Eddie Vedder, Comerica Theatre, 11/4/12

Eddie Vedder @ Comerica TheatreEddie Vedder lists his tools. In the booklet handed out to concertgoers at last night’s packed performance, the Pearl Jam frontman laid out a detailed list of gear he’d be using during the evening: guitars, ukuleles, amplifiers, a modified kick drum made from a Corona box,…

Mike Watt: Avant-Garde Rocker Stays Real Busy

Mike Watt answers the phone the same way he plays music and jumps into creative endeavors: without hesitation. “Watt!” he bellows, and within a moment he’s off, sharing details of his creative process, and detailing his multitude of projects. See also: Bassist Mike Watt Reps Blue-Collar Ethos See also: fIREHOSE…

Earth, Rhythm Room, 10/31/12

Earth @ Rhythm Room|10/31/12″The last time I was in Phoenix, I was opening for The Lemonheads,” Earth guitarist Dylan Carlson intoned with a chuckle last night at the Rhythm Room. “I was all by myself.” See also: Earth Drummer Adrienne Davies Discusses Cutting Loose (By Earth Standards) The contrast between…

Eddie Vedder Steps Aside from Pearl Jam for Solo Work

Nirvana or Pearl Jam? It’s the Beatles-or-Stones query of the flannel era, a sort of musical litmus test, almost a line in the sand. Nirvana, of course, has the tragedy going for it (like The Beatles), and the successful followup projects (Foo Fighters is Nirvana’s Wings, and Eyes Adrift is,…

Bassist Mike Watt Reps Blue-Collar Ethos

Mike Watt doesn’t waste time. Picking up the phone in San Pedro, the town he’s called home since his childhood, he answers with a distinct, direct bark: “Watt!” He plays music the same way he greets interviewers, with no time for introductions and pleasantries. We’ll recap anyway: He was one-third…

MV & EE @ Yucca Tap Room

It’s not hard to get lost in the world of Vermont-based songwriters Matt “MV” Valentine and Erika “EE” Elder. The duo’s blanket of releases — dozens of tapes, CD-Rs, downloads, live tour documents, and long players for labels like Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace!, Time-Lag Records, and Three Lobed Recordings —…

Green Day Cancels Upcoming Tempe Tour Stop

A lot of folks were buzzing about seeing Green Day in a club as intimate as the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Monday, December 10, but it looks like folks will just have to keep imagining (or read our review of the Foxboro Hot Tubs gig at the dearly departed…

Morrissey U.S. Tour Postponed; Tempe Tour Date to Be Rescheduled

Bummer news Moz fans: Morrissey’s upcoming stop at the Marquee Theatre on Wednesday, November 21, has been postponed. The singer is returning to to England to be with his ailing mother. Current ticket-holders are advised to hold on to their tickets, as replacement dates will be “announced shortly.” A representative…

A$AP Rocky @ Celebrity Theatre

If you’re hedging your bets on who will be the next big thing in hip-hop, you should probably wager on A$AP Rocky. The Harlem-born member of A$AP Mob struck a nerve with his 2011 mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP, which adroitly combined disparate elements like East Coast boom bap, ambient synths, and crushing…

Earth @ Rhythm Room

Seattle band Earth’s progression from instrumental drone-metal negativists to tempered electric Americana drone artists has been as natural and languid as the band’s riffs. Led by guitarist Dylan Carlson — the only constant member in the band’s nearly 20-year run — the group formed in the early ’90s, inspiring legions…

Slashed Tires @ Trunk Space

Northwest label Off Tempo has got something of a Phoenix-minded heart. The imprint has released records by French Quarter (2011’s exquisite Desert Wasn’t Welcome, featuring New Times contributor Chase Kamp) and a charming single by Mesa-via-Portland band iji. Label head Kenneth Piekarski has his own sounds, too, in the form…

Melvins Lite @ Crescent Ballroom

The Melvins have been at it for 30 years — and to hear guitarist Buzz Osborne (better known as King Buzzo, natch) tell it, there’s no point in stopping now. “We are entertainers. We are here to entertain you,” he says rapidly, having just finished up the 14th show of…

Maynard Is Moving to Wednesday

By now you’ve probably grown accustomed to starting every other week with a dispatch from “Chicken Little” himself, Maynard James Keenan. Up on the Sun is proud to feature Keenan’s column twice a month, and you folks have responded in a big way to the the winemaker/multimedia artist/musician/actor’s musings. As…

Father John Misty, Rhythm Room, 10/10/12

Father John Misty @ Rhythm Room”I want to do what a stripper does, and in another way do what a carnival barker does, or a shaman, some kind of Pentecostal preacher,” Josh Tillman, the singer/songwriter known by his alter ego Father John Misty, said when we spoke in advance of…

Sean Hayes @ Rhythm Room

NYC songwriter Sean Hayes doesn’t bother with the very-much-in-vogue retro-soul affectations of the moment, but make no mistake about it, his new record, Before We Turn to Dust, has got spirit and groove in abundance. Remember how you’d see names like Carole King in the credits of Donnie Hathaway records?…

Railroad Revival Tour Cancels Tempe Stop (And All The Other Stops, Too)

Here’s some bummer news for fans of folksy Americana and country tinged indie rock: The Railroad Revival Tour, scheduled Thursday, October 25, in downtown Tempe and featuring performances by John C. Reilly, Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, and Jamey Johnson, has been cancelled. According to the official site, complications “would…

Soul Singer Bettye LaVette Tells Detroit’s Story

People always told 66-year-old soul songstress Bettye LaVette she should write a book. Fifty years in show business should make for more than a few good tales, right? “I’d say, ‘Yeah, well, I’m sure I won’t be famous enough to sell a book before I die,'” LaVette says, her brassy…

J. Tillman Shakes Sad-Folkie Tag with Fear Fun

So, the drummer of a massively successful, NPR-adored indie-folk band quits said band, buys a van, loads it with psychedelic drugs, and drives down the West Coast to Los Angeles, where he cranks out a record that’s equal parts Waylon Jennings honky-tonk and Richard Brautigan “mayonnaise,” with songs about driving…

Bettye LaVette on the Death (and Possible Rebirth) of Detroit

When Bettye LaVette swears, she swears. The Detroit songstress sounds passionate when she talks (and occasionally tosses out a little blue language), but she punctuates each burst with a wonderful laugh, one that somehow conveys the power in her voice as much as her songs. She’s been busy exercising her…