Sanctum Opens to the Public Tonight

If you’ve been dying to get a sneak peak at Sanctum, Steven Rogers’ newest dance club, tonight’s your chance. The nightlife entrepreneur is holding a “soft opening” of the establishment starting at 8 p.m. with DJs Kevin Brown and Chris Shannon on the record decks spinning tribal house music. Much…

What’s On Tap for Tonight’s First Friday

First Friday has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the late 1980s. Just look at tonight’s edition for example, which will feature Roosevelt Street getting blocked off completely for the first time ever. As little as a year ago, both city of Phoenix officials and representatives from…

10 Things Under $10 This Weekend: Labor Day Weekend Edition

Its Labor Day weekend, which means three straight days and nights of fun, fetes, pool parties, and (best of all) no work. Appropriately, this edition of “10 Things Under $10” includes a few cheap thrills that are scheduled to take place on Monday, September 7. Have fun, y’all, and keep…

Prehab Back From Tent City, Return with First Friday Show

Prehab’s newest record impressed me back in April, so I’ve been disappointed not to see more dates from them scheduled. Turns out there was a good reason for that, and that reason is now over. The band’s guitarist Jason Kay says one member (we won’t pry about which one) spent…

New Green Day Video, Jim Adkins Benefit Show, Nine Inch Nails Disturbs

Electric Mustache: mp3: Little Dragon “Feather”Idolator: Well, Slap Me Silly And Call Me A Lamestain: Gen X Radio DebutsPitchfork: The Stooges Reunite With Raw Power Guitarist James WilliamsonRolling Stone: Green Day Set Next “Breakdown” Video, More “Idiot” PerformancesSo Much Silence: Sept. 17: Jim Adkins + Source Victoria for LLSSpin: Michael…

Incoming: Gil Scot-Herron, Deer Tick, Honor Society, Trivium

Maybe it’s the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and the other big events of 1969, but it seems like 60s revivalism is everywhere these days. I mean, shit, even U.S. News and World Report is getting a little sentimental.On that note, I’m sure more than a few boomers out there will…

Kinch: Flier of the Week

OK, we’re going to admit right off this week’s best poster was not determined by art alone. Truth be told, for a show by our good friend Psyko Steve, who usually does some great stuff, this Kinch flier is a little disappointing.Fact is, we know the flier isn’t super fancy…

Nickelback Auction Off Guitar, Meet and Greet, For Ear Candy

Nickelback’s ability to line-up high profile support is well-known — just look at the above video. Ear Candy’s Nate Anderson has proven he isn’t far behind though, lining up an impressive array of stars to help the charity he founded, which funds music education programs for children. Now the two…

Pelican, Black Cobra set to rock The Clubhouse

​Chicago-based four piece Pelican are busy readying their new LP, What We All Come to Need, and tuning up for their upcoming tour, including a date in Tempe. The instrumental post-metal band, who now reside in Los Angeles, played the now closed The Sets back in March, so their upcoming…

Mariachi El Bronx Touring, Releasing Record

LA hardcore act The Bronx’s alter ego, Mariachi El Bronx, is definitely one of the coolest gimmicks a band has dreamed up in recent memory. So we’re stoked to see this side-project-of-sorts is getting a real release and tour. Sadly, their support slots for The Killers do not include the…

Today is Kinch Day on The Blaze

If any local band deserves a day dedicated to them, we have to agree its Kinch, so we’re happy to report that, in honor of the Phoenix foursome’s excellent new EP Collars and Sleeves, ASU’s student radio station will be celebrating today starting at 2 p.m.You can listen in to…

New Orleans Goatwhore Serves Up Satanic Southern Sludge

New Orleans will always be best known for the annual debauchery of Mardi Gras, but underneath its “party hardy” façade lurks one of the country’s most vibrant metal scenes. Long before Hurricane Katrina laid waste to huge portions of the city and gave New Orleanians a reason to be seriously…

The Mars Volta

Not to get all up in your grill, William Safire-style, but there’s a real etymological crisis going with the word “keening.” It’s a noun that means “a wailing lament,” or the act of creating same, but many journalists — especially arts critics and the like — choose to brandish it…

Thee Jaguar Sharks

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Phoenix surf-rock trio Thee Jaguar Sharks should change their name, like, yesterday. You can dick with the definitive article all you want — it doesn’t mitigate the fact that there are at least three other working American bands named after the…

Nickelback

Since Nickelback-bashing has become almost as clichéd as the band’s music, I decided to take a different approach. I registered at the band’s official message board, nickelbackforum.com, and asked some of Nickelback’s biggest fans why, exactly, they like Nickelback. Here are some of the replies: Russell, board moderator: “By incorporating…

The Thermals

It never hurts to have friends in high places — just ask The Thermals. The Portland, Oregon-based band got a career boost when Death Cab for Cutie lead singer Ben Gibbard got hold of their self-produced debut album, More Parts Per Million, and subsequently passed it along to Sub Pop…

Secondhand Serenade

Singer/songwriter John Vesely will bring more than his smoldering emo-boy looks to the Marquee Theatre this weekend. Vesely will be in Tempe with Secondhand Serenade, his acoustic pop-rock solo act, as part of his “Fast Times at Secondhand High” tour. We can’t help but wonder whether the tour’s moniker will…

Breakbeat Boutique

When it comes to breakbeats, there’s no bigger fan of the EDM genre than DJ Louder. In fact, the 31-year-old spent most of the past decade sharing his love for pounding syncopated, polyrhythmic tracks at clubs and raves around the Valley, much as he’ll do this weekend during the Breakbeat Boutique…

Seven Nights of DJs & Dancing

THURSDAY 3 Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays (hip-hop) Bomberos: Rani G., dk.stricker, & more (lounge, house) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Club Red: The Blunt Club with Pickster One, DJ Element, & more (hip-hop) Copper State Tavern: DJ Kavi, & guests (hip-hop) Drinx: Roc Thursdays with DJ Louder, & DJ Soloman (various) Forbidden…

The Wonders of Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta and Hotel Congress

If you live in the Phoenix area, you’re obligated to badmouth Tucson at every possible opportunity. In fact, I’m sure some readers saw the word “Tucson” somewhere in or around this block of text and have already turned the page. Congratulations to you, the reader who is open-minded enough to…