Sundays in Tempe can be kind of a drag, but with Southwest Psycho’s new endeavor at the Big Fish Pub, anyone whose musical interests include the suffix “billy” has a new Sunday spot to see live music and shake a tail-feather. Cruise the slideshow to see for yourself…
Welcome to FemPop, a weekly feature that examines a current popular song and its message to women–whether that’s empowering or demeaning, or both.Oh, Katy Perry.It’s probably to be expected that the hottest woman alive, as named by Maxim magazine, would have a titillating new single, too, and the pop songstress…
Title: Vacation LocationBasics: Did you know there was an Arizona Parrothead Club? Well, now you do. I am sure every state has one, and Arizona’s is led by Sam L. Rainwater. At first glance at this album screams Parrothead, and the music sure as hell didn’t disappoint. There’s not much…
This flier might look old-fashioned, since the image is from a vintage cigarette advertisement for Tiplaet, but don’t think the show at Yucca Tap Room this Friday, May 14 will be fuddy-duddy. The bands on the bill, which include Mergence, Banana Gun, Honey Pistol, Sister Cities and Wizards of Time,…
¿Dónde está Dos Gringos? It certainly ain’t anywhere near ASU. At least not anymore, as the local chain of party-hard Mexican bars divested itself of its north Tempe location last year. The hacienda-like frat shack lives on, however, in the form of Trailer Park, 1001 East Eighth Street, with a…
Before there was JT “the ‘Dick in a Box’-endorsing Madonna-molester,” there was JT “the methadone-smooth folk-rock lothario.” And from almost the beginning, Carole King was there, too. Taylor first collaborated with singer-songwriter King on his breakthrough album, Sweet Baby James (1970), and her contributions to his career probably can’t be…
If LCD Soundsystem’s third record will indeed be the band’s last (as main man James Murphy has indicated), at least they’re going out on top. Not since New Order’s mid-’80s heyday has a band seamlessly fused dance music with rock music all the while reconciling an indie spirit with the…
The Besnard Lakes are more than a band whose name kind of looks like “Barenaked Ladies” if you look at it really fast. They’re also a four-piece from Montreal, centered on husband Jace Lasek (lead vocals and guitar) and wife Olga Goreas (vocals and bass). Yeah, a married Canadian couple…
Though it’s been 14 years since the death of Sublime singer Bradley Nowell — and the release of Sublime’s biggest album, the posthumous self-titled record featuring “What I Got” — the band is still incredibly popular and attracting young fans all the time. Shrewdly, a lot of other bands have…
The Album Leaf isn’t so much post-rock as it is post-soft. Sigur Rós protégé and auteur Jimmy LaValle’s five largely instrumental albums could be called road music, because what they evoke is too many undulating miles of asphalt. Unlike The Odyssey, LaValle’s music isn’t epic. Odysseus went somewhere, while The…
No one in Scottsdale was safe Friday night when WOW the Party took over Martini Ranch with three rooms of dancing and more than a dozen DJs. Check out the slideshow…
It’s always lovely to see local radio stations supporting local bands. Radio Phoenix always makes an effort, but this week in particular they’re spinning our local kids more than a little. Though MGMT’s record won’t be gotten over any time soon, Gospel Claws, Dakota Jeane, Harlem (originating from Tucson,) and…
Band: Pride of the GarageTitle: Young Man’s GameBasics: Pride of the Garage is 46-year-old Dan Miles, a self-labeled procrastinator. What’s better than procrastination when it comes to releasing an album? I don’t know. Perhaps self-mutilation? That’s what it feels like to listen to the 10-song Young Man’s Game — a…
The Surfside IV look like they’re ready for battle in this flier promoting their show tonight, May 6 at the Desert Botanical Garden. The fab foursome are veterans in the local music scene, rocking out since 2002 and looking like hip cats while doing so.Their show tonight is part of…
Aside from a dubious one-night stand with rap-metal in the late ’90s, former Dokken guitarist George Lynch has remained heroically faithful to his cock-rock roots. After Dokken disbanded in 1989, Lynch recruited vocalist Ori Logan and started Lynch Mob — one of the great no-brainers in the annals of ego-driven…
Phoenix-based swamp-rock band Hogjaw couldn’t have picked a better time to release their new album, Ironwood. After all, Arizona is descending into redneck depravity with the “birther” bill, SB 1070, and, most pertinent to Hogjaw, the legalization of carrying a concealed weapon without permit. We’re going to need a crazed…
Welsh imports Bullet for My Valentine aim for metal’s sweet spot: shred-tastic enough for headbangers and poppy enough to please the girlfriends with power ballads. They deliver plenty of clean vocals over chugging percussion with galloping riffage and soaring hypersonic solos that rip a page from Iron Maiden and Metallica…
Ray Manzarek, co-founder of The Doors, and critically acclaimed slide/blues guitarist Roy Rogers, best known for his collaboration with John Lee Hooker, are performing at The Compound. Rogers recently told a California newspaper that the two men realize they’ve formed an odd musical coupling. “It’s an interesting combination, seemingly incongruous…
It’s probably a safe bet that you’ve never encountered a turntablist as flamboyant as DJ Keoki. Just look at the dude’s ultra-colorful past: A veteran of NYC’s infamous “Club Kids” scene of the early ’90s (which inspired the 2003 film Party Monster), the self-described “superstar” rose to fame working such…
Here’s a look at what’s selling this week at local record stores.MGMT’s Congratulations holds steady with several number one spots, Record Store Day exclusives manage to still be selling well, especially at Revolver Records, even several weeks after Record Store Day, and comedian Brian Posehn makes an appearance on Zia’s…
Okay, folks, we’ve been doing Club Candids for almost three years now (yes, that’s a lot of hangovers) so we’d like to think that we know a good club night when we see one (here, check the slideshow).Such was the case on Friday, April 30, at the inaugural night of…
Title: Curse of the HagBasics: Sometimes in life, we get a raw deal — a particular instance or chain of events that presents us with an obstacle we must overcome. Perhaps it’s the passing of a close relative or the disintegration of a marriage or relationship. Whatever the case may…
