Today’s youngsters may have familiarized themselves with the Toadies’ “Possum Kingdom” through Guitar Hero II, but in the game’s multicolored dots and horrendously processed guitar tone, it’s hard to comprehend how foreign and chilling the Dallas band’s bass-driven post-grunge masterpiece sounded in its mid-’90s context. As part of a weirdo…
The Rocket Summer is Texas native Bryce Avary, who has played every instrument on each of his albums and sung with such frenzied energy on almost every song that he makes power pop actually seem dangerous. Imagine Ben Lee singing Christian rock while doped up on so much speed his…
By Lilia Menconi Silverio Blackout Party on Saturday, August 30th For more, take a look at our slideshow. And, yes, it happens to be muy caliente. So maybe we spent too much time in Spencer’s Gifts when we were 14-year-old mallrats, but we’ve always been suckers for black lights. Sure,…
By Benjamin Leatherman Hip-hop and R&B are king at Circles Records & Tapes, 800 North Central Avenue in Phoenix, as evidenced by the store’s top 10 best sellers for the week of August 25-31. Here’s what’s poppin: 1. The Game, L.A.X. (Geffen) 2. Immortal Technique, The 3rd World (Viper) 3…
This may sound pathetic to some, but I am proud to report that I made it five days, 14 hours without a drink. Zero, zilch, nada! And I have to admit: Beyond the intense sweating, short-fused temper tantrums, and sleepless nights, I felt great. So what does a confirmed Booze…
Long before steroids scandals, routine strikes (hey, it’s hard living on 175 grand a year), and the high jinks of Pete Rose and Darryl Strawberry made national news, baseball was considered America’s great national pastime. As near-religious zeal for Abner Doubleday’s invention cuts across generational lines, it’s only natural there’d…
It’s nearly laughable that this album is being marketed as “previously unreleased.” Bowie’s 1972 show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is, perhaps, one of the most-bootlegged concerts of the rock era, seen by most fans as the ultimate statement of what Bowie offered live in the ’70s. Broadcast on…
As the continued existence of the Warped Tour proves, I get older and the kids stay the same age. And as long as the latter is true, there will also be room for one more three-chord song based on a one-note joke. Hence the seventh full-length of pop-punk covers by…
In grindcore’s answer to the road movie (sort of), Fuck The Facts wrote its new album, Disgorge Mexico, while taking a group road trip from its Ottawa home to northern Mexico. As the popular expression goes, though, the point wasn’t so much the destination as it was the journey itself…
The John Butler Trio is one of those jam bands that inevitably ends up compared to acts like, oh, John Mayer, The Dave Matthews Band, and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals. In the band’s native Australia, it’s more likely that those other guys get compared to The John Butler…
We’ve always thought Geisha A Go Go, 7150 East Sixth Avenue in Scottsdale, was a pretty fly place, as the Tokyo-style bar and lounge boasts such ultra-colorful touches as clamorous pachinko machines, cartoonish cocktails, and huge pictures of rock stars like Jim Morrison and Sid Vicious behind its bar. Now…
By Benjamin Leatherman A crafty collection of alt-rockers and indie scene darlings make up this week’s edition of What’s Selling, which comes by way of Kimber Lanning’s long-running Valley music shop Stinkweeds Record Exchange, 12 West Camelback Road. Here’s a list of their top 10 best-selling albums for the week…
Fibber Magee’s on Friday, August 22nd By Lilia Menconi These ladies are wild. Just like our slideshow. It’s not often we haul our cookies out to the East Valley for some cocktails. But being that Fibber Magee’s has established itself as a staple of the area’s nightlife, we just had…
On a recent Friday night, I’m sitting poolside on the rooftop of the Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix. I’ve got an ice cold Kiltlifter in one hand, a Marlboro in the other, and an earful of local prog rockers The Wizards of Time, who are playing live on the…
Anal Cunt has got to be the only “joke band” that’s still recording and touring 20 years after its tongue-in-cheek (and anywhere else you can imagine) genesis. Since playing its first show in the Newton, Massachusetts home of founder Seth Putnam’s mother, Anal Cunt has released innumerable grindcore records with…
It’s ironic that consistency, longevity, and predictability have come to be the hallmarks of “true punk,” but that’s where we are more than three decades after Johnny Rotten blew his nose all over those things. As Jello Biafra recently sang, there are all these bands singing their “hits from the…
What do you call a pretty good surf band that suddenly drops the hodad act and discovers a gift for raw, catchy rock ‘n’ roll tunes? The Boss Martians, that’s who. Like any good power-pop band, the Seattle group is in touch with its record collections: Elvis Costello, the Who,…
It’s going to be something of a busy weekend for DJ Seduce. The Valley’s mixmaster maestro of bossa nova basslines and jazzy globe-trotting jams starts things off by heading up Afro:Baile’s “Summer Sessions” gig at Club Mardi Gras, 8040 East McDowell Road in Scottsdale, on Friday, August 22. The night…
While surf-punk bands like Agent Orange had punks hitting the beach in the ’80s, psychobilly outfit The Cramps brought a darker, sexier side to surf music, as singer Lux Interior flexed his vocal muscles, all Elvis-on-acid-like, over guitarist Poison Ivy’s oozing, springy rhythms. This 31-minute album is arguably the best…
By Lilia Menconi Check our slideshow for more of this nonsense. We’re not going to make any tired observations about how Mondays suck big-time. Okay, maybe we’ll point out just one: It’s the toughest day of the week but, somehow, it’s the least socially acceptable evening to go out and…
By Benjamin Leatherman This week’s version of “What’s Selling” focuses on the central Phoenix location of Zia Record Exchange, 1940 West Indian School Road. The store’s list of top 10 best-sellers for the week of August 11 to 17 is a pretty eclectic mix, ranging from from hard rock and…
If you walk up to the door of a bar and it has a sign that reads, “Restrooms for customers only,” chances are you’re about to enter a dive bar. At least, that is the case with the Caravan, on 15th Avenue and Camelback Road. It’s a sweltering Thursday afternoon,…
