Viva PHX is back and you’re a year older, 40-somethings. Bolder? Maybe. Clever, definitely, and probably more inclined to party downtown than last year. In fact, it’s obvious the over-40 set is taking back the night, since so many of you are out and about on a regular basis, running…
Viva PHX 2015 offers festival goers 90 bands at 20 different venues for an incredibly reasonable $24 ticket price. For you mathematicians, it works out to an average of 4.5 performers per venue and if you were to catch say, five of them during the course of your night, that’s…
Sweating to the oldies will have a new connotation after Saturday, February 21, at Club Red. Local heroes, Unruh, are reuniting for their first show in 15 years and celebrating the release of their box set, Tomb, with a giant show featuring some of the best bands in the current…
Dear Readers, When I initially pitched the idea of doing a list of 10 local records I found to be hugely influential, I had no idea where the road would lead or what I would find when I traveled it. The journey has been enlightening, fairly difficult, and, more than…
There was never any question about what Jon Yousko was singing in a Junior Achievement song. Yousko’s perfectly enunciated lyrics weaved intoxicating tales over his bandmates’ equally concussive riffage, and it was good. Goddamn, it was good. From the opening riff of “Dr. Cutthroat’s Revenge,” which kicks off the stellar…
Awe is a powerful word. Upon first listen, 1986’s Age of Quarrel by the Cro-Mags was (and still is) capable of rendering mere mortals to a state of awe. For fans of the band and the genre it helped create, awe is both a fitting and fascinating term, especially for…
Consider this question: Are you an Earwig? Let the idea roll around on your brain for a minute. Longtime Phoenicians know the bug well, even if they haven’t seen one for a while. Are you a human equivalent? Are you even a 10th earwig? More than likely, this is an…
View image | gettyimages.com For many music fans, jazz can be a riddle wrapped in a mystery. While we may enjoy it, we would never attempt to explain it. In fact, jazz may be the most “alternative” music there is, because most of our brains just don’t work the way…
Jodie Foster’s Army (JFA) recorded Valley of the Yakes and broke the mold for anyone else coming after them. Truly. Valley of the Yakes easily could be the most influential record on this list except for one thing: Nobody else could have recorded it. There was no other band on…
The amount of pride many of us Phoenicians have in the success of the Meat Puppets is beyond measure. From the standpoint of being part of the “other” scene — the underground, college rock, or whatever you want to call it — it was always a point of pride to…
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Check. Grammy winner. Check. Major inspiration for the Blues Brothers. Check. Valley resident. Check. Sam Moore is almost 80 years old. He’s an original “Soul Man,” one of the best tenors the music biz has ever seen or heard, and you can spend your…
Do you really buy it, for even a minute, that he’s up there in the North Pole resting on his laurels while the elves have all the fun? Santa’s always keeping tabs, checking his lists, and thinking of that perfect gift. In an effort to help him out, we thought…
“I never thought that anything associated with hardcore would have a ‘lasting impression.’ The music and the people were pariahs, [who] were at best tolerated in my experience. My own sisters laughed at me. My east-side musician friends didn’t think I was in a ‘real’ band.'” – Bill Cuevas, Conflict…
It’s that time of year again, kids. I’m sure you know the one. It’s time to ask your Aunt Jean for a new record to throw on the family stereo at inopportune times so you can show how tortured your teenage soul has become. You need this, badly, and Aunt…
“Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies” is a lyric I could go my whole life without hearing again. It’s not that it isn’t a catchy little piece of an innocuous pop/rock song. Christine McVie’s lyric is exactly that, but I just don’t like it. I also hate myself…
This one is very personal. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit, I am a huge fan of Dan Clark. I loved watching Victory Acres play as a young’un and I still love listening to them now. As for Joke Flower, they were more of a guilty pleasure,…
Arizona has no shortage of offensive band names. One might even say we’re right up there with Texas in having the most offensive band names per capita. Mighty Sphincter is no exception. The band itself is something of an enigma. Known, perhaps, by fans of the dark and spooky worldwide,…
In late October, we introduced The 10 Most Influential Punk Records of Arizona. Over the next few weeks, we will reveal how we’ve ranked each record, and we will take an in-depth look at the people and circumstance behind each album’s creation. When I was a young’un, we would often…
How many women out there can say they have married both a Kink (Ray Davies) and a Simple Mind (Jim Kerr)? Chrissie Hynde can. She’s arguably the most badass alto of all time, and I’d certainly hate to ask her, “How does it feel to know almost all of your…
In late October, we introduced The 10 Most Influential Punk Records of Arizona. Over the next few weeks, we will reveal how we’ve ranked each record, and we will take an in-depth look at the people and circumstance behind each album’s creation. The name of the EP alone — Party…
Dear J Mascis: First of all, I am a big fan. From the first time I heard Dinosaur Jr back in the late 1980s to this very day, I have been a little awestruck. Your career is one any diehard music aficionado can respect. The first time I drove down…
Matt Korvette of Pissed Jeans is used to hearing noises like static and feedback, but our phone conversation started off with too much of what is normally a good thing to the band’s lead singer. The Allentown, Pennsylvania, noisy punk(ish) band makes its first trip to Phoenix on Friday, November…
