The members of local rig-rock trio Flathead are beaming. Guitarist Greg Swanholm and drummer Vince Ramirez grin profusely and chide each other as they hurriedly load equipment into the back of a car parked behind the Bash on Ash in Tempe. Even bassist Kevin Daly, a 20-year veteran of various…
Last month’s closure of Tempe’s Balboa Café was yet another damaging blow to a local music scene suffering from a dearth of venues with progressive booking policies. Over the past year, the club had hosted an array of eclectic shows, ranging from weirdo New Wave legend Jonathan Richman and California…
Some weeks ago, Modified owner and The Half Visconte front man Scott Tennent fired off a fax to Bash & Pop. Along with an announcement of upcoming concert dates for his downtown club, the mild-mannered singer/songwriter also jotted down his group’s summer itinerary. There was none of the usual, “Hey,…
Local rap-metal combo Bionic Jive was all set to play a high-profile showcase at New York’s CBGB on May 29. It was supposed to have been the group’s big break, as the proposed gig would’ve boasted an audience filled with record-label suits and A&R types from nearly a dozen companies…
As Bash & Pop reported last week, members of the Phoenix rap combo Underground Empire and a related side project, The Ten Commandments, were scheduled to perform at a postconcert party in Philadelphia on May 20 hosted by Jay-Z and Da Brat. Sadly, the gig was canceled after one of…
A call or package from local DJ/archivist Johnny Dixon is usually cause for celebration. The noted Arizona musicologist has an encyclopedic knowledge of the state’s rich musical heritage and an ear for the obscure. While Dixon is usually touting the unknown, the most recent project he’s connected with is a…
Tara Hitchcock, host of Channel 3’s Good Morning Arizona, probably had no idea what she was getting into. It was just supposed to be another band doing another in-studio promotion. But the group in question was the Zen Lunatics. Members of the always eccentric power-pop quartet decided to turn their…
Bless his heart, but Robin Wilson is a strange guy. It’s not just the Gas Giants front man’s manner of speaking — a tone that has the slickness of a used-car salesman and the perpetual chipperness of a TV weatherman — or his conversation — an unrelenting jackhammer of self-promotion…
Like many roots-oriented idioms, the parameters of what is considered “true” reggae music are often dictated by stringent dogma. It’s a sort of musical fascism that frequently ostracizes bands that don’t toe the strict ganja party line. Unfortunately, such narrow dictates usually result in groups that either come off like…
“I’m not really that sick,” says Bruce Connole, coughing as he shuffles through his east-side apartment. While the singer was forced to cancel a recent gig with his bluegrass side project, the Pearl Chuckers, because of a cold, the spring sniffles have been the last thing on the mind of…
Local-music fans had a big surprise awaiting them on April Fools’ weekend at Nita’s Hideaway. The club, located in the heart of Tempe’s industrial district, played host to a Friday/Saturday outdoor double bill featuring Mesa indie rockers Jimmy Eat World and Okie-psych-pop legends the Flaming Lips. While both shows were…
There’s a full slate of news and shows worth mentioning this week, and it starts with word of the impending release of No Sense in Runnin’, the debut from local postpunk twangers Truckers on Speed. The group, which recently changed its named from Shoeless Joe, spent the better part of…
Long before becoming a Hollywood lothario and Dreamworks Records executive, Robbie Robertson was rock ‘n’ roll hipster, Dylan confidante and guitarist for The Band. Those familiar with Mr. Robertson will also remember his turn as a pouty philosopher and unmitigated ham in director Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz — a…
There is an inherent irony in traveling a thousand miles to the world’s biggest musical festival, an internationally renowned event featuring acts from far and wide, and spending the bulk of your trip watching bands from your hometown. As the IRS can attest (after getting my 1999 return claiming $13,000…
Shamsi Ruhe, vocalist for long-lamented Tempe alt-rockers One, has spent much of the new year basking in the attentive glow of several record labels. Ruhe is reportedly in final negotiations with Palm Records, an imprint of Rykodisc. The eclectic chanteuse has been living in New York for the last few…
Can we talk? I’m almost a year into my tenure as music editor, and I feel a long-overdue clarification session is in order. The inspiration for this little heart-to-heart is the overwhelming response to my most recent column. Only a few hours after last week’s issue hit the streets, my…
The mailbag brings many things, some good, lots bad, but few things that can generate the weird mix of raging apathy that Dichromatic, the sophomore effort from Tempe’s Surf Ballistics, managed to elicit. The press kit for the self-described “high energy rock” combo — and, fair warning, there is nary…
A 2 Live Crew show was the last place Windigo front man Matt Strangeways expected to spend his Valentine’s Day. On a day that’s supposed to be filled with hearts and flowers, Strangeways’ mood couldn’t have been blacker. It wasn’t a girl that Strangeways was pining over, but rather the…
It’s late Friday evening. The reassuring suburban quiet of this south Tempe neighborhood is broken by the noise emanating from the garage at the end of the street. Yet it’s not the shambolic strains of “garage rock,” but an ornate, almost lush sound. Inside, the space is sparsely decorated. There…
It’s hard for even the most jaded and cynical of critics not to occasionally be swayed by the enthusiasm and personal charm of the artists we encounter. Such is the case with singer Mark Norman. It’s difficult to pin down exactly why he engenders such goodwill. It could be Norman’s…
Plopped into a sagging couch and framed against a wall full of signed concert fliers, DJ Radar isn’t quite the figure most would expect. Clad in baggy jeans and a sunken Kangol, the youthful, soft-spoken turntablist is a surprising study in contrast. His understated style belies an onstage persona that…
Paging through a recent issue of Rolling Stone (something we do frequently in the office when in need of a good laugh), we came upon the magazine’s annual music awards. The Rolling Stone Readers Poll, never a barometer of good taste or intelligence, was especially appalling this year as it…
