A federal judge ruled last month that Sheriff Joe Arpaio was using racial profiling against Hispanics in Maricopa County. Many Phoenicians didn’t need a judge to tell them that, but now it’s at least been acknowledged by someone who has the power to demand change. On the heels of the…
When we last spoke to John O’Callaghan of The Maine, a year and a half ago, things were a little nebulous. Pioneer had just been rejected by the major label that had signed them to a seven-album contract one album ago, and it wasn’t clear what The Maine’s followup would…
The Refreshments are back. The fizzy, fuzzy, big, and buzzy ’90s band behind the hit “Banditos” is scheduled to reunite for one show only — but not in their home state or even their home country. The good news is that the gig is only as far as Puerto Peñasco,…
by Reyan Ali If you ever need a record cover to justify that cliché about a picture being worth a thousand words, Michael Kiwanuka’s Home Again does the trick. His 2012 debut full-length sports a stark closeup of its creator’s face draped in half-shadow and wearing a pensive expression. You…
We talked to John O’Callaghan of The Maine Monday afternoon about their upcoming tour, the way moving to analog recording changed their sound on Forever Halloween, and what their goals are after a brief stint with Warner Bros. But before they kick their tour off with a free performance at…
If you’re looking for proof that yesterday’s indie sound is today’s mainstream sound, you could do worse than examining the record sales of Imagine Dragons and Mumford & Sons, two enormously successful rock acts that spend most of their time blurring what was already a pretty blurry line. If you’re…
Our intrepid Club Candids photographers began May covering Cinco de Mayo at the Spanish Fly and ended it on Mill Avenue, at the newly opened Gringo Star Street Bar. In between, they caught nightlife in the Valley in these photos:…
Music festivals have been around for decades, and they’re only becoming more popular. Each year, millions of fans fly around the world to attend more than 270 fests of various genres in the United States alone. They aren’t a cheap experience, either: between festival tickets, travel, hotels and basics like…
It’s rare that musicians or other people in the public eye actually admit they’ve been lying–unless they’re found out, Tiger Woods-style–but Trent Reznor is excited about his own “betrayal” of Nine Inch Nails fans. I guess the lie is okay when the truth stuns and excites millions of fans, right?…
Daft Punk has sorta been the focus of Jay Wiggins’ world lately. Random Access Memories — that 13-track gem from the electronica-dispensing, quasi-robotic Frenchmen that everyone’s going bonkers over the last couple weeks — has admittedly been on repeat, and the living room of the DJ’s Phoenix home is “full…
June is here (basically.) All across the Valley, people are glancing nervously at the sun, aware that at some point in the next month rising temperatures are going to force them into a kind of ersatz air-conditioning hibernation until sometime just after Christmas. Or maybe that’s just me. But hey:…
Fleetwood Mac US Airways Center See the full slideshow of the concert May 30, 2013 It would be challenging, at best, to attempt to write an objective concert review about a band that your love for borders on obsession, so I’m not going to try. Fleetwood Mac’s show at US…
The atmospheric, bluesy local rockers in Mergence may already be known for keeping it weird with communes, nomads and robots with the release of their first album, Those Vibrant Young People Are Dead–but with their upcoming EP they are taking it to an entirely new level. It makes sense, since…
For Authority Zero, 2013 has already been packed: They’ve accommodated new band members, new record producers, a lengthy international tour, and a brand new album, to top it off. The Mesa natives have spent a great deal of their time making all those pieces fall into place, but they’ve never…
I feel like a typical singer-songwriter set involves opening with two or three high energy numbers before mellowing out a little bit, so as to not over-exert oneself or the audience. This isn’t exactly Jason Anderson’s pace. Watching him is like witnessing an indie Bruce Springsteen whose speed is always…
How much is music worth to people? This isn’t a new question for me. For the past 25 years I’ve fed my family by selling the stuff. And even though I haven’t operated a brick-and-mortar record store for almost a year now, I’m still as curious about it, and as…
Love him or loathe him, let’s face it: Marilyn Manson is the last great living rockstar. Other stars and other bands sell more records these days, but he was on to something in 1998’s Mechanical Animals when he wrote “Rock is Dead,” because the genre is in serious need of…
[The Valley is a big place, and it puts out more interesting music than we could ever hope to cover. Every week or so, Mike Bogumill will use this space to cover a little more of it. This week: Gay Kiss’s birthday party, St Ranger’s upcoming tour, and a look…
While piecing together this list of photos from last week’s Punk Rock Bowling festival in Las Vegas, I tried to figure out how to approach it. “The hottest girls of Punk Rock Bowling” would be too easy. “The weirdos of Punk Rock Bowling” requires a bit more work, but the…
In 1997, when a heavy, rock-influenced sound and record label meddling gave Insane Clown Posse their first brush with the mainstream, it was hard to imagine Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope remaining relevant in 2003, let alone 2013. That’s because none of us were taking the Juggalos into account…
Taylor Swift sold out Jobing.com Arena in Glendale twice this week, which means–if we’re doing our math right–that she was able to get more than 25,000 Taylor Swift fans in, processed, and out for their Best Nights Ever in 48 hours. We couldn’t possibly hope to catch all of the…
If you want to know what former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland is up to these days, don’t bother visiting his website. It’s almost three years out of date, the music is spotty, and the images go in and out. Serious rehabilitation work is needed. Hmmm…
