When it comes to Hollywood, metalheads are usually portrayed in a… not so flattering light. We’re the drunks and stoners, braindead from too much head-banging, clad in grimy vintage band t-shirts and greasy hair. Well, that may be so. But who is Hollywood to judge? I’d take our stereotype over…
Chicago Riot Fest Day One Humboldt Park Friday, September 13, 2013 This year’s Riot Fest features a great mix of reunions and some of Chicago’s finest punk bands. Heck, The Replacements and Broadways reunions were enough to get me on a plane from Phoenix. Whether the trip was worth it…
Hawaii-bred reggae rock group Iration take change in stride. Each of their albums explores a different side of their musical influences–ranging from drummer Joseph Pickens’ love for Lamb of God to lead vocalist/guitarist Micah Pueschel’s penchant for the Beatles–while keeping their roots in traditional reggae. Earlier this year in April,…
The countdown to New Times’ 35th Annual Best of Phoenix is on, but it’s not too late to make your voice heard in our annual Best of Phoenix Readers’ Poll. Submit your top picks for the best Valley radio stations, dive bars, DJs and more and get entered to win…
Neko CaseOrpheum TheaterSeptember 12, 2013 Had she not mentioned it, you probably never would have known that Neko Case was suffering from an annoying head cold at her nearly sold-out show last night at Phoenix’s lovely Orpheum Theater. Her sickness showed no intentions of betrayal to her glorious voice as…
Future Loves Past’s debut album, All The Luscious Plants gives “polish” a good name. That’s not the only musical jargon the Tempe natives rehabilitate on All The Luscious Plants, but it’s the first bit of it you’ll have to confront when you listen to it; this is an album that…
Two very different festivals this weekend: One, Desert Uprising, will fill Ak-Chin Pavilion with metalheads and hard rock fans for acts like Alice in Chians, Jane’s Addiction, and Avenged Sevenfold. Lushfest, the other, will fill The Sail Inn with local music fans ready to see Future Loves Past perform its…
I’ve stood and watched guys and girls play (mostly guys, mostly guitar), and wondered what it would be like to make an instrument talk… to connect with a crowd… to say something with lyrics. But lately, I’m not so sure. Maybe I wouldn’t want to be a musician. Maybe just…
A band that repeats “you will always be a loser” toward the end of a five minute song may be a little discouraging, but the put downs are worth it. Titus Andronicus finishes its magnum opus “No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future” by singing “you will always be…
MECC’s elementary school computer lab classic The Oregon Trail probably taught its users relatively little about American History. The lasting impression the game did leave was the idea that choices have consequences and that, sometimes, bad things just happen, regardless of how well you plan for them. When you lost…
Mickey Avalon is constantly loaded. He’s loaded with clever rhymes and catchy hooks, played by DJs to writhing Hollywood club kids who don’t understand that half of the dark memories Mickey shares are actual experiences. When he started out around 2004, he was loaded with the burden of family members…
I admit I have an issue with mainstream heavy metal. Some of the musicians possess undeniably impressive technical prowess, but they appear determined to adhere to strict marketing regulations or to develop a meathead attitude, further perpetuating the stereotype known as “jock metal.” A first glance at the bill for…
Albert Lineses III has the sort of career that most club DJs would envy. As his alter ego AL3, the renowned selector not only was a huge player in the Latin dance scene for more than a decade but also spun sounds on some of the bigger radio stations in…
Thursday 12 AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40, rock) Bar Smith: Thursday Ladies Night with DJ AL3, & DJ NERD (hip-hop, Latin, EDM) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays…
Future Loves Past’s debut album gives “polish” a good name. “Disco,” too. That’s not the only musical jargon the Tempe natives rehabilitate on All the Luscious Plants, but they’re the first ones you’ll have to confront when you listen to it. This is a polished, dance-y, slick — that’s another…
A band that repeats the phrase “you will always be a loser” toward the end of a five-minute song may come off as misanthropic, but suffering through the put-downs pays off in the end. Titus Andronicus finishes its magnum opus “No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future” by singing…
How do you top one of the most-talked about moments in MTV Video Music Award history? Release a boring music video, then bribe your fans to set records by watching it the most times ever in a 24-hour period. It’s all part of Little Miss Miley Cyrus’ marketing plan for…
fun. Comerica Theatre September 10, 2013 (Complete slideshow here) “We Are Young” may not have even been the second-unlikeliest No. 1 hit of 2012–here in 2013, though, at a safe remove from PSY and Gotye, it’s a little easier to appreciate just how weird it was. With rock in a…
Finnish rock band HIM is known for causing a lot of weird controversy. First, a lot of people get angsty when it comes time to define their sound–the band has been categorized as everything from slow alt-rock to melodic metal to gothic metal. But they’ve been around since 1991, and…
Everything about The Features seems perfectly calibrated to sneak up on you. Their new album–self-titled–is packed with different ideas and sounds, but it’s not a debut; it’s their fourth full-length. They’re still building a national audience, but they’re not new to touring; they were attracting local buzz in their native…
Carly Rae Jepsen seems worried about me. At the moment, she doesn’t seem to care about the 13 million copies sold of her omnipresent “Call Me Maybe,” her meteoric ascent, nor even the slightest mention of the stadium show she’s about to play in Cape Cod, a stop on her Summer Kiss stadium tour.
ZZ Ward has been turning heads nonstop with her soulful performances for the last year and a half. After crisscrossing North America on multiple tours and playing at SXSW the past two years, the buzz has been building for this singer-songwriter whose sound is a potent mash-up of rock, soul,…
