That includes Blink-182 and Lil Wayne’s summertime tour, Carly Rae Jepsen's performance at The Van Buren, and all-female surf band The Surfrajettes riding the wave into the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe.
Other highlights of this week’s concert calendar include Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance bringing his latest solo project to town, electro-industrial act God Module making some noise at The Rebel Lounge, the latest "Cover the Crescent" session paying tribute to the music of Leonard Cohen, and a performance by the incomparable Lydia Lunch at Valley Bar.
Details about each of these gigs found below. And for even more live music happening around the Valley this week, hit up Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.
CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band
Monday, August 5The Rhythm Room
As Hank Williams III, Lisa Marie Presley, Jakob Dylan, and Julian Lennon can attest, choosing the same career path as your musically famous father brings both rewards and dangers. Doors will open and opportunities arrive simply by virtue of a familiar last name – but so does the constant comparison and stringent fan expectation. C.J. Chenier – son of the late, undisputed king of zydeco, Clifton Chenier – took up his father's music, accordion, and even his band after Clifton's 1987 passing. But by smartly infusing more contemporary aspects of rock, funk, and blues into the traditional zydeco, C.J. has forged his own path, which still celebrates his father's legacy. He's also got one of the genre's most versatile, if not technically proficient, voices. Hear it for yourself starting at 8 p.m. on Monday night at the Rhythm Room. Tickets are $20 to $25. Bob Ruggiero
God Module
Monday, August 5The Rebel Lounge
Whether it's surrealistic horror movies and literature, esoteric knowledge, or atmospheric music and deathrock, God Module's output reflects a certain fascination with the dark side of the psyche — a mosaic of interests, perhaps even obsessions, held by founding member Jasyn Bangert. The act are rooted in edgier EBM and more dance-oriented industrial music, while Bangert's vocals wouldn't be out of place in a black metal band. With some visual and sonic nods to the likes of Christian Death and Clan of Xymox, there is something simultaneously unsettling and cartoonish to the group's live show, a mix you don't often see. Experience it for yourself on Monday night when God Module comes to The Rebel Lounge. The show is at 8:30 p.m. and Amnestic opens. Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 at the door. Tom Murphy
Blink-182 & Lil Wayne
Monday, August 5Ak-Chin Pavilion
As you may have heard, Blink-182 and Lil Wayne are touring together this summer. Yes, really. Blink-182, the biggest pop-punk band on the planet (who are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark album, Enema of the State), and Lil Wayne, the rock star rapper responsible for "Uproar" and more, are coming to the Valley on Monday, with support from Neck Deep. And despite some discord on Weezy's part (including walking offstage after performing for only 20 minutes during a stop in Virginia early in the tour), everything’s copacetic, more or less. They even released a mashup of "What's My Age Again?" and "A Milli" on YouTube as a teaser for the tour, which comes to Ak-Chin Pavilion at 7 p.m. on Monday night. Neck Deep opens. Tickets are $37.50 to $137.50. Douglas Markowitz
Frank Iero and the Future Violents
Tuesday, August 6Crescent Ballroom
Frank Iero is a man of many names. Band names, that is. The former My Chemical Romance guitarist has always dabbled in side projects, even in the band's heyday. But since the emo icons went their separate ways in 2013, Iero has been going at it alone.
Plot twist, though: Each time Iero is ready to write a new record, he wipes the slate clean and forms an entirely new band with new musicians, a new sound, and a new name. First were Frank Iero and the
Iero says this process keeps him on his toes and allows his music to feel fresh. “I get to reinvent myself every time,” he says. “To stay creative on the road as well as in the studio is all I’ve ever wanted, and I’ve found a way to be able to do it.” He’s currently touring in support of his latest album, Barriers, and will perform at Crescent Ballroom on Tuesday along with the Future
Closet Goth
Tuesday, August 6The Rhythm Room
Closet Goth may claim to hail from “Party City, Phoenix,” but their actual home might be somewhere in SoCal circa 1988. That’s not just because theirs is a very specific brand of punk, bouncy hardcore made for weirdos to listen to on cassette while skating around and smoking dope. There’s also the fact that the band champion that early hardcore mentality of releasing as much stuff as possible.
