Gonerfest 2016 Day 3: Daytime Party

My photos from the daytime party at Murphy’s on Oct. 1, 2016, at Gonerfest in Memphis, featuring Casual Burn, Bloodbags, Fire Retarded, Archie & The Bunkers, Iron Head, Zerodent, Oh Boland, Bloody Show, The World and Spray Paint.

Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Casual Burn
Bloodbags
Bloodbags
Bloodbags
Bloodbags
Bloodbags
Bloodbags
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Fire Retarded
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Archie & The Bunkers
Iron Head
Iron Head
Iron Head
Iron Head
Iron Head
Iron Head
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Zerodent
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Oh Boland
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
Bloody Show
The World
The World
The World
The World
The World
The World
Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint

Also see:

My roundup of Gonerfest and my visit to Memphis

More Gonerfest 2016 photo galleries:

Day 1 — opening ceremonies at Cooper Young Gazebo (Nots) and nighttime show at Hi Tone (emcee Jim Dandy, Hash Redactor, Chook Race, Counter Intuits, Useless Eaters, Fred & Toody, Reigning Sound)

Day 2 daytime party at Memphis Made Brewing (LSDOGS, Kool 100s, Trampoline Team, Pity)

Day 2 nighttime show at Hi Tone (Opposite Sex, Aquarian Blood, Power, Buck Biloxi, Blind Shake, Black Lips)

Day 3 nighttime show at Hi Tone (emcee Tom Scharpling, Couteau Latex, Sick Thoughts, Bloodshot Bill, Control Freaks, Midnight Snaxxx, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds)

Touring Ardent Studios with Jody Stephens

A visit to Al Green’s church

Photos of Memphis.

Cropped Out: Day 2

This is my report from Saturday, Sept. 24, the second day of the 2016 Cropped Out music festival in Louisville, Kentucky. To see my report and photos from the first day, click here.

Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan’s performance was the highlight of the Cropped Out festival’s second day, Saturday, Sept. 24, in Louisville. After 7 p.m., as the sun was going down, Callahan walked out onto the American Turner Club’s deck next to the Ohio River, where a small crowd had gathered for his performance. I was sitting right in front of the stage when Callahan stepped around me, casually remarking, “Watch out. There’s a piece of cheese.” Looking down, I saw a small chunk of pizza sitting next to me. After that odd little greeting, Callahan gave a breathtakingly beautiful performance — accompanied, as he often is, by the astounding guitarist Matt Kinsey, as well as bassist Jaime Zuverza (who’d played earlier in the day with his own band, Hidden Ritual).

As they played, insects along the rivers buzzed and chirped. Boats passed by on the river. Birds flying in V-shaped formations crossed the sky overheard. Callahan remarked that the temperature was perfect. In this enchanting setting, as dusk fell, Callahan aptly sang a few songs that mentioned rivers. His set list included songs from his superb recent albums Apocalypse and Dream River, as well as covers of Grateful Dead and Carter Family songs, finishing with a few of the tunes that Callahan performed years ago under the moniker Smog. Throughout it all, Callahan sang with his typical poise, quirky sense of timing and wry humor. Kinsey coaxed incredible sounds out of his Gibson SG electric guitar, almost like a second voice duetting with Callahan.

What a transporting and unforgettable hour it was.

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Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan
Matt Kinsey, playing with Bill Callahan
Matt Kinsey, playing with Bill Callahan
Matt Kinsey, playing with Bill Callahan
Matt Kinsey, playing with Bill Callahan
Jaime Zuverza, playing with Bill Callahan
Jaime Zuverza, playing with Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan at Constellation
Bill Callahan at Constellation

SET LIST: Riding for the Feeling / Spring / America! / Easy Wind (Grateful Dead cover) / Drover / Rococo Zephyr / Walk that Lonesome Valley (Carter Family cover) / I’m New Here (Smog song) / Say Valley Maker (Smog song) / Let Me See the Colts (Smog song)

(I saw another Callahan concert two days later, the early set on Sept. 26 at Constellation in Chicago. The set list was similar, with just a few differences, and Zuverza wasn’t present. It was another wonderful performance, even if it lacked the idyllic natural environment of Callahan’s Cropped Out show.)

