Moments

Jack Oblivian is one of the most important figures of the Memphis garage rock and punk blues community and was a founding member of the two strongly influential bands, The Oblivians and The Compulsive Gamblers, and has recorded as a solo artist as well as working with a handful of other notable Memphis artists.

Depending on whom you ask, Jack “Oblivian” Yarber is either a rock legend or an absolute unknown. This dichotomy is well-understood by Memphis musicians, as underground “fame,” for all its rewards, has, with a few exceptions, been the ceiling for local acts for decades. And no one knows this dichotomy better than Yarber, who may be Memphis’ most influential active rock musician. The list of noteworthy bands Yarber has been a member of over the years is massive and includes Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves (a high school punk project that also featured future Squirrel Nut Zipper Jimbo Mathus), new-wavers the End, ’68 Comeback, Knaughty Knights, and Tav Falco’s Panther Burns. Two of Yarber’s former bands – the Compulsive Gamblers and the Oblivians – have seen their reputation and following swell in the decade since their demise, especially the Oblivians, whose international fan base borders on rabid.

Memphis garage rockers The The Sheiks will be supporting Jack Oblivian on their quest through Europe. Schooled on the memphis streets, the sheiks are a guarantee for low down rock n roll/ mind expansion/ party. New to the Memphis scene, the group formed in 2012 and self-released their debut, Witches + Mystics, in August of the same year. The Memphis press wrote that The Sheiks, “sounds a lot like Out of our Heads-era Rolling Stones, with lead singer Frank McLallen sounding a lot like Mick Jagger while he howls over impressive guitar solos drenched with reverb and distortion.”