Ill Niño is a fitting name for a heavy metal act that has been whipping through festivals and speakers non-stop since the year 2000. It was in 2003 that the American Latin metal band garnered the attention of the mainstream with their second album Confession. Over the course of seven studio…
Warped Tour was once a showcase for punk and its various subgenres, but recent years have seen a wider spectrum, even including pop and spoken word artists. These artists represent both classic and newer genres on this year’s ticket, so at least one of them is bound to catch your…
The rumors started yesterday with a mysterious update to Tool’s website. “Wait for it…” was all the post read. It is known that Tool fans are an obsessive bunch, and the speculation started immediately. Well, now, the wait is over. Tool will be playing Tempe Beach Park on Halloween. Lucky…
It’s a little past 11 o’clock on Friday and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is pulsing with sound, lights and bodies. Polyester jellyfish and gigantic LED mushrooms hover above the crowd; the smell of funnel cakes and body odor wafts through the 100-degree air on this first night of EDC…
A few hours before Electric Daisy Carnival opens on Friday, Carl Cox sits near the pool at the Flamingo Hotel, ready to explain why he has remained so interested in electronic music after decades of DJing, producing and remixing. He pauses mid-sentence and motions towards the DJ booth in the…
It’s Friday night at EDC Las Vegas, and at the Circuit Grounds stage, as is the custom at all of today’s EDM events, the crowd is facing the DJ booth. There, high above the tightly packed dance floor, a Russian DJ named Arty builds the music to a frenetic crescendo,…
If you had plans to attend the Fourth of July outdoor concert by Little Big Town at Salt River Fields, said plans just went up kaboom like a skyrocket. Word broke earlier today that the by the performance by country music act on Saturday, July 4 — which was part…
High-profile murderers often attract a fringe element that is, in the face of all evidence, convinced of the accused’s innocence. Jodi Arias is no exception. Except, one of her fans is a rapper. Thirty-four-year-old Kareem Williams, a.k.a. Lefty, is a fanatical supporter of Jodi Arias, who was convicted of the…
While negativity towards transgender people was making waves in Tempe the Phoenix-centric Sidepony Express Music Festival in Bisbee has been working on an event with Bisbee Pride to shine some light on the artistic contributions made by transgender people. This will be the first year that Sidepony Express and Bisbee…
The origins and ownership of the term “house music” have been hotly debated since, well, always. House music is a lot things to a lot of people. It’s disco’s revenge. It’s a feeling. It’s controllable desire you can own. While house can still be a little elusive, it’s like the…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. Celebration Guns – “The Me That Used To Be” Celebration Guns have been one of my favorite local acts since they…
Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Fenton are two women who have always had to push to get what they want in life. The two New York-raised women are working mothers who push carts through store aisles, push their children to achieve their dreams, and push themselves to be successful…
With eight stages and over 200 scheduled performers, figuring out who to see and where to go at EDC Vegas can be a bewildering task. Sure, you want to be there with all the masses when Tiësto and Hardwell go on. But what to do before then? We’re here to…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
“Punk is life” was seemingly the main point Manoz Zuziaz lead singer Jamie Laguna tried to get across during an interview with his band at Laguna’s home in Mesa. Based on his wardrobe, which consists entirely of studded denim vests and band T-shirts (except for his work Dickies), Laguna and…
The desert has always been a place of spirituality and mystery, where wanderers seek truth and solace and eclectic art and music are made. On one hand, it invokes deep creativity and a refined type of swagger. On the other, it creates a divide, a feeling of every man for…
Austin’s James McMurtry writes songs with the richness of novels, his characters struggling through life’s trials in vignettes sculpted as vividly as the world in front of your eyes. At 53, the celebrated songwriter remarkably is turning better with age, with his latest record, Complicated Game, garnering some of the…
Janet Jackson will play Comerica Theatre on Monday, October 19. Tickets go on sale Monday, June 22, at the singer’s website. The stop is part of the 36-date Unbreakable World Tour. Jackson’s 10th and most recent album, Discipline, came out in 2008. Jackson is perhaps best-known for a string of…
Phoenix isn’t just an incubator for bands with odd tunes like Treasure MammaL, RPM Orchestra, and Drunk and Horny — it’s also a beacon for them. From O.G. shock rocker Alice Cooper, who migrated to the Copper State from the Motor City decades ago to The Minibosses, which brought its…
Megan James and I have been trying to hunt each other down for a week. The Purity Ring vocalist’s tour has been riddled by sickness, due in part to the breakneck nature of supporting her band’s sophomore release Another Eternity. When we do finally get on the phone, James is…
Helping each other out is just par for the course in heavy metal. There are lots of people who are weirdly surprised by this fact—but I’ve seen first hand the amazing charity efforts, organizations, and hospitality spurred by the music’s supporters. And when it comes a call to action in…
You don’t really need to be an Aerosmith fan to appreciate the band live. This became clear at the band’s concert at Gila River Arena Saturday night. As the band ripped through its playlist, it was hard not to notice that almost every song the boys from Boston played had…
