Happy Independence Day, Up on the Sun readers. Check out our review of last night’s ’90s nostalgia-festival Summerland (featuring Gin Blossoms, Lit, Sugar Ray, Marcy’s Playground, and Everclear), then hit the pool, drink some cold American beers (or one of these), eat whatever the hell you want to eat, and…
See also: Al Jardine Would Much Rather Be a Beach Boy Than Go It Alone Al Jardine played standup bass on the very first Beach Boys single, “Surfin’,” and since then he’s been an integral part of the band’s sonic makeup, playing guitar and navigating complexities not often associated with…
“People think it’s all Southern rock or sludge/doom,” says Royal Thunder vocalist/bassist Mlny Parsonz (Mel Parsons) the band’s hometown, Atlanta, Georgia. According to the husky voiced singer, things are more varied than outsiders see: “I don’t think any genre encompasses everything. Everybody’s so different here, for sure. It’s just what…
Jonathan Richman Crescent Ballroom Thursday, June 28 See also: Jonathan Richman Doesn’t Care for “Masculine Arrogance” See also: Our full Jonathan Richman at Crescent Ballroom slideshow. It’s hard to know exactly what to say about about Jonathan Richman’s performance at Crescent Ballroom last night. Not because things weren’t memorable (they…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up on the Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. How did Against Me!’s first Arizona performance fronted by Laura Jean Grace go over? What should…
In 1973, Jonathan Richman, then the lead singer and songwriter of a group called The Modern Lovers, wrote a letter to rock rag Creem after a record review that cited a lack of “masculine arrogance” in the music of The Four Seasons. “I always sigh when I hear ‘Candy Girl’ and ‘Marlena,'” Richman wrote…
With their hair teased to the max, black leather outfits, spikes, and caked-on makeup, Phoenix-by-way-of-Florida duo Blood on the Dance Floor (comprising Dahvie Vanity and Jayy Von Monroe) is clearly the face of modern goth. But what could the term — abused for years by confused parents and teachers, currently…
I know there’s a name for the keyboard sound that sounds like a cross between a dude belching and scat singing, but I can’t figure it out. No matter, I guess. The sound effect’s hardly the most notable thing about “Kanye,” the web-only exclusive MP3 advancing Phoenix duo Bogan Via’s…
See also: Hoodlums Music Turns 13: Reflections From Owner Steve Wiley See also: Hoodlums to Host “Hoodstock” Festival to Benefit Tempe’s Broadmor Elementary Sad news out of Tempe today: Hoodlums Music and Movies is going into “hibernation” on Wednesday, August 15. It’s a curious term, hibernation, but according to the…
Scott Lucas has been the guitar-wielding and singing half of Chicago duo Local H since 1987, and while the band’s blend of grunge tone, classic songwriting smarts, and longevity has earned it plenty of recognition, it makes sense that a few steps to the side would be tempting to Lucas…
Against Me! and The Cult at the Marquee Theatre Last night’s lineup was strange, to say the least. Noise rockers The Icarus Line drew comparisons to Iggy Pop while Against Me! played its first Phoenix show after singer and guitarist Tom Gabel announced the decision to start living her life…
See also: Vintage Phoenix Shoegaze Band Half String Reissued by Brooklyn Label Captured Tracks The term “shoegazer” may have been birthed as a pejorative, but at this point, it’s practically a badge of honor. The shoegaze movement of the ’90s, which found British and American bands drenched in reverb, continues…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up on the Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What five releases are we most excited for this summer? We ask: Are local band residencies…
Ian Astbury, throat of the long-running British rock band The Cult, doesn’t appreciate his band being reduced to “dumb rock ‘n’ roll” by hipsters. Not one bit. “The illuminated, erudite, indie, or post-modern culture, whatever — it almost serves them to shove people like us out of the room,” Astbury…
No one is going to blame you for feeling squeamish when you hear the words “rock” and “rap” used together. Crazy Town, Limp Bizkit, and Methods of Mayhem pushed out more than enough bad musical juju to completely erase any goodwill earned by the Judgment Night soundtrack or The Clash’s…
You’re not going to get any argument out of us: John Fogerty is the voice of Creedence Clearwater Revival. That’s no slight to John “Bulldog” Tristao, the gentleman who handles vocals for Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Tristao does a great job singing the classics, but no one is going to suggest…
You have to look pretty hard for someone who doesn’t have an opinion about Spotify, the Swedish music-streaming service that launched in 2008 and hit the States in 2011. It’s hard to deny its ease, selection, and um, free-ness, but it’s also been a magnet for controversy. In both the…
See also: Howe Gelb Discusses Rainer Ptacek Howe Gelb doesn’t like to fight fate. The Tucson-based singer/songwriter says that destiny played a big role in the birth of Tucson, the new record from Gelb’s Giant Giant Sand collective. The extra “giant” was added to signify the group’s swelling ranks, which…
Well, how’s this for a good East Valley announcement day? Not only is Morrissey headed to Tempe’s Marquee Theatre in November, but singer/songwriter Fiona Apple has announced a tour that brings her to the Ikeda Theater at Mesa Arts Center on Tuesday, September 18. Touring in support of her highly…
See also: Rumspringer: Earnest Trio Builds Nothing on Punk’s Ever-Shifting Sands Bachelor parties are a tradition. The kind of debauched, “I-can’t-believe-we-did-that” bone-headed tradition that works for popcorn flicks (coming soon: The Hangover 3: Still Hangin’, where the boys find themselves in outer space or something). But a DIY bachelor party…
See also: We Love Morrissey, but Does He Love Us? See also: Morrissey at the Orpheum Theatre It’s weird time to be Morrissey: British rock tabloid NME recently apologized to the downer-pop icon for alleging he’s racist (stop me if you think that you’ve heard that one before), he’s currently…
Van Halen at US Airways Center When the recently reunited Van Halen (featuring original vocalist David Lee Roth) announced it was postponing a handful of dates on its current tour, most people assumed that it was due to some conflict within the band. Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth…
