3 Cool Things to Do This Week in Metro Phoenix

Bar Flies If you spend time in downtown Phoenix even just occasionally and haven’t heard of Bar Flies, we suggest you take a second to reevaluate your life choices and then pay attention. Bar Flies is New Times’ monthly reading series where you’ll hear stories about everything from a lesbian’s…

Cheap Trick Checks All The Boxes at Talking Stick Resort

While we sometimes have to wait longingly for bands we love to visit for a live performance, the perpetually touring rock icons Cheap Trick seem to hit the Phoenix area on the annual. It’s always interesting to see where they land. A few years ago, it was a makeshift room…

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Ready for More Phoenix Pie

It has been less than a year since the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion obliterated the Crescent Ballroom with their raucous road show, blasting an eager crowd with its high-energy hybrid of punk-ass blues, noise, soul, garage, and straight ahead punch-you-in-the-face rock ’n’ roll. If you were there, you’ll be back…

New Rhythm Room Mural Features Blues Greats in Action

Just days since the world suffered the tremendous loss of music icon B.B. King, the Rhythm Room’s recent addition of a mural featuring the blues great, along with six other legends of the genre, feels especially poignant and significant. The venue has been a go-to spot for live roots and…

Andrew W.K., Unwritten Law – Viva PHX – 3/14/15

With so many good bands taking the stages at nearly 20 venues throughout downtown at Saturday night’s Viva PHX event, I thought I’d have a hard time staying in one place for the whole night, ogling texts and Facebook posts about what I was missing elsewhere. However, once I got…

Scott H. Biram’s Tunes Will Kick Your Ass

Mr. Scott H. Biram is nothing short of a total and complete badass mofo. First of all, he is thee one man in his namesake one-man band, and his many quality releases over the past 14 years have proved he doesn’t need anyone else to help him get the job…

Gilbert Band Lydia Returns for Pressroom Concert

Vocalist and guitarist Leighton Antelman’s musical career started early, when he and some friends from Gilbert’s Greenfield Junior High School got together and formed a band called Rolo 15. That band went through some changes, and ultimately it was Antelman and guitarist Steve McGraw who stayed together to create music,…

Psychedelic Furs – Talking Stick – 11/8/14

Saturday night’s Psychedelic Furs and Lemonheads show at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale could have done without one thing — chairs. I’m sure that opinion wasn’t shared by everyone, as plenty of butts seemed to keep those bad boys warm all night long, and when my party stood at times…

Is There Anything Better Than a Sad Clown Singing Pop Songs?

Now’s the chance to use that old-fashioned monogrammed hanky that’s burning a hole in your dresser drawer or just grab a cheap box of tissues – – whatever suits you best for sopping up tears mixed of both laughter and desolation – – and spend the evening with Puddles Pity…

The New Pornographers Are Masters of Joyous Indie-Pop

It hardly seems that 14 years have passed since Canada’s New Pornographers dropped their debut full-length, Mass Romantic, upon a whole lot of virgin ears. To say that the indie power-pop band’s initial offering was well-received is an understatement. Critics went cuckoo for it, and the recording found its way…

Kim Shattuck on How Getting Fired by the Pixies Named Her Album

The Muffs (Kim Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald) have been writing and performing spirited, clever and fierce pop-punk tunes since they formed in the very early 1990s. Their first full-length release in 10 years, Whoop Dee Doo, hit the streets this week and both fans and critics are eating…

Guided by Voices: Booze, Leg Kicks, and Chemistry

One of the more prolific bands in rock history (21 albums and counting), Guided by Voices has managed not only to have a hearty discography but also the ability to consistently write quality songs, keeping rabid fans addicted while getting new admirers to jump aboard the band’s eclectic ark. The…

Winery Dogs @ Marquee Theatre

Though nowadays they sport hairdos much shorter and significantly less teased than when they rose to fame in their respective bands back in the ’80s, the members of this rock ‘n’ roll supergroup obviously remain committed to delivering big, guitar-driven, drum solo-y arena rock tunes that pay as much tribute…

Eagulls @ Crescent Ballroom

Not the first post-punk band to emerge from Leeds, England, and most assuredly not the last, Eagulls made its U.S. television debut in January on the Late Show with David Letterman. Not a surprising coup for a band with such a big buzz, but one made more exciting for the…

Chicago Power Pop Trio The Safes Provide Anthemic Ass-Shakers

Chips off the block, The Safes — three brothers from Chicago — credit their dad, a working musician and record collector for laying down a rich musical foundation that inspired them to naturally progress from siblings into a power pop trio. Their new release, Record Heat, is loaded with muscle-y,…

Goblin – Marquee Theatre – 5/1/2014

Goblin Marquee Theater 5/1/2014 A couple hundred — give or take a few dozen — folks gathered Thursday night at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre to check out Italy’s progressive rock legends, Goblin, whose notoriety skyrocketed via their soundtrack music for classic Italian horror flicks like Dario Argento’s Suspiria and his cut…

Goblin @ Marquee Theatre

Prog-rock diehards and horror movie fanatics had reason to geek out when 2013 saw 40-year-old Italian band Goblin embark on its first-ever North American tour. In 2014, Goblin has decided to come back for more, this time in a round of West Coast shows. The band formed in the early…