Cropped Out’s second day started off with an odd, jokey set by Vern — more like performance comedy art than rock concert.

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Vern
Vern
Vern
Vern
Vern
Vern

The New Zealand band Opposite Sex followed, with an intriguing performance, showing the energy of punk rock but with a variety of other influences thrown into the mix. (The group’s recent album Hamlet even includes a couple of quieter songs played on piano.)

Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex
Opposite Sex

The next band up, Felchers, hadn’t been scheduled to perform on the Spooky Beach riverside deck, but it was one of only two stages with working electricity in the early afternoon, so that’s where they ended up. This Kentucky played straight-ahead hardcore punk, growl-shouting phrases like, “Oh my, this is unsettling!”

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Felchers
Felchers
Felchers
Felchers

The Louisville band Insect Policy mixed jazzy art-rock improvisation with punk-style vocals. One of the musicians was wearing an Acid Mothers Temple T-shirt, which gave a pretty good indication of Insect Policy’s influences.

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Insect Policy
Insect Policy
Insect Policy
Insect Policy
Insect Policy
Insect Policy

Creeping Pink played dreamy shoegaze rock, with vocals that blended into the guitars. (On Facebook, the Los Angeles band calls its stuff “Tape Glam.”)

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Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Creeping Pink
Ancient Filth
Ancient Filth
Ancient Filth
Ancient Filth
Ancient Filth
Ancient Filth
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas
Laffing Gas

On the Spooky Beach deck, Chicago artist Matchess (aka Whitney Johnson) performed a lovely sonic collage, with recorded sounds blending into her vocals, keyboards and violin.

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Matchess
Matchess
Matchess
Matchess
Matchess
Matchess

As I mentioned above, Bill Callahan bassist Jaime Zuverza also fronted his own band at Cropped Out — Hidden Ritual — playing dark, brooding rock that reminded me of Protomartyr and the Cure.

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Hidden Ritual
Hidden Ritual
Hidden Ritual
Hidden Ritual
Hidden Ritual
Hidden Ritual

One of my favorite bands on Saturday was Bugg, apparently from Bloomington, Indiana. Searching online, I’ve found only scant information about Bugg, other than a demo posted on YouTube. Bugg’s pop-punk was bursting with energy. At moments, the group reminded me of the Replacements, and then the guys really won me over by doing a cover of the classic Guided By Voices tune “Bulldog Skin.”

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Bugg
Bugg
Bugg
Bugg

Power, a trio from Melbourne, Australia, lived up to its name, playing metal-punk riffs with intensity and precision.

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Power
Power
Power
Power
Power
Power

After Bill Callahan’s astonishing set came a complete change of pace: the St. Louis punk band Black Panties, led by a frontman clad in a black outfit, complete with a face-obscuring mask. The crowd inside Turners Tavern went wild, setting the tone for the rest of the evening, which was marked by much moshing. All of the sets during this late portion of Cropped Out’s second day, Pissed Jeans was the most iconoclastic and unpredictable, clearly having a great deal of fun. Saturday night also featured the festival’s only hip-hop, the longtime rapper Kool Keith, who got much of the crowd dancing.

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Black Panties
Black Panties

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Black Panties
Black Panties
Black Panties
Black Panties
Kool Keith
Kool Keith
Home Blitz
Home Blitz
Lumpy and the Dumpers
Lumpy and the Dumpers
Lumpy and the Dumpers
Lumpy and the Dumpers
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans

Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, a rock band from Columbus, Ohio, that stopped playing back in 2000, was back together at Cropped Out. I recall seeing this group open for Guided By Voices in 1997, and Saturday’s performance evoked that era of indie rock. The band sounded excellent.

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Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Cropped Out concluded with a strong performance by the Austin, Texas, post-punk band Spray Paint. A long two days of music came to an end with a jolt of energy.

Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint
Spray Paint