Believe it or not, there are a handful of excellent indie record labels in the great state of Arizona, boasting rosters with some of our finest local artists and some hot underground national acts, as well. This week, we’d like to give a shout-out to Funzalo Records.
“You’ve got an interesting package in there,” our editorial assistant tells me, as I scoop up my usual daily stack of mailings. She tells me the receptionist actually opened it before they put it in my box to make sure the package was “okay.”
As soon as I see the return address on the package, I understand: this is from Marshall “Fucking” Beck, vocalist for local metal band Rebirth, Bo Bice look-alike, and a supercilious shit-slinger at New Times who’s often accused us of not covering enough of the local metal scene.
A batch of bad-ass shows were just announced this week. Read on for the news.
Kudos to any band that incorporates go-go dancers in its stage show. In addition to punky/pretty bass player Frankie Stein, Tucson psychobilly group The Mission Creeps also have two go-go dancers, both with sexy espionage names like Katarina and Oksana. But seeing a Mission Creeps show isn’t just about the eye candy – this quartet oozes out reverb-heavy, slinky music in the fine tradition of “horror-surf” bands like The Cramps and the HorrorPops, creating a creepy, ambient vibe that would make the band’s songs at home on any Quinten Tarantino or neo-noir film soundtrack.
“Let’s get fucked-up! It’s Wednesday!” This piece of midweek advice comes courtesy of Corey Gloden, lead singer of Strange Young Things, who are playing at The Loft in Tempe. I’m kicking back at the bi-level club’s copper bar with my friend Whoopi Pupi, watching the local rock group perform. Gloden’s…
It’s days before the first date of what’s being billed as the last tour ever for industrial-metal pioneers Ministry, and frontman Al Jourgensen is determined to convince naysayers that the band’s days are truly numbered. “I’m not one of these comeback people that does farewell tours that are, like, three…
Believe it or not, there are a handful of excellent indie record labels in the great state of Arizona, boasting rosters with some of our finest local artists and some hot underground national acts, as well. This week, we’d like to give a shout-out to Modern Art Records.
Happy April Fool’s Day! In this spirit of this stupid unofficial holiday, we thought we’d take a look at some of the biggest dupes in music, both local and national, as well as some strange things that are actually true. Can you tell urban music legend from bizarre fact?
The Phoenix Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, April 3, at Harkins Scottsdale 101 (7000 E. Mayo Boulevard). In addition to a wide variety of films from both local and national filmmakers, the festival plays host to some of the coolest music acts in the Valley.
Bob Schneider is a respected singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas, a prolific road warrior who’s managed to release 20 albums in 16 years (eight as a solo artist, and 12 with various bands and side projects like Ugly Americans and The Scabs). His latest record, When Sun Breaks Down on the Moon (Shokorama), continues to establish his mastery of his craft through a rough-and-ready rock/Americana sound that incorporates musical elements from a wide range of genres. (The song “Slower Dear,” for example, tells the story of someone waiting for a loved one to come back from the war through the eyes of a forlorn grocery shopper, and includes steel drums and horns that give the song a melancholy calypso-jazz feel.)
Source of pride for living in Mesa, AZ: Google “woman offers sex for gas,” and your hometown comes up on the first nine hits. Source of shame for living in Mesa, AZ: Read those nine stories and see the unappetizing mug shot that sadly illustrates how it was the woman…
If you listen to frontman/bandleader Justin Sullivan tell it, it’s a surprise that New Model Army is still around at all. Formed in 1980 with the intention of playing just two pub gigs in the band’s hometown of Bradford, England, NMA is still heralded today for its politically engaging lyrics…
Now in its sixth year, the Tempe Music Festival brings an annual spotlight to town. As always, the headliners are national acts, meant to draw in a crowd of people who probably have little interest in local music and are far more likely to see a show at the Dodge…
Some Native Americans believe peyote puts them in touch with divine powers. “The white man goes into his church and talks about Jesus,” says Quanah Parker, founder of the Native American Church Movement. “The Indian goes into his tipi and talks with Jesus.” Mescaline, the engineer behind such holy chitchats,…
Every Easter, millions of Americans celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a rebirth that, if you follow the tenets of Christianity, saves the believer’s soul. We music lovers here at New Times, however, can’t help but wonder what musical artists could be resurrected this holiday to save their genres instead?…
The HorrorPops have been called psychobilly for years, but these genre-hopping Danish rockers don’t like boxes. We chatted with a few of the bands’ members about their rebellious streak, their homeland, and their new album, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill. New Times: Your music has always been defined by an anti-status…
It’s a rainy Tuesday afternoon in central Phoenix, and I’m hanging with TJ Jordan, co-owner of the Valley’s newest vinyl shop, Revolver Records. Aromatic candles give the space a warm, cozy vibe. Others must think so, too, because there’s a steady flow of shoppers competing for space in the snug,…
Phoenix was built on a desire to buy and to have. People can own acres of land on the side of a mountain, and they can go to the outlet mall to pick out all the finest furniture and accouterments to fill their homes. At the same time, there are…
There are a lot of bad band names out there, but no genre suffers from titular uncoolness like metalcore (which we’ll admit we’re not fans of). The Firestorm Fest — a mega-event meant to give the frustrated and angry fans of the genre a place to scream and jump into…
In the opening to his 875-page treatise on Irish nationalism, The Green Flag, Robert Kee attempts to decode the DNA of that island’s people, sketching an ancestral tree that includes everyone from the Firbolg and the Normans to the Gaels and Protestant plantation owners. His conclusion that the Irish are…
Los Angeles is, at best, a transient city filled with transitory dreamers. They come in all varieties these days: actors from Sioux Falls, rockers from Detroit, photographers from Reno, and immigrants from places most of us will never bother to find on a map. Consequently, the people in the City…
I’ve just arrived at the Nello’s pizza joint in Old Town Scottsdale, where I’m meeting friends to check out the Rachel Eckroth Trio. I’m cold, wet, and freaking late, because people in this town turn into their Buick Century-driving grandma whenever it rains. I spot my pals at a table,…
