Phoenix isn’t anywhere near topping the list of the punkest cities in the U.S. Not even close. Burgs like New York City, Frisco, and Detroit have always, and will always, be far more famous for their contributions to the world of Mohawks and three-chord thunder than our fair city ever…
Live shows by touring bands are quite a rarity so close to the holidays. Musicians are people, too, and they would rather return to their hometowns to stay closer to the ones they love. No one can fault them for that. A band like Authority Zero, born out of Mesa’s…
Simultaneously familiar and otherworldly, the Soweto Gospel Choir is the right group performing at the right time. While so much of our fragile planet is being torn apart by social and political divisiveness, this glorious, 26-member choir is on a quest to lift our spirits through the amazing-yet-simple joy of…
Downtown Phoenix’s art scene is hard to exactly quantify in some respects, with creativity running amok across multiple genres and mediums. Hyphenates abound as musicians, DJs, painters, and other talented types collaborate and feed off each other’s muses. So it’s apropos that one of the art scene’s more pre-eminent bands,…
If you’re feeling the need to bump your hump to some hip-hop, R&B, or Top 40 dance jams, a few off-the-hook urban dance parties will be happening over the next 48 hours that you’ll definitely wanna check out. The Bay Area’s DJ Swift Rock will be hanging and banging over…
Hector Bagnod (left) and Chris Donathon, no longer The Medic Droid. It’ll break the hearts of countless teenaged emo and scene kids to hear this, but The Medic Droid is no more. The local electro power-pop band announced the break up Tuesday afternoon through a pair of blog postings on…
The name may change, but the party remains the same. There’s been some changes lately at the east Phoenix watering hole 26th Street Blues Bar. Namely it’s name, it’s paint job, as well as the establishments ownership. Earlier in the month, the neighborhood bar’s old owner Lane Marcus sold the…
From the very weird but vaguely interesting file comes this: In January, a book of 21 essays inspired by Sonic Youth is hits shelves. NOISE: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth isn’t in any way about the band, it’s just short fiction inspired by them.”The band’s sound is caustic, elemental, nihilistic – and quite unlike…
Kris Roe, picking at his gee-tar. We got a rather excited-sounding text message on our cell phone last night from Jeremiah Gratza (a.k.a. President Gator) of Stateside Presents informing us of a rather cool upcoming gig he just booked with Kris Roe, singer/songwriter/guitarist for pop-punk band The Ataris on Friday,…
Valley residents have often bemoaned the gentrification of Mill Avenue. Up until the late 1990s, the Tempe strip was a cultural mecca of mom-and-pop shops and rock clubs. But when corporate entities started moving in, landlords started raising the rent on retail spaces, forcing small business off Mill to make…
In a year worthy of your rage, metal delivered in spades. What with the economy circling the drain and Sarah Palin coming down from the tundra and then refusing to go back, 2008’s been the kind of year that really makes you want to smash your head into walls or…
Local indie act Dear and the Headlights is featured in a session with Daytrotter that was just offered up. Daytrotter’s four-song postings are sort of Chicago’s answer to The Peel Sessions, with up-and-coming acts doing a semi-live set recorded in the course of a couple hours and put up for download. Daytrotter…
Where: Portland’s Restaurant & Wine Bar (105 W. Portland St., Phoenix, 602-2795-7480) located directly from where you’re standing as you exit the train. Drink: The Urban Cosmo; a taste sensation for $10. Scene: Upscale living is king in this part of downtown Phoenix, as the neighborhood surrounding Portland’s consists…
You’d probably expect a band with a song called “Sheriff Joe” (refrain: “Fuck you, Sheriff Joe, fuck you, Sheriff Joe”) to find a sympathetic ear here at Phoenix New Times. And, honestly, The Video Nasties do get some credit for calling out Maricopa County’s most evil man, even if it’s…
Carlos Coy (a.k.a. South Park Mexican): Sentenced to spend the the next four decades or so in the pokey. The life of Texas rapper Carlos Coy (a.k.a. South Park Mexican) is a tale of triumph, terror, and tragedy. As John Nova Lomax, current staff writer and former music editor for…
Today Weezer digitally released six Christmas songs originally recorded for the recently released iPhone app “Tap Tap Revenge Christmas With Weezer.””For the first time ever a band recorded music for an app but demand was so great from non-iPhone users that the band decided to make the songs available at…
Old-timey prog rock band Yes is coming to Phoenix on Wednesday, February 25. This according to a press release filled with proclamations that’d make The Beatles blush:”A dominant force in rock music for more than four decades, YES has created some of rock’s most enduring and compelling hits and has…
For more of this charming man, check the slideshow.What can we say about a DJ night with Andy Rourke of the Smiths that this guy didn’t? Well, for one, we didn’t spill a drink on him and make total asses of ourselves. Instead, we actually maintained some semblance of self…
Music and conceptual artist Kevin Ogilvie’s been known by a couple names since forming industrial band Skinny Puppy in 1982. As a member of Skinny Puppy, he took the stage name “Nivek Ogre,” but these days he’s known just as “Ogre,” and he’s making solo music that deviates from Skinny Puppy’s machinistic throb while maintaining the group’s dark art aesthetic.
Where: Seamus McCaffrey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant (18 W. Monroe St., 602-253-6081). Walk one block South and one block East from where you stumbled off the train. Drink: a pint of Guinness for the tiny sum of $5.50. Scene: Seamus McCaffrey’s has long been one of the Valley’s premier Irish pubs…
Staind vocalist/guitarist Aaron LewisWe got word late yesterday that the Edge 103.9’s annual holiday concert “How the Carolla Stole Christmas,” scheduled to happen tonight at Dodge Theatre, has been cancelled due to the illness of Staind frontman/guitarist Aaron Lewis. Refunds for the event are available at point of purchase…
An Australian Bank has a new commercial out featuring a “metal band” that turns out to be Tempe’s The Cover Up. Click here to see the video which is pretty hilarious. The next video in the series, “Florida,” is also pretty funny.Thanks to our friend Psyko Steve for the heads…
