Zedd @ Madison Event Center

Anton Zaslavski isn’t what you’d call an ordinary DJ. Far from it. Yes, the Russian-German beatsmith is a gifted producer and maestro of the mixers who has rocked unforgettable sets inside numerous nightclubs and at many of the world’s top festivals (including Ultra, Nocturnal, and Electric Zoo). But during his…

Tech N9ne: “The Beats Tell Me What To Do”

Kansas City’s Aaron Dontez Yates has dipped his hands into both the worlds of hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll, sold more than one million albums, founded a record label, and been featured in a ton of video games and films–including the upcoming sequel to the huge underground cult hit Devil’s…

Six Hollywood Stars Who Are Undercover Metal Heads

When it comes to Hollywood, metalheads are usually portrayed in a… not so flattering light. We’re the drunks and stoners, braindead from too much head-banging, clad in grimy vintage band t-shirts and greasy hair. Well, that may be so. But who is Hollywood to judge? I’d take our stereotype over…

Announcing Indie Band Oregon Trail, The Hardest Videogame Ever

MECC’s elementary school computer lab classic The Oregon Trail probably taught its users relatively little about American History. The lasting impression the game did leave was the idea that choices have consequences and that, sometimes, bad things just happen, regardless of how well you plan for them. When you lost…

DJ AL 3 at Thursday Ladies Night @ Bar Smith

Albert Lineses III has the sort of career that most club DJs would envy. As his alter ego AL3, the renowned selector not only was a huge player in the Latin dance scene for more than a decade but also spun sounds on some of the bigger radio stations in…

How Heavy Metal Was Framed By Disney’s Tween Stars

The VMA’s, Miley Cyrus, “twerking,” foam finger-humping–I’ll be so happy when all the bullshit about this Disney star turned disgusting excuse for a pop culture icon is over. Usually it’s supposed to be hard to look away from an emotional trainwreck, but Miley Cyrus’s dead eyes and awkward tongue-wagging was…

World Music Night @ The Vig

So how was your summer vacation, yo? Don’t feel too bad if it amounted to hiding out in the air-conditioned comfort for three months instead of jetting away to some far-away foreign destination. Given the painfully high prices for airfare these days, it’s downright difficult to satisfy the itch to…

The 25 Best Phoenix Club Candids Photos of August 2013

August is a paradox. It’s peak pool party weather, inasmuch as it’s too hot out to do much else, but it’s also the socially accepted time to begin wrapping up the pool party season, wearing white, pretending it’s summer instead of pretending it’s fall, etc. It’s a transition month for…

Five of the Weirdest Guitarists in Rock History

In heavy metal, there’s nothing better than an extremely talented guitarist. When a musician truly knows how to work some magic with that instrument it demands to be revered and acknowledged. But there’s a trade-off for said talent: Creative people are often labeled as “weird” by their peers from a…

5 Reasons Why Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance Was a Good Thing

Miley Cyrus keeps breaking records. This week, her polarizing, bizarre, what-drugs-is-she-on? performance at the MTV Video Music Awards caused a Twitter avalanche, inspiring more than 300,000 Tweets per minute and upsetting the slightly classier Beyonce as the title holder of most Tweets in a minute in the process. As parents…

Blackjack @ The Pressroom

Sam Groove isn’t much of a gambler. However, the local DJ and nightlife promoter knows a thing to two about playing the odds, raising the stakes, and cleaning up big. For proof, just look at the success that Groove and the other EDM aficionados behind Hades Entertainment have had with…

Dagwood Reed Juggles A New Album and Chemotherapy

In December 2012, Dagwood Reed was singing, playing keyboards, and writing songs for his sci-fi-inspired local band, Se7en of Nin9. His romantic partner of nearly 20 years had passed away a year earlier from Addison’s disease, but the self-proclaimed most positive person he knows stayed in high spirits. He loved…

Which Heavy Metal Band Would You Pick for the Super Bowl Halftime Show?

Heavy metal and contact sports always seem to go hand-in-hand. Both share the same kind of aggression and unpredictability. Revolver’s Golden Gods Awards has a “most metal athlete” category. And in football, one of America’s favorite sports to get all amped up about, teams trot out onto the field to…