GONERFEST 21 - SCHEDULE

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THURSDAY AFTERNOON DJ PARTY / CHECKIN
AT CENTRAL STATION LOBBY with DJ HOT TUB ERIC
2-4PM - GET YOUR WRISTBAND EARLY & AVOID THE LINES!

SUNDAY NIGHT "COME DOWN" DANCE PARTY
AT DKDC - Don't miss this chance to shake it with your new Gonerfest pals!

SCROLL TO THE RIGHT TO SEE SUNDAY'S LINEUP!

THURSDAY SEPT 26 FRIDAY SEPT 27 SATURDAY SEPT 28 SUNDAY SEPT 29
DJ DJ Bizzle Bluebland (Memphis) DJs Martin Meyer (STL) / Marina Machetez (SF) DJs Tom Lax (PHI) & Byron Coley (WMA) / Michael Bateman (NOLA) DJ Ross Fisher (CHI)
MC Billups Allen (Memphis) MCs Lucy Isadora (JXN) / Twinkle Van Winkle (MN) MC Ryan Hailey (LA)  / Terre T (NYC) MC Erik Grincewicz (NASH)
2-4:00  Early Check In @ Central Station
4:30 Doors Open 12:30 Doors Open 12:30 Doors Open Noon Doors Open
5:30 Pull Chains (Memphis / Atlanta)


Shut the front door! Is this a brand new band rocking a three-guitar/vox lineup of Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound, Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, etc), Jesse Smith (Carbonas, Gentleman Jesse, etc) and Joseph Plunkett (Country Westerns, Gentleman Jesse) with Eliza Hill on drums? Where exactly can one go wrong here? Releases coming! What a way to start the fest... WOW! Do not miss this!

1:30 Jeff Evans & Ross Johnson (Como, MS / Memphis)

 (Como, MS + Memphis)

Goner Fest faves since before there was a GF. That might not make sense, but it actually sort of does. Two erudite ambassadors of anything and everything rock and roll related that’s worth knowing. Could probably do some kind of wildly-entertaining “all 21 Goner Fests in 21 minutes” thing, but don’t give them any ideas. Wait…make that 21 hours.

1:30 Cloudland Canyon (Memphis)

Reemerging last year with a new album on the Medical Records, the long-running spacerock/drone/minimalist/psych concern of Kip Uhlhorn has released albums on the esteemed Kranky Records and one can expect them to sound exactly like a band that has a song titled, “Krautwerk”. 

1:00 Ned Collette (Berlin, Germany)

As a solo artist or with Wirewalker, Sunday opener Ned Collette has spent almost two decades coming at the singer-songwriter/cosmically-rural thing from a markedly more experimental angle than most of his contemporaries. This is absolutely not to be missed by fans of John Fahey, Leonard Cohen (his vocals are uncanny), the Gastr del Sol/David Grubbs/Jim O’Rourke axis, Jack Rose, David Pajo/Papa M, Roy Harper, Sir Richard Bishop and so on.

Originally from Australia but now based in Berlin, records on Feeding Tube and more.
6:15 Th' Losin Streaks (Sacramento, CA)


Sacramento’s longtime enthusiasts of obscure freakbeat and well-dressed but short, sharp and searing freakbeat/60’s garage. Originally active in the 00s and known for their 2004 LP, Sounds of Violence, Th’ Streaks broke up in 2010 but returned in 2018 with the This Band Will Self-Destruct In T-Minus LP and third LP, Last House, earlier this year (all on Slovenly). 
2:15 Sex Mex (San Antonio, TX)

San Antonio’s Sex Mex musically channel the now-timeless bedroom-overdriven distorto-pop rush of Jay Reatard’s Blood Visions chapter with some drum-machine bounce a la the historically-adjacent Digital Leather, plus other aesthetic callbacks to the glorious aforementioned era of no-fucks-given, mixed with a generous helping of nuevo-wavo guitar/keyboard-driven Gee Tee-esque adrenaline Aus-punk.
2:15 Feeling Figures (Montreal, Canada)


Is French-Canada the new Australia in the Goner Fest Universe? Dunno but Joe Chamandy of Quebec’s The Retail Simps has this other band that has quite a knack for the really good kind of 90s indie-jangle. They have this record called Migration Magic that K Records wishes it had released in 1996, so it released it last year, which is way better on all counts. 
2:00 Water Damage (Austin, TX)



Imagine if a band was good enough to never have to move beyond song intros. Performing the civic duty of making sure festival attendees are wide awake and alert for the impending drive/walk/flight/bike ride/boat trip home, Water Damage is a rotating collective that has laid a NEU!/SWANS/Dirty Three scorch of macro-minimalism and repetitive pummel across three full lengths since 2022 via 12XU. Either perfect, hilarious, or both for the 2pm Sunday slot.

