Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Reviews / Wow Road Trip to Memphis: Gonerfest, Pt. 1
Posted by Emily Bartlett Hines on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 7:11 AM
Our journey into Memphis began inauspiciously: Traveling west, we managed to overshoot the mark, miss both exits to downtown, and cross the bridge into Arkansas. Oh, no! It wasn't long before we were able to turn around, but the 10 minutes we spent in that laughably paved nightmare of a state were enough to convince us never to return. We've never been so happy to be back in Tennessee.
After checking in to the Motel 6 (there are nicer options, but maybe next year), we headed to the Hi-Tone Cafe and got our wrist tags from a friendly Goner Records staff member. The Hi-Tone is a rock club roughly comparable to the Mercy Lounge in size. It was pretty packed, with a high proportion of dudes in black T-shirts. It was already pretty late, and the first act we saw was Thee Oh Sees.
Thee Oh Sees are a four-piece band from San Francisco that play a psychedelia-tinged style of garage pop. They played an awesome hour-long set of catchy, mid-tempo, slightly echo-y music. All of the songs have a strong '60s feel, and call to mind The Kinks, The Sonics and The Zombies. During the course of the set, more and more friends and band members joined them onstage in a sort of dance-y love-in. By the end of the set, there were about 20 people up there, and we couldn't see any of the band members. You can watch a video that one fan posted online here.
Between acts, we observed some local color. A metalhead in a Motorhead T-shirt, to another metalhead in a Megadeth T-shirt: "You're using Big League Chew? Really?" One Memphian we met observed that she'd never seen the Hi-Tone so packed. We also heard from multiple sources that at the previous night's Reatards show, Jay Reatard pissed all over himself, and possibly audience members. (Seth, we know you were there--care to give us the deatails?)
The Compulsive Gamblers are a Memphis garage-rock band that Greg Cartwright and Jack Yarber formed in the early '90s, before they were in The Oblivians. They re-formed the band in 1999 after The Oblivians broke up. Although they're a garage band, they have a varied range of influences including country and R&B. Each song was built around a tense, compelling riff, reminding us at times of The Cramps, at others of Bob Dylan or Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones. We loved their combination of aggression and poignancy. (Greg Easterly's fiddle playing contributed to this effect.) Off the top of our heads, we'd say they reminded us of more of Dead Moon than any other live band we've seen.
We're not professional photographers, and sadly, were not equipped with the Cadillac of digital cameras--it's more like the Geo Metro of digital cameras. We'll spare you the poor-quality pictures we took of bands on stage, but here's one of fans enjoying themselves:
As befits a band with such a large back catalog, they played a long set. By the time they finished, with a cover of "Walkin' the Dog," we were ready to go back to the motel. Coming up next, the Saturday afternoon show, including Hunx and His Punx, better pictures, and more!
Comments (20)
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The irony of somebody from Tennessee trying to make fun of Arkansas is amusing. I can laugh at it from on high- being from North Carolina: a truly superior state with our hog lagoons, NASCAR legions and interception-prone quarterbacks.
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Arkansas is actually really pretty awesome. Has anyone ever seen Gang Wars: Bangin' In Little Rock?
Arkansas has better beer options, it was our savior when New Belgium wasn't sold in Tennessee. My question is how you were able to somehow end up in Arkansas when trying to get to the Midtown Area. Thats a bit more than two exits. Or is your motel downtown?? I only ask because I've made that mistake of overshooting downtown, but I was aiming for...downtown. BTW, go eat at Gus's Fried Chicken, nothing like the best fried chicken in the world washed down with a 40oz.
In defense of the writer: I've also accidently gone over the bridge to Arkansas on a trip to Memphis, so I know exactly what the "laughably paved nightmare" is all about. It took me 15 minutes to find my way through the massive truck stop parking lots and headed back in the right direction.
Sure Arkansas has some cool spots and beautiful scenery in some areas of the state, but that part of Arkansas (West Memphis) is the asshole of the universe.
"The irony of somebody from Tennessee trying to make fun of Arkansas is amusing."
That's why I posted it. There are wheels within wheels, son.
What's even more laughable than our "laughably paved nightmare" in West Memphis is someone from Nashville slumming it in Memphis for the weekend and overshooting their destination by about 15 miles. Stay in Nashville next time. Don't you have some boring industry event to attend? Maybe the Dove Awards? If you would have bothered to get out of the car this weekend, the fine folks of Memphis and West Memphis would have been glad to show you the way to I-40 East. Good god, i hate Nashville.
in emily's defense, West Memphis deserves to be shit upon as much as possible; and yeah. traversing that little patch of road can be confusing. there's some sensitive ass trolls on the web today.
oh yeah, and Bingham... Bangin' in Little Rock is the jam. high five for riveting HBO documentaries.
that part of Arkansas (West Memphis) is the asshole of the universe.
No, Gary Indiana is the asshole of the universe. I guess that makes West Memphis the taint?
Still laughing at the Memphibian insulting Nashville. Don't you realize you live in the Newark of the South? Oops, since I started writing this comment, another 4000 people moved out of town. By next March, the Bluff City will be smaller than Chattanooga.
Don't tell me, chump, you really live in Mississippi, right?
That means David Lee Roth is the shit because he is from Gary Indiana, asshole of the universe.
"Jay Reatard pissed all over himself, and possibly audience members"
really Jay? even with all those speeches this guy made about how he no longer needed moronic antics to get attention? how that was all NOW in his past?
once a retard always a reAtard.
Michael Jackson is from Gary. Both my grandpappies worked in a steel mill with Joe Jackson. They said he was a dick.
"CREEKMORE BANKS IS ALSO A FUCKING FAGGOT."
There's that tasty, country-fried Nashville homophobia I've been hearing so much about! Ahh, delicious. Great job, Nashvillians!
There's that tasty, country-fried Nashville homophobia I've been hearing so much about! Ahh, delicious. Great job, Nashvillians!
Not so fast, Creekmore. Don't go holding one person's outburst against the whole city. To say that all of Nashville is homophobic is a pretty broad generalization. Obviously not as close-minded as ELI's comment, but still pretty silly.
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