Last night, metal god Rob Halford from Judas Priest made a guest voice appearance on an episode of The Simpsons called “Steal This Episode.” In a nutshell, Homer became annoyed with movie theaters, so Bart taught him how to download movies illegally. Of course, Homer thinks this revelation kicks ass…
Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns brought in the new year with a stellar performance at the Tempe Block Party on New Year’s Eve. Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns may be the Arizona version of the nationally known group Roomful of Blues. Both bands have been around for decades…
Shea Note: in his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times. Dear 2013, Oh, man. So you’re officially over. That’s kind of sad. You were mostly a very dope year — at least for me, anyway, and truth be told, that’s all…
Buckle your safety belts, because you’re about to trip through a time warp. We’re setting the Wayback Machine to a quarter-century ago — 1989, to be exact — when a small radio station called KUKQ was the blasting out alternative, underground, and indie rock tunes over Valley airwaves via 1060…
It’s that time of year where our focus is officially shifting from reflecting on 2013 to preparing for 2014. Another 365 days have swept by, full of heavy metal ups and downs, groupies and drug overdoses, mind-blowing riffs and sold-out shows. The state of metal in 2013 certainly hasn’t blown…
Blues guitarist Jim Glass will be inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame December 29 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix along with Tucson blues musician Mike Lenaburg. The induction ceremony event will go from 8 p.m. to midnight, with many of the blues musicians that Glass has played…
Valley stalwart Sir Harrison’s blues band will have a new, improved sound for the new year when it adds saxophone player Jeremy DeCoster to the mix, coming out with a four-piece band adding funky blues to its usual rockin’ blues. “Jeremy is a longtime musician and a longtime friend who…
Cancer, to paraphrase renowned rhyme-slinger Sadat X, is like the darkest of dark days. Sadly, far too many artists and performers connected with the Valley’s music scene have had dark days of their own this past year as they fought for their lives against cancer, including Blunt Club collaborator Jules…
Any true heavy metal fan can attest to the fact that the worlds of fashion and heavy metal should never go hand-in-hand — but this day and age, selling out and heading mainstream is only becoming more prevalent. So years back, when a handful of heavy metal bands began releasing…
Bill Tarsha and the Rocket 88s led the 18th annual blues harmonica blowout last week at the Rhythm Room. More than 35 blues harmonica players performed. Tarsha and his band opened with a couple tunes. The blues harmonica players put their names in a hat and after each performance they…
James D’Agostino has never slipped the surly bonds of gravity and traveled into outer space. Nor has he visited Oa, taken possession of a fabled Power Ring, battled the dastardly Sinestro, or bombed around with the other members of the JLA. Despite all these facts, the 38-year-old is known throughout…
Screeches cycle through the drone and reverberate off the cratered concrete walls of [venue name redacted] as Fake Snake frantically claws through their set. We’re out among the dilapidated shitholes of Phoenix’s industrial parks, inside this warehouse shed doubling as crashpad and venue for several underground acts. Here, the Phoenix…
All illustrations by me. I’m Shea. [Editor’s Note: In his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times.] This game is very simple: Look at the pictures and guess what Kanye West song each one represents. Boom. That’s it. That’s all. You’re done…
Whenever my brothers and I are together, it’s pretty difficult for anyone to understand our conversation unless they have a strong knowledge of Dumb & Dumber, Ace Ventura, or Anchorman quotes. And when I heard there was going to be an Anchorman: The Legend Continues film, I had my hopes…
Guitarist and lead vocalist Matt Heafy was around 13 or 14 when Trivium formed in Orlando in 2000, and only 17 when Trivium released their debut album, Ember To Inferno. Over the past decade, Heafy and the other members of Trivium have come a long way, from constant experimentation (each…
The blues community continues to rally around those in need. About 10 bands recently performed at Pho Cao Vietnamese Restaurant and Nightclub in Tempe to help Lenny Malik. Malik, known for his harmonica playing in the Phoenix area, is suffering from colon cancer. He was a truck driver for many…
RZA/Bobby Digital/Prince Rakeem ain’t got nothing on Snoop Dogg, at least when it comes to the alter-ego shizzle. To his mama and papa, he’s either Calvin Cordozar Broadus or “Snoopy,” his childhood nickname. Meanwhile, he’s been the Doggfather to the hip-hop world for two decades, hood anchor Nemo Hoes on…
Back in 2009, Brian “Head” Welch was hosting auditions at his Phoenix studio in order to craft a band for his own brand of music. The legendary former Korn guitarist experimented and jammed out with a few members, but then went back to searching for his ideal bandmates. In 2011,…
[Editor’s Note: In his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times.] Song: Eminem’s “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna History: Eminem did a freestyle battle. He went up against Papa Doc and choked. It was pretty sad. Then some more sad stuff happened to…
Whether they were adding a bit of flair to an old favorite, taking the scene by storm, or continuing their march to the top, 2013 was a big year for Valley musicians under 21. Here’s 10 of our favorites who spent most of 2013 in the all-ages sections of their…
The Grammys has never been known for supporting heavy metal. Heavy bands show up and it’s like a burnout kid crashing his parents’ fancy dinner party. Even when Halestorm won Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for their song “Love Bites (And So Do I)” at the 2013 Grammys, Lzzy Hale told…
From blasting “Schools Out” during my teenage wasteland days to jamming out to the chugging guitar in “Under My Wheels” in my office, Alice Cooper has always played a prominent position in my heavy metal playlist. Not only did he help shape the sound and look of heavy metal with…
