We’ve been telling you all week about The Loveblisters’ last show, Saturday at Last Exit, because it’s going to be epic. The band is one of the best local live acts you’ll ever see, and they should be letting it all hang out tomorrow.You know what else is going to…
Austin, Texas based-band The Meat Puppets (How much do you old Mill types hate seeing that? But that’s how they bill themselves!) have a new album, Sewn Together, coming out next month and will tour extensively in support of it, playing everywhere in the continental United States. Well, everywhere except…
I know a lot of people are planning to go out to The Loveblisters’ last show Saturday night, but there’s another cool show that night, this one for a good cause. Allen Shellenberger, drummer of the California band Lit, was diagnosed with brain cancer a year ago and the age…
Look, no one’s sadder about this than we are, but it’s time to face facts: The Loveblisters are breaking up, and this Saturday’s show at Last Exit is the last time you’ll ever see them. Ever. So try not to get too sad as you mourn the passing of the…
“Punk rock, comedy, and politics” can be a great combination — look at NOFX. But when a local band declares in its self-penned biography that it’s playing with these elements, I get a little nervous. The new album by Tempe punk rockers VW Trainwreck, Dramaturgy, is exactly why. With a…
Maybe it’s because I don’t listen to a lot of it in my off hours, but I’m constantly surprised by the depth and quality of the Phoenix metal scene. I’ve yet to have a bad local metal record come across my desk, and this week didn’t change that. Hemoptysis isn’t…
Ever since we got a press release about Green Day’s impending album, 21st Century Breakdown, a few weeks ago, I’ve been eager to see when the band would start playing live again. Turns out our sister paper in San Francisco was there to see Billie Joe, Tre, and Mike play…
You excited for McDowell Mountain Music Fest yet? No? Not yet? Well, that’s about to change, kids, because no one in their right mind would want to miss The Flaming Lips Saturday set after seeing this amazing cover of Madonna’s “Borderline.”By the way, we’re doing our own little covers project…
From our sister paper in St. Louis comes a funny blog post about a Craigslist ad for a new indie rock club that’s requiring a mix CD with applications for bartender, barback, and doorman.mix cd should contain music in and around the neighborhood of indie rock/pop. the more unknown the…
Generally, I write positive reviews about bands that are good at what they do. I like a little bit of everything, so it’s not that hard for me to appreciate either a delicate ballad or ear-shredding thrash. Shit, I genuinely love the first Britney Spears record, and think Toby Keith…
Am I the only one who didn’t realize people were still listening to Incubus? The band’s been around 1991, and seemingly peaked in 1999 with the double platinum Make Yourself, but is somehow still has a #1 album, and is playing Jobing.com Arena. Go figure. So, I guess that’s a…
“Have you ever been given meditation instructions at a concert before?” the emcee asked as the crowd sat down at Chandler Center for the Arts to witness a benefit concert by Velvet Underground legend Lou Reed, his wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson.We had not, but that quickly changed. It was…
There’s one word that describes the Calexico concert at Heritage Square last night: Classy. From the tastefully-appointed stage, to the home-made tamales and high-end beer (Tecate and Four Peaks products only; no Bud) to the gorgeous textures of the band’s unique blend of Western and Tejano music and indie rock,…
Hey guys, still figuring out liveblogging possibilities from Tempe Music Fest, but if you wanna keep track of the happenings go to twitter.com/NewTimesKelly or (for another hour or so) me at twitter.com/martincizmar. Shiny Toy Guns, our web editor Jonathan McNamara’s personal Beatles, are currently on stage, and Little Stevie from…
I’ve spent the last year telling everyone who’ll listen that Country Thunder is the premier music festival in Arizona. Whether you like country music or not, you should recognize that compared with any other festival in the state Country Thunder’s acts are bigger, the crowd crazier, the part wilder. So…
Maybe it was the bouncing beach balls that reminded me of my first concert experiences (seeing the Kokomo-era Beach Boys) or maybe it was the inclusion of a relatively obscure song by glam-punks D Generation (the band who headlined my first-ever club concert) in the before-set house music, but something about Bruce Springsteen’s show at Jobing.com Arena…
Yes, that’s right, we’ve got another Sun Session for you today! What, you didn’t think we’d just do one this week? This is probably the biggest music weekend of the year in Phoenix!The Sun Session, in case you missed yesterday’s post (featuring Jim Bachmann and Tony Martinez playing Alan Jackson’s…
A few weeks back, we had a little idea for Up on the Sun: inspired by The Black Cab Sessions and The Peel Sessions we thought it’d be cool to do something similar with Phoenix bands here on Up n the Sun. The Train Tracks, a very cool local site,…
This weekend is probably the biggest three days of music I can remember in my time in the Valley, with two multi-day festivals (Country Thunder and Tempe Music Fest) along with Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Fall Out Boy, Leonard Cohen, Bonnie Prince Billy and Calexico all coming to town.Think you’ll…
One of the things I love best about Bright Eyes (yes, I unapologetically love Bright Eyes) is the way the band mingles so many rootsy sounds in songs that end up sounding contemporary. It’s for that reason, and not just Matthew Reveles’ vulnerable, emotive vocals, that I compare the Tempe…
A trip to Texas two weeks ago reawakened a long-held love of mine: Big Red. The creamy, bubble gumesque concoction is ubiquitous in the The Lone Star State, particularly in the hallowed halls of smokey barbecue joints. We didn’t have any brisket to pair with it, but I put the…
It’s rare we have a juicy update on good time guy Roger Clyne, and rarer still we have a local music scoop from the Arizona Republic, but, while trying to figure out who Richard Ruelas (guest DJing on The Blaze this week) is last night I came across an interesting…
