Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where
PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy
apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we offer a peek into "The Iron Lady," an alleged former brothel in CenPho where scuzzy power poppers Naive practice. If you would like your band featured, tweet
@PHXmusicdotcom.
Naive plays May 11th w/The Beets at YOBS, May 15th w/Jacuzzi
Boys at the Yucca, and May
25th w/ Brilliant Colors, Grass Widow at Trunk Space. You can download their debut EP, "Puberty Kisses," here for free.
Upon entering the Iron Lady, guitarist Vincent Sanchez and Justin Keefer immediately begin joking about the "shit hole" status of their practice space, the goofy hardcore art that adorns the walls. The band have been working for two months, but their debut recording has already started gaining buzz, synthesizing the work of punk poet Jim Carroll (at who's funeral Sanchez was invited to speak, though he turned the offer down) and the sloppy pop of The Replacements with their noise-maker punk past.
Smells Like: Hard to define, really. Not overly obnoxious, but strangely homey, the way your friend's grandparents house smelled when you were a kid.
Most Cherished Piece of Gear: Sonic Vs. Knuckles for the Sega Genesis.
Odds N' Ends: The place was littered with broken guitars, drums and discarded rock n' roll paraphernalia. Keefer noted that their time at the Iron Lady was almost up, and that the place was "done for" in a couple weeks.
