Rush @ US Airways Center|11/25/12″We’ve got 6,000 songs to do, so let’s get with it.” Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee might have been joking, but something about his hyperbolic statement, made early in last night’s nearly three-hour set by the legendary prog rock band rang completely true. Most 44-year-old bands are…
Guns N’ Roses @ Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas|11/23/12Let’s face it: The original Guns N’ Roses lineup is never, ever, ever getting back together. It was once again confirmed when lead singer Axl Rose declined induction to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. While the glory…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
The holiday season always calls for some self-reflection, no matter if you’re a Nordic Satanic metaller keeping track of virgin sacrifices, or Taylor Swift rolling in gold coins Duck Tales-style from sales of her new CD — oh yeah, did you know if you call Papa John’s to order pizza,…
Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…
The Faint @ Crescent Ballroom| 11/23/12Dance rock favorites The Faint returned to Phoenix last night after a hiatus, armed with new songs, a Sonic Youth cover, and the band’s enduring synth-punk classic, Danse Macabre, in its entirety. Signs in the lounge warned about the band’s “heavy strobe lighting,” and in…
As a whole, DJs have a tendency to be rather boisterous, rowdy and blowhardy lot, particularly when it comes to self-promotion. Not so with local DJ Rob Kwik. Truth be told, he’s a fairly laidback and chill cat who rather Zen and tends to let his music do the talking…
Garrit Ross The DJ invites you to the Electric Playlist Launch Party on Saturday, November 24 from 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. at the 5th Street Bar on Mill Avenue. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station…
Curious what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
Look, you can keep the emotive rants and daddy-issue screeds, because at its best, metal’s always about doomsday. This is the year the Mayan calendar ends, making the title of Massachusetts metal band Shadows Fall’s seventh record, Fire from the Sky, seem not so coincidental. “These days, the world seems…
When The Faint’s seminal album, Danse Macabre, was released 11 years ago, its combination of pulsing synths and heavy guitars made the band stand out. Sure, bits and pieces sounded like New Order or Depeche Mode, but there was a modern urgency that still rings loud and clear over a…
It’s one thing to make a cartoon that affectionately sends up the theatrics of death metal. It’s another thing entirely for Brendon Small, co-producer and co-creator of the animated Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, to make three albums of astute extreme metal under the guise of his imaginary creation. Metalocalypse is…
Rock bands like Korn and Muse may be all about dubstep now, but even before emo rocker-gone-EDM-DJ Skrillex arena-rockified the genre, John Dadzie, better known as 12th Planet, was spreading the bass-heavy word. Let down by the drum ‘n’ bass genre’s refusal to change, the DJ started exploring the emerging…
Center stage, her honey-brown hair falling in her face, Lauren Farrah crouches over her acoustic guitar. Her voice rises and falls in short bursts, echoing in the Icehouse in downtown Phoenix.The Roaring Twenties-era venue screams cool, post-apocalyptic chic with its stark, open-air rooms with towering concrete walls. She’s performing on…
Thanksgiving is a time for traditions both good and bad, whether it involves gathering at Grandmama’s house for the annual government-sanctioned gorge on mashed potatoes and stuffing or tolerating your creepy uncle’s yearly onslaught of awful jokes. Meanwhile, local house music godfather Pete “SuperMix” Salaz will once again be staging…
Thursday 22 910 Live: Take it Off Thursdays’ Danksgiving with DJ Adrenaline, DJ Rescue, & more (hip-hop, rock, Top 40, electronica) Afterlife: Touch Thursdays (Top 40, electronica) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Phlava, DJ Dark Vader, & DJ Skoolboi…
When Canadian rock trio Rush’s self-titled debut was released in 1974, liking the band as a teenager was a risky proposition. On one level, there’s nothing about the band’s essential makeup that should render them off limits to the cool kids. Rush was a progressive, hard-rocking band influenced by Cream…
“It’s funny how money changes situations” rapped former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill in the opening line of her multi-platinum solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It’s a “no shit, Sherlock” moment, but its prominent placement seems indicative of the old showbiz saw that you can make anyone a success,…
We’re taking the day off to do the Thanksgiving thing: give thanks, eat too much, and pass out watching football. Hope you enjoy your day. We’ll be back tomorrow, but in the meantime, turn up this funky Thanksgiving cut from Vince Guaraldi’s 1973 soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If…
Soft Shoulder, The Pharmacy, JJCNV, Counterfeit Redcoats @ Trunk Space|11/20/12When I refer to a band as “bar rock,” I am not citing any definition of the term already established in musicological literature, but rather my own frame of reference. For me, bar rock can be defined in two separate waves,…
Even though one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year starts tomorrow, it seems as though few people are going to be getting much rest. There are huge meals to create and dishes to be washed afterwards, followed by a massive amounts of bargains to be found on Black…
It’s that time of year again–once you wake up from your tryptophan-induced food coma on Thanksgiving evening, it’s time to grab a blanket and a lawn chair to camp out for Black Friday. Some wackos are already waiting in line…so much for enjoying Turkey Day. If killer deals on electronics…
