Aaron May, What Are You Listening To?

Aaron MayThe chef owns Over Easy (additional location here), The Lodge, Mabel’s on Main, Iruna and Vitamin T, as well as May’s Counter in Tucson. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? The Grateful Dead channel on Sirius…

NKOTBSB at US Airways Center, 6-30-11

REVIEW BY MELISSA FOSSUM AND DANIEL RAVEN New Kids On the Block and Backstreet Boys have grown up a bit since their heydays on MTV and the music charts, and so have their fans. But that hasn’t stopped the bands from cashing in on nostalgia, or people from buying tickets for…

Former Friends of Young Americans at The Lost Leaf, 6-30-11

 Former Friends of Young Americans, The Tremulants The Lost Leaf Thursday, June 30 There’s something to be said about Arizona’s music scene when you can slip into a local watering hole and find great local bands like The Tremulants and Former Friends of Young Americans just hanging out, playing a…

The Cosmeticators at The Trunk Space, 6-30-11

The Cosmeticators​The Trunk Space Thursday, June 30, 2011​After the loud ‘n’ proud punk rock show at Trunk Space last night, I’m starting to think there’s a new trend of garage rockers writing songs about their pets. As we mentioned in this week’s music feature on Phoenix trio The Cosmeticators, the band has songs…

St. Ranger: “Ohnowoe”

Although they have not produced at a very prolific pace thus far, the members of Phoenix indie pop group St. Ranger are on the verge of unleashing some serious noise.

40 Watt Sun Debuts New Song, “This Alone,” on Brooklyn Vegan

UK doom metal band 40 Watt Sun’s new album, The Inside Room, won’t be released stateside on Metal Blade Records until July 19, but it’s already hotly anticipated by fans of both 40 Watt Sun and their singer Patrick Walker, former front man of Warning.The Inside Room boasts five tracks,…

Phoenix Rockers This Century to Kick Off National Tour in Scottsdale

The Young & Useless Tour may not be so aptly named. While the performers — Austin Gibbs, Carter Hulsey, and headliners This Century — are young, they’re not exactly useless. Locals This Century, in particular, has been generating buzz around their feelgood, melodic indie rock. Alternative Press named the band…

You Me and Apollo: “Coming Home In A Coffin”

Brent Cowles, otherwise known as indie rocker, You Me and Apollo, spent 2010 as a Phoenix resident, cultivating his place in the music community before moving back to Fort Collins, Colorado. Earlier this month, he released Cards with Cheats, a 13 song album available online and has a release party…

The Eight Best Local Records of 2011 (So Far)

July is almost upon us, which means we’re more than halfway through 2011. It’s already been a busy year for local music, with dozens of Valley bands releasing new albums, playing local shows, and heading out on tour. We’ve picked eight of our favorite local albums released so far in…

Underground Cities Tour Kick Off at The Sail Inn, 6-29-11

Underground Cities The Sail Inn Wednesday, June 29 No amount of preparation or wishful thinking guarantees a successful tour, but certain measures will improve a band’s odds. That old adage about “being in a band is like being married” is fitting, since petty arguments about snoring or stink cause more…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our June 30 Issue

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 do members of local band The Comseticators have to say about their song, “Apple”? •…

Courtney Love Allegedly Steals Photographer David LaChapelle’s Car

Right after a rough breakup with her British boyfriend Henry Allsopp, Courtney Love has allegedly stolen photographer David LaChapelle’s car, according to Spinner.Love said she was going to pick up director Brett Ratner so she could bring him to LaChapelle’s exhibition at the Lever House, but she never returned.Ratner has…

Face to Face, & Strung Out @ Nile Theater

Though they never achieved the notoriety enjoyed by some ’90s Cali punk peers, Face to Face’s fans are legion among the punk faithful, particularly skaters. Led by frontman Trever Keith (the quartet’s sole remaining original member), Face to Face’s songs race like nitrous funny cars fueled on slashing guitar hooks…

The Commodores @ Talking Stick Resort

The Commodores are mostly known for their slow jams — tunes like “Sail On,” and “Easy,” featuring former frontman Lionel Richie’s exceptionally smooth voice. But the band also excelled at high-energy funk: “Brick House,” with Clyde Orange on vocals, became one of their biggest hits and still jams hard, even…

Otep @ Marquee Theatre

Most people don’t think of the bass player as being integral to any band, especially when the band is named after the singer. When Otep, the namesake nu-metal group of vocalist Otep Shamaya, lost original bassist Jay “Evil J” McGuire last year, they lost the only remaining original member of…

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult @ Martini Ranch

Year: 1987. Scene: A seedy Chicago bar. Groovie Mann and Buzz McCoy meet and bond over underground horror flicks and degenerate tabloid chronicles of sex, sleaze, and the occult, then plan to create their own “B movie” band. Result: My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. With 13 albums in…

Cinderella @ Marquee Theatre

The year 1986 was memorable for numerous reasons: There was the Challenger space shuttle explosion, the Iran Contra scandal, Hands Across America, and the return of Halley’s Comet, among other things. It was also the year that we saw debut albums from some of hair metal’s biggest acts — which…

The Palace @ FilmBar

Djentrification has always been known for his eclectic taste, as evidenced by his genre-bending sets at 602Tuesdays at the Bikini Lounge, but with his new night, The Palace, at FilmBar, 815 North Second Street, he’s taking things to a whole new level, spinning solely world music. “Man, there’s a lot…

The NKOTBSB Concert Will Incite Nostalgia

There’s comfort in knowing exactly what you’re going to get from a concert. People talk about the first Lollapalooza, when Nine Inch Nails stormed off the stage because the heat fried their electronics, or when the dudes from Wavves were upset with each other for some reason and quit mid-show,…

St. Ranger Pushes Their Progressive Indie Rock Online

Phoenix-based indie rockers St. Ranger don’t have an album out. In fact, the band has released only two songs at this point, the Grizzly Bear-esque “Ohnowoe” and the fidgety, intricate, nearly prog “Shark Week.” So why did national music blog My Old Kentucky Blog feature the band in May, and…