Shon Sullivan has collaborated with Elliott Smith, Johnny Marr, The Eels, The Watson Twins, and Neil Finn over the years. Sullivan started playing solo acoustic music between Elliott Smith and Eels tours and dubbed his band Goldenboy after a nickname Smith gave him.Three albums later, Goldenboy is in the midst…
The Strokes’ experiences while recording their upcoming album Angles wasn’t so happy-go-lucky throughout the entire process, according to NME.There was plenty of resentment amongst the band members. Things got better after they moved to a new location to complete the recording process, but until then, frontman Julian Casablancas wasn’t consistently…
Gear up for this weekend’s Honey Pistol gig at Teakwoods Tavern and Grill in Phoenix with an awesome creative flier of an orange peel frog designed by Jenny Tornado.”The frog that is peeled like an orange and you can see through its body,” Jenny said. “It represents the past several…
This week’s issue of Phoenix New Times (on newsstands today) features a profile of local musician J.D. Stooks. Stooks performed a couple songs off his Shutterbug EP for Up on the Sun. One track, “By the Coin Jar,” is the song Stooks credits for getting him back in the music game. Check…
Believe it or not, music made by Omaha rap/reggae/surf rockers 311 has been blaring from skate shops and pizza delivery vehicles for 20 years now. With a new album due for summer release, the guys are taking their show on the road for a spring tour. It’s just a warm-up…
Historically, Arizona hasn’t been terribly hospitable to the veteran Filipino-American thrash-metal band known as Death Angel. Is it a “papers, please” thing? Naw. It’s our remote, carnage-strewn highways. In 1990, the band was riding high after signing with Geffen and releasing its first major label album, Act III, when the…
Chances are, if you worked at a record store during the ’90s (remember those places you used to be able to sell your used CDs for actual cash money?) you probably had a discussion with a fellow music geek about which Lou Barlow band was better: Dinosaur Jr. or Sebadoh…
Lucero’s bio reads like one of those feel-good rock ‘n’ roll stories that seem too good to be true. Start with the modest beginnings: A punk-infused alt-country band forms in 1998 in Memphis and puts out a pair of albums on the little-known Madjack Records label, eventually signing with the…
J.D. Stooks said goodbye to music. After playing with Phoenix punk band No Gimmick for seven years and then performing as a singer-songwriter, the soft-spoken 31-year-old was ready to retire from the game. He describes his songwriting process as piecing together random thoughts and weaving them into stories, and in…
Although they might be loath to admit it, the members of the Valley’s current hipster DJ scene owe a ginormous debt of gratitude to William Fucking Reed (pictured). His highly popular indie dance weekly Shake!, which rocked The Rogue Bar in Scottsdale for five years straight, also proved to be…
The death of an era gave birth to a phase / Frantic crowds callin’ “nigga” ’til we surrendered the trade / Now “Who stole the soul?” became the phrase / When there’s only eight niggas at the show and six of ’em is on stage. — from “Skeletons” by Lifesavas…
Female indie musicians like Feist, Regina Spektor, Kate Nash, and Ingrid Michaelson have a beautiful, feminine innocence in their voices to go along with pop sensibilities. Yet their talent normally manifests itself in the form of background music in coffee shops. Seriously, almost every coffee shop in America plays Regina…
THURSDAY 17 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old school, R&B) Airia Nightclub: Ladies Night with DJ Circle (hip-hop, Top 40, remixes, house, electro) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Splash Thursday (reggae, dancehall, Top 40, house) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities) Bobby…
Alt-country/punk/Southern rockers Lucero are true road warriors, spending more than half their days on tour in any given year. The band has earned a die-hard fan base thanks to their near-constant touring and twangy, rough-and-tumble sound. In a recent e-mail Q&A, Up on the Sun asked guitarist Brian Venable about…
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. Should indie rock fans be happy Arcade Fire won a Grammy or not?What did Justin Bieber’s…
Song: Ree Boado, “You Got Something”Context: This local singer-songwriter, who we featured in print this week, is probably the most radio-ready local act going right now. She reminds me a lot of Regina Spektor. Ree Boado – You Got Something by mmcizmar…
If Christopher Walken’s memorable turn on Saturday Night Live as The Continental taught us anything, it’s that there’s nothing better than a fine bottle of cham-pahn-ya. Said lesson was perfectly illustrated when we visited brand new North Scottsdale nightspot Narcisse recently. Valentine’s Day weekend was filled with plenty of action,…
Title: Lesson Number OneBasics: The Father Figures are appropriately named — I don’t know the exact ages of member Tom Reardon, Michael Cornelius and Bobby Lerma, but this photo I saw upon opening the CD case let me know roughly just how old they might be. Usually I cringe at…
Nicki Minaj is dead to Lil’ Kim, according to Idolator.When will these chicks stop ripping each other off? Nicki Minaj’s whole character is partially modeled after and influenced by Lil’ Kim. If Lil’ Kim can’t be the bad chick on the block then someone had to replace her, and Nicki…
When tomorrow’s pop culture writers look back at the meteoric career of dreamy teen pop sensation Justin Bieber it’ll be easy to pinpoint the exact moment his star started to fall.That’d be February 13, 2011 — the night of the Grammy Awards — when the mop-topped Canadian scamp was passed…
You see, The Dears were among the first bands to popularize what has become a viable Montreal indie rock sound. The released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000 — four years prior to Arcade Fire’s debut. Lead by the enigmatic vocals of Murray Lightburn, The…
Song: Hooves, “Freaker’s Ball” (Dr. Hook cover)Context: Here’s a new track from Hooves — a cover of a Dr. Hook song. Sort of a weird little song but it works very well. By the way, Hooves are engaged in an epic death match with fivespeed (“We’re not trying to lose to…
