Like most of you, I was pretty surprised by that Radiohead concert announcement, but you know, this one might actually take the cake: Guns N’ Roses is coming to Comerica Theatre on Tuesday, December 27. G N’ R fans might be soured by the current lineup (Axl backed by DJ…
In a profile of Norwegian black metal pioneers Mayhem I wrote for this week’s issue, I relayed the tale of 42-year-old local radio producer and metalhead Anthony “Spanky” Pranke. Pranke and a few of his chums endeared themselves to Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher and a Norwegian TV crew while they were…
Holiday shows suck. At least the kind your mom is going to drag you to. You know the drill: some over-rated, over-the-hill songstress belting out every cliché Christmas song she can think of, including “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” God, that song is just the…
In “Take it Or Regret It,” one of my favorite pieces of music writing this year, songwriter and Seattle Weekly columnist John Roderick wrote: Music writers aren’t engaged in a conspiracy of bitterness and bad taste (at least not most of them), they’re just trying to make their deadlines. When…
The ’70s stunna is going to help you get your adult contemporary groove on when he comes to Phoenix.Neil Diamond, Social Distortion, Handsome Furs and other bands will be bringing some stellar performances to the Valley soon.The rest of this week’s shows after the jump…..
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. Now that Black Friday is mercifully behind us, we can move on to Music Store Monday. A day that doesn’t require you…
Busy giving thanks over your four-day weekend? Don’t worry, here’s what you missed at Up on the Sun: Sister Cities and Doctor Bones The Rogue Bar kicked off Saturday night with a charismatic and interactive performance by Doctor Bones followed by local charmers Sister Cities. Both bands were on point…
Just in time for today’s repeat of Record Store Day on Black Friday, here’s some killer news for Valley vinylphiles and music nerds: Michael Pawlicki, one of the co-owners of the now-defunct Eastside Records, will be opening a pop-up-style record store near the Yucca Tap Room sometime in the coming…
Though malls and retail have already been doing it for a couple weeks, we’re going to go ahead and make an official statement: It’s now totally okay to listen to Christmas music. And while plenty of Xmas jams are mind numbing, annoying earworms, there’s always some good to be had…
Jacki Orr The multi-media artist, humorist, performer and publisher of the ladies’ indie adult naughty mag PoolBoy Magazine hosts First Friday Night Live Friday, December 2 at The Firehouse at 11 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the door or $5 online here. $7 tix at the door or $5 online here…
Although no one in the music industry with a whiff of official about them is on record as saying so, it’s been widely reported throughout the blogosphere that the remaining three major record labels will cease manufacturing CDs before the end of 2012. For those who came of age during…
From Keith Richards’ blood transfusion to Ozzy Osbourne’s bat-biting, rumor and lore have been critical to rock music’s appeal, and no act maintains a more infamous collection of legends than Norwegian black metal pioneers Mayhem. To make a long and bloody story short (but still bloody): In 1991, Mayhem singer…
When rap was coming into the national consciousness in the ’80s, there was a pretty lame joke going around that went something like “Did you hear about the guy who crossed country with rap? They call it crap.” It may have taken almost 30 years, but a former professional golfer…
Timothy B. Schmit always felt like “the new kid in town” in The Eagles, but that’s because he pretty much is. Schmit played on only one pre-reunion Eagles record, The Long Run, but he made his presence known with the stellar, blue-eyed soul number, “I Can’t Tell You Why.” He’s…
David Taylor, better known by his dance-floor-packing name Switch, comes to Phoenix packing serious credentials. He’s worked with M.I.A., Santigold, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé, not to mention crafting the dancehall/electro project Major Lazer with Diplo. The production duo’s debut, Guns Don’t Kill People . . . Lazers Do, indulged their…
Alt-country hero Dale Watson has a tune called “Nashville Rash,” in which he bemoans the pop crossover changes in Music City and sings “I’m too country now for country, just like Johnny Cash / Help me, Merle, I’m breakin’ out in a Nashville rash.” The condition has begun to afflict…
Meet Jon Tate. He’s from the future. Jon is a genius infatuated with robotics and a blond, buxom beauty named Sandy. He’s building an army of robots in hopes of ending a war that is gripping the world. It’s an army that eventually will turn on him, culminating in an…
Christmas music is weird stuff. Sure, grandmas like it, but for poor souls folks manning the boards at 99.9 KEZ FM, it’s less the music of holly jollies and more a nightmare of tunes played long before (and even a little after) Christmas. DJ Fresh, who’s spinning funky breaks as…
For a while, Eric Bachmann decided he was done with music. No matter that he’d made a name for himself as frontman of ’90s indie icons Archers of Loaf. No matter that he’d gotten acclaim for Crooked Fingers, his moody, Americana-influenced second act. No matter that he still had yet…
Thursday 24 Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) Bar Smith: Thanksgiving Night with DJ Idenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ Danny Peru (old school, Latin, Top 40) Crescent Ballroom: Tortured Soul, Pete “SuperMix” Salaz, Aaron F., Riot Earp, & more (various) Dollhouse Cocktail Lounge: DJ Jon…
There ain’t many things the Valley that pack as much old school cool as the Furious Styles Crew, as the renowned b-boy troupe has been kickin’ around town since the heyday of gangsta rap back in the early ’90s. Ditto for Pete “Supermix” Salaz and Senbad, who are both widely…
The cynical among us (ahem) might view Sting’s “Back to Bass” tour as a way to cash in on The Police experience without having to deal with the other two guys who make The Police so awesome. But we’re the critics? What did you, the loyal reader have to say…
