If you stopped by new dance venue Monarch Theatre during its soft opening in late April and thought the place was pretty fly, we’ve got some news: It’s gonna get even better, considering it ain’t even half-done. Co-owner Pete “SuperMix” Salaz, who runs the joint along with Edson Madrigal and…
The phrase “big in Japan” is rife with negative connotations for American musicians. What does it mean when another nation is crazy for a band that remains a lesser-known act in their homeland? In the case of Phoenix indie-rock band Knesset, it simply means that the Japanese are ahead of…
Analog obsessives and audiophiles may bemoan the inevitable digitalization of music on the grounds that MP3s lack the sound quality of vinyl, but there’s been no greater victim of the download revolution than the album cover. Think about it — would those Frank Frazetta-painted Molly Hatchet records scream thunderous menace…
Looking back, it’s safe to say that the hyperbolic fervor surrounding the early 2000s’ “rock revival” was embarrassingly misplaced. Jack White certainly built a black-and-red empire, but The Strokes have been battling skepticism for their past three albums and The Vines barely made it out of the starting gate. In…
Although Cinco de Mayo is a more celebrated holiday in the United States than it is in Mexico, nothing marks the occasion like a little mariachi music. A traditional mariachi band combines trumpets, violins, a large five-string guitar called a jarana, a smaller guitar called a vilhuela, and the guitarrón,…
The trio of Pete “SuperMix” Salaz, Sean Badger, and Edson Madrigal admit they haven’t been getting much downtime (or even sleep) as of late. That’s because they’ve been working nonstop running two downtown Phoenix clubs, including the newly launched Monarch Theatre. Salaz says the trio pulled 24-hour shifts in the…
The year is flying by, and heating up as usual. As the days get hotter, the nights tend to get wilder in Phoenix and its surrounding burgs. We’ve culled a selection of our best nightlife photos in April, including hip bashes at American Junkie, Elevated Music Festival, the Sticky Fingers…
I’ve never been a fan of Texas, even though it’s the stomping ground for a wide range of heavy acts. From the Dallas Cowboys to the phrase “everything is bigger in Texas” to George Bush, everything about the state has always had a way of agitating the hell out of…
There was a time when Lucinda Williams wasn’t a famous country rock star. True. Back in 1998, just a few weeks before her Grammy-winning Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was released, I found Williams sitting alone in a Boulder, Colorado, bar next door to the venue where she had…
Local rockers can always count on KUPD to ring in the summer with UFest, coaxing thousands to spend one last day in the sun before temps (theoretically) hit triple digits. This year, the high-energy festival’s lineup is packed with hard-hitting acts that have new music in the mix, and a…
Michael “M2” McDowell is old school to the very core, as illustrated by his love of crate-digging for classic hip-hop vinyl and his use of the original Phoenix Suns logo in his professional insignia. He’s also got a serious penchant for the lost art of scratching, as does his pal…
What does it take to become a legend? In Ralph Stanley’s case, it’s being instrumental in the development of the modern bluegrass sound. Stanley, 85, got his first banjo about 70 years ago. Attempting to learn the popular clawhammer style, he instead created his now signature “Stanley Style” instead. With…
It’s not a new idea: Sex sells. Scottsdale-based hip-hop duo J Beam and Knawledg, known by their nom de rhyme Mathmadix, get it. The album cover of their long-awaited In a Class of Our Own, depicting the pair, a young lady in a short Catholic school skirt, and one foreboding-looking ruler,…
There were all sorts of 4/20 shenanigans going on in Phoenix last weekend. An event didn’t necessarily need to be marijuana-themed to be fun, but no one was complaining much if it was. It was merely a coincidence that The Elevated Music Festival fell on 4/20, but that didn’t stop…
Providence, Rhode Island, combo Filthy Still plays a messy, busy, thoroughly enjoyable mix of punk, bluegrass, and country rock — and this busy, crazy flier courtesy of Evil Donkey reflects the manic energy the crew brings to its music. A quick look might fool you into thinking you’re in for a…
See also: Throwback Thursday: Everclear The announcement of the Summerland Tour (an a la carte delight of prominent ’90s soul-patch rock bands Everclear, Sugar Ray, Lit,The Gin Blossoms, and Marcy Playground) has me thinking hard about nostalgia. I learned of the tour’s Phoenix date, July 3 at Comerica Theatre, just…
Dfactor and friends will be throwing down for a night of punk covers. The flier looks like it could have come straight out of the mid-to-late ’70s, with kind of a New Wave meets punk rock vibe. And the flier isn’t the only awesome thing we’re expecting this Flashback Friday…
In a rather controversial concert review last December, New Times contributor Nicole Smith wrote of the indie sailor-pop band Tennis’ singer, Alaina Moore, “I generally hate chick singers who don’t have anything spectacular to offer.” Sure, it’s tough to paint 50 percent of the human population with one brush stroke,…
Anytime a huge band takes a hiatus, bands of a similar stripe get an opportunity to move in quickly and make Huge Band’s audience its own before Huge Band returns. It happened in the ’80s, when the Police took progressively longer to follow up their albums — we got all…
A few years ago, I worked as a hip-hop DJ at a nightclub in Illinois. I always tried to please the crowd, so when a girl came to my DJ booth and asked me to play some Feist, I did, though at that point in my life, I had no…
A day in the life of Florence Welch is a lot better than a day in yours: Her group, Florence + the Machine, taped the kickoff episode of MTV’s Unplugged in New York’s oldest synagogue, surrounded by dozens of candles, backed by a 10-person choir, and performing a version of…
It’s said that competitors are truly at their best when fighting with their closest rivals for the ultimate prize. Even the great Bob Marley knew this to be true when he sung “The hotter the battle / The sweeter the victory.” This weekend, the competition is guaranteed to be white…
