Gonerfest 9 Review Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily represent official policy or position of Garagepunk.com, its advertisers, members or any other decent member of society.
9/27 - Thursday Afternoon Opening Ceremonies @ The Gazebo
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5:30 Monsieur Jeffrey Evans (Memphis, TN)
> He used to be in '68 Comeback and The Gibson Bros. Solo electric; a nice low key intro to the fest.
9/27 - Thursday Night @ The Hi-Tone
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9:00 Moving Finger (Memphis, TN)
> I have no recollection of them so they must not have been outstandingly good or bad.
9:45 Jack Of Heart (Perpignan, France)
> Wild, noisy r&r from a French guy with long hair, moustache, white patent leather winklepickers, fishnets, and a g string. Very entertaining.
10:30 Slug Guts (Brisbane, Australia)
> Mad Max noisy pissed off Birthday party / Jesus Lizard type stuff with saxamaphone. Band uniform = leather boots, leather vest, leather pants, leather fingerless gloves, sunglasses, mullets, and moustache. Good +
11:15 Heavy Times (Chicago, IL)
> Hard rocking stuff but not overwhelming. Good.
Midnight Golden Boys (Austin, TX)
> Didn't completely suck but ... If you like Bruce Springsteen, Reigning Sound, Alt Country, and Austin City Limits, they're for you. People seemed to really enjoy them. Me? ... not a fan. C-
1am Oblivians (Memphis, TN)
> Very good +. They played some new songs from their upcoming album that sounded good but not great like their earlier stuff. Still pretty raw but not as jackhammer speed as before.
9/28 - Friday Afternoon @ The Buccaneer
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2:30 Johnny Lowebow (Memphis, TN)
> Raucous, bluesy one man band stuff played on his homemade diddley bows / cigar box guitars. OK.
3:15 Anomalys (Amsterdam, Holland)
> An unexpected highlight. Gtr, gtr/harmonica, drums trio played a variety of high energy blues punk rock and roll. They did a song in surround sound when the drummer took his floor tom and the harmonica player jumped into the crowd and ran around. Near mint.
4:00 Toxie (Memphis, TN)
> 2 cute chicks (bass/vocals & rhythm gtr) and 2 dudes (drums & lead gtr) played nice dreamy, indie pop stuff. I wanted to ogle the girls but found myself watching the lead guitarist playing surf influenced, reverb laden lines. I may need a checkup (low T?). If you like the Pixies/ 90s 4AD bands, check them out. Good.
4:45 No Bails (Kalamazoo, MI)
> Boring hard rock / butt hardcore power trio with no power or wit. Should change their name to No Balls. D
5:30 The Hussy (Madison, WI)
> High energy guitar / drum duo was very showy (lots of jumps, kicks, yelling, etc) smashed and burned a Stratocaster ala Hendrix but forgot to write any songs. How did they get on a label (In the Red) and stay there for years? OK.
9/28 - Friday Night @ The Hi-Tone
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9:00 Nots (Memphis, TN)
> All girl trio with bass player from (S)ex-Cult playing guitar and singing. Not indy, punk, or rockandroll but somewhere in between. Melodies, harmonies, and lots of reverb on the guitar. They didn't play like girls (the Toxies played more like girls). Good +.
9:45 Bad Sports (Denton, TX)
> Mid tempo / fast (but not hardcore fast) gtr/bass/drums. Orville (gtr/vocals) sings in OBNIIIs and drums for James Arthur's Manhunt (both at GF 8). The best mix of moderately snarly songs I've seen in a punk band in ages. They were very strong and the guitar was not too “woodlie.” An unexpected surprise and GF9 highlight. Near mint.
10:30 Gary Wrong Group (Mobile, AL)
> Gtr/vocals, "electronics", drums/organ, Quintron (from Quintron and Miss Pussycat) on drum and gong. Good but not as interesting/exciting as I would have thought.
11:15 Bits Of Shit (Melbourne,Australia)
> Gtr/bass/drums/vocals old Aussie geezers playing the straight forward punk rock that they've played for years. Strong playing but the song writing is a bit dodgy. Good showmanship. the singer was like a pissed off, ginger Ernest T Bass (he had those eyes like...( *)(* ) or maybe... ( @)(@ ), ah, I can't do it. Very fun.
Midnight River City Tanlines (Memphis, TN)
> I've seen them several times and their always good / very good. I liked them better this time than the last couple of shows. Their new album has several top notch songs but they can get a little too Iron Maiden for me sometimes (I like their poppy stuff like "Pretty Please" much better). Very good.
