Nevermore @ Club 24

Once upon a midnight dreary, while other folks are asleep and weary, Club 24 will welcome many a freak through its door. It’s all for a big party, with music both dark and arty, that’s simply titled Nevermore. Edgar Allan Poe is the inspiration behind this insidious dance party gestation,…

Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Ke$ha: Why This Video Sucks

SheaEditor’s Note: Shea Serrano is an award-winning music writer and goofball whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book. Right now, Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Ke$ha, is number two on Billboard and number one on my GTFOH chart. I don’t remember the first time I heard — it seems…

6 Things You Learn From Being Addicted to Metal

Robert Bejil, FlickrMost people regard metal music as an anti-intellectual, chest-beating, noisy fit for cavemen. Despite this being 100 percent true, there are a few positive things that result from having an intense dedication toward one of the most juvenile forms of music out there. While listening to metal may…

9 Obscure Heavy Metal Movie Cameos

Last night, metal god Rob Halford from Judas Priest made a guest voice appearance on an episode of The Simpsons called “Steal This Episode.” In a nutshell, Homer became annoyed with movie theaters, so Bart taught him how to download movies illegally. Of course, Homer thinks this revelation kicks ass…

Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns Continue to Evolve

Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns brought in the new year with a stellar performance at the Tempe Block Party on New Year’s Eve. Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns may be the Arizona version of the nationally known group Roomful of Blues. Both bands have been around for decades…

KQ Resurrection @ Rips Ales & Cocktails

Buckle your safety belts, because you’re about to trip through a time warp. We’re setting the Wayback Machine to a quarter-century ago — 1989, to be exact — when a small radio station called KUKQ was the blasting out alternative, underground, and indie rock tunes over Valley airwaves via 1060…

The 21 Best Heavy Metal Albums of 2013

It’s that time of year where our focus is officially shifting from reflecting on 2013 to preparing for 2014. Another 365 days have swept by, full of heavy metal ups and downs, groupies and drug overdoses, mind-blowing riffs and sold-out shows. The state of metal in 2013 certainly hasn’t blown…

Jim Glass Joins the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame

Blues guitarist Jim Glass will be inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame December 29 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix along with Tucson blues musician Mike Lenaburg. The induction ceremony event will go from 8 p.m. to midnight, with many of the blues musicians that Glass has played…

DJ Rob Kwik @ SoChu House

Cancer, to paraphrase renowned rhyme-slinger Sadat X, is like the darkest of dark days. Sadly, far too many artists and performers connected with the Valley’s music scene have had dark days of their own this past year as they fought for their lives against cancer, including Blunt Club collaborator Jules…

Bill Tarsha and The Rocket 88s Back a Blues Harmonica Blowout

Bill Tarsha and the Rocket 88s led the 18th annual blues harmonica blowout last week at the Rhythm Room. More than 35 blues harmonica players performed. Tarsha and his band opened with a couple tunes. The blues harmonica players put their names in a hat and after each performance they…

DJ Green Lantern @ Bar Smith

James D’Agostino has never slipped the surly bonds of gravity and traveled into outer space. Nor has he visited Oa, taken possession of a fabled Power Ring, battled the dastardly Sinestro, or bombed around with the other members of the JLA. Despite all these facts, the 38-year-old is known throughout…

Fake Snake: I’m Drawn To That Insane Kind of Sound

Screeches cycle through the drone and reverberate off the cratered concrete walls of [venue name redacted] as Fake Snake frantically claws through their set. We’re out among the dilapidated shitholes of Phoenix’s industrial parks, inside this warehouse shed doubling as crashpad and venue for several underground acts. Here, the Phoenix…

Take This Kanye West Quiz. It Has Funny Illustrated Clues!

All illustrations by me. I’m Shea. [Editor’s Note: In his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times.] This game is very simple: Look at the pictures and guess what Kanye West song each one represents. Boom. That’s it. That’s all. You’re done…

Trivium’s Matt Heafy: Metal’s Not A Genre, It’s A Lifestyle

Guitarist and lead vocalist Matt Heafy was around 13 or 14 when Trivium formed in Orlando in 2000, and only 17 when Trivium released their debut album, Ember To Inferno. Over the past decade, Heafy and the other members of Trivium have come a long way, from constant experimentation (each…

Ray Ray Hinkle and Bluzone Play The Blues To Pay For Chemo

The blues community continues to rally around those in need. About 10 bands recently performed at Pho Cao Vietnamese Restaurant and Nightclub in Tempe to help Lenny Malik. Malik, known for his harmonica playing in the Phoenix area, is suffering from colon cancer. He was a truck driver for many…

DJ Snoopadelic at Maya

RZA/Bobby Digital/Prince Rakeem ain’t got nothing on Snoop Dogg, at least when it comes to the alter-ego shizzle. To his mama and papa, he’s either Calvin Cordozar Broadus or “Snoopy,” his childhood nickname. Meanwhile, he’s been the Doggfather to the hip-hop world for two decades, hood anchor Nemo Hoes on…

Eminem and Rihanna’s “The Monster”: Why This Song Sucks

[Editor’s Note: In his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times.] Song: Eminem’s “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna History: Eminem did a freestyle battle. He went up against Papa Doc and choked. It was pretty sad. Then some more sad stuff happened to…