If you’ve walked by Bar Smith on a recent Wednesday evening and had your eardrums assaulted, its probably Jason Ayers’ fault. The bass-loving beat-juggler and his long-running SubConscious night have (literally) been shaking the downstairs walls at the downtown Phoenix club with a storm of subharmonics and plenty of thrum…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. Seminal ’80s ska revivalists Madness are probably best remembered for their kooky house-of-mirrors-style riff-raff and carnival music flair. During MTV’s glory days, it was all about the cheery pop/rock sound…
Mike James The local comedian performs Thursday, June 7, at Jaxon’s in Scottsdale. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? 97.3-FM — 24/7 comedy. What’s the first album you bought? Haha. I was 8…
News reports indicate that the shooting at Seattle’s Cafe Racer Espresso on Wednesday, May 30, took the life of Joseph “Vito” Albanese, an establishing member of the Phoenix punk rock scene. Matt Driscoll of our sister paper Seattle Weekly’s Daily Weekly blog writes that 40-year-old Ian L. Stawicki was behind…
The Smashing Pumpkins have had a checkered past swirling with drug addiction, depression, lineup changes, and death. Yet the band has soldiered on — remarkably, the band is set to release its seventh album, Oceania, on June 19. Billy Corgan is the only remaining member in a band that oscillated…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are sultry rockabilly sirens The Devil’s Daughters up to? What are our 10 favorite vintage…
About the worst thing that can occur when a band leader decides to undertake a solo tour is unthinkingly defaulting into the dreaded singer-songwriter mode. Let’s see: acoustic guitar, stool, and microphone. In a word: boring. Sure, there are a few examples of doing it right. Think Eddie Vedder with…
For some local bands, making it to weekly rehearsals and playing a show a month is a difficult task. For A Life of Science, full-length albums, comic books, and fanboy convention meet-and-greets are all in a day’s work. And now the electronic rock band is embarking on its biggest endeavor…
Drew Alexander thought he had it made. At only 19, the local electronic-tinged pop singer/songwriter and keyboardist, fresh out of high school, had secured a major-label record deal with Geffen Records. The Los Angeles suits snatched him up after hearing three tracks and seeing a few pictures of his tousled…
By Chris Kornelis Sasquatch! went down this past weekend in George, Washington, and our good friends at Seattle Weekly’s Reverb blog were on hand to take it all in. Test your knowledge of the 2012 edition of the festival in this multiple-choice trivia test. For clues, check out Seattle Weekly’s…
Metric, who sound like a poppier, gentler version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, are dropping a new album, Synthetica, on June 12. They’ll be hitting up the Marquee Theatre in support of the record, but it’s likely that they’ll perform old hits such as “Help I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy” as…
Local folksters Bears of Manitou have been covering Damien Rice since the band first formed. “He [Gabe Williams] said that he’d been practicing ‘Volcano,’ and I love that song so much,” says guitar/guitarist/pianist Maria Sais de Sicilia. “It was just crazy, the first time we played it. It felt so…
A taste of São Paolo is en route to Phoenix. That doesn’t mean a new churrascaria is opening up soon, unfortunately, but Brazil’s Curumin will be serving up a fresh blend of samba-infused funk and groovy electronic beats when he and fellow-Brazilian Céu come to town. The half Spanish, half…
See also: Vixens and Sexy Super-heroine Nerdettes of Phoenix Comicon 2012 Once a year, the nerds unite and take over. Phoenix Comicon can be exhausting (there are only so many back issues and vintage clamshells you can look over), but it’s worth the effort for the people-watching alone. Wonder if…
It’s that time of the month: the time when we sift through all the party photos we’ve taken in the past few weeks to create our favorite party photos of the month slideshow. To change it up we thought we’d give you, our loyal readers, a chance to put on…
The recent 10th anniversary party for The Blunt Club saw plenty of old favorites making a return to the long-running hip-hop night. That includes former host Emerg McVay (who’s been busy shooting music videos these days) and onetime resident John Hyder. While the 30something hip-hop selecta left both the Blunt…
Gardner Cole Cole, who has written and produced for artists such as Madonna, is the producer for local country pop band Arrowheart, who are schedueld to perform Sunday, May 27 at Hidden Meadow Ranch. For more information, head here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. In case you missed it, Google commemorated the 78th birthday of electronic music pioneer, Bob Moog, with a wicked-cool doodle earlier this week. Moog left his mark on the world…
Tupac’s hologram appearance at Coachella sparked all sorts of buzz, from the Hologram Tupac Twitter to the exclusive all-hologram Coachella lineup. And, sure, it would be pretty rad to see Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and Bob Marley & the Wailers on the same bill, but Goldenvoice would…
See also: Dead Eyes of London Aim For Loose Grooves In this week’s issue of New Times, Lauren Wise speaks with modern-rockers-turned-retro-garage-soul fetishists Dead Eyes of London. “[Our music is for] the fan that has listened to punk rock and matured,” guitarist Chan Vallarino says. “[It’s] heavy and darkly romantic…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are deceased Bee Gee Robin Gibb’s best songs? How does Ian Astbury of The Cult…
The music of Phoenix-based rock ‘n’ roll outfit Dead Eyes of London is the sound of a reboot. It’s a terse re-imagining of the beats of vintage Motown, the slinkiness of jazz, the sweat-caked T-shirts of garage rockers, and spilled cocktails. But it’s not retro-minded and stuck in the past,…
