Luke & Danny of North Side Kings I spent last night listening to the punk rock go down at BANNED in Tempe!, listening to DJ’s Alvin, Nate Dogg and Cro-Mag throw down the dope shit at the Stray Cat (which you’ll be able to read more about in my column…
Parents, be warned! Children, watch out! A new scourge sweeping through the country threatens to seduce innocent music fans into a life of crime! It starts with something as simple as a catchy new pop song, and it ends in federal prison with a forced sodomy nightcap. This slippery slope…
The babies were wearing scuba gear, and levitating above all the houses in the neighborhood. And when Christopher Pomerenke woke up, he wrote a song about the surreal scene from his subconscious, called “Throw Your Babies.” The tune serves as the leadoff track for I Know What It’s Like to…
To the best of drummer Victor DeLorenzo’s recollection, when the Violent Femmes unleashed their own peculiar strain of punk-inspired folk on the Milwaukee club scene of the early ’80s, people generally thought they were “demented.” “They didn’t understand how anyone would think that other people would want to see some…
If any good can be said to have come of what Elvis Costello refers to here as “a fearsome chain of events started out by a mean-tempered woman called Katrina and ably assisted by some nincompoops and incompetents,” you could start with Costello’s rekindled relationship with American R&B royalty Allen…
Watching the members of Cream retrace their steps, from Eric Clapton talking Ginger Baker into letting Jack Bruce join the band in 1966 to their acclaimed reunion in 2005, you have to wonder how they made it through a conversation, let alone two years of constant tours and classic albums…
Imitation is most definitely the sincerest form of flattery. For a perfect example, look no further than local ska group The 2 Tone Lizard Kings. The eight-member outfit, which has been a regular at joints like Alice Cooper’stown, covers a slew of ska classics in its raucous repertoire, including throwbacks…
I didn’t grow up with Xmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or any other winter-time holidays – I was raised in a cult, which should surprise very few people that read my shit – but as I’ve acclimated to the real world with all its mistletoe and trees and menorahs, I’ve developed a…
This from Vil Vodka of Vodka Tonic Media and Hollywood Alley: Yesterday around 4pm we lossed one of the most important people of the Hollywood Alley staff: Lucy Wincek…or as many of you know her as “Ross’ mom”. Tom Reardon said it best Sunday night that many of us would…
It’s not a record deal or a spot at the Warped Tour (ugh), but Jumping Bomb Girls, a power-pop trio that Perihelion Arts impresario Miss Amy Young drums in has gotten props from the lefty website Salon.com. The Jumping Bomb Girls (whose name was inspired by old school WWF tag…
“I’m one of the top five hated people in the music industry,” says Nancy Stevens, the manager of local bands Violet Wild and Authority Zero and former program director of alt-rock radio station KEDJ. That statement might sound hyperbolic, but it’s pretty accurate. While running The Edge, Stevens pissed off…
“People get caught up and lose everything they have trying to be famous. I like making safe, smart, calculated moves.” So says Will Glass, a.k.a. Intrinzik, during our sprawling discussion — and along the way, he’ll also advocate keeping a day job, having something to fall back on, and being…
Dear Santa, Thank you for giving us copies of Diana Krall’s Christmas Songs (Verve) and The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Dig That Crazy Christmas (Surfdog) albums last year. We enjoyed Krall’s jazzy jams and Setzer’s superb swing while getting tipsy on whiskey-laden cider and Christmas greens. This year, we’ve found a…
The year is drawing to a close, and once again critics are at loggerheads wondering what the album of the year will be. In a year where no one release unzips its fly and pisses all over the competition from a lofty height, everyone is in complete agreement over which…
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see The Cure live, The Cure — Festival 2005 (Geffen) live performance DVD is a reminder of that unique send-ya-to-the-moon experience that all Cure heads have come to know and love. After all, those of us here in the U.S. of A. need…
Cory Spotts Local knob twiddler Cory Spotts has made quite a name for himself at a young age by producing some of the best edgy acts in town at his Blue Light Audio Media studio. Barely into his mid-20’s now, Spotts (who I profiled last year in my column) has…
Since this Pandemic Poll thing is meant to be democratic, we even let your ordinary average music fan throw in their two cents about what transpired in 2006. This submission is from a guy named Joe Soares, and I have to say, he’s pretty goddamn correct about what’s overrated in…
Bob and Alan Clark are Eye Talk… disgusting In case you can’t tell by their glowing, serene faces, local brothers Bob and Alan Clark make some absolutely repulsive light pop/adult contemporary songs that ought to be used to torture Gitmo detainees. Consider this post a warning – once their group,…
Rob Locker of local skateboard/record label/promotion company AZPX does what many folks only wish they could do – release records by great local artists past and present like Junior Achievement and the Smoky Mountain Skullbusters and throw shows by skate rock greats like JFA. Here’s what Locker has to say…
I’ve never been the litigating type. Every time I’ve needed to hire an attorney, it’s been of the criminal defense sort. I’m not in a band, though, and it’s not uncommon for bands and musicians to have to deal with cease-and-desist demands, copyright and trademark issues, and other legal bullshit…
Alice Cooper was looking to shake things up a bit at this year’s Christmas Pudding concert. So he put in a call to the three surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band, the guys who backed him on such classics as “I’m Eighteen,” “Be My Lover,” “School’s Out,” and…
On a chilly Friday night at the band’s rehearsal space on the northeast side of Phoenix, the members of local five-piece band e(v)olocity are looking at the photo on the back of their self-titled CD. The shot depicts the guys standing in a line, wearing eyeliner and adorned in red…
