This piece was originally intended to be part of our Heritage Hump Day Series. Here it is, the Throwback Thursday edition of Heritage Hump Day. This week as we celebrate the 75th birthday of a legendary musician who was taken from us too soon, let’s turn our gaze to a…
In the early to mid 1980s, heavy metal music began to broaden beyond the first era of bands like Maiden, Priest, and Dio. It evolved into darker, faster territories with thrash metal like Slayer, Exodus, Kreator and many others. A somewhat new phenomena began to root itself in an even…
Strange Wilds are coming through town on October 3 to support their new record, Subjective Concepts, and if their familiar, yet totally rockin’, sound is any indication, the show is going to be pretty special. We caught up with one member of the Olympia, Washington-based three-piece, lead singer and guitar…
Many truly influential musicians only get better with age — no surprise there. But the key word here is “influence.” It’s not necessarily their own evolving music that makes waves; on the contrary it’s a drive to change what the industry produces, to open ears to new ideas and innovative…
For years, I volunteered at a radio station, where my job was sorting the massive pile of albums mailed to us every week. We’d pick songs we liked, making sure they were scrubbed of non-FCC-approved words like “goddamn motherfucker,” then lump them under labels such as “rock” or “jazz” for…
October has to be one of the greatest months of the year in Arizona. Not only is the weather finally, finally cooling down—but metalheads get to embrace the influx of heavy metal concerts that come to town, right in time for Halloween. With so much going on, it can be…
With a self-titled album coming from local minimal art imprint Moone Records, and by taking on a darker, more mature and full-bodied sound, it’s taking every effort to resist saying “Pro Teens are growing up.” Indeed, the sextet have come a long way since their singles “Puberty” and “Teen Feels,”…
You might not understand the lyrics in Groupo Liberdade’s new song “Batucada do Sol,” sung in Portuguese by Amanda Soares and Poranguí, but the energy the seven-piece band transfers to its listeners is infectious. The Afro-Brazilian band, going strong for more than 10 years, mixes samba, samba reggae, coco, maracatu…
Holy Fawn – “Colossus” At the same moment that Ryan Osterman announced that after two original full length albums, an album of covers, and an EP, Owl & Penny had run its course, he also announced that he would be spearheading a new endeavor. That new band is called Holy Fawn…
Thousands upon thousands came to Rawhide Western Town in Chandler recently, all of whom had pretty much the same goal in mind — partying their asses off at the Valley’s biggest electronic dance music event of the year, the Mad Decent Block Party. They came clad in off-kilter costumes, neon-colored…
Trust us, it was great.
In 1981, most folks thought punk rock died with Sid Vicious, Black Flag was a bug spray, and skateboarding was an activity confined to a handful of lunatics in California. Hardcore punk and skateboarding were both interests that folks had to learn about the hard way, before the Internet put…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
The owner of Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar, Levy fills his businesses with his own love of the city. My job is to make spaces where artists can present their craft and others can enjoy that craft. I came from Louisiana in the late 1980s to attend ASU. Since then,…
One of the original members of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Matt Hollywood was an influential element of the San Francisco neo-psychedelic rock band from 1990 to 1998, responsible for favorites like “Oh Lord,” “Maybe Tomorrow,” and “Got My Eye on You,” among others. Prolific, psyched-out, practically unknown — to say…
Summer is finally ending, and the local music scene is ready for the temperature change with some cool new music video releases. Phoenix favorites like decker., MysticBlu, Red Tank!, No Volcano, and Pro Teens are bursting into fall with new multimedia material. Each of the videos by these five different…
Scattered Melodies – “Trying To Find Me” It’s been over a year in the waiting since their successful crowd sourced fundraiser fuelled Scattered Melodies with enough money to record and release their second full length album, Modern Repair. At long last the wait is over and you won’t believe the…
Hey heavy metal, we need to chat… As a musical entity that is no stranger to bad press and debauchery — but rocks its true colors loud and proud — I, the city of Scottsdale, would like to propose a partnership. Look, I know that the words “Scottsdale” and “heavy…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
The roots of Titus Andronicus’ new magnum opus, the 29-track, 93-minute, five-act punk rock opera The Most Lamentable Tragedy, came quietly and quickly. In two evenings, a week apart from one another, when the band was on the road in early summer of 2013, frontman Patrick Stickles wrote what would…
In the five years since Lizz Wright’s last album, the gospel-themed Fellowship, the jazz vocalist’s life veered in unexpected directions. Wright went through a divorce and a near-fatal car accident. She even started to question her chosen career. “I thought for a while that I really didn’t want to record…
It’s surprising how much attention a band can get for playing the music they love. Nashville’s Legendary Shack Shakers are no strangers to this. The southern gothic rockabilly act goes above and beyond much of those genres to throw down their captivating version of hillbilly blues-rock. Over the years, the…
