Tag: Trampoline Team

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Gonerfest 16 Recap: Thursday

CREDIT: Anton Jackson

Alex Greene

Limes

“Usually, Thursdays are the slowest part of Gonerfest, but I don’t think that’s the case now!” remarked scenester and overall Gonerfest facilitator Gally Sheedy as she surveyed the packed crowd at the Hi-Tone Cafe last night. It was the only night of the festival that was not sold out, but any uncertainty over attendance was put to rest by the crowds packed in for the opening salvo.
Chris Squire / Allison Greene

Quintron and Miss Pussycat

It all began as music fans congregated near the Goner HQ in Cooper-Young, sampling the free beer and browsing for hard copies of their favorite records. Those checking in at the store received a free copy of The Happy Castle of Goblinburg, a special-edition audio play EP, chock full of synth skronks and other sound effects, produced by Miss Pussycat, longtime collaborator with Mr. Quintron. The New Orleans-based team are here in force for the weekend, with Quintron slated to join the Oblivians onstage tonight. Meanwhile, Miss Pussycat is opening an art exhibit focused on her inventive puppetry, The Puppet Worlds of Miss Pussycat, with the opening party tonight, 6:00-9:00 pm, at the Crosstown Arts gallery on Cleveland Street. The opening features a live performances of her puppet show “The History of Ancient Egypt,” including the music of synth-primitivist BÊNNÍ.

Just down the street from the Goner store, the festival’s thrusters fired up in the Cooper-Young gazebo with the music of Limes, led by singer/songwriter Shawn Cripps. Their mesh of crunchy guitar tones, sharp rock rhythms, and Cripps’ acerbic lyrics were a perfect kickoff to the weekend’s offerings. A sizable crowd flooded the corner, as Cripps quipped, “Gonerfest has really grown over the years. This feels like one of the better ones.”

Later, fans gathered at the Hi-Tone Cafe for the opening night’s lineup. The party spilled out of both the front and back doors, with the sea of humanity surging back into the club when each band’s set began. By all accounts, Green/Blue and the Hussy got things going with slamming sets. Your faithful correspondent arrived just before some hometown favorites, Sweet Knives, took the stage. Their blend of off-kilter riffs, synth hooks, pounding rhythms, and razor-sharp harmonies from Lori McStay and Alicja Trout inspired the crowd to bounce and head-bob with abandon.  Alex Greene

Sweet Knives

Trampoline Team, from New Orleans, offered some serious thrashing to bring things back to the basics of slam and speed. Then, MC Bob McDonald set up the set by Simply Saucers by taking us back to their very beginnings in 1973. “Back then, there was no punk. It’s Devo and it’s them.” And the band then launched into a remarkably eclectic set that was a vital reminder of proto-punk’s anything-goes attitude.

Simply Saucers

Much as when John D. Morton’s band X__X was showcased at Gonerfest 14, spotlighting Simply Saucers confirmed the strong historical perspective at work in Gonerfest’s curation. From silky folk-rock harmony interludes, to pounding rock verging on Northern Soul, all built on an alt-rock chassis not unlike a harder-rocking early Brian Eno, Simply Saucer offered musical delights aplenty and kept the beats pounding.

Then Eric Friedl, aka Eric Oblivian, took to the stage to testify that following the night’s closing act, as the Oblivians once had to do, was an impossible task. “Nobody can follow the King Brothers!” he declared, and, as the trio took to the stage, one member in a hockey mask, the club was filled with the sense that a terrible and beautiful storm was about to be unleashed.
Alex Greene

King Brothers

Indeed it was, as soon as they took to the mic. “Are you REAAAAAADY??” screamed lead singer Keizo, before spitting out the words, “ALL NIGHT KING BROTHERS GO WILD PLAY SOME ROCK N ROLL!!”, as the band launched into a ferocious onslaught. With riffs sometimes echoing old rock ‘n’ roll grooves, run through a sludge machine of fuzz guitar, the highlight was the non-stop drumming combined with shrieks and howls that made one’s hair stand on end. Keizo displayed uncanny crowd-surfing skills, standing aloft and delivering piercing screams from near the ceiling. Inexplicably carrying this jet-fueled calamity for nearly an hour, the King Brothers shut down the Hi-Tone with aplomb.  Anton Jackson

King Brothers

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Music Music Blog

Gonerfest Friday: Woozy, Brutal, Beautiful

Gonerfesters got a running start on Friday with an afternoon superkegger at Memphis Made’s taproom on Cooper. Memphis Made created a pair of custom beers for this year’s festival: A tart saison IPA and Gonerbraü, a smooth creme ale. Both proved popular with the rockers assembled in the sun to watch a four-band bill. New Orlean’s Trampoline Team turned in the most turnt tunes of the afternoon.

