William Kenneth Alphin is 15 years old and picking up a girl on a first date. It is 1978 and Kenny, as he’s known to friends and family, has been granted his driver’s license early on account of his status as a volunteer firefighter in the tiny agricultural town of…
The drive isn’t long or difficult — in fact, it’s a dull stretch of freeway all the way. It’s a straight shot on the Valley’s 202 East from Gypsy’s Roadhouse, off McDowell and 52nd Street, to the final resting place of country legend Waylon Jennings, deep within tree-lined Mesa Cemetery…
Any veteran of Ultra Music Festival who attended this year’s three-day event was pleasantly surprised by the increased organization and overall maturity of the audience. Certain seemingly simple measures, like an 18-and-over age policy and significantly improved perimeter security, taken following 2014’s trampling of security guard Erica Mack and the…
There have been a lot of changes at Ultra Music Festival. The audience is over 18 now. And many of rave culture’s familiar accoutrements — finger gloves, glow sticks, rage totems, etc. — have been banned under the fest’s new Prohibited Items policy. There are those of adult age who…
Scoff all you want at country radio today, but Dustin Lynch knows damn well what listeners want, and he gives it to them three and a half minutes at a time. Unlike some country artists who complacently churn out radio-ready singles, Dustin Lynch also has an approach and a perception…
At the end of day one of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2015, I questioned the promoters’ abilities to pull off a third-straight spectacular festival in the heart of downtown Phoenix. By the end of day two, I realized that they just might know what they are doing, and at the…
While there are some bands that break up way before their time has come, several others outstay their welcome in the industry by years, if not decades. Breaking up can actually help bands regain popularity and swing the momentum back in their favor. Here are 10 bands we’d like to…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2015 hit its stride on day two with a stellar lineup that combined a big group of acts that don’t really go together at all to make for an eclectic and fun festival Saturday. I arrived in the middle of Pretty Lights protege Break Science’s set,…
April showers? Not so much in the Valley of the Sun. While the rest of the country experiences the fresh air of spring, we are hit with our first wave of hundred-degree temperatures. But that’s okay, because the season also kicks off with a bounty of band tours, particularly those…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival has consistently been my favorite musical event of the year since I first went in 2013. Of all the metro Phoenix-based festivals, it feels the most like a legitimate national level festival — and, really, with this year’s lineup, it just about is one. MMMF really…
Maarten Hoogstraten has been through tumultuous times the last couple of years. In late 2013, Paul Bäumer, his fellow member of electro-house duo Bingo Players, passed away after a short battle with cancer, which was a devastating experience to say the least. Hoogstraten carried on, however, at the behest of…
For Eazy-E, the concept of gangsta rap was fully formed in his mind. By 1986, the genre, which nobody then called “gangsta rap” (“reality rap,” please) had begun to sprout in L.A. by way of Ice-T’s “6 ‘n the Mornin’,” which was patterned after Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D’s “P.S.K. What…
Here are our picks for this weekend. Be sure to check out our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
Downtown Phoenix’s Margaret T. Hance Park will become something of a hallowed ground for music fans this weekend. Over three straight days, a couple of acres of grass will be transformed into an outdoor temple of sound during the annual McDowell Mountain Music Festival featuring some rather godlike deities from…
Phantogram has been making the big-time festival rounds over the past half-decade or so, and even though it isn’t really a jam band, the group will stop at this weekend’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival. The fest isn’t really a stretch for the Bonnaroo veterans, but suffice it to say, four…
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. The Senators – “Hummingbird” “Hummingbird” is the first new song since last year’s deluxe release of Harsher Than Whiskey / Sweeter…
Though it’s premature to call Gus Campbell a guitar god, he is a true talent. One could use adjectives like “wunderkind” or clichés like “He’s an old soul,” but the truth of the matter is the kid can flat-out shred for any age. At 16, Campbell has a maturity and…
With summer preparing to give us a triple-digit reminder why the snowbirds leave in April, local musicians are hard at work. Lucky us, because we get to reap the fruits of their labors. The Phoenix music scene is as diverse as the Valley of the Sun is large. With everything…
Van Halen is retuning to Phoenix later this year for the first time since 2012. The band known for hits like “Jump,” “Hot for Teacher,” and “Running With The Devil” will perform at Ak-Chin Pavilion on Monday, September 28…
Before the Riot Grrrl movement of the early ’90s or before the advent of social media, there wasn’t a network of like-minded all-female bands across the country working together. All you had was the notion of DIY bands, pockets of groups in far-flung areas of the country maybe mining similar…
Twentieth-century writer Charles Colton coined the saying “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” For veteran club DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, their modern interpretation of the phrase was to take the essence of their favorite ’60s records, mesh it with their favorite electronica club sounds, and create a…
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…
