At the end of 2007, Against Me!’s album New Wave was one of the most acclaimed albums of the year: number one on Spin’s list, number five on Blender’s, nine in Rolling Stone, 21 in the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll. This year, the band’s newest album, White Crosses,…
Despite what national news or teen dramas might suggest, Los Angeles and Phoenix aren’t so different. Sure, L.A. has an ocean, but it also has massive shopping centers, myriad freeways, and 80-degree Januarys. So with two Los Angeles bands — Abe Vigoda and No Age — venturing onto Phoenix’s turf…
With Kings Of Leon and Kanye West as headliners, I understand that some may choose to read that headline with a different meaning.However, what I mean to say is that festival passes are very, very close to selling out for the 2011 edition of Coachella. UPDATE: Coachella 2011 is officially…
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. When will “The Morning Mayor” Dave Pratt be back on the air? What happens when you…
They might be loathe to admit it, but members of the Valley’s hipster DJ community owe a debt of gratitude to William Fucking Reed. His highly popular weekly indie dance party Shake! (which rocked The Rogue for five years straight from 2004 to 2009) also proved to be highly influential…
Some bad news out of Australia last night (or this morning or whenever)…While he was playing his final song of the night, Jimmy Buffett fell off of the front edge of the stage, TMZ reports.The 64-year old singer/partier was apparently blinded by a flash of lights while performing his last…
Song: Giant Sand, “Ride The Rail”Context: Howe Gelb’s legendary Tucson band Giant Sand — where Joey Burns started before forming Calexico — has scheduled a date at Tucson’s gorgeous Rialto Theatre. It’s next Saturday, actually, which would make for a nice little roadtrip. This track, “Ride The Rail” is off…
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas has been named the creative director of innovation, according to Billboard.He’ll be giving input on the development of a variety of products made by Intel Corp. The head of marketing at Intel said that the company is trying to tie entertainment and technology together…
Yesterday I kinda bagged on the “celebrities” committed to playing in this year’s version of the annual Jack in the Box Celebrity Shootout at US Airways Center.Today organizers added another big name. The Good News: The name is big. REALLY big. Pretty much everyone who cares even a little about…
Song: The Get Up Kids, “Keith Case”Context: The Get Up Kids will be at Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe tonight in support of their just-released new record, There Are Rules. This track is from that album. 02 Keith Case by The Get Up Kids…
Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum will host a two day celebration of hip-hop on February 5 and 6. A performance by local turntableist DJ Radar, backed by a three-piece band, a screening of the documentary From Mambo to Hip-Hop: A South Bronx Tale and live performances from painters and dancers are…
While Stewart has some iconic songs to his name — “Maggie May” and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” to name a couple — yet it’s his 1984 masterpiece “Infatuation” that might just be his best. A criminally under-appreciated, vaguely stalker-y tune, “Infatuation” features perhaps Stewart’s best music video. If we can’t…
What does Dan Bejar do for an encore?At this point in his long, celebrated career, there’s not much he can do. Today marks the release of his ninth LP, Kaputt, under his Destroyer moniker. Tha Vancouver singer-songwriter and New Pornographer has been churning out albums since 1996, yet Kaputt is…
Dreams do come true. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, thrash metal’s legendary “Big Four,” have just announced a lone U.S. concert on Saturday, April 23 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 28.Despite their status as the godfathers of the thrash metal…
After Up On The Sun broke the news about legendary Valley broadcaster Dave Pratt making an imminent return to radio Sunday he took to his blog on AZCentral to confirm, promising “Full details on our new show with the Republic/azcentral’s Larry Rodgers coming soon.”It’s great to see ol’ Larry Rodgers,…
Diplo says noise pop duo Sleigh Bells have been hitting the studio with Beyonce, according to NME.The producer recently blogged about being in the studio together with the three musicians. Sleigh Bells’ album Treats was played for the good people who work for Beyonce, and now they’re working on some…
Frankie Muniz, the former child actor who currently drums for one of Phoenix’s most, ummm, band-like bands, You Hang Up, will be playing in a charity hoops event at US Airways Center this weekend.Actually, Agent Cody Banks won’t be the only musician in the house for the 10th Annual Jack…
Song: Nirvana, “Polly” (Remix)Context: This one goes out to “Big” Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Congrats on making it to the Super Bowl, guys… Nothing makes the rubes in Pittsburgh forget sexual assault allegations like a few big wins. Nirvana-polly by breakbeatfunk…
The Mill Avenue scene has always been well-lubricated — more boozy than arty, with happy hour deals and/or long lines of girls in heels, depending on the spot.The Fixx aims to change that. The new all-ages coffee house/venue at 15 E. 7th Street, behind Jack In The Box, will officially…
Can somebody please tell me why the hell Justin Bieber is the new face of nail polish? Seriously, what has the world come to?According to Just Jared Jr., J. Biebs has teamed up with Nicole by OPI to make the One Less Lonely Girl Collection because “nail polish really makes…
Blink-182 drummer/plane crash survivor Travis Barker is set to release a solo album on March 15, according to Consequence of Sound.Turns out he won’t exactly be doing the project by himself, though. After Travis made some announcements about the album via Twitter without the knowledge of Interscope, his label decided…
Legendary Phoenix broadcaster Dave Pratt — the “Morning Mayor” of Phoenix who built KUPD into a powerhouse in the 80s before working at a string of other big FM stations — says his return to radio is imminent.Pratt was bounced off the airwaves at KMLE, one of the Valley’s twin…
