As far as American cities go, Kansas City isn’t at the top of the list when it comes to violence, tunes, and scandal. But that wasn’t always the case, with the city’s music and organized crime worlds inextricably intertwined. Kansas City was a hotbed of jazz in the ’40s, acting…
Since 1999, Huntington Beach’s Avenged Sevenfold has been on a tear. Emerging from the Southern California metalcore scene, the band firmly established itself as a force in mainstream metal, with an eclectic style that draws as much from hair metal theatrics as it does hardcore breakdowns. The band’s five studio…
We’re sure that somewhere, there’s a Lord of the Rings fan — they like to be referred to as “Ringers,” mind you — who is totally comfortable with the opposite sex, doesn’t live in his mom’s basement, and doesn’t spend his days dreaming of Mordor and reciting poems about Tom…
Lindsey Buckingham was always the most punk of the soft-rockers. Never mind his following up Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours with the weird-as-hell Tusk, recording vocals in the bathroom and trying to get Talking Heads with a marching band on the title track; even his Fleetwood hits are models of stripped-down intensity…
Mainstream pop punk fizzled out as a commercial prospect when the Hot Topic demographic traded in their Hurley T-shirts and baggy shorts for guyliner and skinny jeans. But no one passed the memo on to New Found Glory, who have stayed true to the brash, poppy force that defined the…
Sam Groove is one technologically inclined cat. The 25-year-old DJ wields a laptop, iMac, Pioneer DJM-400 mixer, and various MIDI controllers, amps, and more than 10,000 MP3s at his disposal. When he steps up to the stage at Club Red, 2155 East University Drive in Tempe, during Red Light Disco…
There were plenty of shenanigans at Martini Ranch on Sunday, October 2. Fans of hair metal rocked out to Metalhead while others danced in the packed Shaker Room to the sounds of DJ Dave “Wave.” We captured the fun in this week’s Club Candids slideshow…
Be sure to join Dearspeak this Saturday at New City in Phoenix for a very special occasion.They’re playing a show in honor of the release of their new EP, Oh For Freedom. Plus, Dearspeak will be performing with additional members for this show!The event will be an enjoyable evening of biographical music…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. After taking most of 2010 off, Chicago indie-pop rockers Wilco are back strong with last week’s The Whole Love release taking top…
There’s no getting around it. No matter how awesome DJ Star Slinger may have been before getting shouted out by Donald Glover, AKA Childish Gambino, AKA Troy on one of TV’s best shows, Community, he was immeasurably cooler afterward. The cred boost wasn’t entirely necessary. Slinger, known as Darren Williams…
Pale Face Sailor, Another Tomorrow, Woodworks, and Every Letter will all be sharing the stage with Quick Henry to bring you a great start to your weekend.If you want to witness the action, check out the scene at the Rogue Bar on Friday night. It all starts at 9 p.m…
If you have trace memories of immortal Houston blues-rock combo ZZ Top, it’s probably of two bears with long beards spinning guitars, a drummer without a beard (named Beard), and legs (“she’s got . . . ’em”). A few years before that, though, just before punk broke, Circus Magazine described…
Depending on your perspective, Incubus was either the last big alternative band of the ’90s or the first big post-alternative act of the 2000s. Make Yourself, the band’s 1999 release, launched them into radio-dominating superstardom, featuring enough concessions to the burgeoning nu-metal scene to fit in with System of a…
Love connections turned musical duos, like The White Stripes and Matt & Kim, often attract attention, but the unique chemistry sometimes steals the spotlight from the music itself. And, yeah, that often happens with Viva Voce, too. Everyone loves a love story, even if the band doesn’t particularly like to…
Breathe In, Breathe Out is the new record from The Zombies. Yeah, those Zombies, the band that recorded “She’s Not There,” “Time of the Season,” and “Care of Cell 44.” The band that recorded Odyssey and Oracle, which created the framework for most modern psychedelic pop. The new record finds…
Growing old in rock ‘n’ roll is one tricky beast, especially when you are Blondie, a band with a catalog defined by youth culture: sleek, sexy, funky, and ever stylish. Panic of Girls, the new record from Blondie, struggles with the contradiction. At 66, it’s hard to think of singer…
Sophia Gunn has been spinning in the Valley for years, which is exactly how she learned to blend old and new elements. She brings her “younger” humble beginnings to some of the Valley’s hottest nights and mashes them with new technology to give her turntabling skills a fresh edge. She…
Sunday nights are usually pretty uneventful, but Dutch DJ Fedde le Grand drew a huge crowd of Scottsdale’s finest to Smashboxx on September 25. The turnout was as good as the crowd was attractive. Check out lots gorgeous tans and beautiful teeth in this week’s Club Candids slideshow…
Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, where Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please email…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. After thoroughly enjoying Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and it’s 1980’s-inspired synth-pop soundtrack, we’re super stoked to see Neon Indian’s Era Extrana holding…
Future Loves Past are attention grabbers too, which is why you should check out their upcoming show.Joining Future Loves Past on stage will be The Insects and TKLB. This will be The Insects’ first-ever gig they will have played at Long Wong’s Firehouse, mind you!It’s all going down Saturday night at 9…
Remember that glorious scene in Ghost World where Steve Buscemi’s date takes him to an awful sports bar and declares “If you like authentic blues, you really gotta check out Blues Hammer?” immediately before some angry-looking white dudes start shredding and spitting out lyrics about how they been behind the…
