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. Does Phoenix need a heavy metal strip club? How did the “Real Coachella” festival compare to…
“Hiatus” is a tricky word. More often than not, when a band tosses the term out there, it’s shorthand for “we’re breaking up, guys.” Dustin Kensrue of influential post-hardcore, post-metalcore, post-pop punk, post-pretty much everything O.C. rock band Thrice insists this isn’t the case when it comes to the band’s…
From the late ’90s through the early ’00s, modern-rock radio was ruled by Creed, with singles like “Torn,” “One” and “With Arms Wide Open.” Three straight albums, My Own Prison, Human Clay, and Weathered, sold millions upon millions of copies each. They were labeled a Christian band even as they…
Hanging out with the guys from ENOVA is a lot like being inside a kick drum: There’s excitement and tension; limits are stretched. It’s a constant shift of high and low energy frequencies, just like the insistent force on a drum’s tightly drawn skin. Let’s call it a challenge. The…
See also: Record Heat, “Meta Commentary” Like haiku, the classic comic strip is simple, direct, and brief. There’s not room for the kind of exposition or development found in full-size comics or graphic novels. It’s direct and to the point, a quick shot at a joke or a feeling. Like…
What a wonder prime time slots at Coachella two years in a row will do for you. Everything’s coming up Milhouse for The Black Keys these days. The blues/indie/garage group played a sold-out show at Mesa Amphitheatre last year and will return to a much larger venue in October. Thanks…
See also: Frank Turner Discusses Touring, London Riots, and Drinking With Grandma I may be biased, but I think Frank Turner is one of those underrated artists everyone should know about. He blew me away at The Rhythm Room last year and stole the show once again when he opened…
Blues-rock masters The Black Keys have been on top of the world lately. They’ve toured the globe, sold out Madison Square Garden twice, and headlined every music festival under the sun (including this year’s Coachella fest, where they teamed up with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty during the second weekend).Lucky…
If you’ve happened to listen to last year’s AZ Gunslingaz moombahton comp, we probably don’t need to tell you about DJ Frank Mendez’s mixing skills. “Il Cattivo,” his collaboration with local dubstepper Sluggo, is arguably one of the disc’s best tracks and fully illustrates his abilities to craft exciting and…
“Remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Except herpes. That shit’ll come back with you.”– Jeffrey Tambor in The Hangover. Las Vegas’ epic Memorial Day Weekend Punk Rock Bowling Festival just got a little more epic: Our favorite local party boys Broloaf have been added to the bill. And…
See also: Should We Feel Bad About ’90s Nostalgia?We figured we’d keep our nostalgic ’90s kick going by bringing you some more of the best music you thought you had forgotten but will always remember. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, courtesy of >I Love the ’90s.As much as…
Rick PhillipsPhillips blogs on eateraz.com and owns the Tucson Taco Festival (Saturday, April 28) and the Arizona Barbecue Festival (Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20.) When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? I listen to satellite radio, and…
Jamiroquai is one of the quintessential ’90s pop acts. And if you close your eyes and listen, you’ll hear that its music sounds as though it could have been released any time between the ’70s and today. The band’s acid jazz/funk may sound timeless, but the classic music video for…
There’s a new kind of rapper in town: compulsively stoned, inexhaustibly prolific, perpetually swagged-out. Rather than cloister themselves in VIP booths, they perfect their ground game in smaller clubs. They prefer the Internet to more traditional means of distribution. And unlike the Big Fucking Deals of three years ago (hi,…
I’m spending the afternoon with Joel Gion of The Brian Jonestown Massacre in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. You couldn’t ask for it any better: It’s like interviewing the Velvet Underground at Warhol’s Factory; Dylan in a Greenwich Village coffee shop; George Clinton on the proverbial Mother Ship. I…
When Mesa rock institution Hollywood Alley debuted in July 1988, Ross Wincek was there for the opening night. And pretty much every night that followed. For close to 25 years, the soft-spoken and curly-haired co-owner (dubbed “Ross the Boss” by many) has worked behind the scenes running the joint with…
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 is local rock luminary Jim Adkins working up with The Love Me Nots? What sounds…
See also: Echo Cloud Brings Actual Local Rock to Mill Avenue’s School of Rock See also: Behind the Scenes of Former Friends of Young Americans’ Practice Pad A couple of weeks ago, our own Anthony Sandoval penned a music feature about Phoenix-based shoegazers Former Friends of Young Americans. In the…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made a living off making sensational accusations and remarks. For better or worse, he has been a media darling who’s done his best over the past 20 years to prove that there’s no such thing as bad press (not that we don’t try). On Monday, April…
It hurt back in February, when we had to announce that The Beach Boys were visiting our lovely neighbors to the South (some weird town nobody had every heard of called Tucson. I suggested a road trip — and if you were into the idea you’re probably packing the car…
The Beatles are a tricky band to cover, but local gypsy rockers Dry River Yacht Club were up for the task. The group learned Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for Cover the Crescent and played the songs as close to the original versions as possible. “Every time I’ve heard…
If there will ever be another hologram worth talking about this year, it’ll be Michael Jackson on this year’s Unity Tour. The Jacksons are hitting the road for their first tour together in nearly 30 years, and even though we’re joking about a glowing vision of Michael belting out Ben,…
