Country music queen Jessi Colter is both outspoken and well spoken. The esteemed chanteuse and Arizona native, widely considered to be one of the grand dames of the genre, speaks quite eloquently and loquaciously of both of her storied 43-year career in country music and her many experiences along the…
Kanye West’s new opus Yeezus has leaked, and with it a map of the latest locations where he’ll be projecting his face. Bad news: After getting a “New Slaves” of our very own in the second round of the first set of projections, Phoenix got stiffed for Friday’s festivities. You’ll…
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Celebrity Theatre (View the full slideshow.) Thursday, June 6, 2013 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are a band of many talents, combining songs that could have been ’70s rock anthems with Potter’s powerhouse vocals, exuding blues, country, and pop flair. The band’s musical variety attracted…
Local synth-rockers The Holy Coast know something about today’s average music consumer: mainly that they have the attention spans of gnats. The trio comprised of Keith Walker, Brett Davis and Braden McCall recently put on their first live performance and have completed their debut album, but they’re still carefully calculating…
Ronnie Styles hasn’t sported long-ass dreadlocks for years, but he’s still just as big into reggae culture and Rastafarianism as during his kinky-haired days, if not moreso. As such, the 32-year-old busies himself with spinning irie and dub sounds as DJ Jon Dread at The Sail Inn’s Reggae Roots Unwind…
That Tupac hologram probably gave the whole industry a scare, but for the moment it looks like tribute bands are safely ensconced as the only way you’ll be able to see, say, Pantera live. A night of cover bands at the Marquee, don’t-call-it-chillwave at Last Exit Live, the less-wordy parts…
Somewhere outside of Phoenix, in the blistering desert, towering rock and roll legends of the past buried a time capsule containing the key to a long lost sound. Through perseverance, talent and brilliance, The Black Moods from Tempe, AZ seem to have uncovered that capsule and tapped into the secrets…
The Thermals Crescent Ballroom Wednesday, June 12, 2013 If you like The Ramones, you probably would have loved last night’s show. I know that’s a lofty comparison, but Portland DIY pop punk trio The Thermals performed relatively simple but uber-catchy songs that kept the crowd moving throughout its 20 song…
“Free at Dawn,” the opening song of Small Black’s second full-length album, is the sound of a band reclaiming itself at the start of a new day. Gone is much of what characterized the band’s eponymous 2008 EP and 2010 debut album New Chain — the chill synths and preset…
As far as I’m concerned, people who don’t ever listen to albums are music lightweights. By “albums”, I don’t mean actual vinyl records. I couldn’t care less which configuration or delivery method you chose. I mean a specific group of songs in a certain order. As it is, I don’t…
It’s been something like eight years since the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion gave us a full-length musical offering. More than worth the wait, their new release, Meat and Bone, is as dynamic and explosive as any of the trio’s previous recordings. Whether they’re ratcheting up the notch on the tension…
Few metal bands rocked as hard as Pantera, and few of the many tribute bands that try to project their image on stage are up to the task. The biggest Pantera tribute bands are either appreciated or hated, and most of them don’t even merit consideration. On stage, Arizona’s Cowboys…
It wasn’t until Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s seminal work on Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning Graceland that the world truly took notice of the South African a capella group, but the ensemble’s been on a cross-cultural journey from the moment the members came together in the early 1960s. In the years since, they’ve…
If you’re going to be a quasi-one-hit-wonder in the United States — at least as far as Casey Kasem is concerned — you could hardly do better for name recognition than these shrewd Scots, who had the IQ to enshrine forevermore their band’s name in the title of said hit,…
She climbed the entertainment ladder by writing songs for artists like Britney Spears and Flo Rida before releasing her debut album, Animal, in 2010, and its follow-up, Warrior, in 2012. To this day, her party anthem “Tik Tok” is the second-best-selling digital single in history. Her live performances are known…
It could be the dance moves, or the tight pants, or the man-of-the-people lyrics. It could be that video with Courteney Cox in it. Whatever it is, people — ordinary, otherwise law-abiding people — cannot resist rushing the stage at Bruce Springsteen concerts. It’s a phenomenon that’s led journalist and…
It’s been more than a decade since legendary crooner Waylon Jennings shuffled loose the mortal coil and headed for the big honky-tonk in the sky, leaving behind an ample discography of 50-something albums of magnificent down-home material and a heritage as one of country’s bona fide outlaws. According to local…
Musician and professional surfer Donavon Frankenreiter has been all over the world and seen his share of big waves. Still, he marvels at the daredevils who routinely tackle giant waves, including an estimated 100-footer recently surfed in Portugal. “It’s unbelievable what some of these guys do,” he says by phone…
“Free at Dawn,” the opening song of Small Black’s second full-length album, is the sound of a band reclaiming itself at the start of a new day. Gone is much of what characterized the band’s eponymous 2008 EP and 2010 debut album New Chain — the chill synths and preset…
Thursday 13 910 Live: The Audio Virus, Pneumatic Fist, & more (industrial, EBM) Afterlife: Touch Thursdays with DJ Tsunami, DJ Michael Ryan, & DJ Matt Fox (Top 40, EDM) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bikini…
People either love or hate cover bands. Some think they are fantastic tributes, while others think they are blatant rip-offs. Personally, I love tribute bands. They give music fans a chance to hear songs live and celebrate a favorite band–and often it’s a band that’s disbanded, one you’ll never be…
Last night’s sold out Fall Out Boy show was full of girls singing their hearts out to the band’s hit songs. Some fans arrived early to get a coveted spot near the stage, extending the line to the Mill Avenue bridge. I overheard a guy say that Fall Out Boy…
