Eric Friedl/Goner Records Update
Photo by Don Perry
Alongside Zac Ives, Eric Friedl is the co-owner of Goner Records. He also plays in The Oblivians and True Sons of Thunder.
      Located in Memphis, Tennessee, Goner operates as both a record label and storefront. Like Shangri-La, Goner Records has been a Memphis institution since the storefrontâs opening in 2004. Every year, Goner hosts Gonerfestâa still-vibrant music festival stretching several days. For those outside of Memphis, Gonerâs frequently updated online store is a hub for whatâs new in esoteric music. The siteâs message board is a place to get updates on touring bands, small labelsâ releases and anything else music related.
      Like countless small businesses, Goner has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The storefront has been closed since March 16. I caught up with Friedl to talk about how Gonerâs coping with these changes and what their plans are for the future. Goner is and hopefully will remain an important part of independent musicâs infrastructure. Â
Interview by Ryan Leach
Ryan: Howâs everyone at Goner doing?
Eric: Weâre good. But like everyone, weâve fallen into a freefall. Locally, weâve been doing door deliveries. People have been stopping by to pick up records. Weâve had some success selling online. If we really scale back and donât spend anything for a minute, we can hang on for a little while. We might have to lay off our staff; have folks go on unemployment. Goner would be reduced to just me and Zac (Ives) as the owners. We could limp through it that way. Weâre trying to figure it out. Â Â
Ryan: Like most small businesses in America, Gonerâs storefront is closed. How are these alternative strategies like doing door deliveries and having folks stop by to pick up records working?
Eric: One of our regulars just canât stop buying records. Heâll call me up in the morningâI guess heâs unaccustomed to looking at the siteâand Iâll tell him whatâs come in. Heâll respond, âOh, man, Iâve got to get that album.â We then pack his records and he comes by to grab them. Weâve delivered a few records off locally. Itâs super informal. But every little bit counts. People have been helping out. Itâs been great. Â
Ryan: You had mentioned to me a couple of months ago that you were going to relaunch the Goner website. While the COVID-19 pandemic and economic meltdown have been an unmitigated disaster, it was at least fortuitous timing.
Eric: We were getting ready to launch the site when the coronavirus hit. We wanted to fine-tune it a little more and add some things. But once it became imperative that we be able to sell stuff online, we said, âScrew it. Here it is. Weâll fix it as we go.â
Ryan: I went to buy the Aquarium Blood LP you had recently released and it took me to a Bandcamp site initially.
Eric: (laughs) It really is a matter of working out the kinks as we go.
Ryan: While everyoneâs situation has changed, in some ways Goner wasnât a case of just punching a timeclock. Record stores are hubs and hangouts for people. When Trailer Space closed down in Austin, it was a significant loss.
Eric: It is weird. We definitely werenât a Trailer Space-style of hangout, but people on their regular circuit would stop by and explore the used bin. On weekends, we had a big crew of normal folks buying classic rock albums. Thereâs absolutely no way to sell that stuff online. We were stocked for those folks and that side of the business completely died. We had a bunch of really cool events coming up. You feel like youâre right in the middle of things and then youâre isolated. That was sort of my idea with doing these video check-ins. I sent out requests for people to give us video updates. I want to show people that weâre still in this. Facebook just makes us feel like weâre on our own little islands, which we really are now. Weâre isolated from one another. It doesnât have that sense of community that you can get from other places online. Weâre just hoping to keep peopleâs spirits up as we go forward into the unknown.
Ryan: Thatâs a good point. Used bins are the home of the âfive-dollar record,â although Iâm unsure what people are selling them for now. Youâre not going to sell used copies of David Bowieâs Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars or a Led Zeppelin record online. Theyâre so ubiquitous that it doesnât make much sense. However, theyâre perfect for a store.
Eric: Sure. People would walk in and buyâem. Weâve had people call up and ask, âDo you have this Allman Brothers record? You do. Great, Iâll pick it up.â They can buy it on eBay. They can buy it on Discogs. But because they live locally, they can stop by the shop, purchase it, and listen to it this afternoon. It still works. The store sold a lot of meat-and-potatoes rock ânâ roll records. We needed that balance between selling weird, underground rock records and classic rock albums.
Ryan: Byrds, Bread and Toto records all at the same place without the shipping price and wait. Â
Eric: Itâs awesome. There is a little bit of that at the store. Speaking of which, if anyone out there is looking for a Sister Sledge record, weâve got it! Call us up. Â
Ryan: Talking about the atomization associated with FacebookâI think of the siteâs sort of opposites. Terminal Boredomâs message board was a great place for likeminded people to share ideas about music. The Goner message board, which has been revamped, was a predecessor of sorts to Terminalâs board.
