When she traveled to Austin last November to make a guest appearance on Willie Nelson’s new album, Milk Cow Blues, veteran Phoenix diva Francine Reed expected only to contribute vocals to the title track. But things got interesting after she and Nelson wrapped up their languid reworking of the 1934…
It’s fall once again, and that means the Arizona State Fair will get into full swing shortly. This year’s lineup of musical performers is enough to make us think your time at the fair would be better spent blowing chunks on the Tilt-a-Whirl.Granted, there are a couple of decent shows…
It’s late April, well after midnight, and there’s something strange going on at the Arizona Roadhouse. The pleasant, somewhat upscale Tempe brewery is in a state of near chaos. Walking in, your gaze naturally turns toward the stage. The first thing you notice is the indelible image of a cream-colored…
“Musicality” — and all that the term implies — has long been the most misunderstood and undervalued element of punk rock. It’s the kind of thing that so-called “real” punks have frowned upon ever since Glen Matlock was drummed out of the Sex Pistols for being too fond of the…
“Novel” is a word rarely used to describe bands in the Valley music scene. And while, strictly speaking, The Weaker Sex is not a “novelty act,” it boasts a membership that’s already raising curious eyebrows around town. Led by longtime local rockabilly kitten Ruth Wilson, The Weaker Sex is an…
With new stuff on the way from Chicken, Truckers on Speed, the Pistoleros, the Piersons and Big Blue Couch, the remainder of this year offers no shortage of highly anticipated local roots and rock releases. Before the aforementioned fall/winter platters hit, we’ll get a couple of offerings from Dave Insley…
I’m gonna take out my eyes and wash them clean/Filling them in the decay/Removing all the debris, because the world I’d like to see is not behind, beside, below, above or in front of me. — Mike Matteson Mike Matteson was eagerly awaiting his upcoming performance at the Green Room…
If you were to judge the online music revolution based solely on the MP3.com charts, you’d have to conclude that most folks sitting at their computers were either DJs looking to download beats for their sets, or obsessive and potentially dangerous “Weird Al” Yankovic fans. What else could possibly account…
When the Grammys — notoriously the most staid of all the entertainment awards (remember Jethro Tull beating out Metallica as outstanding heavy metal band back in ’89?) — puts its stamp of approval on a growing genre, chances are it’s already reached the point of critical mass. Such is the…
Indie rock kids have it good. Seeing them hang around the local record store or coffee joint, we look on with no small amount of jealousy. Clutching a copy of the latest vinyl score or rifling through obscure black-and-white ‘zines, they seem blissfully unaware of the horrors that rage around…
No one has ever accused Marc Norman of being a bad-ass. Maybe of being a dead ringer for Peter Brady or Donny Osmond, but never of acting like the kind of rock ‘n’ roll animal that would throw fear into the hearts of standards-wary TV producers. But the curly coifed…
Late news this week that Phoenix’s preeminent roots venue, the Rhythm Room, will be closing its doors in the next few months. Promoter/co-owner Bob Corritore says he and fellow Rhythm Room boss Kenny Cahill just received the word from leaseholders that they would have to vacate their central Phoenix digs…
If you sense a theme in this week’s music section, it’s unintentional, though not entirely unexpected. As Robert Wilonsky points out in his piece (“Flanagan’s Wake”), the world of major record labels — the established music industry as a whole — is in a state of flux, even decline. That,…
This summer’s Musicmaker.com-sponsored twin tour — by a Jimmy Page-led Black Crowes and modfathers The Who (hitting Blockbuster Desert Sky on August 13 and 14, respectively) — is for most observers an uneasy mix of nostalgia and commerce. Certainly neither effort can be regarded as much more than a kind…
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…
