as another huge influence on her songwriting. Richens says she admires lyricists who “have the freedom to be not so perfect, and a bit shambolic.”

While Richens’ appearance at Gonerfest — as both a solo artist and with Parsnip — may mark her first time at the festival or in Memphis, she has had skin in the Goner Records game for a little while now.

Richens is a member of Aussie post-punk popsters Hierophants, whose 2015 LP Parallax Error was released through Goner and Melbourne’s Aarght! Records. Goner Records also released their 7” “I Don’t Mind/The 16th.” 

This time around, Parsnip are touring in support of their debut album When the Tree Bears Fruit (Trouble in Mind).

As “PP”, Richens will be doing a solo set during Gonerfest’s Friday afternoon at Memphis Made Brewing Company. In her first-ever solo set internationally, don’t be surprised if the Victorian wordsmith pays tribute to the “king of lo-fi” in what should be a fantastic late afternoon set.

“It is very sad that he is gone,” Richens says, “but [he] is still around as well.”

Parsnip performs on Saturday, September 28 at the Hi-Tone, 9:45 pm. The show is sold out, for Golden Pass holders only (no door sales). As a solo artist, Paris Richens will perform as ‘PP’ at 4:00 pm at Memphis Made on Friday, September 27. Pre-order tickets are sold out, but limited numbers will be available at the door for $10.