Needless to say, my blonde roots were showing on the day of my chat with John Wicks from Fitz and The Tantrums. Being a native Texan living in Arizona, where you never set back the clock, is bound to set anyone off eventually when discussion of time zones falls into…
Forming a six-member band without a guitarist is preposterous, but Fitz and the Tantrums make it work. Six is just the right number for the band’s larger-than-life Motown-influenced jams — adding anything else would be overkill. Two vocalists, a saxophone, and a keyboard are just the right mix of tones…
On one side, there are the credentials that mark Daughn Gibson as a country musician — the slightly twanged baritone, the smoky barrooms and long roads that appear in his lyrics, and the years spent working as a trucker before recording his first album. On the other are credentials that…
“Warm” isn’t a word generally applied to Killer Mike or El-P. After all, Run the Jewels — a new album synergizing the veteran rappers — hinges on two MCs who pride themselves on thinking five steps ahead of their opponents and writing punchlines that cut with a butcher’s precision. On…
It’s called the “Good Vibes Summer Tour,” it’s going to feature performances by a band called Rebelution and a guy named Collie Buddz, and Matisyahu’s there. This is a show so perfectly fitted into its niche that it really obviates the need for a preview — either that sounds like…
Even more than 40 years later, no musical period is more influential to today’s rock ‘n’ roll than the ’60s and early ’70s. Young bands on modern Top 20 radio may not be able to cite a single artist from the 1960s, but it’s still there in their influences from…
Every time industrial dance DJs Self.Destrukt and DJ Defense.Mekanizm throw one their monthly ResurrectioN affairs, a few things are guaranteed: The soundtrack will be harsh, the vibe will be debaucherous, and the patrons will be freakishly fun. The latter will be especially true during the Friday, August 2, edition of…
Thursday 1 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Dulce Thursdays with DJ Deuce, & DJ JayOne (hip-hop) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Freshmaker,…
Glasspopcorn’s latest video, “My Circle,” features him and his friends buying soda and eating tacos. They stomp on packets of hot sauces, shoot hoops, and ride bikes through Tempe. It’s filled with the inconvenient images he’s known for: He pets a lizard at one point; at another he raps in…
Musician/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has made a career out of taking chances. His first true band was the San Francisco-based punk outfit The Nuns. Then he joined up with cow-punks Rank & File before forming the country-oriented True Believers with his brothers, eventually hacking out a solo career. His music typically…
It’s been almost three months since Latin-reggae-punk-rock troupe Fayuca dropped its stellar new record, Barrio Sideshow. During that time, the band has spread its sound on the radio airwaves and touring circuit, but now the local boys are gearing up to take over dorm room television sets. Following fellow locals…
Trevvor Riley is presumably a very busy guy. Not very long ago at all, we were talking about Emby Alexander’s new single, “Drag the Long Way Home,” its Riley-directed video and the caveworms therein. Earlier this month, Vial of Sound got its own precision-creepy treatment, for “The Day We Both…
If you’re hoping to look as good at 50 as you do at 20, there are a lot of (ultimately futile) things you can do. You can eat right. You can exercise. You can try to avoid stress and anything else that’s wearing on you, with the help of prayer…
It can’t be easy being the other members of Sublime in 2013. On a cynical — but very real — level, you reached your peak fame and earning power in 1996, at the moment your band’s lead singer died and ensured you wouldn’t reach it again. On an idealistic –…
by Aaron Thompson Hollywood Alley has always been just another bar to me. Since I relocated to the Phoenix area about four months ago, the bar, located in an unassuming strip mall at the Tempe-Mesa border always seemed like a potential suburban gem of hidden filth and rock ‘n’ roll…
Salim Akram talks really, really fast. As the guitarist for Boston’s Bad Rabbits, a five-piece self-proclaimed “post-R&B” act with a reputation for a boisterous live show, Akram has a lot to say about the medley of influences and the band’s unique background, and rightfully so: Many music outlets aren’t quite sure how to categorize them. Currently touring behind their first full-length release, American Love, Bad Rabbits possesses that cross-cultural appeal that places their sound somewhere in the midst of modern-day funk and R&B stylings while retaining the weight of hardcore. It’s not an easy balance to find.
You may never have heard of Bonnie McKee, but you’ve definitely heard her. The singer-songwriter’s songwriting touch has graced everything from tracks by Katy Perry and Ke$ha to Carly Rae Jepsen and Adam Lambert — all who appear in the star-filled music video for her new single, “American Girl.” Not…
Cover songs can be tricky business. Finding one(s) that everyone in a band wants to do and then executing it while attempting to pay proper homage to whoever or whatever reason you wanted to do it in the first place. Doing an entire set of someone else’s music, though –…
Without using a time-turner — and those things are dangerous — it’s impossible to see every show in Phoenix every week. It’s not even possible to see all five shows in this list. But I really don’t think you should resort to time-travel. There’ll be five more must-see shows this…
There are a few reasons you might be looking to climb into a bottle of booze well before it’s five o’clock anywhere. And regardless of the reasoning, there’s a bar in this Valley to meet your needs. We’ve got dive bars options, wine bar options, and even Scottsdale sports bar…
As much as I embrace the label in a jaded attempt to disarm its pathetic sting, “hipster” doesn’t really describe me. I listen to hundreds of musicians, scattered from every genre you can name (except ska, because fuck ska), but I never choose to like a band because they’re obscure…
Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has been all over music news lately. Headlines have ranged from “Corey Taylor: There’s Nothing Worse Than Forced Music” to “Slipknot’s Corey Taylor Robbed of Music Gear, Late Bassists’ Guitars Stolen.” There are things that have come to light this past year that…
