Email Author Brendan Joel Kelley

Awards

• 2006 - Arizona Press Club Awards, published June 16, 2005

  "High Voltage"

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2006 Stories by Brendan Joel Kelley

• Ms. Manager

  published December 21, 2006

  "I'm one of the top five hated people in the music industry," says Nancy Stevens, the manager of local bands Violet Wild and Authority Zero and... More >>

• Sue Me, Sue You

  published December 14, 2006

  I've never been the litigating type. Every time I've needed to hire an attorney, it's been of the criminal defense sort. I'm not in a band,... More >>

• Noise in the 'Hood

  published December 7, 2006

  My neighborhood in Tempe is a pretty noisy place. The guys next door have a band practicing inside their house with the windows open every few... More >>

• New and Improv'd

  published November 23, 2006

  Walk into Trax on a Monday night, as I did recently to grab a beer, and you'll run into a strange amalgamation of sonic styles emanating from the... More >>

• Mountain Music

  published November 9, 2006

  "Know any banjo jokes?" my roommate asks me when I tell him I'm going to see local bluegrass purveyors The Breadwinners on a recent Tuesday night.... More >>

• Legacy of Brutality

  published November 2, 2006

  I'm a bit unnerved when I meet up with North Side Kings singer/guitarist Danny Marianino to drink beer and discuss the band's new record,... More >>

• Pride vs. Power

  published October 19, 2006

  In the last week of September, an odd thing happened: A Phoenix rap group managed to light up controversy all over the nation via an article that... More >>

• Various Artists

  published October 19, 2006

  A hefty chunk of Phoenix's musical glory days is contained on these two discs, collections of soul and funk singles from the '60s and early '70s... More >>

• Radar Love

  published October 12, 2006

  Just a few Fridays ago, in the broad lobby of U.S. Airways Center, I, along with another hundred or so other people, got to witness the latest... More >>

• Back Country

  published September 28, 2006

  Spend one of your Sunday nights, as I did recently, at the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, and you're likely to see what will at first seem like an... More >>

• Indie Beginning

  published September 21, 2006

  Back in the '90s, when I was a young adult, I desperately wanted to start a small record label. It was the age of awesome and inspirational labels... More >>

• In Bloom

  published September 14, 2006

  Skin shows aren't usually on my agenda for quiet Thursday nights, so I'm a bit startled to find myself watching a band with the drummer banging... More >>

• Say Anything

  published September 7, 2006

  When asked why it's taken old-school hardcore/punk band Bring Your Own Weapon, which has been around since 2002, so damn long to finally release a... More >>

• The Mars Volta

  published September 7, 2006

  Gnawing your way through the latest Mars Volta record is always something of a chore at first. The band, anchored by instrumentalist/composer Omar... More >>

• Rappin' Radical

  published August 31, 2006

  “They killed Malcolm, Martin, Guevara, Lennon, Marley, Pac, Biggie, Tookie, Jam Master Jay, John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Fred Hampton,... More >>

• Funky Town

  published August 24, 2006

  Phoenix is a tough town for bands — the city doesn't have a sound of its own (please don't count Gin Blossoms-style jangle rock), and you can... More >>

• Authority Solo

  published August 17, 2006

  It's not a new phenomenon, but lately the perceptions of what punk rock is and is not have irritated the hell out of me. Do three chords, a... More >>

• Covert Care

  published August 3, 2006

  I'm sitting in a Tempe Starbucks with Abby and Mark Covert, the former owners of defunct rock club Nita's Hideaway, discussing Mark's need for a... More >>

• The Heart of the Heartless

  published July 27, 2006

  I don't know about you, but I've always detested that heart-pentagram image that silly H.I.M. band uses as its logo. Hearts and Satan? I don't get... More >>

• Country Inroads

  published July 20, 2006

  Sometimes, with music, you're lucky enough to be present to watch the first time that a collaboration among artists becomes greater than the sum... More >>

• Fools Gold

  published July 6, 2006

  To be completely blunt about it, ubiquity isn't really an asset when it comes to playing around town. It's good to have your name out there, to be... More >>

• Elmo's World

  published June 29, 2006

  What's in a name? Depends, when your name is Elmo Kirkwood. At 22, he's the singer and guitarist for locals Broken Robot. But his musical legacy... More >>

• Blunt Club

  published June 29, 2006

  It's always good to see our local needle-sharers hitting the road with outta-town acts, but it's even cooler when they breeze into town and get a... More >>

• State of the Reunion

  published June 22, 2006

  Few things sicken me as much as band-reunions-for-cash, whether it's the Sex Pistols' appropriately named Filthy Lucre tour a few years... More >>

• Batucada Label Launch

  published June 22, 2006

  To say that DJs Senbad and Pete "Supermix" Salaz have been around the block in the 'Nix is a freakin' understatement. Salaz just celebrated his... More >>