7:00 M.O.T.O. (New Orleans, LA)

What the AC/DC t-shirt is to any random Target location, the M.O.T.O. t-shirt is to Goner Fest. Come find out why and celebrate a half-century of power-pop/garage-everything/rock-everything autonomy, as Paul Caporino brings M.O.T.O. back for the first GF appearance since the pre-pandemic days. Check out 2023’s Wall of Phlegm on Michael Bateman’s Nuthin’ Records.  "I Hate My Fucking Job." "Blast Of Silence." "Magic Words." Hooks for days.

3:00 Aquarian Blood (Memphis, TN)

Puppet Wipes unfortunately could not make it down this year- in their place we have Memphis' excellent AQUARIAN BLOOD, Memphis-based folk/ psych originals based on JB & Laurel Horrell. Fans of Incredible String Band, Comus, Puppet Wipes, and odd psych folk from 1960 til now - don't miss this set!


3:00 Soup Activists (St Louis, MO)

A longtime enthusiast of the intersection we know as stupidity@brilliance, Martin Meyer (Lumpy and the Dumpers, Lumpy Records) goes full-on shamble with a fleshed out sound, nuance and songwriting that recalls TV Personalities Dan Treacy at his carefree best.

3:00 Ryan Davis & Roadhouse Band (Louisville, KY)

Ryan Davis is the man behind the great Louisville rock band State Champion, the great Cropped Out Festival and the great Sophomore Lounge label. His first eponymous project, the Roadhouse Band, released the excellent Dancing On The Edge album last year on Sophomore Lounge. RIYL early Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie Prince Billy, Magnolia Electric Co. etc, and especially if you don’t like those sounds. Ryan & co will WIN you!

7:45 Okmoniks (SF, CA)


The ‘OKs’, as they address one another, are quartet of true lifers adept at good-times garage rock cheekily self-described as “DMZ-meets-The Lyres” (that is pretty funny), Led by a one Helene 33, this is the exact organ-driven cave-punk party implied by song titles like “Teenage Timebomb”, “Rustle Up Some Action” or “It’s Not You”. Garage lifers living in a garage you'd wanna live in!

RIYL: 

Mummies, Fastbacks, Reigning Sound, Mighty Caesars, Delmonas, Gories, Back from the Grave, Lyres, Rondelles, Frumpies

3:45 Class (Tucson, AZ)


Hey, search engine optimization wasn't a thing in the mid-to-late-70s, and neither was Tucson's Class, but you wouldn't know it by the historical attention to detail re: pub-rock, power-pop, hooky-punk and no-B.S. rock. These ham ‘n’ eggers probably know what Cyril Jordan had for breakfast on this day in 1976. And their Bandcamp bio is a wish-I’d-written-it work of art. Brilliant!

3:45 Bennett (Memphis)

Charismatic personality-rock with the excellent “Glass Ball” and “Hang Around” singles dropped since last GF appearance plus a debut album on Goner that’s actually OTW. Pls note: There will be tickets issued for anyone found parking on the dance floor. 
4:00 Oneida (NY, NY)


Those of a particular vintage might remember a stretch in the 00s when it was not uncommon to see Brooklyn’s largely-unclassifiable Oneida 2 - 3 times per year. But no one of any vintage is wondering if perhaps they attended an Oneida show and the recollection got lost in the mix, as it would be permanently burned into the folds. In the late 90s, Oneida had a huge part in establishing the use of non-traditional/industrial show spaces in Brooklyn that would of course transform into a massive scene by the next decade. 

    

8:30 RMFC (Sydney, Australia)

RMFC - This stands for "Rock Music Fan Club"...a pretty big operation one would think, but that’s beside the point. When you were in high school did you study bass lines of New Order’s Peter Hook or Stephen Tolhurst's drumming in The Cure and successfully apply these influences (plus others) to a one man band? You can answer ‘yes’ but we won’t believe you. Just another insane Aussie band in the Gee Tee / Tee Vee Repairmann / Research Reactor Corps vein. IE Essential current punk rock punk! Catch the Thursday night set and become a member of the growing RMFCFC.
4:3 Thee Retail Simps (Montreal, Canada)

 

“…Recalling the double speak of VU’s murder mystery,
the soul bent lament of Fred Cole and the bastardized
funk of Minutemen, the Simps have widened their
sonic palate and created yet another masterpiece
of the modern age. This is the southern soul of
Memphian tradesmen flipped on it’s snowy head,
conjuring an impure regionalism that was largely
thought to be dead and gone. An alternate kind of Northern Soul with a frosty Arctic
sheen. More spazzed out guitar, more howling lunacy, more heat of the moment,
turnt poetry and outside the box-isms.” Total Punk
The Simps return after tearing up the stage at Gonerfest 20! What the what!

