Title: Midnight Glass, the duo’s 2009 LP.Basics: Phoenix’s Travis Bunn and Calvin Markus have a pretty decent following compared to most acts reviewed here in You Asked For It. They have already had plenty written about them, including one guy who deemed Midnight Glass the best album of 2009. While I…
Since Scottsdale band Threefold Fate describes their sound as “desert rock,” it’s no surprise this flier for the Saturday, March 20 show at Mesa’s Goat Head Saloon contains a smattering of desert-inspired images. That sunset the woman’s looking at is pretty awesome, considering the sky is both yellow and green and…
This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series in which www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured on the cover of N.W.A’s first album, N.W.A. and the Posse. Today, we continue with MC Ren, a rapper/writer who joined N.W.A just before the group’s meteoric rise and stayed…
“Not Bob Lindbeck!” huffs a disclaimer on the band’s MySpace page. Hey, we can dig it. You pay your dues, you put in 10 years of really solid, Being There-era-Wilco-inspired alt-country, you get one of your songs on a freakin’ iMac commercial . . . and still, people mistake you…
You know how death-metal dudes like to growl in their songs — raspy and guttural, like they’re passing broken earthenware through their belly buttons — and then alternate those sounds with clean, pitchy vocals? Raspy, soft, raspy, soft. Well, Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell was one of the first…
It’s hard to dislike Titus Andronicus. Even if you’re not a fan of main man Patrick Stickles’ distinctly Conor Oberst-aping vocals, it’s nearly impossible not to get swept up in the band’s momentum, a flurry of classic bar-band bravado and strident indie rock. Their debut album, The Airing of Grievances,…
Mike Herrera made a name for himself as the frontman of the Bremerton, Washington, three-piece punk band MxPx. That band formed in 1993 when the original members of the group — vocalist/bassist Herrera, drummer Yuri Ruley, and guitarist Andy Husted — were in high school. The band quickly became a…
The weather’s finally warmed up and spring is about to make its official debut in mere days. Sounds like the perfect time to get your ass outta the house and into the great outdoors. The members of the Ministry of EDM will celebrate the start of the season with a…
When most married couples enter their 60s, they think about retirement and all that comes with it. You know, buying a cozy little home in Scottsdale where they can spend the remainder of their golden years just taking it easy, playing golf, and spending time with the grandkids. Fred and…
This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series in which www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured on the cover of N.W.A’s first album, N.W.A. and the Posse. Today, we continue with DJ Scratch, a DJ who may have gone on to become an actual member of…
The weekly list of best sellers at Eastside in Tempe never ceases to be eclectic, and contain at least a few surprises. This week, Gorillaz top out the charts, Swedish punk rockers The Regulations make an appearance, SXSW bound local rockers Pigeon Religion’s cassettes and 7″ vinyls come in just…
This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series where www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured on the cover of N.W.A’s first album, N.W.A. and the Posse. Today we continue with Sir Jinx, a producer who went on to create the beats for some of the…
This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series in which www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured on the cover of N.W.A’s first album, N.W.A. and the Posse. Today, we start things off with Arabian Prince, a producer who was an original member of N.W.A. To…
The cover of N.W.A. and the Posse, does not look like something released by the most important rap group of all time.Actually, just looking at the photo, who would believe that some of the guys in this alleyway would change the course of popular music forever less than a year…
Nothing beats a little outdoor drinking on a cool spring night; and not even the wind and sporadic spats of rain could deter the party people from yucking it up outside at The Vig on Saturday night. Check out the slide show…
Title: The Last Stand, the band’s first full-length.Basics: The band, a classic mix of hard rock and punk influences, recently had their song “Game Face” named as the Phoenix Coyotes’ home intro song, an honor their song “Superblinded” previously held.Despite their prominent place in the Jobing.com Arena playlist, “arena rock”…
Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the industrial cozy space of Phoenix rockers The Dust Jacket. If you would like your band featured, tweet…
Ah, there are so many great things about this flier for the Nobility Obliged show tonight, March 11, at Chyro Arts.First: it’s pink. How punk rock is that? Not that the bands playing are exactly punk rock. Phoenix band Nobility Obliged and Cali-based Bird by Bird are more indie, and…
Plenty of former punk and hardcore icons have traded in their volume, crunch, and at least some of their onstage aggression in recent years for new directions as folk-leaning singer-songwriters. Look at 7 Seconds’ Kevin Seconds, Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan, Gorilla Biscuits’ Walter Schreifels, etc. But if you poke…
To put it into perspective, Abe Vigoda the actor was born before the invention of the electric blender, Band-Aids (probably useful for that early electric blender development), and flash-frozen food technology, not to mention the discovery of penicillin. Dude’s been around a loooong time. It’s impossible to say right now…
When a guy like Martin Scorsese likes your music enough to release a best-of compilation of your music as part of his Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues series, you have to feel pretty good about yourself. Especially when you consider that some of the other artists included in the series…
There’s an easy way to distinguish between “alternative metal” and regular, old-timey heavy metal. Critics and rock anatomists will tell you about “time signatures” and “syncopation,” but the lyrics offer a more rewarding contrast. For example, instead of instructing the head-banging masses to “Pour some sugar on me,” an alternative-metal…
