Winery Dogs @ Marquee Theatre

Though nowadays they sport hairdos much shorter and significantly less teased than when they rose to fame in their respective bands back in the ’80s, the members of this rock ‘n’ roll supergroup obviously remain committed to delivering big, guitar-driven, drum solo-y arena rock tunes that pay as much tribute…

The Yawpers @ Yucca Tap Room

The Yawpers, born in Boulder and residing in Denver, are the country’s greatest acoustic guitar rock band this side of Tenacious D. Aided by a carefully thought-out selection of pedals and amps, singer-guitarist Nate Cook and lead guitarist Jesse Parmet (in front of drummer Noah Shomberg) manage to coax a…

Sha-Boom Bang! Phoenix Soul Party @ Zia Record Exchange

John Dixon is an absolute guru of vintage and obscure vinyl, a wizened historian of Arizona music, and one helluva esteemed disc jockey. The 60-something record hound, who goes by DJ Johnny D. when he’s spinning, boasts a meticulously compiled and catalogued platter collection (which numbers into the tens of…

Nerdzerker Loves Punk Rock and Dungeons and Dragons Equally

With Phoenix Comicon right around the corner, it’s a good time to highlight nerdcore, and with Nerdzerker’s album release party less than a week away, the nerdy punk three-piece is one that should be mentioned. Their music is punk enough to stand up next to just about any punk act…

Q&A: Stoner Rock Overlords Fu Manchu

“Stoner rock” has yet to gain entry in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, but few bands define the genre better than Fu Manchu. Yet, like so many genres, the name hardly fits the sound. Pink Floyd is stoner rock, while Fu Manchu storms in all heavy, sludgy, psychedelic and fuzzy with plenty…

Read the Linkin Park/Sublime Police Report Here

By now you may have heard about the story of how Sublime With Rome singer Rome Ramirez alleged on his Twitter account that Linkin Park had snitched on the band for smoking weed, prompting “cops” (Rome’s words) to seize the band’s drugs. Read a detailed play-by-play of the “Linkin Nark”…

Brian Chartrand’s Musical Identity Crisis

Looking at local musician Brian Chartrand’s musical biography, you might say he has an identity crisis. There are his solo acoustic releases, which include his unique arrangements of well-known songs from contemporary artists as well as strong guitar work on his original numbers. There’s his work with the critically-acclaimed local…

13 Hottest Guys in Metal

When it comes to list compilations of the “hottest” musicians in rock, there’s no shortage by any means. In the heavy metal genre alone, you can Google endless lists detailing the sexiest guitarists, frontmen, drummers, bassists, keyboardists — you name it. But the majority of these lists are based completely…

Dax Riggs Brings His Demons to Scottsdale

Demon tied to a chair in my brain/ black bird a-tapping on the window pane/ sittin’ and smilin’ at a stray dog in the rain/ demon tied to a chair in my brain. With these haunting, bluesy lyrics, Dax Riggs opens with on the first track of his 2007 album…

Blunt Club Celebrates 12 Years of Hip-Hop Community

In the 12 years the Blunt Club has been around it has built a reputation as the Valley’s premier weekly hip-hop show. Its founders, Dumper Foo, Aran “Catalyst” Kelly Emerge McVay, and Keith Nickels (among others) are local legends in their own right. And some of the acts they’ve managed…

Bacchus and the Demonsluts Bring the Funky Pirate Party

What better way to label yourself Phoenix’s ultimate party band than naming your group after the Roman god of merry-making, theater, getting wasted, and feeling “ecstasy”? Bacchus and the Demonsluts did just that, but its roiling river of funk, jazz freakouts, and frenetic, instrumental jamborees is just the tip of…

Floor @ Yucca Tap Room

For Floor, Florida’s coolest export since medium-pulp orange juice, the opportunity to be both influential and derivative is a badge of honor the band should wear with pride. The sludgy stoner rock trio has existed for the better part of 22 years now, even though it took years-long hiatuses and…

Maceo Parker @ Musical Instrument Museum

Saxophonist Maceo Parker calls his band “the tightest little funk orchestra on Earth.” It should be. Parker was schooled in tightness as the bandleader for James Brown in the 1960s. Brown was notorious for his demanding ways, but Parker, despite not being a hard-ass, still knows exactly how to keep…

Matt Pond PA @ Crescent Ballroom

It was 10 years ago when indie rock started to seep into pop culture. The Internet had emerged as a way to distribute music (legally and illegally) and became a barometer for 20-somethings who wanted to discover something new and obscure. The popular television show The O.C. was actually shining…

Eagulls @ Crescent Ballroom

Not the first post-punk band to emerge from Leeds, England, and most assuredly not the last, Eagulls made its U.S. television debut in January on the Late Show with David Letterman. Not a surprising coup for a band with such a big buzz, but one made more exciting for the…

Memorial Day Weekend @ Various Locations

If ever there were a soundtrack to Memorial Day Weekend, it’d be electronic dance music. That’s because EDM will be in abundance during MDW, whether it’s in the clubs, around the pool, or at your local bar. And some of the Valley’s more prominent dance music promoters and venues are…

Ryan Adams’ Love Is Hell Turned 10 and No One Noticed

With hardly a whisper from the collective music community in the past two weeks, the 10th anniversary of a defining record for one of this generation’s most prolific musicians came and went. Ryan Adams’ Love Is Hell, his fifth solo record and what may be his darkest offering to date,…