Les Claypool has always done things, well, his way. Whether with Primus, his main band, or any number of side projects including the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Oysterhead (featuring Phish’s Trey Anastasio, though perhaps Claypool’s most accessible project), or Sausage, Claypool has always looked outside rock conventions for something a…
There’s an urgency to New Madrid. It’s evident by the opening thrust of “Not In Me,” the lead track on the Athens, Georgia, band’s latest effort, magnetkingmagnetqueen. Sporting rapid, airy vocal overlays pushed by a frenetic drumbeat and prog-ish guitar licks, the song makes it clear New Madrid is not…
Classifying Fishbone is about as easy as explaining what makes Phoenix a desert environment. Some things just are what they are. So, while Fishbone is simultaneously labeled a funk punk ska soul alt-rock band, it’s important to look at how Fishbone got to this place. Though the band formed in…
“When I have to go on stage and hold my own with Buddy Guy — it’s frightening,” Carlos Santana, a guitar legend in his own right, exclaimed during an October New Times interview. That says a lot about the kind of guitar player Guy is. Just a hair shy of…
It shouldn’t seem surprising a band with Sunsquabi’s pedigree would come from Boulder, Colorado. Even the band’s name has a kind of stoner mountain vibe to it. Yet, Sunsquabi is not exactly stoner rock, at least not in the sense of bands (Fu Manchu, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, etc.)…
Dale Watson is about as country music as it gets. Dapper in classic western attire, complete with Stetson, big belt buckle, and boots, his shock-white pompadour and rich, deep tenor lend an air of authenticity. Watson is the archetypical country-music artist. There’s a reason he’s often referred to as the “real…
Though it may seem contrary to the notion of becoming a successful band, ignoring trends may be the best way to get discovered. At least, that concept proved successful for The Darkness. Formed in 1999 by brothers Dan and Justin Hawkins, the pair set their sights on the big time…
With more than 30 years of making groundbreaking albums — including the latest, Shockwave Supernova — teaching a legion of future rock superstars (Steve Vai, Metallica’s Kurt Hammett), and supporting the upper echelon rock elite (Mick Jagger, Deep Purple), Joe Satriani should be a household name. Still, the strictly instrumental…
Americana, blues, surf, rock, avant garde, soul-guitarist Bill Frisell has dabbled in it all in his own jazz-infused way. His latest project harkens back to the Golden Age of television and film. When You Wish Upon A Star finds Frisell reclaiming 14 classic soundtracks of his youth, from James Bond…
Myrlin Hepworth is loath to admit it, lest anyone get the wrong idea, but when we called him at his home one recent Tuesday morning, the local rapper, poet, activist, and educator was watching a documentary on the Eagles. Not exactly what one might expect from an aspiring hip-hop artist…
There has always been a bluesy edge to Big Head Todd & The Monsters’ ever-expanding sound. Now, more than 30 years after forming in Boulder, Colorado, the band’s 2014 blues-infused Black Beehive and the recent Live at Red Rocks June 6, 2015, serve as strong affirmation of the band’s roots…
The quiet, almost Americana-ish intro to All Them Witches’ latest album, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, is something of a false lead. Beginning with bassist/vocalist Michael Parks singing as sweetly as any folk troubadour, almost imperceptibly the song builds into a storm of rolling thunder and psychedelic lighting. It is…
Here are our picks for best concerts in Phoenix this week. Browse our comprehensive concert calendar for more options. The Maension – Joe’s Grotto – Monday, January 18 The Maension plays an intriguing combination of ’90s grunge and ’00s nu-metal, filled with slogging, heavy riffs and hard-hitting breakdowns that brings…
For years, Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch have worked as a team writing acclaimed and, at times, harrowing songs bridging the country music world and the back porches of Appalachia. In this context, almost exclusively, Welch has been the lead voice. It is a rare and blessed occasion when Rawlings…
Doll Skin offers up striking parallels to The Runaways. Both bands feature a young, all-female lineup. Both bands play a gritty, hard-charging, punk-ish brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Both bands were “discovered” by a rock ‘n’ roll impresario instrumental in guiding their development. The biggest difference is that when The…
If thoughts of Santa with his sleigh zooming around the world in one night get your heart racing, stand back when the Trans-Siberian Orchestra rolls through. In an extravaganza of lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics, where fist-pumping rock ‘n’ roll and stinging heavy metal collides with an orchestral string section head-on,…
Hawkwind’s Nik Turner has had a career most musicians could only imagine in a dream. Not because of Turner’s success, creating chart-placing albums for the prog legends, but because Turner seriously followed his dreams of musical abandon. In a long and storied career, Turner has perfected the form of space…
Grace Rolland might be best known for her cello work in the folk and bluegrass outfit Run Boy Run. She’s hoping to change that with Rising Sun Daughter. Offering a collection of songs as open as the desert surrounding her native Phoenix, there’s some irony to the fact that it…
Up in Smoke At great personal risk of donning a sort-of seasonal hipster guide, a lot of non-hipster guys are at present stashing their razors for Movember. And in honor of the charitably unshorn, FlimBar is hosting the November Film Series, which celebrates the silver screen’s most memorable cookie dusters…
The last band with pure exuberance and panache to hit the scene and remind everyone what rock and roll was about in the first place—raw edge and rebellion with a don’t give a shit attitude—was The Strokes. Now, The Struts invade the U.S., blending hard rock’s stomp, glam’s over the…
Editor’s note: After this story was written and before it went to press, the Santana concert at Monster Mash festival in Tempe Beach Park was canceled by promoter Lucky Man Concerts. Here’s the piece in its entirety. Carlos Santana is a man at peace with his place in the musical universe. The…
Actor Jeff Daniels is omnipresent right now, appearing in the sci-fi blockbuster The Martian as well as the biopic Steve Jobs. Dumb and Dumber To lingers in some second-run movie houses. When not fielding calls from his agent or conducting interviews about said films, Daniels can be found on stage…
