By Steve Jansen Full disclosure: A contributor to this blog is currently in a relationship with a member of Miniature Tigers. Just received word this morning that the new Miniature Tigers music video was just added to MySpaceTV Videos today. The featured tune, “Cannibal Queen,” is most definitely one of…
By the ripe old age of 7, Opeth leader Mikael Åkerfeldt already considered himself a metalhead. So the disappointment he felt when his grandmother gave him a classical guitar at that age seemed only natural. Like many an aspiring headbanger, Åkerfeldt pined to rock out with screaming, amplified distortion. “I…
Experimental indie-rock quartet Portugal. The Man — which alternates rocking hard, bluesy, and soulful, like an unhinged Zeppelin, and getting mellow and chamber-poppy with strings, brass, and organs — is led by singer-guitarist and chief songwriter John Gourley, who hails from Wasilla, a small town in southeastern Alaska not far…
In an early scene from one of our cinematic treasures, 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Phoebe Cates’ character “Linda” points out, “There are three girls at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look,” before the camera hones in on three chicks with striped shirts, tights, spiky hair, heels,…
Few musicians polarize critics like Neil Diamond, but love him or hate him, you can’t deny his ability to write unforgettable pop numbers. Just consider how many of Diamond’s songs have become standards and then, as covers, became standards again. While trying to catalog such a list, we discovered a…
By Jonathan McNamara Fans of the Twilight Series likely have this track on heavy rotation on their iPods, but we mere mortals might be interested to know that the song “Decode” by Paramore from the upcoming film adaptation of Twilight is currently available for a listen on Stephenie Meyer’s Web…
You have only weeks to make Antique Scream your favorite local band. That’s right, a band you sometimes could’ve seen three nights a week on Valley stages, a band used to peering out from those stages to see a “bartender’s only” show then playing their asses off anyway, a band…
Henry Rollins says he is down on bended knee, begging you — to vote. It may be hard to imagine Rollins — muscle-bound, sweaty, tattooed — begging, with his furrowed-brow intensity, for anything. But he’s known for being a man of a thousand media, showing he’ll get his point across…
This week, Panic at the Disco hits town with the Rock Band Live Tour. Some music journalists might jump at the opportunity to interview the dance-punk band, but I’ve already had my chance, and the experience proved to so unpleasant that I just couldn’t bother again. Even for good money…
By Thomas Bond U2 “Under a Blood Red Sky” and “Live at Red Rocks” CD and DVD deluxe edition (Universal) With the U2 deluxe edition CD reissue campaign underway in earnest, this eight-song live EP and concert DVD may seem just a small weigh station between landmark albums such as…
This week, we present “Byrne After Reading,” our new advice column by musician/artist (and former Talking Heads frontman) David Byrne. Dear David: I am a singer who used to be in a popular and highly influential ’80s band until we broke up because we all hated each other. Since then,…
Mickey Avalon (11:30 a.m. on the main stage): It’s not unfair to call Mickey Avalon the male Peaches. They both started their adult life innocently before turning to the shock-rap game: Peaches was an elementary school teacher, Avalon was a bearded Orthodox Jew. Now, they both make a living plopping…
As a Croatian-American electro-funk DJ with a powerful thirst for liquor and trouble, I knew I’d like Gogol Bordello from the moment I heard about the group. The act’s pulsing Mediterranean sound and sljivovica-drenched stage presence have found eager listeners from around the globe. Gogol centers on frontman Eugene Hütz…
Planning to party at Dos Gringos in Tempe this weekend? Watch where you park, lest you leave the club to find an empty slab of asphalt where your car used to be. Starting on Thursday nights, local towing companies have been having a heyday hauling vehicles from unauthorized parking spaces. The weekend of September 12-14, more than 40 vehicles were towed from the area. In many cases, clubgoers didn’t realize they were parking in tow-away zones, and were shocked when they had to shell out upwards of $140 each to retrieve their vehicles.
The new and improved Silver Martini & Wine Bar in downtown Phoenix. By Benjamin Leatherman Here’s some good news for local clubgoers: After a long, hot summer of being closed down, popular downtown nightspots Silver Martini & Wine Bar and Sky Lounge both re-opened to the public within the last…
By Steve Jansen Want more JJCNV? Check them out on a recently-released 7-inch record. Just-Released Records: In the past week, my turntable has been on constant rotation due to vinyl releases by a number of local bands. One is the four-way, two-7” split featuring hard rockers Skinwalkers, polka freakout trio…
On a sweltering Friday night in mid-July, an experimental punk band called Janis Joplin Crap N Vomit takes the stage at Club Red in Tempe, looking like a trio of misfit superheroes. Singer and guitarist Dana Stern dons a sailor’s cap and a red, white, and blue face mask that…
The biggest problem with biopics is that the longer and more impressive the career that’s documented, the greater the number of milestone events that need to be crammed into a two-hour storyline. Shwayze does not have that problem. Their exploits unfold on the small screen, where there’s plenty of tape…
By Jonathan McNamara If you thought the zany antics of JJCNV could be confined to merely a print medium, you were wrong. Now that you’ve read this week’s cover story, experience these crazy kooks for yourself courtesy of a little video action and a “Behind the Cover” slideshow. Catch more…
The Black Crowes concert, scheduled to take place at Mesa Arts Center tonight (Tuesday, September 16) has been postponed due to illness. Promoter Live Nation will announce a rescheduled date soon, and tickets for tonight’s concert will be honored for the new date.
By Jonathan McNamara Daniel M. Davis and his family enjoy a three hour commute across the busy Arizona highways each traffic-battling day after car crash-avoiding day. It’s enough to make you go crazy or in Davis’ case, start a Web comic. Daniel M. Davis Monster Commute chronicles the misadventures of…
By Jonathan McNamara For fans it got harder and harder to breathe when Maroon 5 and Counting Crows took to the stage on September 10, 2008. Photos by Luke Holwerda Check out this slideshow of shots from the concert last night…
