The best thing about a band that classifies itself as a blend of death metal, progressive house, and Christian rap is finding out that they’re fucking with you. It’s a great way to endear yourself to a listener, as the King Khan & BBQ show do on their MySpace page…
You would be forgiven if you assumed that Powerman 5000 was a protein-rich meal-replacement shake or the name of a roughly three-mile charity race benefiting lupus sufferers. But you’d be wrong. It is, in fact, the 15-year-old industrial metal band fronted by Rob Zombie’s real-life kid brother, Spider One (a.k.a…
“Like a Disney ride, but with murder.” That’s how frontman/creator Brendon Small describes the “virtual” live show he puts on in the guise of Dethklok, the animated heavy metal quintet whose comic misadventures and skull-blasting power-chords form the basis of the cult series Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. Small “performs” as…
All Leather is piercing, menacing, and in your face. Envelope-pushing rocker Justin Pearson of The Locust teams up with Nathan Joyner from Some Girls and Jung Sing of the Mexican laser-punk band Maniqui Lazer, to produce the loud, chaotic dance party that recently signed to Dim Mak Records. The California…
Many a fashionable tear was shed when bygone hotspot Glam died a premature death in June 2008 and, thus, brought an end to Jared Alan’s explosively popular fauxShow Friday Night. Since that dark day, the hunky hipster DJ started a new joint (Cheap Thrills) but continued to search for a…
Getting a shitload of band names on a single flier without said flier looking like a total clusterfuck is always a challenge. So this week we honor Modified Arts for managing to make the poster for their three-day music fest this weekend look pretty damned good. And, as we’re counting…
Band: The Plump Tones, a Prog-leaning Classic rock type band from Chandler. Record: Brown Chicken Brown Cow album Basics: The Plump Tones sound like what they look like: A gang o’ weekend warriors playing some funky, often-instrumental jams. They’re competent but not fully gelled and seem more interested in rocking…
We were inspired by our Food Critic’s blog about Oysters and Bloody Marys a couple weeks ago so we scraped together some fellow boozers and headed down to Casey Moore’s on Sunday, November 8th to absorb a little sun (and a little alcohol).Of course, we weren’t alone (just look at…
The Blaze is, according to our Best of Phoenix issue, the station of choice for those jonesing to hear what’s happening in local music. Here’s the chart documenting what ASU’s Original Alternative played over the past week.1. Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band2. Arctic Monkeys – Humbug3. Grand Archives -…
Doug Bale does some cool stuff. The singer-songwriter (here billing his title above his name) not only has a great mid-fi sound that sorta reminds me of Matthew Sweet (check out his stuff below), he’s got a cool web site and some super cool art work. It all works together…
Just because he’s no longer putting on Shake!, hipster king William Fucking Reed is not about to spend his weekend fucking nights sipping Chablis in his swank bachelor pad. Nope, the 32-year-old is gonna be busier than ever, as he’s not only joining forces with Jared Alan and Sean Watson…
Since The Format went on hiatus a few years ago, the once unconquerable Peoria duo — Nate Ruess and Sam Means — have gone their separate ways. Means, who still pops up at the occasional local show, recently released his soundtrack to The Sinking of Santa Isabel, an indie comedy…
Old hardcore rockers don’t die — they just learn to play “This Land is Your Land.” At least, that seems to be the operating principle behind this newly annual roots-rock hootenanny. Only Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music is back from the last year’s maiden Revival Tour, but the format…
It’s been nearly eight years since The Used released their self-titled debut, which put them on the rock music map and helped create the screamo genre. The disc spawned four catchy singles: “The Taste of Ink,” “A Box Full of Sharp Objects,” “Buried Myself Alive,” and “Blue and Yellow.” And…
Frontman? Frontman?! This proggy instrumental-metal outfit doesn’t need no stinking frontman. On Geneva, their third full-length album, the Chicago-based trio proves fully capable of creating scintillating song narratives simply by shredding their asses off. From guitarist Mike Sullivan’s ominous, beast-summoning strikes on “Fathom” to the empty-desert bleakness of Brian Cook’s…
As if making an appearance on MTV’s The Hills and taking the female stars on a date wasn’t impressive enough, The White Tie Affair vocalist Chris Wallace floored us with his acoustic rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” on the band’s Web site. Okay, so the whole Hills thing was a…
Band: A House Divided, a Phoenix-based four-piece alt-rock band that sounds like the recently re-united Creed. Record: A House Divided EP Basics: I suspect being compared to Creed will be seen as damning A House Divided with faint praise — and I sorta mean it to — but this band…
Can we ever get enough of Halloween?We obviously don’t think so. And while New Times has certainly posted our fair share of Halloween slideshows, we can’t deny Club Candids the right.Yucca Tap Room has long proven to be one of our favorite places to hit on Halloween night and we…
Here’s what’s been flying off the shelves at Stinkweeds, the local record shop named Phoenix’s “Best Place to Buy CDs.” Let the coolness seep in and discover some fresh albums.Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of DependenceFlaming Lips – EmbryonicBroadcast & The Focus Group – Investigate Witch Calls Of The Radio…
The When In AZ train is still rolling, and that’s a good thing. The Arizona-bands-covering-Arizona-bands compilation I wrote about a couple months ago (no word on whether any of the shit-talking headliners have ever googled “When In AZ” to read what this erstwhile “Phoenix-hater” has written on the subject) just…
Change is in the air for the monthly freakfests held by Sadisco*, as the cadre of dance-music demons are switching things over to a biannual format after this weekend. (Don’t fret, party monsters, the dope DJ collective will still be presenting the annual Fight Club Sadisco* in January.) But before…
Don’t let the name Melt-Banana Lite fool you. Even if they tried to interpret Ella Fitzgerald standards or the latest ditty by Richard Marx, it would still be wrecked. The forever-touring Japanese noise-rock band, which last posted up in the Phoenix area in December 2007, will bring a slightly modified…
