Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs began as the home-studio project of Adam Granduciel – an unrepentant tinkerer and gearhead whose deeply layered songs put a new spin on classic rock. After the breakthrough success of the expertly crafted Slave Ambient, Granduciel’s project became more of a live band, a move…
The world never cared about Death. Until now. In the early 1970s, before even the long-revered “godfathers and godmothers of punk” were trailblazing the genre, the Detroit trio was doing it first (and quite well, for that matter). But nobody outside of sibling band members David, Dannis, and Bobby Hackney,…
This year’s McDowell Mountain Festival went off like a weekend in the park, and we mean that both figuratively and literally. Perched upon the green grass of Margaret T. Hance Park, the three-day concert fest seemingly took place without a hitch and happened to feature gorgeous weather and a lot…
Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Dwight Yoakam, G. Love, and More McDowell Mountain Music Festival 3/30/14 I love music festivals for one simple reason: there are always surprises. And the final day of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2014 on Sunday was filled with said surprises for the eyes and ears…
Want to get in a show this week? There are plenty of concerts over the next five days around Metro Phoenix to choose from, as you can see for yourself by viewing our extensive online concert listings. And we’re fairly certain that there’s something for everyone, regardless of your particular…
Disco Biscuits, Slightly Stoopid, Allen Stone, Dispatch, Black Bottom Lighters, and More McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2014 3/29/14 Saturday proved to be the day for jam bands galore at McDowell Mountain Music Festival, offering up what was arguably the most cohesive and sensible lineup of any of its three-day run…
Small Leaks Sink Ships, Leonardo DiCapricorn, Snake!Snake!Snakes!, Playboy Manbaby Parliament 3/28/14 Lately, I’ve been choosing the shows I go to based on a certain criteria. The first is that I must see something new, the second is that I want to see a band I haven’t seen in a while,…
STS9, Gramatik, Lettuce McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2014 3/28/14 It was a great spring night to spend outdoors at Hance Park for day one of the McDowell Mountain Music Festival before the brutal summer swoops in for the next six months or so. There was an excitement in the air…
Atypicality goes one of the two ways in the music industry: Either you’re left of center enough to fail or left of center enough to resonate with listeners. In the case of Allen Stone, the latter rang true. For the 26-year-old Northwest soul-leaning sensation, picking an alternative path was the…
The Slackers Crescent Ballroom 3/27/14 After two long years, The Slackers returned to Phoenix with a vengeance last night to a crowd of super-starved local fans at the Crescent Ballroom eager to hear their ska sounds. With an extensive catalog after more than 20 years of releasing records, the audience…
Tool US Airways Center 3/27/14 Initially, it seemed prog-metal legends Tool might be trying to pull off one of the biggest pranks in rock ‘n’ roll history or just going in for another cash grab when booking a just-completed short run of tour dates. After all, the band hasn’t put…
Curious about what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret. We’ve got the hook up on what shows you might be interested in attending over the next couple nights and days. This…
Few bands remain as succinctly Californian and categorically challenging as San Diego’s Slightly Stoopid. Signed to the late Bradley Nowell’s Skunk Records in 1995, they’re an act that’s been a signed Golden State institution for almost 20 years, carving out their niche by pulling together a variety of genres into…
Listen to “Wounded,” a new track by Buckeye country singer Katryna Eastwood, and it’s easy to think the singer is far older than her 16 years. The haunting acoustic melody is layered with poignant lyrics of a heartbreaking man, collecting loves without a care before throwing them to the wayside…
Charlie Musselwhite is no stranger to the blues. In fact, that’s where the harmonica master spent most of his career, from Mississippi to Memphis to Chicago to Northern California, where he makes his home — Musselwhite’s career in the blues has spanned 50 years. Along the way, however, he’s also…
††† (Crosses) Crescent Ballroom 3/25/14 It started with crosses. And a rosary. “O memories that bless and burn / O barren gain and bitter loss / I kiss each bead and strive at last to learn / To kiss the cross, sweetheart / To kiss the cross . . .”…
Even without an LP on which to hang their hat, Glendale-based reggae band Black Bottom Lighters have opened for Flogging Molly on St. Patrick’s Day, toured the West Coast, played the local stage at True Music Festival, and headlined a pre-Thanksgiving show at The Marquee. Suffice it to say few…
There are few acts like G. Love & Special Sauce, the genre-bridging Philadelphia alt-hip-hop trio that’s been at it for two decades now, and there are even fewer frontmen quite like Garrett Dutton. Best known for his rapping approach within G. Love & Special Sauce, Dutson isn’t afraid to display…
Judging by the amount of success that local performers at last year’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival have seen since their March 2013 engagement at Margaret T. Hance Park, I think it is safe to say that the festival’s organizers know how to pick ’em. Just about every local band that…
Like many jam bands, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) leave no sound unturned, no rhythm unexplored, and no genre unappreciated. Everything from jazz fusion to hip hop beats to funkadelic licks to psychedelic twists gets represented on the Atlanta-based group’s 11 album catalog (with another on the way) birthed from…
One of the hallmarks of the McDowell Mountain Music Festival over its decade or so of existence has been the utter diversity of sounds its offered. Such is the case with the 2014 edition, which runs Friday, March 28, until Sunday, March 30, and features a smorgasbord of sounds that…
American dance music, folk act, jam band — however you label them, Donna the Buffalo have been defying traditional classification while coming from a traditional background. Formed by vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear in 1989, the New York-based band has amassed a cult following, culled from their rigorous touring…
