A symphonic heavy metal concept double album about Nostradamus may not rank among such conceptual classics as Pink Floyd’s The Wall, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, or the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but when the band making Nostradamus…
I recently had the chance to speak with Halford about the Metal Masters Tour, the new Judas Priest album, and his favorite things about Phoenix. You can read about the former two things in the music section of this week’s issue (“Seer Review,” August 28, 2008), but we saved the desert dishing for this blog.
The Phoenix New Times Summer of Sound series was a success again this year, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our marketing department and some of the finest local bands in town. It’s been a long, hot summer, but we finally got through all seven shows in seven genres over the course of 15 weeks. Just like last year, we had audience members at each show vote for their favorite band. But unlike last year, we didn’t announce the results at the end of each night, choosing instead to announce all winners at the awards show last night at Big Fish Pub in Tempe.
This week’s review is the “long lost, almost forgotten debut EP” from Valley rapper Rashenal.
On a recent, rainy weekend trip through northern Arizona, I cooled my heels in the tasting room at Page Springs Cellars, where new releases from Maynard James Keenan’s Caduceus Cellars are available for tastings and purchase.
Here are some upcoming shows that were just announced this week.
The City of Phoenix has shut down all pool party events on the rooftop patio of the Hotel San Carlos. The reason? According to the fire marshal, maximum capacity on the third floor rooftop patio of the hotel is 40 people. And Star Swim was drawing hundreds.
In a parallel universe that gets everything wrong, Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover would be capping the Melvins’ first quarter-century mulling over whether to wear tuxes or L.A. Dodgers jerseys to their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Melvins albums would’ve become progressively slicker and more pedestrian over…
Here are two situations you have probably found yourself in if you (a) have a penis, and (b) are/were not in a fraternity: Number one: While at a friend’s generally lame party (he just played Journey), you meet a girl who looks as bored as you. She’s beautiful, and that…
This week’s “Flier of the Week” comes from Tempe indie rockers The Maine. After a long summer tour with Boys Like Girls and Good Charlotte, the band will be playing a hometown show on August 30. Check it.
Believe it or not, Arizona has always been a haven for heavy metal icons. From the earliest days of heavy metal, the Valley of the Sun has housed and spawned some of the most influential acts in the genre: Flotsam and Jetsam, Sacred Reich, Megadeth, Soulfly, Linkin Park — hell, our state even has ties to Slayer and Metallica. We’re not sure if it’s the purgatory-worthy heat, the mystic mountains, or the minions of metalheads here, but one thing’s for certain: more famous metal musicians live or have lived in Arizona than the average Joe realizes. The 14 most noteworthy Arizona metal men are listed below, in no particular order.
This week’s review is on the new CD from Native American pow-wow drum group Black Lodge. The group is signed to Canyon Records, the oldest and most successful record label in the state of Arizona, which specializes in Native American music.
By Thomas Bond The Dandy Warhols …Earth to The Dandy Warhols… (Beat the World) The sixth studio album from The Dandy Warhols returns them to the indie fold from whence they sprang in the mid-’90s, as it’s being released on their own Beat the World label today. It’s much less…
Matt Pryor and The Terrible Twos: Wednesday, August 20, at Modified Arts By Clay McNear Once upon a time, rock ’n’ roll was about bad dudes singing about bad shit, and it was very, very bad for you. One of my formative images was punk progenitor Iggy Pop stage-diving onto…
While I took the weekend off to run away to Sedona and celebrate my birthday, several stories unfolded in national music news. Read on for the skinny about Metallica’s upcoming Phoenix concert, Jackson Browne’s lawsuit against presidential hopeful John McCain, and more.
Timewave 2013: The Odyssey II: Friday through Sunday, August 15 through 17, at East West Exchange By Clay McNear Last month, I wrote a catty little blog about the quasi-documentary 2012: The Odyssey. In it, I cattily opined that nothing whatsoever will happen on December 21, 2012. That’s the End…
Music licensing corporations aren’t leaving a lot of elbow room for local venue owners(Illustration by Ed Piskor) By Steve Jansen License to Kill the Music On a recent weekday afternoon, I’m standing inside the Trunk Space with co-owner Stephanie Carrico. It’s about 110 degrees outside and a still-sweltering 95 inside…
In 1986, when I first tried to grow a beard, the consensus was that beards were for murderers and maniacs. Almost no one in mainstream America in the ’80s wore a beard; even in Alaska, a beard was a serious statement that the wearer ate cold beans from a can…
Two years after providing the haunting, gospel-tinged, and mighty crucial backing vocals on Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis’ solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat, the Watson Twins — identical sisters Leigh and Chandra Watson — are back with their own full-length debut, Fire Songs. At home in Los Angeles while on…
Mark David Chapman was denied parole yesterday, for the fifth time. The man who murdered John Lennon on December 8, 1980 was sentenced to 20 years to life for his crime. The week before his parole hearing, the parole board received 50 letters and a petition signed by 1000 people opposing Chapman’s release. He had three letters of support.
Back in May, I launched this “You Asked for It” blog. There were so many Phoenix bands complaining that Phoenix New Times didn’t give them enough coverage, even while we’ve been covering local music extensively for more than a decade. The main reason I never reviewed EVERY local CD that came my way was because, quite frankly, many of them sucked and I didn’t feel like giving bad press to a struggling Valley band. Still, local musicians griped and moaned that we were covering all the wrong local bands (read: not their bands), so the original idea behind this blog was to review every single local CD sent to me, in the order it was received, regardless of whether or not I thought the album blew chunks. Surprisingly, I’ve only received a few CDs since the blog launch that I just wanted to melt in the microwave; many of the local CDs landing on my desk have been quite good. There’s still the occasional underwhelming effort (see this week’s review), but for the most part, I’m impressed and I want to hear more local CDs.
This weekend, I checked out a new weekly event and a groovy local music show, both in downtown Phoenix.
