Wow. A year ago, if you had told me that I would regard Canada’s Comeback Kid highly, and utter “best album I’ve heard in at least a year” about its disc, I would have laughed in your face. I was mostly against positive (“posi”) hardcore music, because I don’t enjoy…
Ben Harris used to stare out the window of his Indiana high school, watching cattle graze outside and daydreaming about performing music onstage. When he moved to Phoenix at age 16, he started rapping after school with friends who would bust out the karaoke machine and rhyme for hours. His…
Bullet Train to Moscow is back with a spankin’ new self-titled disc, and fans will surely be pleased to have it in their hands. Bullet Train blasts through 14 songs that are everything you’d expect from this local five-piece: fast, fun, and a little funny. Billing itself as an “every…
Remember in the early ’90s flick Airheads, when Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi are standing at the door of a recently acquired radio station, testing an alleged music exec by quizzing, “Who would win in a fight: Lemmy or God?” Unlike that undercover cop, the men in Rapid Fire would…
Radio-friendly, catchy tunes do not have to be generic, and Hot Water Music understands that. The four guys in this Florida band created a house blend of thoughtful, emotionally charged lyrics, creative drumming, and emo-styled guitar riffs intertwined with punk rock vocals to create a sound in the vein of…
It seems like everything written about the Blood Brothers includes the phrase “disaffected youth.” The general context is that the band’s songs speak to jaded youngsters and give the kiddies something relatable to grasp onto. That’s lame. The last time youth were accurately depicted as disaffected was when flannel dominated…
Rise Against is finally headlining a tour. No longer needing the big boys there to hold its hand, the Chicago punk-rock outfit is stepping out of the shadows of mentor bands like Bad Religion. With its first major-label release, Siren Song of the Counter-Culture (DreamWorks), Rise Against has shown it…
Don’t hold the six-word band name against Fear Before the March of Flames. The Denver band is neither indie rock nor attempting to cash in on a trend. However, FBTMOF does have one clear influence: hardcore genre-definers Converge. Until 2004, Converge had been MIA for three years, so it’s not…
Phoenix may be known for bands of the Jimmy Eat World persuasion, but for each of those, there is a Vehemence. It’s true — the Arizona metal scene is alive and well. In an attempt to start another downtown tradition, a local production company, SMUT, has dubbed the night after…
Listening to Bury Your Dead with the volume cranked to 11 leaves the sensation of getting punched in the face. Now that’s hardcore. The Connecticut five-piece’s live show will pummel you with blast beats and then, like a deranged drill instructor, order your bruised body off the floor to take…
Kyle Howard will make himself throw up for the Stiletto Formal. Dedication of that extent is rarely called for, but sure enough, on the third night of its first tour, the slender vocalist has to heave for his band. For the December show in Omaha, Nebraska, the Stiletto Formal wants…
There’s something about an emo band that talks shit about emo — the genre dedicated to self-deprecation — that seems overly appropriate. The Letter Kills are that band. The Southern California five-piece is highly vocal about its disapproval of the notion that being classified as emo makes one popular. Sure,…
Tempe’s “Burrito Brothers” (Chelsea Ide, December 16) in Bluewall Audience will soon be strutting across their high school campuses rocking Chipotle Mexican Grill backpacks. The five teenagers have been using the burrito joint as a spot to conduct official business with their record label, as long as Turnpike Records has…
Fivespeed almost fooled us. The local emo rock band seemed to drop off the radar after releasing Trade In Your Halo two years ago through Sunset Alliance (the independent record label belonging to Before Braille vocalist Dave Jensen) and signing to Virgin Records. But it turns out that the band…
Bluewall Audience has been so busy reviewing and signing contracts, conducting meetings, and approving shirt designs that at least every other week, its members have to convene at their unofficial headquarters: Chipotle at Chandler Fashion Center. Any time the band needs to conduct business — and someone else is willing…
Brooklyn-based Most Precious Blood, which includes former members of Indecision, creates an honest and raw East Coast hardcore sound without metal frills. Carrying the banner of old-school NYHC ethics, these musicians are all either strict vegans or vegetarians, and have dedicated their lives to relentless touring. In return, many dedicated…
The members of Before Braille decided they couldn’t make their fans wait until 2005 to hear new tunes, so for this six-song teaser EP, they recorded four new tracks (three of which are acoustic), and then tacked on a couple tracks from Tired of Not Being Away From Here, the…
Calling all At the Gates fans! Darkest Hour is coming to town. The Swedish-sounding metal band may, in reality, be from the Midwest, but with a little schooling from Fredrik Nordstrom (At the Gates, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir), the group is more powerful than ever. Its new album,…
Four death-metal guys from northwest Phoenix say they are proud to be more disgusting than you. And with Genital Hospital, ETTS (Evicting the Testicular Squatters) has met its goal. It’s obvious from reading the song titles (e.g., “I Got Kicked Out of N.A.M.B.L.A. for Being a Pervert”) that the band…
