Gonerfest IV Preview

Jay Reatard & The Boston Chinks

Well, it's that time of year again, when rock and roll music fans from all over the world trek to Memphis, Tennessee to revel in debauchery and musical mayhem. But don't get the wrong idea, this isn't Elvis Week - that was in August, and while it did bring 80,000 music fans to our fair city to pay tribute to the king, this is the end of September, and it belongs to all things Goner.

Gonerfest IV (pronounced I-V if you're in the know) is the fourth installment of the Memphis record label's four day music festival celebrating some of the biggest punk and garage acts of the underground. What started out as a mail-order record label four years ago has now grown into a retail store, and with the growth of its online community, morphed into a lifestyle. Followers from around the world email the store pictures of themselves wearing their Goner t-shirts, and many diehard fans have even gone so far as to tattoo the label's logo on themselves (if one is so bold, they can expect free Goner releases for life!).

While most festivals these days seem to be thinly-veiled sales calls (where the sponsors play music in the background as they attempt to sell you cellular telephones, sneakers and sports drinks), Gonerfest is the rowdiest, dirtiest, most obnoxious set of shows you may see in your lifetime. And that's the furthest thing from an insult to the bands. In an age where nothing is taboo, punk-pop is not considered an oxymoron, cocaine is trendy and crotch shots are the norm, the bands that play Gonerfest definitely are on a mission to take the show to the next level, and the audience along with it.

While Eric Friedl and Zac Ives, co-owners of all things Goner, would probably argue that the bands playing the festival are top-notch based on their music alone, (and not for their notorious antics) it's hard to believe at this point that anyone attending the festival plans on enjoying the music in a traditional sense. Once the venue gets packed to the gills with sweaty, bus-riding, thumb-hitching and van sleeping rock and roll types that are dead set on getting as wasted as possible before the end of the first set, making sure you don't get hit with a beer bottle takes on as much importance as being able to pay attention to the band.


Greg Cartwright

That being said, there is an abundance of critically acclaimed talent playing this year. The festivities begin Wednesday night with a Goner Showcase that will include Ives' own band The Final Solutions, Tokyo Electron, Jay Reatard backing band Boston Chinks, and Atlanta's Carbonas. Then, on Thursday the official festivities kickoff at The Goner Store, located in the Cooper-Young district, where there will be an in-store with former Oblivian and current Reigning Sound front man Greg Cartwright (who actually used to own the record store before Friedl and Ives took it over). Speaking of Reatard, who plays Thursday evening, the man has been tearing up the national and European underground scene with a highly memorable tour that included being part of Vice's SXSW showcase, and in October he'll be tearing the stage apart in NYC at CMJ.

Other standout acts include the King Louie One Man Band, New Orlean's Quintron and Miss Pussycat and the return of Mr Airplane Man. The festival will not only include nightly shows at world renowned music venue The Hitone Café, but daily afternoon shows at local vintage shop Light Years Vintage, midtown staple music venue Murphy's (which is home to the sign from Memphis' legendary punk venue The Antenna Club), and a post-fest comedown deejay party Sunday night at local dive The Buccaneer. As if all that weren't enough, on Friday Ron Franklin will premiere his documentary about Jeff Evans entitled the Man Who Loved Couch Dancing at The Media Co-op.

It would take long to explain the connection these artists, both local and national, have had on the mainstream music scene of today and the past. Jack White has called Jeff Evans a mentor, The Hives filmed a video in Memphis because of their love for the Greg Cartwright, and before Arthur Lee's death he returned to Memphis to reform his seminal band Love with many local musicians who have become staples of the Gonerfest Festival. Yeah, it would take way too many words here to explain the seeds that have grown up from the Memphis underground. The best thing about Gonerfest seems to be the community that has grown out of it that believes so wholeheartedly that it is a history that should be preserved, along with the original spirit of the music. Afterall, weren't Elvis and Jerry Lee the original musical outlaws?

Listen to The Goner Show on Breakthru Radio!

00:47 - The Final Solutions - Brown Panther
02:22 - Hubble Bubble - New Promotion
04:35 - Jay Reatard - Don't Let Him Come
07:37 - Jay Reatard - Hammer I Miss You
10:13 -
12:03 - Angry Angles - Things are Moving
14:37 - Boston Chinks - Coltrane
16:45 - Harlan T. Bobo - I'm Your Man
20:29 - Harlan T. Bobo - My Life
23:54 -
25:04 - Jack Yarber - Black Boots
28:23 - No Bunny - Chuck Berry weekend
31:30 - Digital Leather - She Had a Cameltoe
34:51 - The Oscars - Jump for Joy
36:61 –
38:50 - King Louie - Cowbell Rock
41:50 - Black and Whites - Fucked-Up Heart
43:47 - Carbonas - Inside Out
45:27 - Knaughty Knights - Death Has Come
47:34 -
49:59 - Reigning Sound - Do Something
53:03 - Leather Uppers - Halfway Houseboat
54:31 - Tokyo Electron - They'll Come For You
57:00 -