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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Crescent Ballroom was packed to the gills Monday night. A whole lot of mega-fans (and some less rabid admirers) of Canadian indie-pop-rockers New Pornographers gathered to see the band play a hearty set of more than 20 songs. The set mixed tunes from all the band’s offerings from the past…
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…
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…
Copenhagen’s Lower have been together since 2009 and recently joined up with Matador Records, which just unleashed the band’s first full length recording, Seeking Warmer Climes. The four-piece creates edgy punk that is forceful, creating a little pervasive anxiety as its noisy guitars teeter on the edge of explosion while…
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…
The Black Crowes are known to go on hiatus. In 2011, after a couple decades of much success with the Black Crowes, singer Chris Robinson decided to use that particular sabbatical to do something new. He formed the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, and it since has become his primary musical focus…
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…
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…
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…
On May 18, classic rockers the Steve Miller Band, Journey, and Tower of Power will join forces for a summer tour. Last week, Miller, along with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain — both original Journey members — participated in a lengthy conference call to talk about all kinds of stuff,…
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 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…
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…
This time of year you should be well within your rights to bitch slap any music fan who spends the weekend whining about how there’s “nothing going on.” Plenty of live music is flowing all over the damn city, at any given time, and the weather is nice, too –…
