When your band is named “Ninefinger” everyone wants to know why.So, the LA-based band with that handle decided to make a video depicting their lead singer taking one for the team and having his finger chopped off on stage. Some movie-making buddies pitched in to make a video that looked…
Song: Green Day, “21 Guns” Context: Green Day comes to Phoenix tonight. 21 Guns [Green Day] by BIG Papi…
Song: “Porirua Gurls”Context: In the wake of the “Arizona Gurls” video I went searching for the world’s most ridiculous parody of Katy Perry’s song. This one, named for a suburb of New Zealand’s capital and made by a radio station there, takes the cake. The references are totally incomprehensible, and…
Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” was unquestionably the “song of the summer” (ugh) so, really, your state is probably pretty shitty if you can’t scare up at least one parody YouTube video. This one is pretty great. Not, like, “LeBron James Is A Bitch,” great but definitely dead-on with the jokes…
Normally a story/video about Stone Temple Pilots’ singer and noted crackhead Scott Weiland falling off stage wouldn’t grab my attention. That’s not true: Watching him stumble off stage into the camera pit is a little scary but a lot funny. That’s not what grabbed me here, though. It really, really…
Ever wanted to play a freakin’ laser beam? Like, instead of an instrument? A Scottsdale company called Beamz Interactive gives you the chance with a device called the Beamz Player. It’s a cool little gadget: The $199 player is hooked to a computer and speakers and you coax pre-programmed tones…
Song: The Philistines Jr., “The Bus Stop Song” Context: The Philistines Jr., a project from Peter Katis, the producer who makes The National and Interpol sound like they do (or at least how they did at their peaks) has a new record coming out in October — the first in…
Listening to Green Day’s major label debut, Dookie, in 1994, who could have imagined that they’d be a video game in 2010? Not me, certainly. For one, the idea of a video game branded to a rock band was still pretty far-fetched, despite Midway’s Revolution X arcade game, a standard…
The fact that the most onerous components of SB 1070 were blocked by a judge hasn’t done much to dull the rage of angry activists across the country. In the music world, the ink wasn’t yet dry on the judge’s ruling when Zack de la Rocha and his posse of…
Listening to Green Day’s major label debut, Dookie, in 1994, who could have imagined that they’d be a video game in 2010? Not me, certainly. For one, the idea of a video game branded to a rock band was still pretty far-fetched, despite Midway’s Revolution X arcade game, a standard…
Slayer is known for having very dedicated fans. Turns out they’re dedicated enough to issue their own press releases.Hand-written on notebook paper, no less. So, yeah, check out this crazy letter from someone who says he’s Greg Valentino of Pleasant Hills, California. No idea who that is, but the bodybuilder…
Song: Calexico, “Two Silver Trees” Context: Getting excited for the big Artists For Action show this weekend. Two Silver Trees…
From time to time I take the opportunity to abuse the platform entrusted to me to push my personal agenda. In this case it’s the totally brilliant LeBron James diss track from Mike Polk. You’re probably from Arizona so you probably don’t remember Polk’s hilarious “Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video”…
Local rockers Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers tweeted the unsurprising news that the GreenStock has been canceled this afternoon.I’ve been unable to confirm this with organizers — who don’t seem to have voicemail and haven’t answered an e-mail — but there’s little reason to doubt it’s true…
Hanson — the 90s kiddie band known for “MMMBop” — is coming to town. Pretty swell, right? Well, it gets even sweller. Believe it or not, bands are falling all over themselves to win a contest that will allow them to open for the band at their Phoenix show.The apparent…
Song: Gucci Mane ft. Swizz Beatz, “Gucci Time”Context: Just got an advance copy of the new Guc record, The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted. This is the first single. Hands up: It’s Gucci time. Gucci Mane ft. Swizz Beatz “Gucci Time” by Warner Bros. Urban…
“Mesa’s only known ska-rock septet,” Captain Squeegee has a pretty cool video of them recording their new album at Glendale’s totally-weird Pyramix Studios.Looks like they’re having a lot of fun working on Lucidity.The first fruit of their labor, a song called “Your Own Invention” can be downloaded for free here…
If you head over to the MySpace page for Phoeenix sceamo act The Word Alive you’ll see a nifty counter displaying a countdown to the release of the band’s new record, Deceiver, currently at seven days and change.The Fearless-signed band, which celebrates the release with a show at Mesa’s Nile…
Song: Toubab Krewe, “Holy Grail”Context: Hearing that a band combined “indie rock” and “West African music” puts me on high alert. Toubab Krewe manages to do it very well, however. Looking forward to TK2 in September. TBKTrack by Shore Fire…
Heard of GreenStock™? Me either, but the expo, scheduled for September 17-19 — the exact same dates as Arizona Fall Frenzy, as it happens — has a pretty decent selection of acts.They’ve got big local names (Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Gin Blossoms, The Wiley One) and two veteran national…
Song: The Ataris, “San Dimas High School Football Rules” (Live Acoustic)Context: The Ataris play Mesa’s Underground tonight. The Ataris – San Dimas High School Football Rules Live Acoustic by goodtunes…
The Maine are playing a much-hyped show at The Nile Theatre in Mesa next Friday.Actually, though, that’s just the mid-point in a massive tour to promote their Billboard-charting second album Black & White. They team up with Never Shout Never for a tour of small theaters and large clubs starting…
