It’s been a while since I’ve written about musical duo Snail Quail, but my goodness are they enjoyable. They write fun songs about goofy topics, which kind of makes them the Flight of the Conchords of Phoenix (and who doesn’t miss FotC? HBO Sundays just aren’t the same without them). This week…
Jim Adkins The singer and guitarist for Jimmy Eat World is playing Tempe Beach Park Friday, September 30 as part of Fall Frenzy. It will be the last show of the band’s year-plus long tour supporting their album, Invented. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the…
The last Twilight movie will be released soon and only one episode remains in the fourth season of True Blood. But don’t think the vampire craze is on the decline — MTV recently launched Death Valley, which looks like a campy cross between Reno 911! and Zombieland. How much longer…
Manu Chao has announced a free concert in support of Alto Arizona. The concert, hosted in collaboration with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Alto Arizona, is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, September 21, at West Grant and S. 2nd Avenue, right across the street from El Portal…
Isabelle “Bella” Vise is a simple lady. The 100-year-old from Torquay, England led an equally simple life — well, simple for the time period in which came up. IAMWE drummer Josh Carlson met Bella while volunteering at a hospice. The two quickly became unexpected friends, and Carlson told his bandmates…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are the best songs with whistling? What does Super Stereo thing about being featured on…
This week, Christina Caldwell brings us the story of iamwe, a Phoenix-based indie rock band. The band’s forthcoming record She’s a Soldier tells the tale of a 100-year-old Englishwoman. “We’re all fighting our own personal wars,” the band says. Anthrax members Joey Belladona and Charlie Belante discuss the band’s killer…
One hundred years ago, a girl named Bella was born in rural England. There was nothing extraordinary about her life. She lived as thousands did in those days — struggling from day to day, living through wars, both internal and external. It sounds like the beginning of a cliché storybook…
Conventional wisdom teaches us that hipsters love to pretend they are ahead of the curve. They shun “the mainstream,” riding fixed gear bicycles to Whole Foods to buy organic produce, before pedaling their vintage-style Pumas to concerts by bands you’ve never heard of. So why do hipsters love Foster the…
Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante is a heavy hitter, but he knows a thing or two about putting things delicately. “It took a long time to finish,” he says about Worship Music, the first Anthrax album since 2003’s We’ve Come for You All, and the first to feature vocalist Joey Belladona…
Are you ready to GOD!? Valley private Christian college Grand Canyon University is ready to get its worship on with a little help from a few of music’s biggest faith-based acts…
Either way, it’s time for them to accept the fact that Rome is their lead singer these days. Rome, Eric and Bud are basically still up to Sublime’s old tricks though. You’ll get the same old greatest hits plus some of Sublime With Rome’s new material, which isn’t too shabby.Joining…
Neon Trees are neither neon nor trees. What they are is a band; a band that rocked the hell out of Marquee Theatre over the weekend. See Neon Tress along with Iamwe, and local boys Peachcake in this slideshow from the concert…
We were pretty sure it was legit when we blogged about it last week, but now it’s totally confirmed: The Moz is headed to Phoenix, scheduled to play the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, November 20 courtesy of Luckyman Online…
If you go to local shows on a somewhat regular basis, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Dry River Yacht Club perform at one point. If not, this eclectic eight-person band is worth checking out. French horn, accordion, violins, and bassoon come together to create a gypsy-inspired sound tied together…
Remember when April Ludgate-Dwyer (played by Aubrey Plaza) of NBC’s Parks and Recreation said that her favorite band was Neutral Milk Hotel in an episode last season? That ruled. It was surreal hearing that particular band name dropped on network television — NMH isn’t your garden variety hip reference. The…
For being an independent artist based in the Valley, electro pop musician Jonathan Sakas has built up one of the most professional-looking video repertoires of his peers. Every clip looks MTV-worthy, and the newest ones for his tracks, “Move” and “Home” are no exceptions.Plus, he always seems to have really…
Matty Steinkamp Steinkamp is the president and founder of Sundawg Records and Sundawg Media. He invites you to Gumptionfest in Sedona Friday, September 16 through Sunday, September 18. Sundawg labelmates and Valley bands A Life of Science and The Wiley One are playing. For more info, go here. When you…
DJ Kyko keeps it on the level. The Latin DJ holds two residencies at clubs in the Valley. Not that it’s going to his head. His down-to-Earth perspective makes him a man of few words, and maybe that’s a good thing. He’s all action, little talk.We talk beginnings, vintage vinyl…
Keeping Up with the Kardashians may be one of the most vapid, superficial, painfully annoying shows on television right now, but this Sunday night’s new episode on E! actually has one redeeming quality to the vomit-inducing drivel — local “future pop” band Super Stereo will have three songs featured on…
When Cactus Chainsaw’s singer said the band’s list of influences was possibly a higher number than his criminal record charges, I took it with a grain of salt (courtesy of a cheap tequila shot). But within the first 20 seconds of listening to their music, I could hear the band’s…
It was only yesterday that I was sharing the news of Smiths-related activity in Phoenix, including former-Smiths bassist Andy Rourke’s DJ set at Bar Smith this Friday, and the upcoming performance by Los Esmiths, Calexico, California’s premier Smiths tribute band, at Rips Ales and Cocktails. But it looks like I…
