Whitehorse @ Crescent Ballroom|11/27/12I don’t know any Whitehorse songs, but then again, I don’t know any Whitehorse songs. Allow me to explain. Over the summer, my editor assigned me to cover a sludge metal band from Melbourne, Australia called Whitehorse. As the band name isn’t very creative, it is shared…
Getting drunk with Santa Claus would be pretty awesome when you think about it. St. Nick is already pretty generous with gifts if you’ve been nice, but just imagine what he would get you when you’ve been nice and kept the IPAs flowing? We can’t guarantee you that World of…
Each Monday, Up on the Sun starts its week with a missive from cartoonist Brad Dwyer. Dwyer earned attention with his self-published collections, Epic Tales of the Mundane, and his Record Heat series for UOTS parallels the themes of Epic Tales…: melancholy, punk rock, geekery, and a bruised-and-battered optimism, all…
What is Bon Jovi up to these days? The New Jersey-based band is about to partake in the 12-12-12 fundraiser benefit show to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy alongside Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Eddie Vedder, and Dave Grohl. Jon himself worked…
Karl Wallinger has been conspicuously absent from the music scene over the past decade — and with good reason. The former Waterboy and World Party founder suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2001 that left him unable to walk and talk, let alone sing and play any of the many…
By Alex Jarson Okay, we know you just love the Velvet Underground–you’re sporting the latest fall calendar Urban Outfitters top, your mom took you to get the Warhol Banana tattooed on your bicep, and you think they’re the greatest, most provocative band to have ever graced this earth. You even…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? 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 help you stop…
Phoenix-by-way-of-Tucson rapper Jaron Ikner is really over the whole, “me first mentality” in hip-hop culture. Long gone are the days of quality congregations of rappers like that of 90’s supercrew Wu-Tang Clan, but it’s something the Black One wants to change. Starting first with his latest record, The Rise, which…
Short-circuited spazz pop screamers Math the Band have been grinding out and streaking across the country for nearly a decade, spreading a tapestry of peaked soundboard levels and extreme sincerity. Guitarist, singer, and composer Kevin Steinhauser teamed up with his girlfriend Justine Mainville in 2007 to solidify the current line-up,…
Melodic Minnesota punks Off With Their Heads are a busy bunch. The band is currently making the rounds in Canada and down the U.S. west coast after some border crossing issues. “I used to love the marathon touring,” says singer and guitarist Ryan Young, “but I’m a little more into…
Roger Gearhart has plenty of memories of many of the country music greats who performed at the renowned local country joint Graham Central Station over the decades. “George Straight performed at Graham’s once, so did Johnny Cash, Hank Jr., and also Willie Nelson,” says Gearhart, the president of Graham Brothers…
My original aim in this blog was to document what kind of non-Rush shirts were worn by Rush fans at the band’s concert Sunday night. However, the results were fundamentally uninteresting. Kiss, Iron Maiden on the old guard, and on younger fans, modern proggy acts like Primus and Tool. There…
Rush @ US Airways Center|11/25/12″We’ve got 6,000 songs to do, so let’s get with it.” Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee might have been joking, but something about his hyperbolic statement, made early in last night’s nearly three-hour set by the legendary prog rock band rang completely true. Most 44-year-old bands are…
Guns N’ Roses @ Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas|11/23/12Let’s face it: The original Guns N’ Roses lineup is never, ever, ever getting back together. It was once again confirmed when lead singer Axl Rose declined induction to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. While the glory…
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…
The holiday season always calls for some self-reflection, no matter if you’re a Nordic Satanic metaller keeping track of virgin sacrifices, or Taylor Swift rolling in gold coins Duck Tales-style from sales of her new CD — oh yeah, did you know if you call Papa John’s to order pizza,…
Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…
The Faint @ Crescent Ballroom| 11/23/12Dance rock favorites The Faint returned to Phoenix last night after a hiatus, armed with new songs, a Sonic Youth cover, and the band’s enduring synth-punk classic, Danse Macabre, in its entirety. Signs in the lounge warned about the band’s “heavy strobe lighting,” and in…
As a whole, DJs have a tendency to be rather boisterous, rowdy and blowhardy lot, particularly when it comes to self-promotion. Not so with local DJ Rob Kwik. Truth be told, he’s a fairly laidback and chill cat who rather Zen and tends to let his music do the talking…
Garrit Ross The DJ invites you to the Electric Playlist Launch Party on Saturday, November 24 from 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. at the 5th Street Bar on Mill Avenue. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station…
Curious what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
Look, you can keep the emotive rants and daddy-issue screeds, because at its best, metal’s always about doomsday. This is the year the Mayan calendar ends, making the title of Massachusetts metal band Shadows Fall’s seventh record, Fire from the Sky, seem not so coincidental. “These days, the world seems…
