The Greencards are probably one of the best examples of American bluegrass out there right now, which is why it’s so gosh-darned peculiar that the trio consists of two Australians (Kym Warner, Carol Young) and an Irishman (Eamon McLoughlin) who’ve only lived in this country for eight years. Onstage, they…
We are arbiters of music, not ideals. So all hail Crass, who made great music in spite of their goofball politics. From the silly socialism of Rage Against the Machine to the street capitalism of 50 Cent, the music is the message. So we do not deliver a fatwa against…
I have a theory that excessive sobriety and serious relationships can easily hamper an artist’s potential. I know it’s true with me; the focus I’ll put into a relationship with a girl doesn’t often leave me with as much creative inspiration. My favorite records and books are inspired by loneliness,…
“I’ve got to tell you something. I’ve always said I would give my left nut for heavy metal, and now I really am.” Patrick Flannery says this barely above a whisper, but follows the statement with a hearty laugh. Today, the 43-year-old singer, who’s been a veteran of the Valley’s…
In a second coming that rivals only Christ himself, the cantankerous punk band Dead Kennedys have rereleased Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables — Special 25th Anniversary Edition (Manifesto Records), and are touring, albeit minus former mouthpiece Jello Biafra. But are the resurrected Kennedys just a bunch of anachronistic sellouts, or…
You know the feeling in the air when the barometer and temperature drop as a big storm blows in? It’s like that around Jean Grae these days. Not that she’s suddenly materialized like a cold front. Grae got her start in 1997 with Natural Resource, when she was 16. She…
Some grand faiths have their own Adversaries (like, say, Pharaohs and Pharisees) to scourge the faithful. But for those of us who hold music on high, there is but one many-faced demon — named not Legion, but Record Company. As digital music leads us to the promised land, we must…
In late spring of this year, I was kicking myself for having missed the 10-year anniversary show for local label Truxton Records. A few weeks later, the label’s proprietor, Dave Ramsey, described the event to me while we stood on the patio of Casey Moore’s in Tempe. It sounded like…
The increasingly combative File-Sharing Wars have come to this: Record companies now assume you may have criminal intent whether you buy CDs honestly or not. Recent releases from the Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Velvet Revolver, and the Backstreet Boys have placed new, unexpected limitations on your ability to rip,…
How do you like to apply your makeup? • Eyeliner, eyeliner, eyeliner! (2 points) • I’m a dude, dude. Makeup’s for queers. (0 points) • White foundation with black eyeliner and/or red/black lipstick. (3 points) When you open your closet, what do you see? • Khakis and Ralph Lauren polo…
When somebody tells you that his new album is divided into four musical acts with Roman numerals and movements, well, you run, quite frankly. But when it’s Eddie Kelly of Blessedbethyname, you sit and listen. Because when it comes to manufacturing personal drama and overcoming it, Kelly’s already on his…
While the record industry keeps wailing the lost-revenue blues, Tracks in Wax, Central Avenue’s used and collectible records mainstay since 1982, which mostly moves vinyl, has just spawned another store. TRX2 Multi-Media Exchange, which opened in the northwest Valley on October 22, also carries vinyl and CDs, but also specializes…
John Rich of Big & Rich — the funniest and funkiest new rebels in country music — likes to tell a story about his preacher dad and Mötley Crüe, a group that embodies rebellious fun (if not exactly funk) for a whole generation of heartland Americans. About four years ago,…
Last Chrismukkah, an entire generation did a double take when The O.C. ‘s resident indie geek, Seth Cohen, uttered the words “Death Cab for Cutie” on network television during prime time. A year later, it’s clear a new era has arrived when the biggest name on the soundtrack to TV’s…
Mega-producer Clive Davis of J Records declared Gavin DeGraw his “next big thing” a few years back, but ivory tickler DeGraw is still waiting for everyone else to realize just how good he really is. If you know anything about him, then you already know it might just be his…
Although Decemberists vocalist Colin Meloy went on a solo tour this past winter, Picaresque, the Portland, Oregon, band’s third album, is arguably its lushest yet. The nuanced production of Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla finally matches Meloy’s obsession with detail: Horns, strings and accordion drift in and out of…
Halloween reeks of charity, so what better way to get into the spirit than with a UNICEF-posse cut produced by some of rock’s biggest trick-or-treaters? We’re talking Beck, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, Malcolm McLaren, Sum 41, an Inuit throat singer named Tagaq — along with…
“If you see us again, we will definitely be doing it for the money,” announced Tom Reardon, bass player and vocalist for Hillbilly Devilspeak, in a recent press release. After more than 11 years of playing shows, Reardon’s killing off the band that’s been his primary artistic endeavor, at least…
The other day I happened, to my great surprise, to walk by a cheerleading camp, a small army of kids with words like “TIGERS” emblazoned across their trim, peppy asses. Sometimes I forget that real, nonironic cheerleaders, who are very serious about what they do, exist — and not just…
If you were a Phoenician and a Beatlemaniac between 1964 and 1966, you had your choice of venues to see the Fab Four: the Convention Center in Las Vegas, the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, the Cow Palace in San Francisco, or the Hollywood Bowl. But John, Paul, George and…
When the Bravery followed its ballyhooed South by Southwest appearance with the release of its debut disc, the backlash began. Wise witnesses saw hacks cashing in on a hip sound. But the group’s detractors were so vitriolic that some misguided souls made appeals on the band’s behalf, creating Bravery-backlash backlash…
All hail X, the band that has somehow remained un-embarrassing as it ages, a most difficult task for punk rockers. Just look to their contemporaries the Germs to witness how sad punk rock has become. Despite the 1980 death of singer Darby Crash, the remaining members of the band want…
