Nothing beats creativity — especially if it makes a difference in our community. Since 2010, we’ve been on the hunt for emerging creatives in the Valley who are working on cool projects. Call them designers, performers, chefs, singers, dancers, painters, sculptors … We’re sticking to Big Brains. This year, we’re…
Rakim @ Celebrity Theatre|2/20/13The word “legend” is something that shouldn’t be tossed around lightly, especially when it applies to hip-hop. During hip-hop’s 30-year run, we have seen numerous careers rise and fall. Hell, some artists have straight up vanished from existence. Many would argue that hip-hop is the most unforgiving…
For the pasty-faced, pleather-clad members of the Valley’s goth and industrial scene, 2013 already has been a year of tumult and turmoil. First, longtime venue Sanctum, which hosted freaky-deaky fetishistic adventures during numerous nights like TekNOIR and Black Mass for years, decided to kill off its dance events in late…
In 1983, an unknown songwriter named Edwin Bankston decided that if no labels were interested in putting out his record — a nine-song country-boogie album called Over There…and Over Here, credited to “The Red Rippers” — he was going to put it out himself. Featuring stream-of-consciousness lyrics, psychedelic lead guitar,…
Since 2001, Claudio Sanchez — the huge-haired and highly conceptual frontman of prog-tinged emo outfit Coheed and Cambria — has devoted every moment to building an immersive science fiction storyline known as The Amory Wars. Thus far, the interplanetary narrative has spanned seven albums and a parallel series of comic…
Somewhere between Dwight Yoakam’s honky-tonking cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” and Terry Manning’s power-pop take on “Guess Things Happen That Way,” the Jack Clement-penned single made famous by Johnny Cash, lies Reckless Kelly’s “She Likes Money, He Likes Love.” The standout track from the Austin-via-Bend,…
Anberlin has never been the band to drop copious amounts of J-bombs in its songs, but the band’s music often has served as a musical metaphor for how people maintain their faith during troubled times. Anberlin’s latest, Vital, combines aggressive modern rock and New Wave beats with stories of people…
Victor Wooten loves his bass so much that he may as well have it welded to his body. Though that might prove awkward when getting on the bus or in an elevator, it virtually is the reality of his situation. For Wooten, who can rightly be considered one of today’s…
It takes some bands months of playing shows to find an identity, but Tempe dance-punk act Doctor Bones skipped those awkward on-stage moments “feeling it out.” Though the band has honed its skills with each passing performance, Doctor Bones’ sound — New Wave sensibilities, pop arrangements, dance-ready beats, and manic,…
Blues guitarist Keb’ Mo’ is something of a household name at this stage in his career. He’s got a pocketful of Grammys and assorted other music awards and was a central character in Martin Scorsese’s miniseries The Blues. His most recent album, The Reflection, was a deviation from form, dabbling…
The Used has been in survival mode its entire career — a trait that’s come in handy in the ever-shifting, ever-volatile music industry. Long before the band’s brand of shouty screamo fell out of grace as the de rigueur music genre of disenfranchised (but still MTV) youth, frontman Bert McCracken…
For the pasty-faced, pleather-clad members of the Valley’s goth and industrial scene, 2013 already has been a year of tumult and turmoil. First, longtime venue Sanctum, which hosted freaky-deaky fetishistic adventures during numerous nights like TekNOIR and Black Mass for years, decided to kill off its dance events in late…
Post-hardcore rockers The Used have been put through the wringer more than a couple times during the 12 years they’ve spent together as a band. It’s hard to imagine that even before the time spent addicted to drugs, label shifts, and the on-stage injuries, the members had already experienced homelessness,…
School of Rock’s name is a little deceptive–Jack Black doesn’t hang out at the Tempe bar and legendary guitarists aren’t on hand to teach ASU students how to rock. On Saturday nights, the bar is only “rock” in name, though being located above Fascinations is pretty bangin’ (pun intended). See…
Attention, local concert commandos: Keep the third weekend of September open on your social calendar and set aside enough gas money to get you to and from Florence. That’s because, per recent reports that have surfaced online, there’s supposedly gonna be some sort a “Coachella-like multigenre music festival” taking place…
The times I’ve chatted with Maynard James Keenan, he’s always seemed calm, collected, and to-the-point. He’s a businessman, a vitner, and he’s real busy. Then, just when I’ve imagined him as a normal dude (a fan of Justified, The Walking Dead, and Fringe, by the way) he reminds me that…
Each spring, right before it gets just ridiculous hot in the Valley, local modern rock station KUPD hosts UFest, a gigantic rock/nu-metal/modern rock outdoor festival. Past lineups have featured Three Days Grace, Helmet, Godsmack, and more, setting the bar high for fans of crunchy, shouty rock. Well, the station has…
Conspiracy theories are my comfort food. After all, all a conspiracy is “the action of plotting or conspiring,” and not just about tin-foil hats and Reptillians. When Reagan’s cronies illegally sold weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Scandal, that was a conspiracy. When the CIA sold crack to kids in…
It’s been a hot minute since Portland-based indie rock stalwarts Modest Mouse put a record out (the band’s latest EP, No One’s First and You’re Next came out in freaking 2009). Songwriter Isaac Brock insists new material is coming (but you know, he named his record label Glacial Pace), but…
Tired of “Gangnam Style” yet? Don’t worry — current meme “Harlem Shake,” featuring students, office workers, and your mom getting down to Baauer’s song of the same name — is currently all anyone can talk about. The viral phenomenon has caught on like, uh, a virus, partly because it’s really…
Allow us to bring a heavy hammer to your post-Valentine’s Day romantic bliss: Even if you can get past your partner’s baggage and commit to settling down, the national divorce rate is floating right around 50 percent. The harsh reality is that your brand-new and exciting relationship probably isn’t going…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…
