See also: Peel Me Off This Velcro Seat: 15 Songs About Being Bored Hope you had productive May. Today is the last day the official month of masturbation. Who comes up with that stuff, anyway? We hope you gave yourself some lovin’ this month, and we encourage you to continue…
Gun Outfit and Broken Water Meat Market Garment Factory Wednesday, May 30 I will declare, without the slightest inkling of doubt or hesitance, that Olympia, Washington has the best independent music scene in the country right now. The major hipster metropoli (Brooklyn, San Francisco, Austin) all have loads of recognized…
The Smashing Pumpkins have had a checkered past swirling with drug addiction, depression, lineup changes, and death. Yet the band has soldiered on — remarkably, the band is set to release its seventh album, Oceania, on June 19. Billy Corgan is the only remaining member in a band that oscillated…
See also: John Prine and Loudon Wainwright III at The Orpheum Theatre, 11/19/11 See also: Loudon Wainwright III on 40 Odd Years, Rufus, Martha, and Emotionally Flashing The Who’s Pete Townshend may have famously penned the line “I hope I die before I get old,” but in many ways, it…
See also: Meet The Devil’s Daughters, Phoenix’s New Sultry Rockabilly Sirens The Devil’s Daughters became the talk of the rockabilly town last week when we introduced the Valley to their smokin’-hot sound and cool-cat style. As promised, the lovely ladies released their first music video over the weekend. The slick…
Valley artist Drew Alexander, who goes by the moniker Square Eyes, knows you don’t need a major label to produce high-quality work.The local singer-songwriter and producer, whom we profile in this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times, is no longer signed to Geffen Records, but judging by the slick clip of…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are sultry rockabilly sirens The Devil’s Daughters up to? What are our 10 favorite vintage…
What does true belief sound like? Something like Fred Cole’s guitar, I reckon, or his busted voice, backed by the thumping bass lines of his wife, Toody. Both in their 60s, they’ve rumbled along the back roads of punk rock, garage, and country music for nearly 40 years, most notably…
Though it seems most of the indie bands of the ’80s disappeared for a while (perhaps waiting for Coachella to offer them a stack of cash to reunite), plenty of rock acts — especially those working during the big hair/power-ballad-as-the-second-single era — have stuck around, playing smaller venues, cruise ships,…
It’s high praise for a band to get compared to ’80s pop punks Descendents, and fellow Los Angeles County melodic-punk vets Toys That Kill share a similar backstory. Todd Congelliere previously fronted F.Y.P., a hardcore band with a rotating lineup. F.Y.P. followed a strategy employed by Descendents: changing the band’s…
It was a year of landmarks when rock en español pioneers Caifanes released their self-titled debut. The Washington Redskins were crowned Super Bowl champions, then-presidential candidate George Bush made “read my lips” a catchphrase, and the hottest woman on the planet was a cartoon character named Jessica Rabbit. That year,…
About the worst thing that can occur when a band leader decides to undertake a solo tour is unthinkingly defaulting into the dreaded singer-songwriter mode. Let’s see: acoustic guitar, stool, and microphone. In a word: boring. Sure, there are a few examples of doing it right. Think Eddie Vedder with…
For some local bands, making it to weekly rehearsals and playing a show a month is a difficult task. For A Life of Science, full-length albums, comic books, and fanboy convention meet-and-greets are all in a day’s work. And now the electronic rock band is embarking on its biggest endeavor…
Drew Alexander thought he had it made. At only 19, the local electronic-tinged pop singer/songwriter and keyboardist, fresh out of high school, had secured a major-label record deal with Geffen Records. The Los Angeles suits snatched him up after hearing three tracks and seeing a few pictures of his tousled…
Fridays used to be one of the pimpest nights of the week at Central Avenue danceteria DWNTWN, even dating back its days as Crowbar more than a decade ago. The crowds were huge, the DJs were top-notch, and the beats were hot. Then proprietors pulled the plug on Fridays, preferring…
Thursday 31 16th Street Bar & Grill: Kickback Thursdays with DJ Cedric Ceballos (hip-hop, classics, neo-soul, reggae, R&B, Top 40, old school) Azucar Cuban Lounge: Latin Night with DJ Los & DJ Yoshi (cumbia, reggaeton, bachata, rock en Español, old school, funk) Bar Smith: Double Vision Thursday with DJ Kyko,…
The year 1977 had a slew of watershed moments for both science fiction and pop culture as a whole. In theatres across the country, George Lucas’ bombastic space opera flick Star Wars was blowing up like the Death Star and changing the cinematic landscape. Every child who was lucky enough…
By Chris Kornelis Sasquatch! went down this past weekend in George, Washington, and our good friends at Seattle Weekly’s Reverb blog were on hand to take it all in. Test your knowledge of the 2012 edition of the festival in this multiple-choice trivia test. For clues, check out Seattle Weekly’s…
See also: We Hate Los Angeles A couple of weeks ago we showed Valley hockey fans some support with a “We Hate Los Angeles” themed blog post as the Coyotes prepared to face off against the L.A. Kings for the NHL Western Conference championship. It was a chance to not…
See also: Phoenix Artist Makes Smiths Comic, And You Can Help See also: Unite and Take Over 2: More Stories Inspired By the Songs of The Smiths Shawn Demumbrum of SpazDog Comics likes comics. And he likes music. While the two are hardly exclusive, it’s hard to think of someone…
Metric, who sound like a poppier, gentler version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, are dropping a new album, Synthetica, on June 12. They’ll be hitting up the Marquee Theatre in support of the record, but it’s likely that they’ll perform old hits such as “Help I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy” as…
San Pedro punkers Toys That Kill have been going strong since 1999, and they released their fourth album, Fambly 42 , earlier this month. The band maintained an impressive clip, releasing an album every few years, but there was a six-year wait this time around. That sort of thing happens…