1 am Nobunny (Rabbithole, USA)
> With Bad Sports as the backing band and not being completely wasted, Nobunny put on a much better show than at the Ski House here in Carbondale. Very strong (more so than on the records) and still poppy, the crowd went mad for him. It seemed like a short set and the crowd didn't seem to know about clapping someone back for an encore (do kids not do this or am I the last hold over from 80's arena rock?) and the MC that was omnipresent earlier with his long winded failed attempts at humor was not there to stir things up the one time that he should have been required to. Still...very good + / near mint.
9/29 - Saturday Afternoon @ Murphy's
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Inside
1pm Party Bat (Chicago, IL)
> Missed them.
2pm Native Cats (Tasmania, Australia)
> Missed them, too.
3pm White Mystery (Chicago, IL) 4pm Chemicals (Portland, OR)
> Miss Alex White in a duo with her brother (ex-Pony's drummer). In spite of being a band with no bass player (a common theme along with the jean vests), they put on a very good show (better tha ntheir record). I'm a sucker for a ginger in a short black skirt and knee high lace up boots rolling around on the ground yanking the strings off her red sunburst Rickenbacker 330. Call me funny...
5pm Cecilia & The Sauerkrauts (Paris, France/ Portland, OR)
Mon dieu, a middle-aged French honey playing a farfisa in a garage band, s'il vous plaît! They had beaucoup of allons-y. Très bien!
Outside
1:30 Dez Vibz (Desert, AZ)
> Ryan Rousseau (ex-Reatards, Tokyo Electron, Angry Angles, more) playing guitar. Very psyche. 3 songs in a 30 minute set. I preferred the earlier version of the band that played last year (more jangly pop than out and out psyche).
2:30 Detonations ( AZ/ New Orleans)
> No impression made.
3:30 AAAA The New Memphis Legs (Memphis, Nashville, Texas)
> James Arthur (Manhunt) and Eric Oblivian. No practice. C.
4:30 Chicken Snake (Staunton, VA)
>Old geezers and chicks from Chrome Cranks, Honeymoon Killers, and Boss Hog playing slightly f'ed up alt country. OK low key. The kind of stuff you wished they'd play at your local dive watering hole.
5:30 Lenguas Largas (Tucson, AZ)
> Psyche / country punk with two drummers, three guitars (including a cross between Roky Erickson and a gorilla) and the only other Fender Bass VI I have seen in person. Good+/very good.
9/29 - Saturday Night @ The Hi-Tone
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9:00 White Wires (Ottawa, Canada)
> Vanilla/white bread pop punk/punk pop from Canada with that Peach Kelly Pop girl playing drums (nice orange Daisy Dukes!). The bass player had to have a pedal between his Rickenbacker and Ampeg tube amp so he could turn up the suck and make the perfect rig sound like crap. Still...mostly harmless.
9:45 Ex-Cult (Memphis, TN)
> Less straight ahead punk and more of a psych/dissonant noise touch than I remember them from last year's Gonerfest, they still cut loose. I'll be buying their new record as soon as it comes out. Very good.
10:30 Persuaders (New Orleans, LA)
> I’ve heard it said you have to be really smart to act really dumb. If that's true, and I'm not saying it is, King Louie (gtr, vocals) is a freakin' genius. Not at all "good dumb fun" hard rock, I felt my IQ drop like a rock just being in the same room as them. That being said, I'd still rather see them than most bands that play at PK's.
11:15 GG King (Atlanta, GA)
> Lead singer from the Carbonas. Maybe not great but very good solid punk rock.
Midnight Mad Macka (Brisbane, Australia)
> If you're not AC/DC or Motorhead and still insist on playing hard rock, do it like Mad Macka. This is the good dumb fun that people stive for and fail to achieve. Maybe you need to be ~60 with a beer belly and take your shirt off. Very good (but only if you're mostly drunk).
1 am Spits (Outer Space)
> About the 5th band with jean vests (audience members don't count). Strong set of catchy, upbeat punk. The crowd went wild for them too. I plan on catching them in St Louis next month with Off (Keith Morris from Black flag/Circle Jerks). Very good + / near mint.
Summary: going to this one event gets about a years worth of very good – great shoews in one long weekend. Not to be missed. Personal GF9 faves = Anomalys, Bad Sports, Bits Of Shit, Nobunny, White Mystery, Cecilia & The Sauerkrauts, Spits.
