Three years ago, Prince’s relationship status with the Internet could best be described as “It’s complicated.” “The Internet’s completely over,” he toldThe Daily Mirror, the UK newspaper which give away copies of his 20Ten album. (No, I haven’t heard it, either.) “I don’t see why I should give my new…
When someone tells you that life can change in an instant, chances are they’re trying to sell you typhoon insurance. But one particular life-changing instant has lasted for nine years and counting. It’s the second in June 2004, with a video camera rolling, in which Glenn Danzig murmured, “Fuck you,…
Guitarists and singers get more than all their share of worship. People even give the drummer some from time to time–if they’re generous they’ll even let him solo interminably. But for whatever reasons no one ever coined the phrase “bass hero,” a handle that suited Arizona bassist Kevin Lee Pate…
Early last week, Kevin Pate — a valued member of the Phoenix music community — was fighting for his life in a hospital in Yuma, where he was serving a six-year jail sentence for DUI and violating parole. Misinformation was spreading across online social networks that he’d passed away, but,…
On Monday night, Kevin Pate — a valued member of the Phoenix music community — was fighting for his life in a hospital in Yuma, where he was serving a four-year jail sentence for DUI and violating parole. Misinformation was spreading across online social networks that he’d passed on, but…
The Who @ Jobing.com Arena|2/6/13If anything stoked the fears that this Who go-round was going to be another case of living legends living off their legends and treading the floorboards only to show off their diminished firepower, it might have been this announcement, which went up on the big screens…
Besides being Black History Month, did you also know February as its much lesser known monthly monicker Heartworm Awareness Month? National Pet Dental Health Awareness Month? Termite Awareness Month? Sinus Pain Awareness Month? That last one was moved up from March, presumably because we needed those three less days to…
Among all the reigning veteran British rock bands, The Who is the world champ of releasing greatest hits compilations. These days you can buy the studio version of “My Generation” on 12 officially sanctioned best-of-The Who albums and live versions across 10 concert albums. Yet there are some songs even…
You heard right! The Osmond Brothers, currently consisting of Jay, Jimmy, and Merrill, who sang the lead on all the Osmond hits, from “Yo-You” to “One Bad Apple” to “Down by the Lazy River” and, yes — wait for it — “Crazy Horses,” will be performing a benefit concert Saturday,…
In this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times, writer and musician Serene Dominic details the reality TV-style site TheRecordingArtist.com, which features bands recording tracks in realtime. Here, he dives into the studio, and journals the process for Up on the Sun. I will admit to being somewhat skeptical about submitting…
Oh, foolish, foolish record industry! You could’ve saved yourself once — maybe twice over — if only you had you listened to forward-thinkers like Otto D’Agnolo. In 2005, the producer/owner of Chaton Recording Studios wrote a slim volume, The Music Business Is Burning Down, Thank God, in which he foreshadowed…
Editor’s Note: It’s with heavy hearts that Up on the Sun reports that Mark Erickson, local songwriter and musician known for his roles in Colorstore, Gospel Claws, Sweetbleeders, and Roar, has passed away. Longtime Phoenix New Times music writer Serene Dominic brings us this note of remembrance. Our condolences are…
“You know, I’m no different from everybody else, I start each day and end each night…” So spoke David Cassidy during a break in the Partridge Family’s second hit single “Doesn’t Somebody Want to be Wanted.” But he is different. Different from you, who’s never appeared working alongside Gary Busey…
The idea of Los Angeles and Phoenix performers uniting for a split LP of collaborative love may sound pleasant, but the results are hardly harmonious. Noise bands saddle up alongside experimental synth pop, and interpreters of video-game rock jam alongside glum folkies. There’s not one smooth transition here, but that’s…
American Artifact (2009) Directed by Merle Becker FilmBar Monday, July 30, 2012 See also: 10 Awesome Concert Posters at SXSW’s Flatstock 33 In recent years there have been a slew of rockumentaries about long gone golden eras, from the disappearance of the mom and pop record store thanks to the…
See also: Kongos are Huge in South Africa. Is Phoenix Next? See also: The Serene Dominic Show: Kongos Tear it Up Back and forth banter that didn’t find its way in this week’s New Times article on Kongos finds its way to you now, courtesy of Up On the Sun…
See also: Kongos Are Huge in South Africa. Is Phoenix Next? In this week’s issue of New Times we catch up with the brothers Kongos, a band so huge in South Africa they’ve graced the pages of that nation’s Rolling Stone. Could the States be next, swept up in a…
Don’t worry, Arizona hipsters: There still is time to get behind Kongos. I know how you fickle fans operate. You drop a band and put your faith in someone more obscure the minute a band you formerly championed begins headlining shows and making money, with thousands of fans shouting out…
See also: Eclecticism is The Elephant in the Room by Banana Gun When I sat down over rounds of Stella Artois to talk about the new Banana Gun album The Elephant In the Room, with Kevin Loyd, Kyle Scarborough, Ian Breslin, Nic Dehaan, and Ross Troost, there were some stories…
Just as fortunetellers have their little fishing expeditions to crack a sucker’s psyche, so, too, rock writers have their shortcuts on deconstructing a band’s sound without using the dreaded catch-all phrase “eclectic” (which, in truth, we’ve already exhausted in this article’s headline). Here’s the laziest methodology: Just ask the band…
It’s that quiet moment after a rehearsal when players smoke their smokes and drink their drinks out on a front porch. Everyone has said his piece musically, and whatever small talk ensues now lets you know which night owls slept in and missed the big news stories of the day…
Robin Gibb of legendary psychedelic popsters-turned-disco kings The Bee Gees, has passed away at the age of 62. If you first learned of Robin Gibb’s deteriorating health from Facebook, it was through links to newspaper articles and not the usual reposting of YouTube music videos, in part because trying to…
