I’ve got no shortage of reasons to despise Watchout! Theres Ghosts, and perhaps it’s a mark of my growing pettiness that their music is pretty low on my list. Near the top of the list is the fact that they are willing to toss an exclamation mark after “watchout,” but…
Talentless poseurs? Hardly. In fact, these Vegas-based Prince and the Revolution impersonators are exquisite poseurs — a tribute band so meticulous and lovingly choreographed that they rated an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, where effete sidekick/bandleader/dude Paul Shaffer deemed their performance “fabulous.” Unquestionably, the source of the band’s…
It makes sense that Stephen Lynch grew up to be America’s most unconventional young recording star. After all, when a guy’s father and mother are an ex-priest and ex-nun, respectively, it should surprise no one when he takes an enormous shit on convention. To clarify: Lynch is a musician who…
Though the electronic indie rockers have long since ditched the Valley of the Sun for the Big Apple (via the Lone Star State) local music fans still hold Lymbyc System in high regard. And they should, as the duo, comprising brothers Mike and Jared Bell, have collaborated with Her Space…
Back in the ’90s, Alabama-bred Auguste Arthur Bondy went by the name Scott Bondy, and he fronted a hard-charging alt-rock trio called Verbena. They sounded so much like Nirvana that Dave Grohl — who produced the band’s 1999 major label debut, Into the Pink — probably had such intense flashbacks…
In case you aren’t up on the latest scenester gossip, here’s a juicy tidbit: William Fucking Reed is ditching the Valley for New York City in April. But before he changes his mailing address from the PHX to the NYC, the 32-year-old plans on working his local DJ gigs up…
The last time we were at Monkey Pants, it was a weird sports bar with enormous televisions, fluorescent lighting and carpeted flooring.My, how things have changed.We’ve been hearing favorable things about the little bar (that, incidentally, shares the same strip as hipster favorite, the Time Out Lounge) so we figured…
There’s nothing duller than a “retro” band. You know the type: decked out in the fashions of some bygone era, carefully assembling each song into a pastiche of genre signifiers, purposefully oblivious to outside influences that could spoil the illusion of their just having stumbled out of a time machine…
Say what you will about Roger Clyne’s talents (which are substantial), when it comes to instigating a party, the native Arizonan is skilled. The stories surrounding the raucous Refreshments shows he was a part of back during the Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy days have been trumped by the kind…
The imaginative mind of Cornelius F. Van Stafrin III would certainly make for an interesting place to visit. It’s likely littered with as many eccentricities and curiosities as the experimental noise “songs” that the oddly named artist creates. Made with objects and instruments as disparate as scrap metal and violins,…
When bassist Kyle Rose Stokes joined The Love Me Nots, a Phoenix-based garage act, last May, it meant more than simply acquainting herself with the band’s cache of high-energy surf-rock stompers — it meant submitting herself to a full-on, Sally Jessy Raphael-style extreme makeover. “In my natural state, I’m a…
Still feeling the brutal, toxic side effects of New Year’s Eve? There’s only one antidote for your suffering: punk rock! In all, five bands composed primarily of angry-sounding, undernourished-looking young men will rock Scottsdale’s The Rogue, including local acts Sharp Sticks, Die Like Dogs, and Good Men. A fourth Valley…
Just because the notorious underground venue Rasputin’s Equestrian Manor went kaput, that doesn’t mean clandestine wingdings at Valley mansions are gonna stop anytime soon. In fact, the beat jugglers and party instigators of Warsaw Pact Entertainment will hold their annual off-the-radar (and off-the-hook) Epic Red Cup Massive New Year’s Eve…
When throwing oneself a birthday party, you can’t go wrong with a Hulkster theme (of course, having 20-ish DJs, live art, a bike expo and a secret downtown location don’t hurt either). Ali Karim and crew put their party planning skills to the test this Saturday, and passed with flying…
To paraphrase legendary professional wrestler Hulk Hogan: Watcha gonna do, brotha, when an energy drink company wants to support a dance party put on by you? Such is the situation with DJ Bigie, who claims a certain local beverage company (we ain’t naming names) supplied him with several large posters…
Wayne Coats and Nicholas Villa are Phoenix-based musical confederates whose surnames happen to sound really classy together — suggesting, perhaps, a high-end home furnishings boutique or a Jean Renoir flick. As it turns out, they make damn handsome music, too. The pair, which once formed half of the Mesa-based folk…
Let’s hear it for gender diversity in the workplace. After tearing up Valley gin joints for the better part of two decades in mainly all-female bands, blueswomen Rochelle Raya and Nancy Dalessandro have relaxed their ladies-only policy and launched a new group with some help from the less-fair sex. Not…
So even if your grandma didn’t get you an awesome new sweater for Christmas just begging to be shown off downtown, there are still plenty of reasons to drag your butt to Trunk Space Fest. Namely, reunion sets from some of the scene’s most sorely missed acts, like Shizz founder…
Until Sufjan Stevens gives California his “Fifty States Project” treatment, we’ve got Your Yellow Dress, a gentle indie-folk outfit that waxes wistful and nostalgic about the people and places of its native Orange County. The band centers around Alex Poska — who sings of SoCal coastlines, streets, childhood memories, and…
We remember a day when Dos Gringos was this stinky little patio on University in Tempe where the just-turned-21 crowd would day drink instead of going to class.These days, Dos Gringos has come a long way. With four locations in town, there’s always a Dos Gringos patio just down the…
I usually try to leave anything semi-art related to Arty Girl, but I this flier for a show at Trunk Space by Allison Karow, which also features music from The Glowchids, really caught my eye. I can’t vouch for Karow’s work (our print edition ran this on her) but I…
We’re thinking there probably won’t be too many presents waiting under the Christmas trees of the members of Vayden. It’s not because the Tempe/L.A. alt-rock foursome (whose members split time betwixt the two cities) has been particularly naughty, per se, but rather because Santa already has been handing them plenty…
