Indie rock kids have it good. Seeing them hang around the local record store or coffee joint, we look on with no small amount of jealousy. Clutching a copy of the latest vinyl score or rifling through obscure black-and-white ‘zines, they seem blissfully unaware of the horrors that rage around…
For years, rumors swirled that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon was intended to serve as a sort of alternate soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz. A number of songs fit certain scenes a little too perfectly for some viewers. Though the idea had made the…
No one has ever accused Marc Norman of being a bad-ass. Maybe of being a dead ringer for Peter Brady or Donny Osmond, but never of acting like the kind of rock ‘n’ roll animal that would throw fear into the hearts of standards-wary TV producers. But the curly coifed…
Most observers regard the onslaught of teenage pop sensations like Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, ‘N SYNC and Christina Aguilera as proof positive of the cyclical nature of rock music. And like the big teen idol boom of the early ’60s, all this smiling and dancing must mean that a…
Late news this week that Phoenix’s preeminent roots venue, the Rhythm Room, will be closing its doors in the next few months. Promoter/co-owner Bob Corritore says he and fellow Rhythm Room boss Kenny Cahill just received the word from leaseholders that they would have to vacate their central Phoenix digs…
In 1994, New Times instituted “Tapes in the Mail,” a regular column inviting local musicians to send in their demos for critical assessment. We were immediately inundated with cassette mailers from every corner of the Valley. This deluge was soon followed by angry letters from people who thought our duties…
If you sense a theme in this week’s music section, it’s unintentional, though not entirely unexpected. As Robert Wilonsky points out in his piece (“Flanagan’s Wake”), the world of major record labels — the established music industry as a whole — is in a state of flux, even decline. That,…
The first thing you notice talking to Chuck Prophet, naturally, is his voice. Not so much the way it sounds — a raspy, unfettered bark — but the attitude it projects. His is the tone of a polite cynic — filled with gallows humor, self-deprecation and a world-weary indifference. The…
This summer’s Musicmaker.com-sponsored twin tour — by a Jimmy Page-led Black Crowes and modfathers The Who (hitting Blockbuster Desert Sky on August 13 and 14, respectively) — is for most observers an uneasy mix of nostalgia and commerce. Certainly neither effort can be regarded as much more than a kind…
The members of local rig-rock trio Flathead are beaming. Guitarist Greg Swanholm and drummer Vince Ramirez grin profusely and chide each other as they hurriedly load equipment into the back of a car parked behind the Bash on Ash in Tempe. Even bassist Kevin Daly, a 20-year veteran of various…
Last month’s closure of Tempe’s Balboa Café was yet another damaging blow to a local music scene suffering from a dearth of venues with progressive booking policies. Over the past year, the club had hosted an array of eclectic shows, ranging from weirdo New Wave legend Jonathan Richman and California…
Some weeks ago, Modified owner and The Half Visconte front man Scott Tennent fired off a fax to Bash & Pop. Along with an announcement of upcoming concert dates for his downtown club, the mild-mannered singer/songwriter also jotted down his group’s summer itinerary. There was none of the usual, “Hey,…
No one can argue with the amazing popularity of rapper Eminem. Still, his meteoric rise has been fraught with as much controversy as success. In his climb to the top of the charts, he’s managed to anger gay and women’s groups, the media, fellow musicians (‘N SYNC, Britney Spears, Christina…
Local rap-metal combo Bionic Jive was all set to play a high-profile showcase at New York’s CBGB on May 29. It was supposed to have been the group’s big break, as the proposed gig would’ve boasted an audience filled with record-label suits and A&R types from nearly a dozen companies…
As Bash & Pop reported last week, members of the Phoenix rap combo Underground Empire and a related side project, The Ten Commandments, were scheduled to perform at a postconcert party in Philadelphia on May 20 hosted by Jay-Z and Da Brat. Sadly, the gig was canceled after one of…
A call or package from local DJ/archivist Johnny Dixon is usually cause for celebration. The noted Arizona musicologist has an encyclopedic knowledge of the state’s rich musical heritage and an ear for the obscure. While Dixon is usually touting the unknown, the most recent project he’s connected with is a…
Tara Hitchcock, host of Channel 3’s Good Morning Arizona, probably had no idea what she was getting into. It was just supposed to be another band doing another in-studio promotion. But the group in question was the Zen Lunatics. Members of the always eccentric power-pop quartet decided to turn their…
Slobberbone is scheduled to perform on Saturday, May 13, at the Balboa Café in Tempe, with the Orphans. Showtime is 9 p.m.
Bless his heart, but Robin Wilson is a strange guy. It’s not just the Gas Giants front man’s manner of speaking — a tone that has the slickness of a used-car salesman and the perpetual chipperness of a TV weatherman — or his conversation — an unrelenting jackhammer of self-promotion…
Like many roots-oriented idioms, the parameters of what is considered “true” reggae music are often dictated by stringent dogma. It’s a sort of musical fascism that frequently ostracizes bands that don’t toe the strict ganja party line. Unfortunately, such narrow dictates usually result in groups that either come off like…
Quarter to five on Sunday afternoon and still in bed. Torn between a desire to catch up on my REM sleep and flicking back and forth from the Lakers’ playoff game and a presentation of The Shining — a Nicholson double bill. So profound was my lethargy that I actually…
Click Here for the Photo Gallery In June 1999 as I began my first week at New Times, my predecessor as music editor brought a large box into my office. “What’s this?” I asked. “Pictures.” “Pictures of what?” “Local music pictures. It’s an archive of our old stuff.” Nearly 25…
