It’s a big weekend for landmark local shows in the Valley. At least three different music venues are celebrating birthdays — including The Rebel Lounge, Valley Bar, and Scottsdale’s Chop and Wok — as is indie band Japhy’s Descent. There are plenty of other notable shows also happening, of course…
Did y’all hear any rumors this week about a potential Rage Against the Machine reunion tour happening this summer? Probably so, considering it was a major topic of discussion after the mysterious-looking website ProphetsofRage.com was endorsed by a RATM-approved Twitter account on Tuesday, May 17. The relatively spartan-looking site, which…
Sometimes, it’s the simple ideas that work out the best. For their debut music video for “Speak Now,” pop punk trio Genre turned themselves into video game heroes who take on two of Arizona’s greatest villains — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Governor Doug Ducey. They also bring many…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. Foresteater – “Very Friendly People” At the start of the year Foresteater dropped its debut single “High and Bright” with a…
Japhy’s Descent became a band in the summer of 2011, and that’s right around the same time I became a music writer, so in a sense we, or at least our careers in Phoenix, have grown up side by side. Since then, I’ve written about them. Booked them. Watched them…
I was running a little late, so when I walked into The Lost Leaf to meet up with the members of Goth Brooks, the band had already arrived before me. It didn’t take me very long to recognize them. Seated at a table in the back corner of the bar…
As its name portends, Dirty Disco is what you’d call a messy experience. It’s sort of expected, given that the annual electronic dance music event takes place in the middle of Rawhide’s outdoor rodeo arena and features thousands stomping and strutting around in the dirt while DJs drop high-energy and…
There have been moments when Frightened Rabbit drummer Grant Hutchinson was scared for his brother. The words that vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchinson wrote for the band’s second album, The Midnight Organ Fight, shocked him. “It was terrifying to listen to some of those lyrics,” Grant Hutchinson recalls in his…
There are times when journalistic integrity and putting one’s self well outside of the story are simply too difficult to entertain, let alone do. When the opportunity to speak with drummer Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch about the band’s upcoming Phoenix show popped up, I met it with, quite honestly, a…
Say what you want about FORM Arcosanti (and our own Troy Farah has already said plenty), but you must admit it’s different. It’s a music festival that this year booked a big-name headliner, Skrillex, and brought roughly 30 more bands, singers, and DJs to Arcosanti, the Paolo Soleri-designed arcology about 70…
The term “music industry” is an oxymoron if you understand that it’s comprised of suits unsustainably leeching off the creative people behind new sounds. Attempts to monetize self-expression eventually implode when enough money is thrown around, so the “industry” has to constantly replenish itself with what’s true, authentic and ripe…
Maybe three weeks isn’t long enough to really process the loss of a legend like Prince, because it is still more than a little unbelievable that at 57 he is now an artist formerly known as alive. But even in the face of such a tragic loss, the band must…
Why did I come to FORM at Arcosanti? Was I looking for a good time? Was I looking for something new and different? Or maybe even enlightening or inside? I’m still not sure. But there’s something about music, the desert and seclusion that calls the soul, and lures weary eyes…
Looking for a memorable concert to see over the next few nights? Consider any of the following eight options making up our list of the best shows taking place this week, which include such acts and artists as Filter, Orgy, Atreyu, Titus Andronicus, and Wild Nothing. There’s even a Prince…
If hip-hop or heavy-duty death metal happen to be your bag, this weekend offers you a few different opportunities to indulge your love of said genres. Fans of the former, for example, can check out Vince Staples’ gig at the Crescent tonight, Young Thug’s show on Saturday at the Marquee…
James Goshow and Jacob Rendel look like they could use a power up right about now. It’s late Wednesday night and the co-owners of Phoenix’s newest arcade bar Bonus Round have just finished wrapping up a “friends and family” preview night of their spot and are visibly exhausted. In fact,…
The first time I remember encountering Ryan Avery was at a birthday party he threw for Andy Kaufman at The Trunk Space a few years back. All the show was, was Avery dressed as Kaufman pressing play on a record player, but it was great. He organized it so there…
Last May, I was one of the lucky few able to attend FORM Arcosanti, an electronic music festival in the “experimental” hamlet known as Arcosanti, located in Yavapai County a few clicks north of Phoenix. The festival was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life, and the site…
This Sunday, Radiohead released their long-awaited ninth album A Moon Shaped Pool, and die-hard fans have been quick to point out how many of its songs we’ve heard before: “Identikit” and “Ful Stop” were regularly performed on their King of Limbs tour in 2012, while “Present Tense” dates back to…
It shouldn’t seem surprising a band with Sunsquabi’s pedigree would come from Boulder, Colorado. Even the band’s name has a kind of stoner mountain vibe to it. Yet, Sunsquabi is not exactly stoner rock, at least not in the sense of bands (Fu Manchu, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, etc.)…
We don’t normally post about concert ticket prices, but this is too good a deal to pass up. From May 13 to May 20, Live Nation is offering $20 tickets to outdoor concerts. That means you can get a lawn seat at Ak-Chin Pavilion for $20 instead of the usual…
New Times’ monthly live reading series Bar Flies is back, this time, with a musical twist. The event happens underground and downtown at Valley Bar, but on occasion it rises above street level. This month is one of those times. The May 27 installment of the wordy shindig is headed…
