It’s been some time since the Pixies have played a gig here in Phoenix. Fortunately for Valley Pixies fans the band’s latest tour will bring them to the Mesa Amphitheater along with Fuck Buttons on September 24th.The band will be celebrating the 21st anniversary of their album Doolittle by…
Floating heads shooting lasers, machete wielding mad men, exploding gingers and Lady Gaga.You’re probably asking yourself what all of these things have in common. If you said, ‘things you see while dropping acid,’ you aren’t that far off. Actually, those scenes are just some of the oddball imagery featured in…
It doesn’t take much to create an internet phenomenon these days.Just ask Paul Vasquez, aka HungryBear9562, who uploaded a video of himself losing his shit at the sight of a double rainbow on YouTube back in January of this year. In the video, Vasquez is so taken back by the…
For a lot of people, the Vans Warped Tour is a mixed bag. Though the idea of putting on an all-day rock music event at Cricket Wireless Pavilion sounds like a good time, there are a lot of different things that can put a damper on people’s good times. The…
On paper having Erykah Badu and Janelle Monáe on the same tour is an interesting pairing. On the one hand you have Badu, the experienced neo-soul songstress who has been making hits since the late ’90s. On the other hand you have Monáe, the up and comer who has managed…
It seems like the ticket to quick success for a band these days is either getting your song on an iPod commercial or on a popular television show. The latter seems to have been the case for Swedish electro-pop outfit Miike Snow. Of course they didn’t just get their song…
The Sail Inn in Tempe seems like a pretty unlikely place to catch a marching band perform. After all, traditionally you would expect to find a marching band at a parade or somewhere where they could, you know, actually march. But there isn’t very much traditional about Portland’s MarchFourth Marching…
After watching the Besnard Lakes hour-long set at the Sail Inn on Friday night I thought to myself, that had the Montreal band been around in the ’70s they may have been one of the biggest bands in the world. I say this for a couple reasons. The most obvious…
There have been quite a few celebrities who have come out against SB 1070 recently. Ricky Martin, Shakira and, of course, Rev. Al Sharpton. The involvement of these people make sense given their ethnic and political backgrounds. How Damian Abraham, a.k.a. Pink Eyes, the frontman of Toronto hardcore outfit Fucked…
A recent trend in the indie music world seems to be bands comprising simple two-person setups who try to make their music as distorted and lo-fi as possible. Though the trend may not be for everyone, it has produced some decent music so far — just look at bands like…
One of the major problems facing the organizers of Valley music festivals is the weather. Residents are used to the heat, but most bands that are familiar with Arizona summers have little interest in playing an outdoor music festival at 2 on a sweltering June afternoon. Not that you can…
It’s going to be a busy week for local music lovers. As we get closer to Coachella we can expect a slew of bands from all over to make a pit stop in The Valley before heading to Indio, CA. We’ve already had performances from day 2 headliners Muse as…
Say what you will about will about Minnesota synth-pop outfit Owl City. None of it seems to bother Owl City vocalist and mastermind Adam Young or his fans. And man does this guy have fans. Most of whom showed up last night at the Marquee Theatre as Owl City played…
It’s hard to believe that the Black Eyed Peas who performed last night at Jobing.com Arena once started out as a little known hip-hop group out of Los Angeles.A lot has changed since the band released their first album Behind the Front back in 1998. The addition of Stacy Ferguson,…
It was difficult to tell who the crowd at the Rhythm Room were more interested in seeing last night, the opener or the headliner. Sure, the Berkeley based indie-pop outfit The Morning Benders had the top billing for the show, but this is Phoenix and the opener was Miniature Tigers.The…
Mike Herrera made a name for himself as the front-man of the Bremerton, WA three-piece punk band MxPx. The band which originally formed in 1993 when the original members of the group – vocalist/bassist Mike Herrera, drummer Yuri Ruley and guitarist Andy Husted – were still in high school. The…
Rocky Votolato had a lot to celebrate last night at the Rhythm Room. To start with, the Seattle singer-songwriter just recently released his sixth album, True Devotion. Votolato’s latest record continues the folksy roots sound that his fans have become accustomed to. In addition to his latest album release, another…
Long before the practice of combining hardcore punk and thrash metal became common place there was The Cro-Mags. The New York hardcore band is often credited with giving birth to the musical genre of “crossover thrash” or “metalcore” (depending on who you’re asking) with the release of their classic debut…
Despite being best known by most as a member of The Raconteurs, Brendan Benson has not given up on his solo career.In 2009 Benson released his fourth LP My Old, Familiar Friend on ATO Records. While most of the songs on the album are about romantic woes you’d never really…
Reviewers are supposed to be objective. By that standard, perhaps I’m not the best person to write about Thursday night’s St. Vincent show at the Rhythm Room. So, before you read on, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll be honest with you: I’ve been a huge fan of Austin-based…
The first thing you notice about the Japanese new wave band Polysics are the glaring similarities to Devo. The most obvious of which are the band’s matching orange jump suits and their straight-bar sunglasses. Of course, the similarities aren’t completely unintentional. Back in 1997, when founding member of Polysics, Hiroyuki…
If I had to guess, I would say that there was one band that was not particularly excited to ring in the New Year. That would be French electro-rockers Phoenix. Not that the band didn’t have a lot to celebrate, but when you have a year like they did you…
