Will Nine Inch Nails’ New Music Really Be F***ing Great?

It’s rare that musicians or other people in the public eye actually admit they’ve been lying–unless they’re found out, Tiger Woods-style–but Trent Reznor is excited about his own “betrayal” of Nine Inch Nails fans. I guess the lie is okay when the truth stuns and excites millions of fans, right?…

Punk Rock Bowling’s 20 Most Memorable Looks

While piecing together this list of photos from last week’s Punk Rock Bowling festival in Las Vegas, I tried to figure out how to approach it. “The hottest girls of Punk Rock Bowling” would be too easy. “The weirdos of Punk Rock Bowling” requires a bit more work, but the…

Scott Weiland @ Talking Stick Resort

If you want to know what former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland is up to these days, don’t bother visiting his website. It’s almost three years out of date, the music is spotty, and the images go in and out. Serious rehabilitation work is needed. Hmmm…

While We’re Up Benefit @ Lawn Gnome Publishing

Zach Booher and his pop-punk band, While We’re Up, might have been on their way to the Van’s Warped Tour. The singer, along with his two bandmates, was following the tour in the summer of 2012 and playing shows in the same cities it hit. One night, on a freeway…

Michael Kiwanuka @ Desert Sky Pavilion

If you ever need a record cover to justify that adage about a picture being worth a thousand words, Michael Kiwanuka’s Home Again will do the trick. Kiwanuka’s 2012 full-length debut sports a stark close-up of its mastermind’s face draped in half-shadow and wearing a pensive expression. You can just…

Imagine Dragons @ Comerica Theatre

Imagine Dragons’ debut LP, Night Visions, begins with a guitar intro that might remind you a little of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Then it descends into a heavy, current-sounding verse anchored by the stuttery, wub-wubbing bass made famous by dubstep — or at least movie trailers with dubstep…

Tongue Tied’s Daft Punk Tribute Party @ Apollo’s Lounge

Didja get your mitts on Daft Punk’s new album, Random Access Memories, yet? If not, your slow ass is certainly in the minority, since damn near everyone’s streamed or pirat — er, bought a copy of the just-released 13-track gem birthed from the robotic loins of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel…

10 Things I Learned at Punk Rock Bowling

The last few punk fans staggered out of downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, marking the end of Punk Rock Bowling. It was a fun experience marked by four days of music (including the club shows), pool parties, and a bowling tournament. The weekend went by way too fast, though I’m sure…

11 Ways to Survive Music Festivals on a Budget

Let’s face it: Arizona isn’t exactly prime real estate for music festivals. Yes, we have the party-hard atmosphere of Country Thunder and the locally beloved McDowell Mountain Music Fest, the EDM-drenched Soundwave and some killer jazz fests. But our fair desert doesn’t yet have the appeal or pull of such…

Fictionist @ Crescent Ballroom

Provo, Utah-based Fictionist wants to make your troubles melt away, and the band can do it in any number of ways. Singer Stuart Maxfield channels a slightly less throaty Caleb Followill over crunchy, stratospheric guitars on tracks like “Swept Away” and chilled acoustic moments like “Still Reaching,” and groovy distortion…

!!! @ Crescent Ballroom

Over the past decade, “hipster” has re-emerged as the insult du jour — an increasingly vague, increasingly common label placed on elitists and enthusiasts of all stripes. No one’s really working to take the word back, but if such a movement existed, !!! would be an ideal torchbearer. This dance-punk…

Taylor Swift @ Jobing.com Arena

It is impossible to ignore Taylor Swift, which makes it incredibly easy for music fans to dislike her — people just don’t like to have their attention monopolized, whether they enjoy somebody’s music or not. Her music is explicitly autobiographical, which means that every new song about never getting back…

Enormodome @ Stray Cat Bar & Grill

Jeff Lusby-Breault and Mike Seitz of Enormodome never really thought their collaborations would go past entertaining themselves. The longtime friends — one in Flagstaff and one in Phoenix — took a quick-and-dirty approach when they started writing songs together, and they were surprised to find that their gritty rock songs…

Can We Stop Making Up New Metal Subgenres?

Am I the only one who is sick to death of the ever-growing list of metal subgenres? It seems to evolve and pulsate and throw out even more obscure genres on a daily basis. Honestly, if there’s one thing metalheads should be able to have faith in when it comes…

Brown Bird @ Sail Inn

David Lamb and MorganEve Swain — the duo that makes up indie band Brown Bird — made a left turn last month with the release of Fits of Reason. The electric guitar that joins their metal, rock, and even Middle Eastern influences isn’t the only surprise on the band’s latest…

Blue-Eyed Son @ Lost Leaf

Just because a former hardcore punker turned surf instructor decides to dump the angst for acoustic guitars, it doesn’t instantly make him a Jack Johnson shuffle artist. (And the world needs another Jack Johnson like I need a hole in my head.) Fronted by Andrew Heilprin, a surf instructor by…

Callow @ Trunk Space

San Francisco’s Callow makes music for standing alone in a hallway after somebody important to you has just let you know they don’t feel anything you’re feeling. It’s not that it’s sad or self-indulgent (the way we want to be in those moments); it’s that nothing in these songs insists…