Eric: Yeah. Even for me, itâs frustrating to use the Goner board. Itâs such a dinosaur. It kept chugging along for years. We need to tweak it and make it more functional. Itâs hard to envision people staying on it now like they used to. But it is there, and it was a big hub for people who were into underground stuff. Terminal Boredom was too. I always felt comfortable reading that stuff up until a point. The squabbles got to be a bit much and Iâd lose track of what was going on. Anyway, check out the Goner board!
Ryan: For bedroom record labels like ours (Spacecase), you could sell 15 titles almost right away by going on those boards. And you didnât need to pay a public relations company a couple grand to do it.
Eric: You were getting your records in front of the right people. Â
Eric Friedl photo by Mor Fleisher-Leach
Ryan: Beyond COVID-19 and the global economic meltdown, in our milieu we had Apollo Masters burn down a couple months ago. I use Musicol out in Columbus, Ohio, and I know theyâre going to be closed for at least a few weeks. Did the Goner label have anything in the works thatâs been put on hold?
Eric: The Bloodshot Bill record is done and is supposed to come out on April 10. Weâve got those shipping soon. We did the preorders on that album, so it is in motionâif you get what I mean. We had this Optic Sink record in the works. Optic Sink is Natalie (Hoffmann) from Nots and Ben Bauermeister from the Magic Kids. Itâs really cool, electronic stuff. Thatâs at the digitally mastered stage. The Ar-Kaics record is up there. So is the new Quintron record. We have a choice of getting these lacquers cut and then wait to press. Or we can try to hang tight and wait. I think weâre going to have to wait to minimize expenses right now. Theyâre all there. I think once we get through this itâs going to be a clusterfuck of people trying to rush through records. But who really knows whatâs going to happen? There are all these Record Store Day LPs that supposedly got pressed or are getting pressed.
Ryan: I read that Record Store Dayâs date has been pushed back to June 20, 2020. That might be a little optimistic.
Eric: Yeah. Itâll be interesting. Itâs another nail in the coffin for trying to sell records. Weâre limping along. If we can get our weekend regulars in to pick up records, thatâll help. But this shutdown is going to put a lot of peopleâobviously, record stores includedâout of business. Labels are going to be in trouble too. If youâve got records scheduled for a Record Store Day release in mid-April, thatâs done. That money isnât coming back until Record Store Day finally happens. The market was already shrinking before all of this hit.
Ryan: Youâre still getting new stuff in. Gonerâs site is getting updated regularly. What new records have you been listening to?
Eric: Weâre trying. Itâs going to be hard justifying it going forward. We were really excited to get that Dadamah record (This is Not a Dream) in. I remember it coming out in the early 1990s. That kind of dreamy, New Zealand stuff is what we want to push. However, the hard part is that everyone into that subgenre already knows about it. Itâs difficult to get new people into it. We did that Chubby and the Gang record (âAll Along the Uxbridge Roadâ 7â). That was a street punk-type of chugger. We sold a bunch of records for them. Alec (McIntyre) and Cole (Wheeler) at the shop were really into it. So, we gave it a shot. Thatâs been interestingâgetting into the American Oi!-type stuff. We were trying to put some more of that material out when everything ground to a halt. Itâs not really my scene, but itâs been interesting weeding through all of this stuff and going, âOh, yeah, this is pretty good.â Currently, Iâve been trying to find music for the kids at home that theyâll find palatable. Theyâre playing really crappy stuff. Itâs a constant battle. They like songs from cartoons.
Ryan: I bought that recent Exek record (Some Beautiful Species Left) off the Goner site. It was great. It had a real Neu! and Tuxedomoon feel to it.
Eric: Thatâs a great record. I appreciate that.
Ryan: Itâll be difficult getting inventory. Just thinking about it nowâRevolver (Distribution) is closed for at least another couple of weeks.
Eric: Yep. Because all of the distributors and stores are closing, it drives the people who want those records straight to the labels. Itâs bad for the stores, good for the labels. Weâre a store and a label, so we kind of benefit. But it takes away from having a centralized place to buy records. Which is fine, but itâs something else to worry about down the line.
Ryan: I always looked at our (Spacecaseâs) relationship with Goner as symbiotic. I always knew you were going to buy our releases. The Goner store has enabled us to kick the can down the road for a couple extra years.
Eric: For sure.
Ryan: Any closing thoughts, Eric?
Eric: Weâre just another small business caught up in total economic collapse. Weâre lucky in the sense that we have a pretty loyal customer base. Itâs awesome. But in the end weâre very vulnerable. We have to make tough decisions on how to move forward and keep it going. Weâve always had to do that. Itâs just that right now itâs so dramatic. You screw up, youâre done. Itâs really heavy. At the same time, weâre not going down without a fight. Weâll see what models develop. If we can get through thisâif itâs not too longâweâll make it. If not, everyoneâs going to get wiped out. But weâll see.
 Website: goner-records.com
Gonerfest photo courtesy of Eric Friedl