4:30

Michael Beach (Melbourne, Australia)

A highlight of both Gonerfest 19 and the label roster itself, Michael Beach has logged a decade of applying wickedly-magnetic songwriting to whatever he wishes, be it lopsided Crazy Horse workouts, art-damaged ROCK, or piano/torch balladry that will put something in your eye. Make sure to check out his most recent single, “The Sea”; a six-minute statement of purpose that builds into what we would want the end of the world to sound like.  

 Oneida incorporates Krautrock, noise-rock, synth-everything, prog-pop and minimalism into something that sounds like nothing before or since. As of this writing, Oneida has released 16 full lengths and as many singles/EPs/splits since forming in 1997. The bulk of the discography was released by Jagjaguwar, though the band’s own Brah Records appears on many releases and more recent fare has come courtesy of Joyful Noise Recordings. From sublime and succinct pop to extended minimalist jams that sound like Ash Ra Tempel being chased by an Amazon van in reverse…it’s everything in between those extremes plus more. Of more recent note would be 2016’s What’s Your Sign? album with legendary avant guitar composer Rhys Chatham, the Romance and Success full-lengths (in 2018 and 2022 respectively) and the “Tusko” 7” this year with Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE…it’s Mike Watt).

9:30 So What (Oakland,Co What (Oakland,CA)

Soul stompin' glam fans from the Bay Area! Will whip the crowd into a frenzy, then back up the mighty DERV GORDON for the night's finale!

5:30 Tube Alloys (Los Angeles, CA)


 

House band for the International Museum of Post-Punk History, if that existed, but with stuff happening here that doesn't fit the '77-'82 timeframe implied (like some Sonic Youth and noise-rock). New enough and true enough to the sound that the internet can't decide if they are from Australia or The U.K. (try L.A.). Named for the U.K.’s top secret pre-Manhattan Project efforts to develop nuclear weapons, Tube Alloys released their debut full-length in 2022 on La Vida Es Mus/Urge Records.

5:30 Schizophonics (San Diego, CA)

Pat Beers first impression of rock and roll was as a youngun seeing KISS on one of their innumerable farewell tours that occurred during the 90s. So it makes sense that San Diego’s Schizophonics deliver their rock-and-soul party fuzz as if they are always playing in front of 100,000 people. The festival is not without bands preceded by their reputations as jaw-dropping live acts, but this is….well…this is the one

 Onstage, as referenced above, Oneida has maintained a reputation as one of the greatest live acts for the last 25+ years. From concise to extended improv workouts that have included members of The Flaming Lips, Boredoms, Bevis Frond, Portishead, Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo, Yo La Tengo, Dead C, and many others. Crossing over into the museum/gallery world with ease has seen Oneida perform at Guggenheim Museum, MoMA PS1, MassMOCA and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Oneida’s 2024 non-guest lineup remains the core of Kid “you’ve got to see that drummer!!”  Millions (John Colpitts), Hanoi Jane (Francis McDermott…real….name?) on guitar/bass and Bobby Matador (Robertson Thacher) on organ/bass/vocals, with longtime band engineer Barry London on synths/organ/effects and Shahin Motia on guitar. Oneida will be performing at Gonerfest 21, where they’ll be closing out the festival (4pm Sunday) with one long bang that you won’t want to miss.

10:00 Derv Gordon (Equals) (UK)

(CA / UK)
Derv Gordon, co-founder and lead singer of The Equals (the UK’s first interracial rock band), is already Gonerfest headliner royalty after proverbially burning down the stage at GF 14 in 2017. This year he returns to do the same for the Thursday night lineup, and as before, Gordon will be backed by the band, So What, who will precede Gordon’s set and help the crowd pregame the evening’s explosive close.
6:15 Sleeveens (Nashville / Dublin)

Punked-up pub rock or rocked out pub....pun....ok screw that. If you're a fan of The Only Ones or Cheap Trick, and you should be on both counts, then don't miss this newish Nashville/Dublin  outfit that’s got signed to the highly-regarded Dirtnap Records after their stellar set at one of last year's Gonerfest afterparties! They're on the big stage this time, and ready to deliver, big time.

6:15 Rosali (Philadelphia, PA)
Since stunning the Gonerfest 19 crowd into instant fans of something they didn’t know they loved, Philadelphia’s Rosali signed to Merge Records and released the career-defining Bite Down album earlier this year. You know those first-quarter/first-half best-of-the-year-so-far listicles? Find one that did not include Bite Down and I will show you all of Memphis’ operating payphones. As with round one, Rosali is backed by the more-than-capable hands of David Nance & The Mowed Sound.
 