This year alone saw Closet Goth release the single “Why Is No One Laughing At My Jokes?,” a full-length titled Friendship Village, and a four-track EP, Paradise Video. That latter release encapsulates what makes Closet Goth so great: a free-flowing, kinetic brand that pays homage to the likes of Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies while setting the playbook ablaze in favor of newfound sonic devastation. Their Tuesday night show at The Rhythm Room starts at 8 p.m. with support from The Edisons and El Paso, Texas's Emily Davis and the Murder Police. Admission is $7. Chris Coplan
Carly Rae Jepsen
Tuesday, August 6The Van Buren
Carly Rae Jepsen is not what she seems. No matter your conception of the Canadian pop star, there is a high likelihood you have both undersold and underestimated her. While Jepsen scored an untouchable win with 2012’s “Call Me Maybe,” her journey forward leaves the diamond-certified hit in the rearview. 2015’s E•MO•TION showed off Jepsen’s aptitude, not just for writing a catchy hook, but curating an unforgettable pop landscape. Fast-forward to the present, and one can’t begin to grasp how much of an understatement Dedicated is as a descriptor until you start to peel the layers back yourself.
For her latest opus, she amassed somewhere in the realm of 200 songs before trimming it down to the clean 15 we are presented with. She is a master songwriter, gifted with a heart three sizes too big, yet cursed by earthly notions of time and space. Her work on Dedicated is the result of an arduous four years of building and rebuilding again. She’s scheduled to take the stage on Tuesday evening at The Van Buren. Pop singer-songwriter Phoebe Ryan will open the evening, which starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $36 in advance, $41 on the day of the show. Gerrit Feenstra
Ronnie Milsap
Tuesday, August 6Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino
Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Ronnie Milsap has sung so many hits, he could fill his entire set on Tuesday night at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino with No. 1 country singles alone. The 76-year-old North Carolina native has won enough Grammys and CMAs to fill the top of a Steinway and sent many of those smooth-sailing songs into Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts as well.
His more recent efforts are nothing to sniff at either. The country icon earned strong reviews for 2015's Summer No. 17, a collection of pop and R&B covers spanning the '50s through the '70s and concluding with his 1985 classic "Lost In the Fifties Tonight." He’s scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night at Wild Horse Pass. Tickets are $39 to $79. Jeff Balke
The Surfrajettes
Wednesday, August 7Yucca Tap Room in Tempe
All-female surf rock band The Surfrajettes have style and kitsch for days. All four members sport circa-1960s mini-dresses, go-go boots, and beehive hairdos while their YouTube channel features videos of them performing in a living room straight out of the pages of Look magazine.
They’ve also got plenty of substance to go along with their schtick, as the Toronto-born ensemble perform instrumental surf rock covers (including The Lively Ones’ “Surf Rider” and The Belairs’ “Mr. Moto”) that are just as, if not better, than the source material. The Surfrajettes also serve up a variety of originals, as well as their own interpretations of decidedly non-surf numbers as Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and David Bowie’s “Suffragette City,” the song that inspired their name.
Get on board when The Surfrajettes ride the wave into the Yucca Tap in Tempe on Wednesday night. The show begins at 8 p.m. and The Hula Girls and The Surfside IV will open. Tickets are $15. Benjamin Leatherman
Cover the Crescent: The Music of Leonard Cohen
Thursday, August 8Crescent Ballroom
Bob Dylan once said that the late Leonard Cohen was "very much a descendant of Irving Berlin," in that both are "incredibly crafty. Leonard particularly uses chord progressions that seem classical in shape. He is a much more savvy musician than you’d think." The many, many covers of Cohen songs, by artists both expected and unorthodox, prove his latter observations to be true. But like Dylan's body of work, Cohen's compositions have been transformed in the hands of other people and functioned as malleable source material ripe for interpretation and illumination.
That will certainly be the case during the latest “Cover the Crescent” session on Thursday night when local musicians and bands like The Sunpunchers, Tyler
Lydia Lunch
Thursday, August 8Valley Bar
Polarizing characters are always the most attractive, and much in the way the devil probably lures his (or her) potential victims to the soul trading post, Lydia Lunch lures you in with her quickly moving mind. Her words dance along your synapses, bobbing and weaving, punching you, one minute, in the cerebellum, kissing your forehead the next, and then sneering, taunting, laughing, loving. You have no choice but to surrender to her often indecent thought process, and she's intent on spreading her gospel everywhere she goes.
Born Lydia Ann Koch in upstate New York, Lunch descended upon New York City in the mid-1970s and became ensconced in the burgeoning art-punk scene. A provocateur of the No Wave movement which featured bands like D.N.A., the Contortions, and MARS, Lunch and her band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, tore a sonic hole in hearts of disaffected youth in America and Europe. The noisy skronk of blasts of saxophone, minimalist guitar, drums, and sometimes bass (sometimes not) helped influence much of the early-'80s post-punk New York noise scene, including Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore.
For Lunch, though, this was only the beginning. Her storied career is now into its fifth decade, spanning music, writing, acting, producing, and spoken word. This week, she’s coming to Valley Bar on Thursday night to perform spoken word and talk about her new book, So Real It Hurts. She’ll take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Tom Reardon
