Another year’s end, another pause for reflection. Maybe 2014 was awful; maybe it was a triumph. The punk rockers from Authority Zero, which formed in Mesa, put themselves closer to the latter side of this spectrum. While admitting that the end of the year brings unwanted politics involving the business…
Do you really buy it, for even a minute, that he’s up there in the North Pole resting on his laurels while the elves have all the fun? Santa’s always keeping tabs, checking his lists, and thinking of that perfect gift. In an effort to help him out, we thought…
Though it may take a bit of digging, Phoenix really does have a wealth of quality local dance nights on both the monthly and weekly level. So with The Blunt Club closing up shop as a weekly stop for not only hip-hop heads but also folks who just like to…
What a crazy year 2014 was. Personally, I moved to Phoenix, dove into a vibrant music scene in a brand new city, and overall filled my head with new sounds and experiences. I went to a lot of concerts and listened to a lot of new music this year. Here…
Hanukkah’s ending and Christmas is beginning this week, and frankly, most of the Phoenix music scene has gone on winter break. That said, there are a few shows to check out this week. Scope our picks below, and check out our comprehensive concert listings for more options. Local band Watch…
There is no better venue for eclectic taste than Trunk Space, but Saturday night’s 10 Years of Gilgongo Records show was extremely motley, even by their standards. This is all due to the refined, diverse tastes of James Fella, who runs the label out of his home. It’s almost hard…
Whatever your religious beliefs — Christian, Jewish, Pagan, Athiest — there’s no avoiding the ruckus of the holiday season. For me, Christmas brings a lot of old traditions, love and charitable giving, but there’s a lot of needless commercialism that’s shoved down everyone’s throats starting the day after Halloween. So…
Music videos have been standard-issue props for bands for decades now. Every band in the world has a standard-issue video in which the lead singer lip-syncs lyrics into the camera while the band pretends to play their instruments. Sometimes the backgrounds in front of which they’re playing change. Other times,…
“Whoop! Whoop! That’s the sound of the police!” KRS-One had some major vocal backup on Thursday night at the Yucca Tap Room. As the bombastic boom-bap of the rap legend’s 1993 single, “Sound of the Police,” blares through the sound system of the Tempe rock bar, a horde of close…
After darkness falls every weekend night in Scottsdale, the city’s entertainment district and its many bars and club pulsate with a cacophony of beats, thumps, and the lively thrum of happy chatter. Come daytime, however, its replaced with a nonstop thrum of pounding, grinding, and a flurry of beeps from…
Here are our picks for the weekend’s best musical entertainment. Be sure to check our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
Ten bands will perform on December 21 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix as a fundraiser for the R.d. Olson Blues Band, winner of the Arizona Blues Showdown, to help them afford competing Jan. 20-24 at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. and…
Glitz. Glamour. And obscene, seven-figure weekly paychecks. Such is the life of the rich and famous pop tarts, rock stars, rappers, and superstar DJs who enrich our lives with their inspiring music, spectacular tours, semi-nude Instapics, and endless drug-taking, DUI-ing, sex tape-ing antics. Can you imagine making $100,000 a day?…
“I never thought that anything associated with hardcore would have a ‘lasting impression.’ The music and the people were pariahs, [who] were at best tolerated in my experience. My own sisters laughed at me. My east-side musician friends didn’t think I was in a ‘real’ band.'” – Bill Cuevas, Conflict…
Remember that TV show American Idol, where people dissolve musical talent into a cutthroat Twitter tournament? Jordin Sparks (and Pepperidge Farms) remembers. The 24-year old Glendale singer took home the gold in 2007, and she’s kept busy ever since. Most recently, Sparks signed to a new label and released a…
Generally, when a band releases a box set, it means one of two things. Either they’ve broken up years ago and are looking for a cash grab, or they are about to go on an extended break. In the case of Finnish rock band HIM, who are about to release…
These days, punk and even so-called alternative music seems to be cut-and-dried. But it doesn’t have to be that way — just ask JJCnV, the Mesa trio who has been releasing some of the strangest tunes in the Valley for nearly a decade. Their crass sense of humor has spanned…
It’s easy to find new and interesting music these days. All we have to do is pull up an app on our smartphone, and in seconds we can find a song that will hopefully move, motivate, or make us feel that special something in the gray matter between our headphones…
Gilgongo Records founder James Fella smiles mischievously as he pulls a record from a sleeve and puts it on the turntable. “This is incredible,” he says, dressed unassumingly in a button-down, blue jeans, and New Balances. The youthful-looking 32-year-old brushes his hair to the side as haunting sounds emit from…
The year 2014 may go down as humanity’s Weirdest. By that, we mean it’s the year that the Prince of Parody “Weird Al” Yankovic has made “Weird” the new cool. After three decades of pop-decimating debauchery, we saw Yankovic finally land his first No. 1 album in Mandatory Fun, as…
It’s that time of year again, kids. I’m sure you know the one. It’s time to ask your Aunt Jean for a new record to throw on the family stereo at inopportune times so you can show how tortured your teenage soul has become. You need this, badly, and Aunt…
Determining which came first — ska or punk — is irrelevant. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones offer up a duel personality that’s simultaneously abrasive and chill. First (or maybe second), the driving energy and angst of punk rock pushes the pace, while the cool riddims, staccato guitar and punctuating horn blasts…
