’80s Again Bogan Via looks to the past on its new album while moving on to L.A. Like the ornamental desert flower from which the band gets it name (but not its spelling), Bogan Via’s Bret William Bender and Madeline Miller seemingly are everywhere this spring, but for a limited…
One of the biggest tropes about living in the Valley of the Sun is that once summertime arrives, there’s little to do that’s truly worth doing, save for waiting out the heat or maybe getting the heck outta Dodge. Like with most tropes, however, there’s a certain degree of truth…
To say Wynonna Judd is a positive person these days is an understatement. We caught up with her as she was putting the finishing touches on her 8th solo recording in Los Angeles about a week ago. The platinum (many times over) selling singer, who just turned 51 on May…
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…
Symphony of Butter Knives Meet Harrison Hufman, Phoenix’s 13-year-old experimental musician. With a giant red sock pulled over his face, Harrison Hufman pounds a cheap, red electric guitar with two butter knives, occasionally smacking a crash cymbal. He softly groans threats to call the cops into a mic awash in…
Nate Valdez is good with fingers. Take, for example, his care when removing jewelry from them. First he coats a finger with wax. Then he ties a string around its base and wiggles it up slowly behind the ring it’s wearing until the ring slinks off the tip at the…
While June is beautiful just about everywhere else in the United States, it’s when the streets of Phoenix start to get sluggish. Not only are all the snowbirds gone (thank God), but the triple digits really hit full force. Lucky for us desert rats, the music industry doesn’t slow down…
Tempe will do the mash at the end of October — the Monster Mash, a new festival announced by Lucky Man Concerts today. On Friday, October 30, and Sunday, November 1, a slew of classic rock and modern-ish bands will come to Tempe Beach Park. …
Toby Keith has employed a few personas over the course of his two-decade career. The Oklahoma-born singer started off as a tuneful neo-traditionalist before hitting it big as a political firebrand in the wake of 9/11, and paved the way for today’s “bro country” super stars with a series of…
Even the greatest bands have to call it quits at some point. Some of them do it more gracefully than other, but it’s way more fun when a band completely implodes and airs their dirty laundry for all to see. Here are 10 of the ugliest band breakups in history. 10…
Oklahoma has songwriters Rogers and Hammerstein to blame for the rest of the country’s perception that it’s only a place full of waving wheat and wind sweeping down the plain. Luckily, the Panhandle State can also claim ownership to the intricate, layered sounds of the alt-rock trio Other Lives, who…
The dreadful process of transitioning into the summer heat comes with a small silver lining for country music lovers throughout the Valley. Known as the Country Megaticket, Ak-Chin Pavilion will be showcasing a who’s who of current country music superstars on eight separate dates throughout the summer and into the…
For being thrown together at the last minute, A$AP Rocky’s listening party for his latest album A.L.L.A. sure looked like a good time. The festivities, which were held in New York City on Monday, came a week earlier than planned. The rapper tweeted that his second album, whose title is…
Its a warm night in downtown Phoenix and the members of local hip-hop group Drunken Immortals are making things even warmer inside the Pueblo practice space near the Crescent Ballroom as they rehearse a few Beastie Boys covers. A tiny A/C unit in the wall and a ramshackle swamp cooler…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than practically anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new singles in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. Flight of Ryan – “The Twilight” Flight of Ryan is a powerfully catchy electronic pop-rock act who hail from Flagstaff, and they…
Used music gear is always a crap shoot. Buyer beware and such, sometimes you get a real find, something you’ll play or use forever and sometimes you get something less valuable than what you pay for it. There are reputable shops around town to purchase used gear as well as…
On a night where Mother Nature let the final vestiges of spring blow breezes through the interior amphitheater of the Ak-Chin Pavilion, power-pop balladeers The Fray and Train had the audience dancing at a feverish and frolicking pitch. While the two occasional chart-toppers accomplished the same goal of keeping fans…
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…
Rocky Horror at the Firehouse. The name of the event says a lot, when you think about it. Is it a bunch of firemen (and women) putting on the infamous play that later became a celluloid cult classic? No, and apologies to all the ladies swooning at the thought of…
When Will Butler struck out on his own with his debut solo effort, Policy, it was expected that the Arcade Fire synth whiz would explore much of the same territory as his band. In some ways, he did. In discussing Arcade Fire, it’s imperative to talk about the nature of…
Like the characters in many of their songs, HoneyHoney lead singer/banjo player/violinist Suzanne Santo and vocalist/guitarist Ben Jaffe also experienced a profound period of searching and minor desperation in the quest to finish their forthcoming album, 3. It isn’t uncommon for musicians to take years between album releases, but rarely…
After a lull of about two weeks, the Phoenix music scene has come alive this week, with a series of big-ticket concerts leading the charge, as well as welcoming two new music venues, Valley Bar and Rebel Lounge, into the fold. There are many musical options for your enjoyment this…
