Some of you may remember last March when a little column called Metal Mondays debuted via Up on the Sun, and immediately dove into the subjects matters of Pantera, strippers, Jack Daniel’s, and YouTube…
It’s hard to imagine that once upon a time, Kurt Cobain wasn’t the voice of a generation, or grunge’s foremost martyr. A long time ago, he was simply the guy who fronted a great band called Nirvana, and brought thick, fuzzy metal/punk distortion to great pop songs. He had already…
With Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Phoenix’s breakthrough into the public eye (don’t you dare say mainstream, hipster), Paris’ favorite quartet lampooned lady-swooning Liszt and classical rock star Mozart. The synth pop heroes are set to return with Bankrupt!, an album that promises to be more experimental. It helps that Phoenix has been working with creative hurricanes, including director…
Who’s Aaron Carter, you ask? What — you have more important things to do than check what’s trending on Twitter? It’s been a very long time since this little blond boner of a Backstreet brother (his big bro is Nick Carter of BSB) burst on the scene with bubbly pop…
Adam Dumper admits he’d “do practically anything and everything” to help a friend in need. This ain’t no empty boast, as the artist known as Dumperfoo has been busy moving Heaven and Earth to gear up for a special edition of The Blunt Club that aims to raise money for…
Ryan Leslie is a smooth operator. The rap/hip-hop artist’s rhymes melt like butter on toast — actually, given Leslie’s penchant for upscale video shoots in Paris and other exotic locales (“People ask me my address and I say global,” he raps on “Swiss Francs”), make that butter on a baguette…
Heavy, aggressive, and sludgy, local boulder-crushing band Destruction Unit tears through some steady-rocking Germanic grooves. Ryan Rousseau (guitar, vocals, synths) heads up the gang; his bassist brother Rusty, guitarists J.S. Aurelius and Nick Nappa, and drummer Justin Keefer round out the five-piece. Freshly back from SXSW, including a well-received set…
There’s nothing stately about Mariah DeRaet. She’s an unassuming character offstage, a 25-year-old barista with a warm demeanor that could belong to any college-aged girl next door. Yet when she straps on a parlor-sized Martin acoustic as the vocalist of Tempe’s Avery, she and her band (drummer Eric Estrada, guitarist…
Gangbangin’ doesn’t excite Brotha Lynch Hung anymore, nor does the topic of his cult following, one that’s grown exponentially throughout his 27-year career. At 42, the seminal Californian rapper lights up when talking about his upcoming barbecue cookbook or the screenplays he’s working on. But make no mistake — Lynch,…
For as long as metal has been around, people have associated the sound with “The Devil” and “Satanism.” Locally, it’s slim pickins’ finding an actual Satanic metal band to chat with. I’m not talking “dressed in black” here; I’m talking blood-guzzling, church-burning, javelina-murdering dudes donning corpse paint with greasy long…
Now that Ultra Music Festival has passed, the next stop festival-wise is Electric Daisy Carnival. There’s nothing like the sights: people in neon green, yellow, pink, and orange tutus running around; spirit hoods that look like animal heads, beaded bracelets that cover forearms, sparkling bras, fuzzy boots, goofy glasses, and…
There are an estimated 300 Grateful Dead tribute bands (by one website’s account), including the Tempe-based Xtra Ticket. But of all those bands, only Dark Star Orchestra actually play the Dead. Let us be a little clearer. DSO picks a Grateful Dead show from a list of thousands spanning the…
Some guys have all the luck, not to mention effloads of talent to boot. Steven Chung is one of those guys. Things have been extra rosy for the 32-year-old Scottsdale nightclub veteran and house music guru, who performs as both DJ Tranzit and his darker alter ego Juheun, including inking…
American Juggalo ScreengrabBy Paul T. Bradley For those among you who are “down” and perhaps for those who are not, you know that much brouhaha was made by the FBI’s inclusion of Juggalos — ie fans of Insane Clown Posse — in their 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. This, of…
It took three whole years for Stellacutta to finish its self-titled debut album, which finally saw the sweet monitor glow of their Bandcamp page in January. The record is a pristine showcase of the Tempe outfit’s bombastic, jazz-inflected indie rock — the melodic heights reached within it show that the…
You want depressing? Try this: Bobby Brown on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club. In healthier, happier times, Brown wouldn’t have come within 50 feet of VH1, cable television’s premier clearinghouse for vanity reality shows. But Brown isn’t what he used to be. He’s no longer a suave, stealthy playa with the…
Golden, Colorado, features a bar called the Buffalo Rose. Bands are flanked on stage by stuffed standing polar and black bears. The walls are lined with animal heads. About 200 people squeeze inside. It’s where once-popular top-selling, stadium-filling bands go to die. Soul Asylum hasn’t yet played there, but the…
Sacramento, California-based hip-hop duo Blackalicious has released three full-length records in the two decades it’s been in action: 1999’s Nia, 2002’s Blazing Arrow, and 2005’s The Craft. But don’t dismiss Gift of Gab (Timothy Parker) and DJ/producer Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley ) as slackers. Though they might not appear to…
Mammoth, Arizona-based Al Foul’s website proudly proclaims the rockabilly singer as the “One, the Only Al Foul.” It’s more than just an accurate boast: The duder performs solo, snarling over a fat Gretsch guitar and stomping on a bass drum. But his songs aren’t rowdy BBQ Show/Bob Log-style tirades. No,…
Some guys have all the luck, and Steven Chung is one of them. Things have been rosy, to say the least, for the Scottsdale house music guru who performs as DJ Tranzit. When EDM superstar Bad Boy Bill swung through the Valley recently, it wasn’t just to perform at Axis/Radius…
Max Cavalera of Soulfly is a very mellow speaker. His Brazilian accent is thick, and there’s a lilting quality to the way he punctuates his sentences with phrases like “You know?” or “It’s killer, man.” He’s buzzing about a lake house in unincorporated Phoenix, a second home in addition to…
Up on the Sun has learned that Norteño soul guitarist Eddie Dimas, author of the classic Latin instrumental “El Mosquito,” passed away March 8 of natural causes. Dimas was 65. See also: -100 Years of Music That Defined Arizona…
