Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino has made a lot of her fans cat people.Her pet cat Snacks is almost as recognizable as the band (which plays Clubhouse Music Venue Saturday, January 22) itself. A picture of Snacks covers the drum kit, Cosentino gives Snacks a shout-out in the song “Goodbye”…
Artist: J.D. StooksTitle: ShutterbugBasics: The tidy, five-song EP from Phoenix native J.D. Stooks follows his solid 2008 album Women & Gold. Stooks is a rare beast as far as YAFI is concerned — he writes songs with some content, at least stuff I am actually interested in. On Women &…
A boy saved himself from a pack of wolves with a little help from Creed on Thursday, according to NME.Thirteen-year-old Norwegian student Walter Eikrem came across a pack of wolves on his way home from school. He knew not to run away from the wolves, so he quickly became resourceful…
Heads up, y’all: If you’ve seen a red left-handed Epiphone hollow body guitar being used at a live music gig anytime in the last couple weeks, Mikel Lander would like to know. Ditto for a purple left-handed Flying V by Gibson. Both southpaw six-strings were unfortunately stolen from Lander’s unlocked…
Skankstress Katy Perry just announced a tour date for Phoenix’s Comerica Theatre on August 3.It’s part of a “California Dreams” tour that starts on June 7 in Atlanta and runs through August 14, the second show in Katy’s hometown Santa Barbara, California. Tickets, priced pretty modestly at $30-48, go on…
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. How did Kimber Lanning of Stinkweeks talk an association of record store geeks out of boycotting…
Asylum Street Spankers have been playing folksy, backwoods style music distinctly branded by their own sense of twisted humor for seventeen years.Yes, nearly two decades on the indie folk circuit. Not shabby at all.After a good, long run, the Austin-based band has decided to call it quits. So tonight’s show…
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has revealed that lead singer Steven Tyler was turned down after he auditioned to replace Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin, according to NME.However, Jimmy Page invited Tyler to make a record together, which Tyler declined. Why the hell would anyone turn down the chance to make…
This year sure has been a fickle beast thus far — treacherous weather, Jared Lee Loughner and now a slumping music industry.Showroom Of Compassion, the latest album from venerable rock band Cake, took the top spot on the Billboard charts for the week ending on January 16, Yahoo! News reports.That’s good news,…
Since forming in 1997 in Ocala, Florida, this self-identified Christian metalcore band has undergone a full personnel enema. First, guitarist Luke Morton — the guy who came up with the group’s name, no less — split on the eve of their debut album, Act of Depression (1999). Four years later,…
Despite what you may have heard, these wily New Orleans-based rockers did not name themselves after that singular feeling you get from French-kissing a horse. In fact, the name comes from a Sam Shepard-Patti Smith play from the 1970s, so maybe it has to do with French-kissing Patti Smith. Can’t…
A peculiar thing happens when artists taste success but don’t hit it really big: They transition from being the Next Big Thing to being a cult favorite. It’s then that comparisons to other semi-obscure but critically significant musicians roll in. There really should be a cap on comparisons to Bob…
If you have been waiting years to finally see the band that inspired Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy and a host of other emo/pop punk bands, your dreams are well within your grasp. Kansas City’s The Get Up Kids, forefathers of emo, that wonderful genre known and loved by millions,…
The Valley has been ringing in the New Year with a plethora of post-hardcore bands sweeping through the area. The latest to hit town is Escape the Fate. The Las Vegas group is kicking off Dead Masquerade, their first headlining tour, with dates in Tucson and Tempe. Escape the Fate…
The Asylum Street Spankers epitomize cheeky, hokey, pun-filled humor. The octet layers stringed instruments with intricate harmonies to create a backwoods sound. Then, it adds showmanship and humorous lyrics about getting loaded before breakfast and having a neighbor who fires up his leaf blower before dawn. (Oh, yeah, they also…
Sean Bonnette has a theory concerning time, space, and the area of Phoenix that city planners officially refer to as the “Central Business District.” “I have this idea — I’ve had it for six months now — that ‘Central Phoenix’ and ‘Downtown Phoenix’ are two totally different places, but they…
Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast sounds pretty rough as she answers the phone for our Monday afternoon interview, but given her week, it’s understandable. A few days before, she and her bandmates — guitarist Bobb Bruno and drummer Ali Koehle — made their television debut on Late Night with Jimmy…
Don’t be alarmed if you hear the sound of irritated groaning emanating from the campuses of Arizona State University and other local institutions of higher learning this week, as it’s merely the collective grumblings of students returning to class for the spring semester. Southern rapper T-Pain will offer an ease…
THURSDAY 20 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) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities, vintage) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday (retro) Bobby C’s: DJ Willie…
Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty of local duo Andrew Jackson Jihad have some interesting thoughts on the differences between the areas within Phoenix. The city may be full of hipsters who ride fixies, but they hold it close to their hearts nevertheless. Their opinions of the city are quite honest,…
Our sister paper, The Village Voice, has announced the results of their annual Pazz & Jop critic’s poll.If you’re unfamiliar, basically like 1,000 music critics get to vote on their favorite albums and singles, assigning points to the top 10. Then those points are tabulated and Kanye West wins.Or at…
In a few months, medical marijuana will be legally available in the state of Arizona.Come spring, Proposition 203 will go into effect and a new era will begin — one where many, many sick people will receive the remedy that their ailment necessitates. That new era will also create a…
