Big in Japan

“People get caught up and lose everything they have trying to be famous. I like making safe, smart, calculated moves.” So says Will Glass, a.k.a. Intrinzik, during our sprawling discussion — and along the way, he’ll also advocate keeping a day job, having something to fall back on, and being…

Season’s Beats

Dear Santa, Thank you for giving us copies of Diana Krall’s Christmas Songs (Verve) and The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Dig That Crazy Christmas (Surfdog) albums last year. We enjoyed Krall’s jazzy jams and Setzer’s superb swing while getting tipsy on whiskey-laden cider and Christmas greens. This year, we’ve found a…

Y’all Weren’t Ready — Then and Now

The year is drawing to a close, and once again critics are at loggerheads wondering what the album of the year will be. In a year where no one release unzips its fly and pisses all over the competition from a lofty height, everyone is in complete agreement over which…

Visual Voodoo

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see The Cure live, The Cure — Festival 2005 (Geffen) live performance DVD is a reminder of that unique send-ya-to-the-moon experience that all Cure heads have come to know and love. After all, those of us here in the U.S. of A. need…

Banjo & Sullivan

If it weren’t for Hillgrass Bluebilly, I might not have found this fantastic fictional band, which was featured (and murdered) in Rob Zombie’s movie The Devil’s Rejects. The songs here were actually written and recorded by Texas troubadour Jesse Dayton, whom I saw perform at a Hillgrass show this past…

Blessedbethyname

If all that happens to us skin dolls after we die is an underground picnic for insects, well, my guess is that Blessedbethyname’s Eddie Kelly would have a lot of empty space on his hard drive. In the time that it took him to put his personal demons behind him,…

Hidden Cameras

While it’s tempting to compare the Hidden Cameras’ Joel Gibb with other literate gay singer-songwriters, if Rufus Wainwright or Stephin Merritt were to sing about the joys of anal penetration or swallowing urine, it would be nothing short of hilarious. When Gibb does it, though, it’s barely even ironic; rather,…

Pink Nasty

Looks like it’s time for the ’90s indie rock revival. Sebadoh is reuniting for Noise Pop; the Silversun Pumpkins, er, Pick-ups are selling out venues left and right. Before you know it, rockers will be sucking down E’s and going all Madchester again. Leading the charge — not to Madchester,…

Agent Sparks

Although you may go to the Clubhouse Music Venue for Hoobastank’s catchy radio rock, you’ll want to arrive early for Agent Sparks’ sweet, eclectic melodies and dynamic live performance. The Los Angeles band, whose debut Red Rover was released earlier this year, combines complex keyboard and guitar layers with dueling…

Bleeding Through, and I Am the Avalanche

You want The Truth? Can you handle The Truth? SoCal emo-metalcore sextet Bleeding Through’s third album hits like a falling anvil to the cranium: Ferocious blast-beats, crushing riffs galloping straight out of the Slayer/Biohazard playbook, and vocalist Brandan Schieppati’s evil demon-roar (and his occasional, requisite Mike Patton-esque crooning) are the…

Bo Diddley

He’s one of rock ‘n’ roll’s few legends with a beat named in his honor. And the weird thing is, Bo Diddley plays guitar, not drums. But as Diddley himself has explained, “I play the guitar as if I was playing the drums.” That much is true, although most drums…

Mary X-Mas

Holy holiday hangover! All that extra Christmastime candy, booze, and other sweet treats are gonna head straight for your soon-to-be-gigantic arse, so better get yourself to the trendy über-gym double quick. Or better yet, sweat off those pounds-to-come with a few hours of grinding, thrashing, and dancing at an upcoming…

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

Thursday 21 Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Camus: KURRENT_affairs with Pablo Gomez (electronic, rock, pop, avant-garde) Cat Eye: Punk Rock Thursdays with DJ Diesel (rock, punk) Coconut Club: DJ Coolstylz (Top 40, dance, hip-hop) The Crown Room: DJ Gable (rock, house, hip-hop) Dos Gringos: DJs Benjamin Cutswell & Kid Vicious (rock,…

Spotts On

Cory Spotts Local knob twiddler Cory Spotts has made quite a name for himself at a young age by producing some of the best edgy acts in town at his Blue Light Audio Media studio. Barely into his mid-20’s now, Spotts (who I profiled last year in my column) has…

’06 Pandemic Poll – the average listener installment

Since this Pandemic Poll thing is meant to be democratic, we even let your ordinary average music fan throw in their two cents about what transpired in 2006. This submission is from a guy named Joe Soares, and I have to say, he’s pretty goddamn correct about what’s overrated in…

Morning Sickness

Bob and Alan Clark are Eye Talk… disgusting In case you can’t tell by their glowing, serene faces, local brothers Bob and Alan Clark make some absolutely repulsive light pop/adult contemporary songs that ought to be used to torture Gitmo detainees. Consider this post a warning – once their group,…

’06 Pandemic Poll – AZPX SkateRock installment

Rob Locker of local skateboard/record label/promotion company AZPX does what many folks only wish they could do – release records by great local artists past and present like Junior Achievement and the Smoky Mountain Skullbusters and throw shows by skate rock greats like JFA. Here’s what Locker has to say…

Sue Me, Sue You

I’ve never been the litigating type. Every time I’ve needed to hire an attorney, it’s been of the criminal defense sort. I’m not in a band, though, and it’s not uncommon for bands and musicians to have to deal with cease-and-desist demands, copyright and trademark issues, and other legal bullshit…

Pussy Galore

Just when I think I’ve seen everything, I find myself watching three hot chicks trying to play hacky sack with a big pink dildo. The women — known as Producer, Python, and Pinup — are all members of a local fetish burlesque troupe called the Pussy Posse Girls, and on…

Go Ask Alice

Alice Cooper was looking to shake things up a bit at this year’s Christmas Pudding concert. So he put in a call to the three surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band, the guys who backed him on such classics as “I’m Eighteen,” “Be My Lover,” “School’s Out,” and…

Rage Against the MP3s

On a chilly Friday night at the band’s rehearsal space on the northeast side of Phoenix, the members of local five-piece band e(v)olocity are looking at the photo on the back of their self-titled CD. The shot depicts the guys standing in a line, wearing eyeliner and adorned in red…

Outside the Box

The Waylon Jennings Nashville Rebel DVD (RCA) should have been included in the Nashville Rebel boxed set, where it would have added to the value of the box while benefiting from the context. As it stands, it’s every bit as entertaining as the box itself. It begins on the set…