Metal, like any popular genre of music, is one that spreads itself over many different styles. Everyone and their mother is fully aware of the hair-metal craze that swept across the Sunset Strip in the early 1980s, sparked by Quiet Riot’s breakthrough success. Bands like Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth…
In some ways, Arizona’s first “official unofficial” showcase at South by Southwest last week wasn’t a big deal. Other cities, states, and countries have been showing off at the massive music festival in Austin, Texas, for years. Hell, Canada’s barbecue was so hopping I couldn’t get in even though I…
THURSDAY 26 Axis/Radius: Dirtbitch Fashion Show with DJ Emile (various) Bomberos: DJ Rani “g,” dk.strickler, & guests (house, global soul) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Scandalous Thursday with DJ Juan Rocha (house, electronica) Club Red: The Blunt Club with DJ Shortkut, Tricky T, Pickster Uno, DJ Element, & Emerg…
On a small corner stage at Chopper John’s, Marco Polo’s getting ready to perform with his Mexican psychobilly trio, Curse of the Pink Hearse. Most of the patrons at this biker bar on east Indian School Road in Phoenix are white, blue collar 30-somethings kicking off a late-winter weekend with…
Grindcore, for the uninitiated, is the extreme genre of metal that prizes blast beats (i.e., drumming that mimics both the speed of a machine gun and the impact of percussion grenades); ultra-heavy, lightning-fast guitars that aim to disembowel you with every riff; and scary, demonic slaughterhouse growls. Basically, the kind…
Given the liquid gyrations of their anime styling and the general sexual repression of their Japanese homeland, it just makes sense that a group of Japanese dudes would start a “Japanese action comic punk band” called Peelander-Z. But we hear you say, “Didn’t Peelander-Z form in New York City?” Before…
It sounds strange to say, but the idea of a white dude from the Midwest starting a hip-hop label doesn’t even seem that unique anymore. Ever since Atmosphere turned Rhymesayers Entertainment into an emo-rap empire and Insane Clown Posse built Psychopathic Records into a marketing juggernaut that Gene Simmons would…
Rockabilly is a genre known as much for its flamboyant, ’50s-rooted imagery as it is for its music, so the juxtaposition of rockabilly music and an old-fashioned burlesque show seems like such a natural fit that the only surprise is that nobody thought of it sooner. Big John Bates and…
Being adopted by and revered in a city where you’ve lived for the greater part of a decade isn’t impressive. When that city happens to be New Orleans and you are a white soul, blues, and R&B singer from San Francisco, the feat becomes legendary. Such is life for Eric…
It’s downright scary how much music Jarom Wilcken is planning to unleash at his spooky-sounding nighttime affair Danse Macabre. As his alter ego DJ Vivo Muerto, the 30-year-old owner of anti-fashion label Helter Skelter Clothing will serve up a fiendish orgy of music that includes a slew of goth, industrial,…
Festival season is officially upon us — with Country Thunder and Tempe Music Festival next weekend, and McDowell Mountain Music Fest later in April — and we’ve got one more to add to your calender. Clean Slate Celebration in Glendale April 11 is a benefit for Murray Grey Foundation, which…
Declaring that “special events are drivers of ridership,” Metro Light Rail CEO Rick Simonetta today announced extended hours for the April 3 and 4 Tempe Music Festival. Instead of the last train leaving at 11 p.m., as usual, east- or westbound riders can depart from the 3rd Street and Mill…
For an unprecedented third time since its December launch, the Metro Light Rail will be extending its hours to accommodate those patrons of the Tempe Music Festival (April 3rd & 4th) hoping to catch either night’s later sets. The Tempe Music Fest now joins New Year’s Eve and the NBA…
It wouldn’t be hard to argue that The Bronx are on a steady decline. When the band first played Phoenix, they were at the area’s biggest club-type venue, the Marquee. Then, last year, they played the much smaller Clubhouse. Last night, they were crammed into the tiny (but wonderful) Yucca…
One of the things I love best about Bright Eyes (and yes, I unapologetically love Bright Eyes) is the way the band mingles so many rootsy sounds in songs that end up being totally contemporary. It’s for that reason, and not just Matthew Reveles’ vulnerable, emotive vocals, that I compare…
Jonathan McNamara There will be no more pour at Maloney’s on Campus in Tempe, at least for the foreseeable future. When hundreds of drunken douchebags and frat-boys festive revelers jammed into Maloney’s on Campus for the Saint Patrick’s Day tent party last Tuesday, they probably had little idea that the…
Those wily whippersnappers over at Pitchfork have dubbed yet another indie buzz band with their “artist to watch” label. This time around it is Staten Island rockers Cymbals Eat Guitars, masters of the ancient, time-honored tradition known as the art of “using a sentence as our band name.” All sarcasm…
The folks down at the Lost Leaf have an offer that local punk fans surely can’t refuse. Namely, the downtown Phoenix beer and wine parlor is hosting a rare solo performance tonight by hardcore punk icon Kevin Seconds tonight. And guess what? It’s absotively, posilutely free. The Seven Seconds frontman…
A lot of big indie shows — but not big, big shows — in last week’s concert announcements. Lucero, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are coming to Rythm Room in May, as are Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s. St. Vincent plays Modified on Sunday, May 31, which…
After discovering that MxPx lead singer Mike Herrera was coming to Tempe’s Yucca Tap Room with his rockabilly/country side project Tumbledown, I knew I had to check it out for sheer curiosity alone. I’ve been an MxPx fan for years and have seen the band live on numerous occasions. And…
SxSW Wrap Up Whether you’re trying to put back together the memories you made after being hit by the speeding truck that was this weekend’s SxSW music festival or you’re a local who couldn’t make the trip, we’ve got all the slide shows and articles to catch up on what…
If you are like most people reading about SxSW on every blog out there, it can be a bit overwhelming. But that is nothing compared to how overwhelming it can be to actually be at a festival where 300 bands are playing at every minute (how many stages does Coachella…
