The Used has been in survival mode its entire career — a trait that’s come in handy in the ever-shifting, ever-volatile music industry. Long before the band’s brand of shouty screamo fell out of grace as the de rigueur music genre of disenfranchised (but still MTV) youth, frontman Bert McCracken…
For the pasty-faced, pleather-clad members of the Valley’s goth and industrial scene, 2013 already has been a year of tumult and turmoil. First, longtime venue Sanctum, which hosted freaky-deaky fetishistic adventures during numerous nights like TekNOIR and Black Mass for years, decided to kill off its dance events in late…
Post-hardcore rockers The Used have been put through the wringer more than a couple times during the 12 years they’ve spent together as a band. It’s hard to imagine that even before the time spent addicted to drugs, label shifts, and the on-stage injuries, the members had already experienced homelessness,…
School of Rock’s name is a little deceptive–Jack Black doesn’t hang out at the Tempe bar and legendary guitarists aren’t on hand to teach ASU students how to rock. On Saturday nights, the bar is only “rock” in name, though being located above Fascinations is pretty bangin’ (pun intended). See…
Attention, local concert commandos: Keep the third weekend of September open on your social calendar and set aside enough gas money to get you to and from Florence. That’s because, per recent reports that have surfaced online, there’s supposedly gonna be some sort a “Coachella-like multigenre music festival” taking place…
The times I’ve chatted with Maynard James Keenan, he’s always seemed calm, collected, and to-the-point. He’s a businessman, a vitner, and he’s real busy. Then, just when I’ve imagined him as a normal dude (a fan of Justified, The Walking Dead, and Fringe, by the way) he reminds me that…
Each spring, right before it gets just ridiculous hot in the Valley, local modern rock station KUPD hosts UFest, a gigantic rock/nu-metal/modern rock outdoor festival. Past lineups have featured Three Days Grace, Helmet, Godsmack, and more, setting the bar high for fans of crunchy, shouty rock. Well, the station has…
Conspiracy theories are my comfort food. After all, all a conspiracy is “the action of plotting or conspiring,” and not just about tin-foil hats and Reptillians. When Reagan’s cronies illegally sold weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Scandal, that was a conspiracy. When the CIA sold crack to kids in…
It’s been a hot minute since Portland-based indie rock stalwarts Modest Mouse put a record out (the band’s latest EP, No One’s First and You’re Next came out in freaking 2009). Songwriter Isaac Brock insists new material is coming (but you know, he named his record label Glacial Pace), but…
Tired of “Gangnam Style” yet? Don’t worry — current meme “Harlem Shake,” featuring students, office workers, and your mom getting down to Baauer’s song of the same name — is currently all anyone can talk about. The viral phenomenon has caught on like, uh, a virus, partly because it’s really…
Allow us to bring a heavy hammer to your post-Valentine’s Day romantic bliss: Even if you can get past your partner’s baggage and commit to settling down, the national divorce rate is floating right around 50 percent. The harsh reality is that your brand-new and exciting relationship probably isn’t going…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…
Florida rockers Anberlin have been together for just over a decade, and what a ride it’s been. After starting out small with Tooth & Nail Records and experiencing great success with Blueprints for the Black Market and Never Take Friendship Personal, they soon were playing on the Warped Tour and…
It’s a major feat to create art that facilitates an entire spectrum of fandom. Take, for example, the newest Disney acquisition and the very first hugely popular sci-fi event: the Star Wars franchise. Some elect to dress as Stormtroopers in their wedding photos, but most fans simply have a pedestrian…
The xx @ Rialto Theatre|2/17/13The rivalry between Phoenix and Tucson is well-documented, but I’m not about to talk crap: The Old Pueblo’s Rialto Theatre is a gorgeous, well-organized venue, and it was a perfect place to watch as The xx closed out its current tour. Last night’s show sold out…
Once a week, Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
It took local singer-songwriter Dylan Pratt two years to pen his new album, Beg For Fire, but on the cusp of his record release show, he can look back at that time fondly. Tonight, Pratt will celebrate with a showcase at Crescent Ballroom along with Jon Rauhouse, Some Magical Animal,…
“The blues was like that problem child that you may have had in the family. You was a little bit ashamed to let anybody see him, but you loved him. You just didn’t know how other people would take it.” –B.B. King “Metal confronts what we’d rather ignore. It celebrates…
The weekend is over, and it’s back to the grind. You sit there despondent at your desk, visions of a wild weekend replaying your head, scenes from A Good Day to Die Hard — which you caught a sick matinee showing of — bouncing around your cranium. How can you…
Phoenix New Times and KUKQ have partnered to resurrect a Phoenix festival tradition, That Damn Show. On Saturday, April 20, at Mesa Ampitheatre, Bad Religion, AWOLNATION, Against Me! (Editor’s Note: After this blog was published, Against Me! canceled its upcoming performance at That Damn Show), The Faint, Face to Face,…
When Swedish hard rock Norrsken disbanded in 2000, its principles both embarked on their own doom rock journeys: Guitarist Magnus Pelander formed Witchcraft, while vocalist Joakim Nilsson formed Graveyard. Both outfits maintained Norrsken’s dedication to Sabbath-indebted doom metal, but as time has gone on, both bands — especially Graveyard –…
No doubt the landscape of modern music has become considerably beardier over the last few years. When it comes to indie and rock these days, if you don’t have a beard, you’re not authentic. (Lumineers, it’s the only thing standing in your way!) When you’re cultivating your own face mitten…
