Artist: Casket LifeTitle: Building a Better DisasterBasics: The band’s MySpace page reveals a fun little tidbit about the process of recording Building: “One year ago we recorded a record. It’s a pretty good record called “building a better disaster”. So we’ve been all stoked and chillin and getting pretty drunk and…
Two dozen bands. Nine hours. Two stages. One good cause. No cover.Oh yeah, and no moshing.This weekend’s Metalstock show is almost a dream come true for Valley metalheads, if only Club Red would do away with that pesky “no moshing” policy. Metalstock organizer Tad Zaccard has assembled quite a line-up…
Name: David Kevin StricklerAKA: DK Strickler Current gigs: Retro Hi-Fi Sundays at SideBar, and private/public events on Thursday, Fridays, Saturdays. Genres spun: House and all it’s varied sub-genres, space and indie disco, organic lounge and downtempo.How did you get started as a DJ? Fell in love with EDM back in…
You can’t get more classic rock than Tom Petty and there’s no Tom Petty album more classic than 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes, which has just been reissued in a two-disc deluxe edition. The very foundation of a career that would lead Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers, into the Rock…
Folk-tinged psych-rockers Akron/Family have a new album due out in February, and they’ve stopped at nothing to get the word out in perhaps the most offbeat way. The album is conveniently titled S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, natch.The trio has a history of being on…
Song: Weezer, “Tragic Girl”Context: This is the last song on the excellent and informative two-disc re-issue of Pinkerton which came out last week. Weezer – Tragic Girl (Pinkerton Reissue) by mmcizmar…
The Trunk Space may be one of the best places in town to catch an intimate vaudevillian-type show. Just last week, the downtown Phoenix spot hosted the sideshow variety act the Squidling Bros. Circus Sideshow, and this Saturday, November 13, vaudeville music takes over The Trunk Space stage when Zoe…
We’re kicking it old school with our latest edition of “10 Things Under $10” by pimping a few unique shows by a handful of the Valley’s more legendary musicians. Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets is holding a special gig at Carly’s Bistro tomorrow night with his longtime girlfriend Ruth…
Regulars at the new Long Wong’s have a new favorite band. What are they called again? They change their name practically every five minutes, but for now they’re going by Future Loves Past and they’re helping shape a special vibe for the venue, making it a hip hangout spot and…
Worthy Farm, home to the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in the UK, now boasts what festival organizer Michael Eavis calls “the best solar power system in the country,” according to NME.The cluster of 1,116 solar panels that is fixed on top of the cowshed at Worthy Farm is…
It’s not often you get to watch ice hockey the same time a rocking band performs, but that’s exactly what you’ll get at the Ice House Tavern this Friday, November 12 when Hung Dynasty takes the stage.The bar’s live music stage is attached to the Arcadia Ice Arena, and appropriately,…
When you think about that special brand of reggae rock popularized by frat boys in the ’90s, bands from Hawaii are not the first to come to mind. Still, Pepper, probably the most famous trio to emerge from Kailua-Kona, has managed to make a name for themselves in the genre…
The Thermals are an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. But who isn’t an indie band from Portland these days? The novelty-tinged charm that used to go with repping the Rose City has diminished over the years. The Thermals, however, never quite bought into the clichés attached to so many…
If you listen to one of Tim Kasher’s breathless indie-rock ballads and think to yourself “That reminds me a little of Bright Eyes,” well, no shit. Like Bright Eyes chief emoter Coner Oberst, Kasher grew up in Omaha and attended Catholic boys school while honing his musical chops. Later, he…
Though Melanie Safka may have fallen under the mainstream radar some time ago, she and her distinctive vocal style have remained a part of the collective consciousness. She’s best known for “Brand New Key” (a song that every outspoken pre-teen girl should listen to, to feel both independent and unabashed)…
Around midnight on a recent Saturday, Jack Maverik gets a text message from a friend. A few minutes later, he gets another one. Then another. While getting three texts in a row is not remarkable for Maverik, the general manager of the new Long Wong’s in Tempe, the reason is…
Over the past 25 years, Gwar has become the most successful extraterrestrial music act of all time, selling more than 30 million albums worldwide. Although attempts at carbon dating have been inconclusive, the members of Gwar are believed to be more than 1 million years old, making them the second-oldest…
I’ve never quite understood why so many white people like reggae music so much. I even say that as a white person who likes reggae music. Maybe it’s just a phase. Sometime in middle school or high school, lots of white kids smoke weed for the first time and begin…
THURSDAY 11 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old-school R&B) Airia Nightclub: Ladies Night with DJ Circle, & D-JR (hip-hop, Top 40, remixes, house, electro) AZ88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday (retro) Bobby C’s: DJ Willie…
Song: The Aggrolites, Free TimeContext: You’ve got your choice of American reggae bands this week with both The Aggrolites and Pepper coming to town. Both have shows on Friday — choose wisely. The Aggrolites – Free Time by KROQ…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts.Is AZ Country Music USA’s four-month tenure the shortest ever by a Phoenix-area club?How was A Perfect…
Smashboxx in Old Town has been open for a couple weeks now, and the crowds couldn’t be bigger. We paid a visit to the “sports bar by day/lounge by night” this past weekend and witnessed a throng of the skinny and the stylish both inside the place and outside on…
