As the singer for namesake L.A. fusion metal band Otep, as well as a self-published poet, Otep Shamaya views herself as a serious artist and Otep’s music as a serious art. Most of the band’s fervent fans, with whom Otep interacts extensively online, agree with that idea. And right now,…
Seems that straight edge kids get a little sensitive when they’re being made fun of, judging from this video of west side death metal purveyors E.T.T.S. razzing the sober ones. Check it…..
Tonight promises to be a wild one at the Stray Cat’s weekly BANNED! in Tempe night, with both DJ Johnny Volume and wanna-be-startender Tyler King celebrating their birthdays at the punk rock DJ night (which I wrote about here, if you’re curious). Here’s the word from Mr. King’s computer on…
Hellas’ Pedals – Justin’s box Things have been a bit quiet here at Ear Infection HQ over the last few days thanks to a fractured and sprained wrist that’s been immobilized by an evil splint device which I’ve recently removed… There was some tomfoolery between brothers and instead of landing…
Pickster One In last week’s installment of my column Revolver in New Times, I issue a call to arms for DJ’s to kick out mix cds and hit me up with them, because I don’t see enough of that shit. Well, a few days ago when I was interviewing Brad…
I was all gung-ho about hitting up the free Army of Robots/Back Ted N-Ted/Loveblisters show in Flagstaff at the Monte Vista tonight until I saw a physician yesterday who told me that my wrist and tibia were fractured and splinted my entire right arm until I can see an ortho…
The Liar’s Handhsake, in a sober moment I told you last week about the marathon I was going to attempt with the Liar’s Handshake on St. Patrick’s Day – playing four different venues to four disparate crowds in the 24 hours that constitute the holiday. Since then I’ve been getting…
A few weeks ago, I helped judge the Ultra DJ Spinoff at Myst in Scottsdale. Six finalists had 25 minutes each to impress the judges (who also included DJs Pete “Supermix” Salaz, and Inertia, and the crowd), with the winner receiving an expenses-paid trip to Miami Beach for the Winter…
J.J. Grey, front man for country-fried funk ‘n’ soul band Mofro, comes from the Florida swamplands and a rich storytelling tradition. Hints of both seep into the songs on Mofro’s latest, Country Ghetto, which contains a few tracks originally penned for neo-blues diva Cassandra Wilson. We recently caught up with…
“I may be an ice queen, but I like it fucking hot,” Siouxsie Sioux says from the stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall, site of the Dreamshow concert DVD (Rhino). The disc was shot over the course of three shows in June 2004 and, in between continually bitching about the…
If you want to get rich during a gold rush, you don’t go digging for gold. The guaranteed money is in picks, axes, wheelbarrows, and the land deeds that surround the boom. Only rubes sweat out the risk in the hills. Well, there’s a gold rush going on right now…
Fracture Point All the commotion on here lately regarding my distaste for Marshall “Fucking” Beck, formerly of the metal band Rebirth, seems to have left many metal heads (or at least Marshall’s Myspace friends) under the impression that I either don’t care about metal or don’t appreciate the genre. Granted,…
Army of Robots… dramatic! This is an early heads up so that if you can cruise up to Flagstaff on Friday, make plans now. Not only is it not in the 90s up there, Friday night at the Hotel Monte Vista (one of my favorite venues up there) Army of…
shaking in my Adidas…. Mr. Marshall “fucking” Beck, “the most controversial motherfucker in the Arizona music scene” thought it’d be funny to print my home phone number and address up in this piece; which he can certainly do on Myspace, but not here, where I moderate what goes up. While…
I wasn’t sure what to do tomorrow for Saint Patrick’s Day; I’m Irish as fuck, but my local Irish pub, Casey Moore’s, is a madhouse on 3/17, with souped up prices and a bunch of jackasses crowding the place. Another alternative had to found. Luckily, I saw Jared from the…
Marshall Beck and his sisters The Marshall Beck “Mr. Controversial” debate continues to rage on Ear Infection, thanks in great part to his admittedly posting Myspace bulletins to his 45,000 friends. (PEN15 wrote “I WISH THIS WOULD STOP SO I DONT HAVE TO SEE 26 MYSPACE POSTS A DAY BY…
Consider this a call to arms. In the wake of the arrests of DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and their crew, the Aphilliates, in Atlanta in January — for distributing mix tapes with copyrighted songs (that the major labels were paying them to pimp) — I’m asking all local DJs to…
It’s been hailed as Sebadoh’s defining moment and “a meeting place for indie universes.” But not to the bastard controlling the purse strings at Homestead Records. For his money, 1991’s III, a collision of sensitive indie-folk balladry, weird psychedelic experimentation, a goofy-ass cover of some God-forsaken Johnny Mathis ballad, and…
The “No Fear” tour is a tasty musical menagerie of acts at the forefront of their particular metal flavor. Metalcore representative Killswitch Engage combines a blitzkrieg bottom end that hunts with the springing fury of Pantera, labyrinthine Scandinavian metal melodicism, and agile yet sophisticated structures that showcase the band’s hooks…
A video on YouTube titled Great Moments in History begins, somberly enough, with the strains of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. All the usual throat-swelling suspects are paid a reverent visit — Kennedy’s inaugural address, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles at…
Wormwood Brothers new album, Spider Lake Due to space limitations in the print version of New Times, there are a lot of local records that we can’t fit into the music section. That’s why here, on Ear Infection, I try to turn you on or steer you away from certain…
Marshall “Fucking” Beck and his army of internet-tards still have their panties in a bunch about my recent posts involving him and Madhouse Records, found here and here. Beck wrote, “Although I do find humor in the fact that you call me a pussy from behind the computer screen and…
