HYPERLOCAL NEWS HUB BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM

Ninth Gonerfest by Goner Records Rocks Cooper-Young
By Barbara Werner/ MicroMemphis reporter
October 3, 2012

For its ninth annual international music festival, Goner Records invited more than 30 bands playing rock, punk and garage to play the weekend of September 27-30 at the Hi-Tone, the Buccaneer, Murphy's and the Cooper-Young gazebo.

From local bands to bands from all over the world, all these Goner label-recorded bands rocked together with the audience for a successful and joyful weekend.

Opening ceremony at the Gazebo ( photo by Barbara Werner)

“It’s like a family reunion,” said Zac Ives, owner of Goner Records, who founded Gonerfest with his store's co-owner Eric Friedl. 

“We put out our first record in 2005. It was one guy from Germany, one guy from Canada and we thought they never go on tour or do anything, but then they got a little tour and played here in Memphis. So we thought since there's going to be a show, we make it as big as we can; called some
friends, also other bands from New Orleans and Chicago,” remembered Ives about the
moment of birth of the Gonerfest.

What they didn’t expect was that everybody
would embrace their offer and show up. They played for two nights in a lounge
bar in Midtown Memphis.

“So it went great and now there are more people coming every year. We had to move to a bigger place.”   

Today Gonerfest takes place in the Goner Record store and other locations like the Gazebo in Cooper-Young.

Another big difference from the first year is that they didn’t have to ask the bands to come. Now most of the bands ask them for a permission to play. 

Zac Ives, co-owner of Goner Records (photo by Barbara Werner)

Every year they try to change the lineup for the music festival and try to introduce new bands to the audience.

This year two new bands of the record label from Memphis played at the festival: Spits and Ex-Cult.
For the record label's owners, these new bands are most interesting to see performing, because it shows them how the people react to the new bands and whether they like them or not. 

Jack Oblivian, band member of the Oblivians (photo by Barbara Werner)

However one big headliner event for the visitors of the festival this year was a gig by an older band: The Oblivians.

Co-founded by Freidl, the Oblivians had their first concert at the Gonerfest since breaking up more than a decade ago.

A few minutes before the big event, band member Jack Oblivian relaxed with a Coke and listened to the opening concert at the Gazebo by Monsieur Jeffrey Evans.

Like a real rock musician Jack looked forward to the festival and their first concert. 

“It’s just about having a good time and a lot of Rock ´n´ Roll.” 

Having a good time is certainly one good reason why so many visitors are coming every year. “If you come once, you come again,” said visitor Brent Stratton from San Francisco. “It’s my second time here. I mostly like the garage music, the cheep beer and the cool people. Here, there are never cruel troublemaker people around.”

Listeners came from across the United States and even other continents to listen to the music of Goner Record bands.

Kristina and Andy flew to Memphis from Germany for their third trip to spend a weekend at the Gonerfest. 

“Goner Records is famous in the punk-rock scene in Germany. We have been fans for six years and we mostly know all the bands which are playing at the festival. We hope to come again next year.”

Even the rain on Sunday evening couldn’t stop the audience and the bands of the ninth Gonerfest from celebrating, as Rev. John Wright and his band closed the show. 

Next year will be the tenth anniversary of Gonerfest and the planning and band requests have already started. Ives said he doesn´t have anything special planned for the anniversary, but he plans to make it as big as it can be.

Barbara Werner

Barbara Werner covers Arts & Culture for MicroMemphis.
You can send story ideas here.
You can follow her on Twitter @BarbLuise

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