Yes, I just wrote that sentence. I probably should have just deleted it, but I’ll leave it to show the effects 48 hours of pounding beats are having on my synapses.

Trampoline Team riles up the crowd at Memphis Made.

The eventful Hi Tone Friday night got rolling with Opposite Sex from Deundin, New Zealand. They led with an impressive one-two punch in bassist/screamer Lucy Hunter and guitar squealer Reg Norris, who is able to get an huge range of sounds from just a wah pedal and a souped up stomp box. (TurboRat represent!)

Opposite Sex

The Hi Tone was filling up quickly as Memphis family affair Aquarian Blood howled to life. The husband and wife duo of Memphis hardcore OG JB Horrell and Laurel Fernden, supported by drummer Bill Curry and Coletrane Duckworth (son of Memphis guitar legend Jim Duckworth), gets better every time I see them. Between Horrell trying his best to strangle his ax into submission and Fernden switching between a clean microphone and one with rubbery echo effects—sometimes within a single lyrical line—they sound like no one else.

Aquarian Blood

When I walked into the Hi Tone Big Room to see Power killing it, I briefly wondered if I had stepped back in time to 1974. Like their countrymen Wolfmother, the Melbourne, Australia trio have embraced butt rock, mullets and all. And the Gonerfest audience went right there with them.

Power and the crowd.

I have to admit I totally missed Buck Biloxi and the Fucks. I was visiting the food truck out front for a much needed gutbomb burger when the party (it may have been a hip hop show, I wasn’t clear on the details) across the street at the erupted into a shirt-ripping brawl. There was at least one shot fired, but no one was hurt, and cop cars quickly swarmed the area. It was a strange, tense scene: on one side of the street, an African American crowd rapidly dispersing as police arrived; on the other side of the street, sweaty, mostly white punks from all over the world watching with a combination of horror and fascination, wondering if we were going to be witnesses to some kind of racially charged incident that has dominated the news in 2016. Fortunately, the first wave of cops to arrive seemed focused on de-escalating the fighting, and the situation cleared up without further violence or—judging by the lack of ambulance—injury.

The Blind Shake demonstrates unorthodox guitar technique.

Flashing blue lights provided the background as The Blind Shake took the stage. The Minnesota brothers Jim and Mike Blaha, who describes themselves as an “extraterrestrial backyard surf party”, are Gonerfest regulars. This year, they topped themselves with the tightest, snarlingest set I’ve seen from them. “Shots fired next door,” Jim said from the stage. “It’s an old marketing ploy.”

Black Lips

When 1 AM rolled around, the wrung out crowd milled around, trying to catch our breath as Black Lips meandered onto stage. The original Gonerfest grew out of a Black Lips show, and the band represents something of a garage rock ideal. The sound they have been chasing for the last decade and a half is something like a drunken 60s girl group backup band practicing in the stairwell where John Bonham recorded “When The Levee Breaks”. This is the strain of punk rock that originated in Memphis with the immoral Panther Burns. With the addition of a new saxophonist, the Black Lips pushed ever closer to the Panther Burns party vibe, gathering steam with each woozy rocker until “Katrina”, their 2007 underground lament of New Orleans devastation sent the crowd into a frenzy from which we didn’t emerge until the lights came up.

