It is not every day an international music legend gets a second chance at making a first impression on the ever-changing landscape of popular music. And yet for Dave Wakeling, that is precisely what he is getting in 2015. After three decades, The English Beat is releasing a new album…
Poet, rapper, hip-hop artist, educator, activist, and community leader are but a few of the titles that define Phoenix resident Myrlin Hepworth, who got his start doing slam poetry on Mill Avenue while simultaneously studying English at Arizona State University. As Hepworth sees it, it was something of a double…
From now on, when someone asks you what the day in the middle of the week is, no longer need you say, “err, hump day.” Now you can say “It’s Heritage Hump Day!” That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big…
Keith Richards, in his autobiography, Life, claims to remember everything from his lengthy musical career. Clearly, there’s some embellishment. Kim Simmonds, who’s been playing music approximately the same length of time, and has fronted British blues rock heavyweights Savoy Brown for almost as long as Richards has led the Rolling…
Few R&B vocal groups command as much respect as the O’Jays, inducted in both the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Eddie Levert attributes the group’s longevity and why everyone from Don Cornelius to Donald Trump has licensed their…
The Maine announced their “American Candy” tour today, which will kick off with a date at the Marquee Theatre on April 3. Real Friends, Knuckle Puck, and The Technicolors will open for the Tempe-born band…
Korbe Canida was always that loud, obnoxious girl who constantly was singing and who thrived in a musical theater setting, eventually making her way to the K-12 Arizona Conservatory for Arts and Academics. She says her animated nature led to her being bullied as a kid. Now, she is modest…
Kaye Bohler will perform at the Rhythm Room on Tuesday, January 6, to push her new CD, Handle the Curves. She has a wonderful voice. People have compared her Turner because of her high-energy, in-your-face performance style that draws the audience in. Bohler remembers watching Turner when she was 10…
If you happened to check out the entire list of nominees for this year’s Grammy Awards that were announced yesterday, you might have spotted a familiar name about halfway through — especially if you’re familiar with the old school DJ scene in the Valley. House music turntablist Eddie Amador, a…
The year 2014 ended with a hell of a heavy metal season, with shows like Yucca Tap Room’s “Not So Silent Night” ushering in the New Year — but unlike the insane holiday spending and the snowbird-thick traffic pace, the show calendar isn’t slowing down any time soon. I’m aware…
Anti-Flag, one of the nation’s most prominent political punk bands, is playing in the Valley on Sunday, January 4, but it’s far from an ordinary show. The concert will be one of a handful of tour dates in which the band plays their 2003 release, The Terror State, in its…
December was what you might call a busy month, and not just because of all the holiday hullabaloo. Granted, there was plenty of that happening, but it was just one of many things we had on our to-do list over the last 31 days or so. Between celebrating the season…
Everyone needs some good resolutions to uphold in 2015, right? Thankfully, we’ve got you covered, at least for Phoenix’s music scene. You can worry about exercising and giving up cigarettes another time, here are 11 resolutions for the Phoenix music scene in 2015…
12/31/2014, 11 a.m.: This article has been updated and expanded from its original version. We at New Times were saddened to hear of yesterday’s passing of our columnist and friend, Steve Wiley. Steve might be best known for his years as the co-owner of Hoodlums Music and Movies, which helped…
Detroit’s Motown Records had “Hitsville U.S.A.,” an office and recording studio that housed the songwriters and musicians who birthed a sound that spoke to the soul of the nation. Motown’s competitor, Memphis-based Stax Records, discovered such groundbreaking artists as Issac Hayes, Otis Redding, and the Staple Singers and committed them…
It’s not often that an Arizona blues club gets an international act for New Year’s Eve, but the 44s will play the Rhythm Room in Phoenix as 2015 comes in. Arizona blues lovers will have to enjoy the 44s while they can, because the Los Angeles-based blues-roots-rock band will tour…
The holiday season is winding down, and we at New Times hope that you had a great 2014. As we look forward to the New Year, I wanted to recap some of the best Metal Mondays blogs of the year. These were picked based off of social media shares, how…
For those among the Replacements’ fan base who want to know how the sausage gets made, this is the ripper for you. (That, or it’s an elaborate prank.) A 24-minute, 22-second jam sesh titled “Poke Me in My Cage” was uploaded to Soundcloud recently. Credited to Paul Westerberg and Tommy…
Another year’s end, another pause for reflection. Maybe 2014 was awful; maybe it was a triumph. The punk rockers from Authority Zero, which formed in Mesa, put themselves closer to the latter side of this spectrum. While admitting that the end of the year brings unwanted politics involving the business…
Though it may take a bit of digging, Phoenix really does have a wealth of quality local dance nights on both the monthly and weekly level. So with The Blunt Club closing up shop as a weekly stop for not only hip-hop heads but also folks who just like to…
Whatever your religious beliefs — Christian, Jewish, Pagan, Athiest — there’s no avoiding the ruckus of the holiday season. For me, Christmas brings a lot of old traditions, love and charitable giving, but there’s a lot of needless commercialism that’s shoved down everyone’s throats starting the day after Halloween. So…
Ten bands will perform on December 21 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix as a fundraiser for the R.d. Olson Blues Band, winner of the Arizona Blues Showdown, to help them afford competing Jan. 20-24 at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. and…
