Unlike corn or that long-overdue Scott Baio retrospective on The Biography Channel, the world is not running low on Metallica cover bands. After performing a quick Internet search, we found some with predictable names (Holland-based The Unforgiven, the online-only Sad But True), other generic outfits (The Greedy Bastards are German,…
To play math rock, especially the heavy, spazz-out variety, pretty much means to beat a dead horse. Audiences have become so accustomed to bands trying to freak them out that they don’t get freaked out anymore. Like so many others, Tera Melos’ stock in trade is the freak-out that requires…
Dios Malos gets points right off the bat for arousing the ire of none other than Ronnie James Dio, who, in a particularly befuddled show of hubris, ordered the band to change its original name, Dios (which, for those of you who don’t know, means “god” in Spanish). Another obvious…
Your sixth birthday fiesta might have been the shiznit way back in the day — especially with pony rides, clowns, and a moon jump — but we guaran-damn-tee it absolutely pales in comparison to the fly festivities being planned for the Blunt Club’s Six-Year Anniversary Party on Thursday, May 15…
I first saw Blackmarket at the 2007 SxSW festival. The band was performing on a bill with retro-metal monsters Danava, and they went on early, to a mostly-empty club.
What struck me about that performance was all the heart Blackmarket put into it — they sounded as professional as any arena band, and they had the rapt attention of every single person in the thin, earlybird crowd. Blending the melodic sensibilities of bands like The Beatles and Radiohead with the dark lyricism and artistry of artists like David Bowie, Blackmarket immediately struck me as the next Arizona band to make a mainstream splash.
By Jonathan McNamara Better Than: Listening to music in only one language and/or style. Pink Martini is what every band wants to be even if they don’t know it yet. From the first note of their show at the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall Amphitheater, it was unquestionably clear that the…
By Lilia Menconi Lush Handmade Cosmetics Store on Saturday, May 10. Get your fill of more perfection and click through our Lush slideshow. Pulling off the nightlife is some tricky business. Even though you repeatedly hinder cell regeneration with booze and nicotine, you must remain eff-able. That means feigning youth,…
If Pollstar is to be believed, the members of Green Day will be playing a show in Phoenix on Sunday, May 25, at the Brickhouse Theatre. Huge news, right? Well, the reason nobody heard about this huge news is because Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool will be performing as a band called Foxboro Hot Tubs (the show is NOT listed on the Brickhouse Web site at this time, however).
This is the “Arizona Rock Fight,” and, besides sounding like we’re gonna be in the heart of a ballistic granite storm, the event promises 24 of the Valley’s best bands will leave their all on stage over the course of four weeks. Why will they bother? Because the prizes are pretty damn sweet.
By Jonathan McNamara Take a listen to the three tracks on Pink Martini’s myspace page and you may find yourself confused. Is this in fact the same band? Believe it. Since their debut in 1997 with Sympathique, Pink Martini has existed as a musical chameleon, choosing not only different styles,…
Phoenix is one of the most diverse cities on the West coast, and the eclectic, multi-cultured sounds on the Diverse-Fi Music label provide ample examples of the rich sonic stew we’ve got brewing in P-City. This week, we tip our hat to Diverse-Fi.
First, let me just say that my friends Bones and Chazz – longtime cohorts for my “Niki at Nite” column – were super-stoked to see Jackyl. They’re both big fans of raucous, rowdy metal, and Jackyl is one of a handful of bands they can agree upon. Bones is an ‘80s metal chick with an affinity for Poison, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, and a bunch of other pretty boy bands that manly men cannot, in good conscience, admit to liking. Her husband Chazz is a self-professed “redneck” who loves beer, boats, and big boobs. He wouldn’t be caught dead with a can of hairspray and a pair of leather pants. But a metal band like Jackyl, where none of the members wear makeup and the singer dances around with a chainsaw – now that’s something guys can get into with no shame.
This might be our most exciting Future Shock yet, as several big-name shows and rare concert opportunities came down the wire. Rather than sit and gush about how awesome it is that Phoenix is one of only 17 cities on Tina Turner’s tour, or that Tom Waits is playing two nights here, let’s just get on with the roll call of radness.
By Jonathan McNamara Digital Summer’s numerous sticker advertisements have nothing on the sheer number of multimedia pieces we’ve put together to supplement Benjamin Leatherman’s cover story on the Valley-based band. If you haven’t seen the two (count ’em) slide shows we’ve already posted, you can see them in our Valley…
Scrubs actor and Garden State director and star Zach Braff is making a music video for singer-songwriter Jay Clifford, and he wants footage of you and your friends to be included.
It’s 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday and I’m sitting in rush hour traffic, trying to fight my way to happy hour at the Spurr Lounge. I’m doing a sort-of girls’ night out with my two lawyer pals, Cath and Shimba. Shimba is funny, cute, young, and idealistic, and she loves animals…
THURSDAY 8 Bar Smith: Peppermint Lounge with DJs Brazilia, & Mara (various) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Club Forbidden: DJ Domenica, DJ Hill, & DJ MJ (various) Club Red: The Blunt Club with One Be Lo, DJ Expo, Pickster One, DJ Element, Emerg McVay (hip-hop, breaks)…
If there’s one thing the self-satisfied, liberal, tofu-munching, cappuccino-sipping, in vitro fertilization-utilizing coastal elite hate, it’s Fox News. The Rupert Murdoch-owned home to such neoconservative mouthpieces as Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity is known for cheerleading the Iraq war and not finding John McCain insufficiently right-wing. It even has the…
With Mother’s Day fast approaching, we here at New Times have spent a lot of time mulling over what makes a great mom. In the end, we each wrote down a trait, tossed these little slips of wonderful into a hat, and then, with a stick of glue, assembled them…
Tristan Prettyman — the San Diego folk-pop singer-songwriter, surfer, and former Roxy model — is back with her sophomore album, Hello . . . x. Over the phone from New York, where she was getting ready to board a plane to Nashville to continue her U.S. tour, the genial Prettyman…
Some of the best ’80s music was made by duos — Hall & Oates, Wham!, Roxette, Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears. If The Foxglove Hunt had been British and around in the ’80s, they would be atop that list. But The Foxglove Hunt are two guys from Phoenix,…
Prong’s Tommy Victor recently remarked that metal bands can’t play in standard E tuning anymore because they’d “sound like the Eagles.” Not that they ever had anything to worry about, but about midway through Meshuggah’s career, the band’s guitarists switched from using already-low 7-string guitars to an 8-string approach in…
