On May 18, classic rockers the Steve Miller Band, Journey, and Tower of Power will join forces for a summer tour. Last week, Miller, along with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain — both original Journey members — participated in a lengthy conference call to talk about all kinds of stuff,…
Chips off the block, The Safes — three brothers from Chicago — credit their dad, a working musician and record collector for laying down a rich musical foundation that inspired them to naturally progress from siblings into a power pop trio. Their new release, Record Heat, is loaded with muscle-y,…
Drop by El Hefe in Scottsdale on any given Sunday afternoon and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a party, and quite the epic one at that. The Saddlebag Trail spot is a bit infamous for its weekly 4-2-10 Sundays affair, which is one the wildest club events in…
The Black Keys announced a nationwide tour in support of their forthcoming album, Turn Blue, and they will stop by Phoenix on November 10 to play the US Airways Center. No word yet on ticket price, but if you pre-order the album through the Black Keys’ website you can get…
If you missed the sold-out shows Dr. Dog played at the Crescent Ballroom in February, you don’t have to wait much longer for another chance to see the Philadelphia band. Dr. Dog is playing a free show at Desert Botanical Gardens on May 15. RSVP here. See also: Dr. Dog’s…
On a sweltering Sunday night in early May, a young-skewing crowd of roughly 50 black-clad hardcore fans packed around the tiny stage in the sweaty basement of the Nile Theater in Mesa. The main attraction of the evening was Georgia screamo band Circle Takes the Square, but this crowd was…
Whether it’s through his digital design work or his post-rock music outfit, A Cloud for Climbing (AC4C), Brock Lefferts has one goal in mind: “organically distorting what is perfect.” In AC4C, Lefferts flies solo, using audio software Ableton Live to manufacture loops and beats for him to play alongside on…
Bandleader Sergio Mendoza was born in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, but crossed the U.S./Mexico border to the American side of the city (in Arizona) when he was 8 years old. He moved north to Tucson at 18. He formed Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta in 2009, banding together a group of…
Summer is only in its infancy and we’re already more than eager for its end. Not only because we won’t be sweating it out in a pizza oven writ large, but also because there are a few big outdoor concerts scheduled to take place, the most prominent of which was…
#477130465 / gettyimages.com Record Store Day has come and gone. By all accounts, it went well and my indie record store geek brethren was elated. Beautiful. See also: 10 Best Record Stores in Metro Phoenix However, as I suggested in my last column, to really appreciate record stores, you can’t…
Michele Chinichian knows a thing or three about throwing a boffo birthday bash. For proof, look no further than the magically delicious affair she threw in honor of her own b-day in January, which overflowed with unicorns, balloons, rainbow-colored party favors, and other playful revelry. Chinichian, who performs as DJ…
Gone (hopefully) are the days when underground rockers like Kathleen Hanna, Exene Cervenka, Kim Deal, and Kim Gordon needed to prove themselves as musicians. It’s no longer about women in rock; it’s just about women making good rock. Oh, and having a damn good time doing it. It’s one of…
Last time MarchFourth Marching Band graced Phoenix was in 2012 at Crescent Ballroom — and it went through hell to get there. The Portland band’s tour bus — carrying a troupe of about 30 performers — broke down just as it rolled into town. Midway through a sweaty show for…
You could say Andrew Jackson Jihad — once an acoustic folk punk duo now a five-piece rock ‘n’ roll machine — is going places. After five studio albums, two tours with Frank Turner (including a stint in Europe), sharing stages with Against Me! and Future of the Left, plus an…
Courtesy Flickr user Casey Hugelfink We all know it, but it’s time to show it. Urban Outfitters is a creative wasteland, a shortsighted cul-de-sac of trends and trash culture bent for capital gain — one large, unthinking slab of cultural masturbation. But, by and large, it’s a beast we feed…
Paul McCartney announced new dates for his Out There tour, and guess what? Phoenix is one of them. The former Beatle will play US Airways Center on August 12. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 5, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased through Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and the box…
It’s going to be a big weekend for DJ McBoy — and a very “electric” one at that. The 21-year-old is scheduled to perform at tonight’s Summer Electric party over at the Arizona Event Center in Mesa, followed by a gig on the local stage during the first day of…
Creatures of habit are often seen as boring, but that isn’t the case with Blue Öyster Cult. The band has made a career out of a particular routine: forging new paths and experimenting with the unknown. Since their self-titled debut album in 1972, the band has sold more than 24…
Dandys rule, okay? They have never not ruled, they still rule, and I suspect they always will. Turning 20 years old, Portland’s premier rock band, the Dandy Warhols, can claim one of its generation’s most eccentric careers, making the quartet one of the last great rock ‘n’ roll acts in…
Plenty of bands profess bizarre origins, but few are quite as violent as Samuel L Cool J. According to the Phoenix-based group, lead vocalist Haendel Balzora and rhythm guitarist Joel Marquard teamed up after assassinating each other’s respective gang leaders, “Bernardo” and “Tony.” Instead of the electric chair, an extremely…
Few people in popular music today are as prolific as Robert Pollard. Pollard is best known as the leader of the influential indie rock band Guided by Voices, a low-fi legend whose albums are densely packed with pocket-size exercises in hooky rock magic, and he’s also released a steady stream…
Summer in the Phoenix Valley doesn’t wait for any official proclamation — it just comes on hard in early May. With that in mind, the Musical Instrument Museum’s summer concert series officially begins May 1. “We get some of the greatest [musicians in the world] here,” MIM music director Lowell…
