Copper & Congress Find New Life in Trip-Hop

Tucson’s Copper & Congress is a self-described “indie soul” trio of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Katie Haverly, bassist Patrick Morris, and drummer Julius Schlosburg. “We formed in 2012,” Haverly recalls. “We had a different drummer and guitar player. Patrick and I have been together since the beginning. Our guitar player quit and our…

A Handy Guide to How Long a Set Your Band Should Play

Despite putting on a fantastic show at the Marquee Theatre last Wednesday, the New York kids collectively known as Interpol put on a set that clocked in at just under 60 minutes. It wasn’t exactly the Rolling Stones at Altamont, but there were many in the crowd who were vocal…

La Cerca’s Big Sound Comes from Small Influences

La Cerca singer/songwriter/guitarist Andrew Gardner is an idealist. No, he’s a cynic. In any case, he’s a master songsmith who speaks most articulately through his guitar playing. He found his calling in the early-’90s twee-pop of Beat Happening and Unrest, along with New Zealand indie bands like the Clean. The…

Luna Aura Is That Uncommon Phoenix Musician — a Pop Singer

“I know where every exit in this room is.” Luna Aura’s eyes scan the room, peripherally watching everyone in it as we speak just inside the door of Jobot Coffee on a particularly blistering day. You’d think it would be a distracting trait, the indication of someone uninterested with engaging,…

Former Queensrÿche Singer Says Band Name Was a Burden

Geoff Tate has always been seen as one rock ‘n’ roll’s archetypal frontmen. As singer of Queensrÿche, he sold more than 20 million albums worldwide and sold out shows in dozens of countries. Tate is ranked in the top 20 on Hit Parader’s 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time,…

Sometimes, the Most Punk Rock Thing to Do Is Make Pop Music

Whether it says more about Jordan Prather or Tucson’s downtown music scene that the Head Over Heart singer/multi-instrumentalist likens himself to a punk rocker is up to you, but what’s certain is that he sees himself as an outsider in his community. “I remember reading in an Arcade Fire interview…

Five Dimebag Darrell Memories in Honor of Phoenix DimeFest

Ten years ago this December, a musical icon was taken from the world of heavy metal far too early. When Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott was gunned down performing with his band Damageplan in Ohio, we didn’t just lose a guitar legend. To those who knew him, he was one of the…

Pop Music Needs to Be More Political. Here’s Why.

By Steve Brennan Like it or not, Pharell Williams’ “Happy” is likely to be the top-selling single of 2014. And yes, its buoyant ’60s soul vibe and simple, positive message is modern pop perfection. But scanning the rest of this year’s biggest hits, one is struck by a consistent theme:…

Holy Crap — Kongos’ “Come with Me Now” Goes Platinum

With apologies to Andrew Jackson Jihad, there’s no doubt Kongos is the hottest musical export Phoenix has created in years, and we have the news to prove it. Their smash hit “Come with Me Now” has now gone platinum, meaning digital sales of the song have exceeded one million…

Phoenix DJs Offer Alternative to Scottsdale’s Flashy EDM Scene

The prominent representation of electronic music in the Valley obviously is the club scene in Scottsdale. The biggest names in electronic dance music play around Old Town every weekend, and thousands of people flock to expensive bars in flashy clothes. The opposite, that is, of what the members of Provisions…

Brit Band Thumpers Sounds Like Summer

There’s something about catching a band at a festival, especially when you don’t know them prior to seeing them,” says Marcus Pepperell, one half of London’s alt-pop duo Thumpers. He should know, given how many festival gigs his band has graced: MIDI Festival, Camden Crawl, Blissfields, South by Southwest, and…

Get Feisty and Foxy with Shovel at Tempe Tavern on Friday

Shovel is an underground rock band comprising many things — the transgressive squall of late-’80s pigfuck (Butthole Surfers, the Touch and Go Records brigade), the anthemic stomp of early Mudhoney and Nirvana, and bathed in a drop or two of Kat Bjelland’s sweat. However, if the frequent use of terms…