After opener Carlene Carter’s set ended at Comerica Theatre last night and the stagehands began setting for headliner John Mellencamp, a beer vendor walked through the aisles of the grand theater, shouting out to the crowd as if it were a ballgame and not a seated event at one of…
What Jamie xx is trying to create and what he’s handed are often at odds. Jamie xx is best known as a member of acclaimed English trio the xx, purveyors of minimalist, somber pop-rock. Outside of the band, he’s also a sought-after DJ and producer who has worked with everyone…
Fresh off the announcement yesterday of a new album and visually stunning music video, Puscifer is announcing its only live date so far this year. Puscifer will play Tempe Beach Park on Sunday, November 1, as part of Lucky Man’s Monster Mash concert festival. Frontman Maynard James Keenan is showing…
In 1990, Mike Ness had the foresight to realize that as much as he loved playing punk rock music, if he was to sustain a durable career with his brash young Fullerton, California, group, he needed to put all of his influences to work, and add some depth to his…
As one of the prominent vegan, straight-metal bands in early ’90s hardcore, Chokehold made a name for itself during its short tenure for writing tight, aggressive songs about radical left causes, including GLBTQ rights, reproductive rights, police brutality, and others. So when this year the band’s label, A389 Recordings, reissued…
Jerry Lawson has led a long, full life. At 71, the soul singer with a voice that could make a blind man see has released 24 albums with his a cappella group the Persuasions, appeared on national television, rubbed elbows with some of the greatest singers in history, got drunk,…
LVL UP, a New York quartet that mines its sound from ’70s power-pop, ’80s punk, and ’90s alternative rock, began as a happy accident. Having met as students at SUNY Purchase, Mike Caridi, Dave Benton, and Nick Corbo got their start working on what was supposed to be a split…
From Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s explosive beginnings — the band’s first single, “Ffunny FFrends,” went viral a mere six days after its posting — to its present-day musings on love’s boundaries, the indie “dreamfunk” quartet is a band that continues to reinvent itself. The group’s third album, Multi-Love, exposes a more…
For Diego’s Umbrella, defining the band’s music has always been a frustrating and painful chore. There’s the onslaught of borderline-nonsense hybrid terms – urban gringo mariachi, pirate polka – and descriptions of the band’s typically wild live show, but Diego’s Umbrella is the sort of band you have to see…
Rush’s concert at US Airways Center began at 7:45 p.m. and ended about three hours later, after 26 songs, a number of video animations and skits, and thousands of notes worth of guitar solos. It was a night for the hardcore Rush fan — four of seven parts of “2112,”…
It occurred to me as I was swimming through the herds of thousands of people to find my seat that it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to an arena show. I usually stick to festivals and clubs the size of the Marquee Theatre for more prominent nationally…
Here’s the thing: With its swaggering rock riffs and loose, danceable sway, Nikki Lane’s “Right Time,” which opens the South Carolinian’s second full-length album, All or Nothin’, should be a country radio smash. Why not? If Sam Hunt can channel sensitive R&B star Drake, Kacey Musgraves’ mellow contrarian approach has…
The most punk thing about punk is that punk can mean so many, many things. It is an amorphous concept that even I don’t dare pretend to fully comprehend. But when you know it, you know it. And the Melvins with Le Butcherettes at Crescent Ballroom was pretty fucking punk…
Ben McKee’s decision to drop out of the prestigious Berklee College of Music with only one semester remaining to join Imagine Dragons must have seemed foolish at the time. In hindsight, the bassist for Imagine Dragons (whose members also include singer Dan Reynolds, Wayne “Wing” Sermon on guitar, and drummer…
Here are our picks for the best live music in Phoenix this week. Be sure to browse our comprehensive concert calendar for more options. Le Butcherettes – Tuesday, July 21 – Crescent Ballroom Many bands have elaborate stage shows, but not many are as violent or eccentric as Le Butcherettes…
Most probably know Himanshu Suri, a.k.a. Heems, from his work with the irreverent joke-rap group Das Racist. The group was known for its dizzying lyrics and snide social critiques, while rising to prominence with songs about Taco Bell. It was never clear whether they were casting playing a joke on the…
Say “Arizona” to any citizen of the other 49 states, and that person is sure to picture llamas on the highway, absurd state laws, and prejudice run amok. He or she might envision a whole state of starched-collar folks sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic as they quietly make the 40 minute…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival has set a date for 2016. On March 11-13, the festival will return to Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix. Last year’s festival came at the end of March; this year the organizers are moving it earlier in the month to take advantage of (hopefully) better…
Jim Adkins – “I Will Go” Last week Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World launched a fascinating project with the “Jim Adkins Single Series”. Every Friday, starting last Friday, Adkins will release a new song through August 14. Six songs in total consisting of three originals (A-sides) and three covers…
Stripped Up Eternal Summers took advantage of the studio on the band’s new album. Preparing to record its fourth album, Eternal Summers settled on a goal of discovering and incorporating the sort of sounds the band had never put on an album before. “We just really wanted to explore the…
Nothing says ’90s nostalgia like a band that made it big during the dot-com boom, releasing two chart-topping albums, only to face constant struggle in the age of Napster and American Idol. When Eve 6 emerged in 1998, the group revealed itself as a smarter Blink-182 and a less self-pitying…
Here are our picks for the best live music in Phoenix this week. Feel free to browse our comprehensive concert calendar for more options. Wednesday 13 – Wednesday, July 15 – Club Red Wednesday 13 is known as a force to be reckoned with in the world of goth/horror punk/metal…
