Christianity wants to change your life and make you feel born again, and rock ‘n’ roll wants to change your life and make you feel born again. Contemporary Christian Music, then — that’s the genre’s full name in the trade papers — isn’t quite so strange a chimera as it…
Listen up, local party monsters and EDM fans. We’re about to dispense some sage advice. There are a few things you’ll definitely need before going wild out at the massive outdoor dance fiesta and electronica rager known as Dirty Disco this weekend. First, make sure to sport a colorful and…
Begin applying your facepaint now, just for the practice: Insane Clown Posse is coming to Flagstaff on June 2. They’ll be playing the Pepsi Amphitheater, and they promise that “even the most diehard, longest, longtime Juggalos who’ve seen ICP 100 times will be schooled.” Why will they be schooled? I’m…
[The Valley is a big place, and it puts out more interesting music than we could ever hope to cover. Every week or so, Mike Bogumill will use this space to cover a little more of it. – Ed.] The goal of this column is to document, explore, and create…
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman died of cirrhosis on May 2, the same day as the Golden Gods Awards. It was devastating that on a day meant to celebrate the lives of the best musicians in metal, one of those artists was taken from the world of music. It also came…
Nineteen-ninety-three saw the birth of Korn, Jimmy Eat World, Jurassic 5, At the Drive-In, the Crystal Method, and Shaq’s hip-hop career. A more obscure name to arrive that year was Rotten Sound, a Finland-rooted grindcore four-piece currently celebrating its big 2-0 with big things. Along with international touring and festival…
Everyone is aware you’re all hopped up because Neutral Milk Hotel is reuniting for the first time since Jesus fed the 5,000 and because Boards of Canada will have a new album for the first time since Hatshepsut constructed the Temple of Karnak. But before you pee your pants a…
Few bands mix God and rock ‘n’ roll like Switchfoot, who hit the mainstream with the anthemic “Meant to Live” a decade ago. Their ninth album, Fading West, is due out in June, but their previous album, 2011’s Vice Verses, offered further evidence that Jon Foreman is one of today’s…
In 2013, we’ve reached the point where Beatles tribute bands should, given the time that’s elapsed, have some of their own tribute bands by now. 1964 the Tribute — that’s their name — has been re-creating the British Invasion-era Beatles since 1984, which means they’re now coming up on a…
The stickiness is back and it’s spreading. About six months after he pulled the plug on his ultra-popular DJ/dance event Sticky Fingers, William Fucking Reed has resurrected the event and given it a reboot of sorts, renaming it Sticky Fingers Mobile Disco. Instead of staging the shindig (self-described as a…
If you’ve been reading this whiskey-drenched, devil-horn-throwing column every week for more than a year, here’s a little thank-you flashback to the beginning. In one of the first Metal Mondays installments, I talked about the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles — basically the heavy metal Grammys. I couldn’t…
Miss Krystle has no problem holding her own on stage, thanks to operatic vocal chops and bright red hair that’s as fiery as her personality. But the former beauty pageant queen turned local YouTube sensation vows audience members will keep all eyes on her five-member backing band of local musicians…
It’s easy to wonder why some bands continue to perform at all. Just look at all the formerly larger-than-life acts now relegated to the casino circuit. Ratt isn’t part of the casino circuit, but they once were larger than life. Essentially defunct by 2000, Ratt re-emerged in 2010 with original…
Metal act Mushroomhead is rarely mentioned in the mainstream music media, and if it is mentioned, it’s usually because it’s being compared to Slipknot. Not that the comparisons don’t make sense — both bands are similar-sounding seven-piece groups in creepy masks. Except Mushroomhead has been around since 1993 (Slipknot was…
Eating Mexican food and getting drunk on tequila is so much more fun when there’s good music. And on this Cinco de Mayo, the Rhythm Room is the place to be if you’re 21 or older and want high-quality local tunes while you’re sipping margaritas. More than 10 Rhythm Room…
The enormous wave pool at Tempe’s Big Surf hosted more than just doggy paddles and belly flops during Wet Electric this past week. It was a giant twerkin, Harlem Shakin’ mass as local EDM fans raved, raged, and unleashed incalculable amounts of fist-pumps and ass-bumps in the shallow water while…
It’s about time someone finally brought heavy metal and sex toys — a match made in heaven — together in one package. And Swedish heavy metallers Ghost (also known as Ghost B.C.) was just the band to do it. Known for their eccentric on-stage presence — five of the members…
When I heard Zakk Wylde was coming to town, I immediately assumed it was by way of Black Label Society. I couldn’t wait to see his guitar prowess once again — including his wonderful dedication to the pinch harmonic — and his hits from more than two-dozen albums spanning almost…
Earlier this month, Gwar and Warbeast kicked off a tour and brought down the house at Tucson’s Rialto Theatre. But the thrash metal gods, lo and behold, have forsaken us here in Phoenix, and the tour didn’t come our way. Hell, the duo is even going through spots like Des…
Old-fashioned common sense dictates that you don’t want to get electricity-powered equipment near a body of water, much less a swimming pool. The newly opened Maya Day & Nightclub, 7333 East Indian Plaza in Scottsdale, flips the script on that particular notion, as its does with a few others. The…
The best way to encapsulate the sound of the early-’80s punk squalor collected on legendary Chicago indie label Touch and Go is with a lot of Home Depot imagery: buzzsaw guitars, hammering drums, sandpaper shrieks. Toronto post-hardcore contractors Metz would have been right at home there. Metz’s self-titled full-length channels…
Paramore is looking lighter these days. Since the band released its most recent album almost four years ago, it lost founding members Josh and Zac Farro. The experience is documented on Paramore’s newly released self-titled disc, which contains several songs about singer Hayley Williams’ feelings about a split the brothers…
