With apologies to Andrew Jackson Jihad, there’s no doubt Kongos is the hottest musical export Phoenix has created in years, and we have the news to prove it. Their smash hit “Come with Me Now” has now gone platinum, meaning digital sales of the song have exceeded one million…
Sure, the pickings are a little slim this weekend for live music. But there’s still some great stuff around town, so check out our selections if you need a little help choosing what to do. And if you want a more comprehensive list, be sure to visit our full concert…
By Amanda Lewis One challenge of music festivals is figuring out how to sneak in pot, even while wearing as little clothing as possible. Is there really a good way to do it without sticking it up somewhere really uncomfortable? Enter the Secret Smoker Bracelet, a colorful, hemp-braided wrist accessory…
The prominent representation of electronic music in the Valley obviously is the club scene in Scottsdale. The biggest names in electronic dance music play around Old Town every weekend, and thousands of people flock to expensive bars in flashy clothes. The opposite, that is, of what the members of Provisions…
Because you are probably reading this on a cell phone or laptop, it’s likely quite difficult to imagine what it was like living in the days of the traveling salesman. Some weirdo rolls into town, sets up shop for a bit, tells you what you want to hear, and rolls…
While waiting for Paul McCartney to start his set Tuesday night at US Airways Center, I tried to think of living and performing musicians who are irrefutably rock legends (metal bands purposefully excluded). I came up with The Who, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Rush, and The Beach…
There’s something about catching a band at a festival, especially when you don’t know them prior to seeing them,” says Marcus Pepperell, one half of London’s alt-pop duo Thumpers. He should know, given how many festival gigs his band has graced: MIDI Festival, Camden Crawl, Blissfields, South by Southwest, and…
The six members of Take Over and Destroy and Bob Hoag are gathered in the lobby of Flying Blanket Recording, the 1947 house in downtown Mesa that producer Hoag has converted into a studio. All focus is on the middle of the room, where two stacks of comic books lean…
Shovel is an underground rock band comprising many things — the transgressive squall of late-’80s pigfuck (Butthole Surfers, the Touch and Go Records brigade), the anthemic stomp of early Mudhoney and Nirvana, and bathed in a drop or two of Kat Bjelland’s sweat. However, if the frequent use of terms…
The old joke is to say one likes both types of music: country and Western. That’s not easy anymore. There still are two types, only now it’s run-of-the-mill, generic pop country, or cliché-free, from-the-heart-because-the-song-matters country. Texas singer-songwriter Bart Crow falls into the latter category. “I feel like I’ve got my…
UPDATE (August 13, 9 a.m.): The Blairs report having a wonderful time at the concert and wanted to thank Paul McCartney for his generosity. They watched soundcheck and went backstage, and McCartney’s representatives gave Hayden a series of gifts, including one of Sir Paul’s guitar pics and a drumstick signed…
When I got in the door to Funny World, I asked Space-Alien Donald how he was doing. “I have music,” he said. “So I’m happy.” And it turned out, it indeed was a good night for music. A great night actually, from a variety of weird backgrounds from all over…
Typically held in August, the D-Low show is a double-edged sword for many of us. It is both celebration and painful reminder wrapped in a tremendous rock ‘n’ roll show that Dana “D-Low” Wells, son (and stepson) of Gloria and Max Cavalera would have loved. For the uninitiated, Dana was…
7 Seconds recently released its first album in nearly a decade, and the band is back with a vengeance. The new album Leave a Light on harkens back to the band’s signature ’80s hardcore punk sound and positive themes. “It’s an everyday process, it’s not something that you just pick…
If the sum total of your knowledge of soul, funk, and especially Motown music is limited to either Urban Outfitters’ pithy vinyl selection or what you heard on the Get On Up soundtrack, you’re in desperate need of enlightenment. And some of the Valley’s best turntablists would love to help…
The countdown to the end of summer is here. In just five weeks, summer will be over, and so will the city of Phoenix’s annual indoor exile. Time flies when having fun, so check out these concerts as a way to get all Flux Capacitor on the most hated of…
The Monumentour was an apt name for bringing together pop-punk behemoths Paramore and Fall Out Boy for a mega-co-headlining concert. The veteran bands, both more than 10 years old, showed off their greatest hits for an audience who had mostly grown up with them at Friday’s Ak-Chin Pavilion show. Considering…
There is a difference between a “rock star” and a “superstar,” and Justin Timberlake is a superstar. He’d been a rock star since his years with ‘N Sync touring the world and selling millions of albums. But now, in his early 30s, with decades experience performing his own catalog of…
Dragonforce is a gateway drug to heavy metal for video game nerds. No, really — I’ve seen it happen. In the British band’s 15-year span, they’ve been able to develop a sound that truly stands a part from any other band within the genres they’re constantly rotated between. It’s as…
Local blues musicians and their acoustic guitars will get the spotlight Aug. 11 at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). Nina Curri, Jimmy Pines and Washboard Jere, and Mikel Lander and Meridith Moore from the Sugar Thieves will provide the entertainment, presented by the Phoenix Blues Society. Curri plays roots blues,…
In Scottsdale, imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it’s sometimes a mantra for those seeking success. That’s frequently the situation in the city’s bar and club scene, where if one place does well with a new or unique concept, trend, or shtick, you can bet that others…
It’s very easy to be seduced by the Nashville-based country/garage-rock quartet Those Darlins. Like a classic issue of Playboy, you pick it up because you love the cover, but you keep reading because the articles are good. The cover of their latest album, titled Blur The Line, displays the four…
