Read the next word aloud: Moist. Did the hair on your neck rise to the occasion? Did your coworker’s shoulders just curl into a disgusted shiver? The word makes us cringe, too. When Death Cab for Cutie front man Ben Gibbard recently asked an interviewer to not use that word,…
There was a point during last night’s Ariana Grande concert at Talking Stick Resort Arena where the video on the screen behind the tiny pop star scrolled some campy, sci-fi-esque nonsense (with an accompanying voice over which was probably necessary due to about 10 percent of the audience not being…
Oh, how sweet the emotion — Aerosmith is coming to Gila River Arena on Saturday, June 13. This show, part of the band’s Blue Army Tour, promises to bring a custom stage that “brings the band up-close and personal with the audience,” according to a press release from promoter Danny…
Heavy metal burlesque is nothing new — the Suicide Girls have been doing it for more than a decade, and dance troupes full of rock music lovin’ tattooed ladies have been popping up in every city. I once went to this club underneath the historic D&F Clocktower in Denver, called…
Joe Nichols has a self-imposed duty to uphold. That is not a self-aggrandizing statement, nor is it overwrought hyperbole for his role in country music. Rather, Nichols is a modern artist who places importance on traditional country music, the same vein he’s been working as no less than five of…
This Easter weekend was filled with 10 bands and 10 hours of music as Tempe Beach Park hosted Lucky Man’s festival of punk-rock and post-hardcore bands. Tempe Beach Park Festival (the unofficial name for the event) made use of some big name acts like Offspring, A Day to Remember, and…
There is little Zia Records hasn’t done to support the music scene in the Valley of the Sun. From consistently releasing music compilations, as well as providing an outlet for local musicians to sell their records, tapes, and cds, to offering the latest music on multiple formats for appreciative fans…
Who says a rock star has to be real to be awesome? With all of the movies, books and songs about the music industry (or otherwise featuring fake bands), there’s a wide range of fictional musicians to love. Unlike real musicians, they’ll never let you down by putting out a…
At first, Dick Dale peeks his face around the corner of the stage door, grinning, being coy, but then he marches onstage, guns blazing, his golden guitar already screaming. He’s looking limber, arching in his New Balances, all smiles. He was a tailor, already sewing into us, then cutting us…
It was only a mere six months ago when I last saw Exodus on stage, opening for Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer. The latter can easily outshine an array of legendary bands, but not the thrash titans known as Exodus. They never cease to amaze me with their tight, unexpected sets…
Here are our picks for this weekend. Be sure to check our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
“If I stop, I’ll die,” Dick Dale says over the phone, then laughs. “When I die, it’s going to be an explosion of body parts onstage.” The term ‘legend’ should never be used lightly, but Dick Dale certainly deserves it, having not only practically invented surf music, but his upside…
View image | gettyimages.com On Wednesday, one of the most successful Arizona hip-hop artists, Random (a.k.a. Mega Ran), spent the better half of the day fielding phone calls in regard to the “diss track” he released as an April Fools’ Day joke. The track consisted of a menacing beat that…
Whenever DJ Akshen steps behind a pair of record decks, he tends to become a tempest of motion befitting his moniker. Such is the case on a recent morning in his Arcadia home, where the veteran turntablist is busy painting a small side room with a slew of scratching over…
Love & Theft are growing up. In a literal sense, Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson, the singing and songwriting country duo at Love & Theft’s core, have both gotten married and started families in recent years, seen Top 40 success on a handful of occasions, and found traction on…
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. Harper and the Moths – “What Are We Giving Up” It was only three weeks ago that Harper and The Moths…
Given the nature of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” Arlo Guthrie’s signature song, clocking in at 18:37 and containing 2,833 words, one might think Guthrie would be the talkative sort. Maybe other renderings of that epic song, some stretching 30, even 45 minutes, have Guthrie being more economical with his words. In…
All-around bad-boy rapper Mega Ran has had enough of rappers in his hometown talking smack behind his back, so today, he released one diss track to rule them all, complete with art depicting a pen all but bleeding red ink…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s Most Cohesive Festival. I’ll leave the designation of “best” music festival for the voters to decide when the Best Of issue comes out later in the year. But I feel completely confident is saying MMMF is by far the most cohesive. The bands on…
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…
Ultra Music Festival is 36 solid hours of EDM-themed overstimulation. Superfamous DJs! Pop-star cameos! Half-naked ladies! Oiled-up beefcakes! Dancing robots! Human tacos! Toothpaste Man! Pyrotechnics! Cryo cannons! Fireworks! Everything at Ultra deserves an exclamation point. Or maybe ten. And there’s never fewer than 120 decibels rumbling through your already stimuli-flooded…
Though Leftover Salmon has been making music for the better part of 25 years, it took a six-pack of beer to inspire the band’s latest album. However, not in the typical sense of drinking one in the search for ideas. Instead, Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery tapped the band for a quartet…