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Music Music Features

Trampoline Team Live at The Buccaneer

New Orleans punk rockers Trampoline Team return to the Buccaneer Lounge on Wednesday, August 12th. Fresh off an appearance at the Pelican Pow Wow Records Pow Wow (a two-night music fest in New Orleans), the three-piece joined a bill that included Memphis bands Manateees and Aquarian Blood. The New Orleans and Memphis punk connection seems to be getting stronger, with the two cities intertwined by New Orleans artist Giorgio Murderer releasing records on Goner and Manateees releasing their debut album on Pelican Pow Wow. While they might not have the harsh aesthetic that Manateees perfected on their debut album released last year, Trampoline Team packs a punch with plenty of shredding guitars behind Sam DeLucia’s pissed-off vocals.

Trampoline Team

Also on the bill is new-ish Memphis psych band Blackberries, who also have connections to local bands like Aquarian Blood, Lady Lapanto, and Richard James & the Special Riders. Blackberries are an exciting new band made up of mostly Memphis transplants who are barely old enough to play in the dive bars they’ve been frequenting lately.

Rounding out the bill is Buldgerz, an on-again/off-again hardcore punk band that features members of the Goner group No Comply. Buldgerz don’t play very often, but when they do they inspire all kinds of crowd interaction that the kids these days call “moshing.” It should be a great show, with three very different high-energy bands showing what they’ve got, and with only a $5 cover charge, there’s really no excuse not to be there. Shortly after their Memphis appearance, Trampoline Team will travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to play a festival with Memphis-based punk band Nots, strengthening the New Orleans and Memphis connection even further. Solidarity makes the world go round.

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Sing All Kinds We Recommend

Sound Advice: The Week in Underground Music

Cleveland Avenue becomes the center for underground music in Memphis this week, as both the Hi-Tone and the Buccaneer are trading off shows Tuesday, November 5th through Saturday, November 9th. Here’s a guide (complete with videos!) to the diverse shows both venues are offering this week.

Tuesday, November 5th – Hi-Tone – Small Black, Dream Team, Grid. 8pm doors, $10.00 advance, $12.00 at the door, 18+.

Brooklyn’s Small Black play what is best described as chill wave, but don’t let that scare you off. Underneath the repetitive synth beats are carefully crafted songs, and though the band hails from Brooklyn, their latest video (above) was partially shot in Memphis. Opening the show are locals Dream Team (members of Tiger High) and the new band Grid.

Wednesday, November 6th – Buccaneer – Hunters, Paradice, Loser Vision. 9pm doors, $5.00, 21+.

Hunters have been on the road for most of 2013, touring with big name acts like Jeff The Brotherhood and Hunx and His Punx. With that much time to hone their sound, it’s no wonder Hunters are being heralded by music writers as one of the best live bands to see in 2013. Opening the show are locals Paradice (formerly Warm Girls) and the new band Loser Vision.

Thursday, November 7th – Hi-Tone – Nobunny, Moving Finger, Buldgerz. 8pm doors, $10.00, 18+.

The hardest working rabbit in garage rock returns to Memphis on Thursday, in support of his new album Secret Songs released on Goner Records earlier this month. Known for raucous energy, rampant nudity and killer power pop riffs, NoBunny’s live show is one that must be seen to be believed. Opening the show are locals Moving Finger (read more about them here) and the new hardcore band Buldgerz (featuring members of Hosoi Bros and No Comply).

Friday, November 8th – Buccaneer – Toxie, Trampoline Team, Toxie. 9pm doors, $5.00, 21+.

Local new wave group Toxie had a productive summer touring by themselves as well as opening for the chill wave group Toro y Moi on a string of East Coast shows. The group seems to be due for another single, as the “New Gate” single that was released on Goner earlier this year gained a lot of attention. Also playing the show is Trampoline Team (a new punk group from New Orleans) and 60’s Rock and Roll Revivalists The Sheiks.

Saturday, November 9th – Hi-Tone – Nights Like These, Crowlord, Holy Gallows. 9pm doors, $7.00 18+

After almost a four year hiatus, Memphis’ metal kings Nights Like These have decided to reform. The story of Nights Like These is an interesting one. The band went from the suburban underground label Smith Seven to one of the largest Metal labels in the world (Victory Records) seemingly overnight, only to fade back into obscurity after a behemoth of a second album. If the Nights Like These reunion show at Minglewood Hall this past summer serves as any indication, this group certainly remembers how to shred. Opening the show are local metal groups Crowlord (featuring members of the Unbeheld) and Holy Gallows.