7:15 PYPY (Montreal, Canada)

Members of Duchess Says, CPC Gangbangs, Red Mass, etc return after a decade absence with the best take on post-punk we’ve heard in recent memory. Equally likely to lock into an ESG/Delta 5 groove with a Hall and Oates hook as it is to grow a hundred foot tall wall of riffs and roll right over you. Upcoming second full-length on Goner!!  

7:15 Split System (Melbourne, Australia)



Split System deliver tough, flat stick street punk with plenty of hooks, a style that has helped the band establish themselves as an unmissable live act over the last few years. The band have continued to develop their sound, now ranging from melodic mid-tempo chuggers to moody post-punk as well as maintaining the pumping 70s-infused oz speed punk boogie energy they’re known for.

Split System chooses substance over style. You won’t find this lot posing for shots at your local dive bar turned gastro pub, they’re more likely to be found holding up the front bar with a couple of bloody noses.

Reissue of Split System Vol 1 LP coming on Goner!

8:15 Cheater Slicks (Columbus, Ohio)

Columbus' OH’s best and loudest have been consistently growing a voluminous rabbit-hole discography since 1989. Shortly thereafter they became the G.O.A.T. of 90s garage-rock by not only being the gnarliest, noisiest and loudest, but also through a restless urge for experimentation that found the band stretching out and pushing boundaries rarely approached by their contemporaries (barring the like-minded Oblivians/Necessary Evils/Dirtbombs axis of evil). The Cheater Slicks’ 90’s run of albums on In The Red is an essential chunk of underground rock exceptionalism for fans of all things….I dunno…..great. With a triumphant return to In The Red for last year’s amazing Ill Fated Cusses album, the Slicks are an unstoppable (not even triple-bypass surgery!!) force ready to show you noises you didn’t know a semi-hollowbody could make. With added stun bass of JAMES ARTHUR (Necessary Evils, Legs, Fireworks, James Arthur's Manhunt) added for maximum blastitude.
8:15 Angel Face (Tokyo, Japan)

Tokyo’s Angel Face is the latest excuse for Fink of Teengenerate/Firestarter/American Soul Spiders fame to go full parkour on a venue stage. We know this is one of those ‘you had me at ‘Tokyo’...” moments, and you know to expect a lot of incendiary but smiling chaos courtesy of a type of rock enthusiasm we just don’t see very often. Seriously, this band would choose boiled leather jackets as their last meal.   Garage Punk royalty from a scene that has spawned some of the best!



9:30 Gee Tee (Sydney, Australia)

Since burning up the stage for GF 19, Sidney Australia’s gloriously silly garage crew has a new LP (last year’s Goodnight Neanderthal) on Goner and a reissue of their 2018 debut on Goodbye Boozy. There will be no taking of anything too seriously and perfect vibes for the Sat night pre-headlining slot. 

9:30

Etran de L'Aiir (Agadez, Niger)

Goner brings Agadez, Nigeria’s finest back to Memphis, but this time to the GF stage and if you missed Etran De L’Air’s 2023 appearance at Growler’s, well here’s a chance to see their patented ‘happy desert blues’ in an outdoor setting where it was meant to be experienced. Intense guitar interplay that just spirals off into infinity faster than you can count. Flat out amazing.

10:30 Jon Spencer (NYC)

This entry should simply read, "Does it really need to be spelled out here?” . But if you’ve lived with a pack of feral dogs up until last month (and are still reading in an unalienated fashion), let's just say that if you are attending Gonerfest, then you are a fan of at least something this man has touched, There’s the namesake Blues Explosion, Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Gibson Bros., Heavy Trash or Jon Spencer & The Hitmakers... all gold! Underrated somehow after bringing the blasts for so many years - hearing Pussy Galore & JSBX songs with fresh ears will blow you away!

10:30 The Rip Offs (SF, CA)

If the garage rock underground of the last 35 years had a board of directors, Greg Lowery would have laughed them out of the room a long time ago and named himself sole chairman. Within a timeline that would require volumes (including one for footnotes), Lowery formed the Rip Offs in 1993 (and the Rip Off Records label/store), following the dissolution of his previous garage rock trio, Super Charger. The Rip Offs added everything that needed to be added and nothing more: More punk, more guitar, more nastiness, more velocity, more hooks. Appropriately, they called it a day a year after releasing 1994’s Got A Record; an album loved by everyone from rockabilly freaks to crust punks. The Rip Offs have played sporadically (primarily a treat for those in Japan or Europe) since reuniting in the late-00s, but this is a Goner Fest first with what is a quintessential legacy act. Lowery would remain a force in the underground with too many things to list (like The Zodiac Killers and more recently, The Control Freaks), but the legend is traced back to The Rip Offs

Afterparties Afterparties Afterparties 8PM Dance Party at DKDC

 

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Artwork by the excellent Eric C