Tea Leaf Green @ The Compound

Life sucks for hippies without The Band and the Grateful Dead. Good thing San Francisco jam band Tea Leaf Green is around to combine the sounds of those two legendary bands. TLG brings spirited keyboard licks, funky guitar riffs, and soft vocals to the table, singing about shit like gardens…

Jack Johnson @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion

Do you quietly address world issues in the songs you write on your porch? Have you got America thinking you’re the chillest person in the country? Do you go everywhere barefoot? What, you don’t? That’s all right, because acoustic pop mellow man Jack Johnson is coming to town to fill…

What’s Selling: Zia Record Exchange Tempe

Local bands were in demand at Zia Record Exchange in Tempe this week.Jimmy Eat World took the top spot with their new album Invented, and the Gin Blossoms also found their way onto the list with their anticipated second comeback album. Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn snuck onto the top 10 with…

Remix Contests Are Popping Up Everywhere!

Along with trends like ‘the bear thing,’ ‘the wolf thing,’ and ‘the beach thing’ has come ‘the remix thing.’Lately, indie bands have recently been all about organizing remix contests and projects for their fans.The latest band to jump on the bandwagon? Metric. They’ve partnered with Indaba Music, Topspin, and RCRDLBL.com…

Flier of the Week: The Other 49 at The Rogue Bar

Brad WiatrThe Other 49 at The Rogue Bar​If you didn’t know this flier was for a rock show, you might say it was downright pretty, with a poignant image juxtaposed with a fancy headline.Brad Wiatr, of the indie progressive band The Other 49, designed the poster in honor of the…

The Crossover @ 910 Live

As geekazoids of the world will undoubtedly tell you, crossovers can be pretty effin’ cool. Doesn’t matter if it involves Aliens battling Predators or the heroes of Marvel taking on the dudes from DC, whenever characters from differing realms hang out, the result is almost always greater than the sum…

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists @ The Rhythm Room

Crave critical consensus? Just take a look at the reviews for The Brutalist Bricks, the sixth and latest album from Washington, D.C.-based gentleman-punkers Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Ted and Rx got 31/2 out of 5 stars from three leading national periodicals, and a 7.9 from a certain infernal online…

Adam Smith @ Phoenix Theater

These days, it can seem like America’s youth is too jaded to care about their fellow man, but Adam Smith is doing his level best to change that. Last year, more than 26,000 Arizona teens attempted suicide, and the young singer/songwriter is using what he can — his musical ability…

Rick Springfield @ Talking Stick Resort

Rick Springfield isn’t just a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and the guy who played Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital — he’s also a miracle of preservation rivaling that amber-encased mosquito in Jurassic Park. Now 61 years old, Springfield still has the hair, the looks, and the fit matinee-idol physique of the…

Scott Stapp @ Fort McDowell Casino

The lead singer of a band that sold 25 million albums is performing a solo acoustic show in a smallish venue. That should probably be a pretty big deal, but most people wouldn’t go to see Scott Stapp on a bet. There aren’t too many living frontmen more despised than…

Carrie Underwood @ Jobing.com Arena

It’s easy to write off an act that becomes famous because of its success on American Idol. That is to say that most Idol contestants’ careers have proved short and boring. Carrie Underwood, then, is one of the exceptions to the rule. The 27-year-old country superstar not only sold the…

Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven @ Martini Ranch

“Don’t put baby in a corner,” the late Patrick Swayze said to Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. If I were in a similar movie, starring alongside Maxim Ludwig & the Santa Fe Seven, I’d advise anyone around us at that dull Catskills resort to not put my man Max in…

Jeff Arundel, Bomb

​Jeff ArundelBomb Purple RecordsJeff Arundel has been through the ringer. Since we last heard from the Midwestern singer-songwriter, on 2005’s Ghost Party, he’s gone through a painful divorce, the details of which are documented in the almost uncomfortably frank, and very raw, acoustic opener.”She let someone inside her bed /…

Club Candids: Cheap Thrills Relaunch at Brick

After months of living in limbo, Phoenix’s favorite hip kid dance party (formerly held at Blackforest Mill) has finally settled into a new location. On the last Saturday of each month, Cheap Thrills takes over the new Brick pizzeria at the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix. See the debauchery that…

What’s Selling: Zia Records Phoenix

Fans of Zia Records Phoenix largely shopped for hip-hop, rap and metal this week.Disturbed topped the chart with Asylum.Iron Maiden’s latest release made the list, and Fabolous slipped into the mix too.1. Disturbed, AsylumSee the entire list after the jump…..

Musicals by the Most Prominent Bands Are All the Rage

In between stops on a seemingly never ending tour, Bono and The Edge of U2 have been composing the music and lyrics for the Broadway show “Spiderman.” The idea to get involved in a musical also struck a chord with Green Day. They’re currently prepping for their show American Idiot,…

Knox: From the Ashes

Title: From the AshesBasics: Let’s see — I’ve been doing YAFI for a while now, eight months to be exact. From the Ashes, the latest album from former Brew Crew member Knox, is the first hip hop album I have received. Thank god I got Knox’s album first, too, because…

Nelly Wears Heartbreak on His Sleeve in “Just a Dream”

Nelly​Nelly is no stranger to singing about pot (“Must Be the Money”), and he had the biggest party summer hit of 2002 with “Hot in Herre,” but he went a surprisingly tame route with “Just a Dream,” the lead single off his upcoming release, 5.0. The song, rumored to be…

Ratatat @ The Venue Scottsdale

What’s the most significant thing you’ve ever accomplished on your laptop? Paid off a credit card? Logged a seven-letter word on Scrabulous? Constructed your first-rate Evite? Hey, no judgments — that shit’s great. It just doesn’t have the staying power of Ratatat, the 2004 self-titled debut disc that guitarist Mike…