Nineties nostalgia — with its grungy flannel shirts, giant Gameboys, and crunchy guitars — is upon us. The next “remember the days” wave will undoubtedly be for the late ’90s/early 2000s, when nu-metal first took hold of the radio dial (it’s held on ever since). So expect Coal Chamber, Sevendust,…
From Up on the Sun’s “Fire Marshall Beck” rant in 2007 to praise of his project Staren Black in 2010, the relationship between the New Times and local metal figure Marshall “Fucking” Beck has always been, um, “complicated.” Certain members of the New Times staff — past and present –…
You can’t go wrong with a healthy dose of Anthrax in the morning. At least, that’s what I thought as I listened to their new EP Anthems, released on Tuesday, March 19. Add that to the fact that these thrash metal legends are coming through town this Sunday on the…
Once again, it’s a sort of apprenticeship with Woody Guthrie that’s drawn Billy Bragg into a new realm. Thirty years since his debut, the seven-song Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs Spy, Bragg is back with a new album, Tooth & Nail, out this week on Cooking Vinyl. Bragg calls…
“I’m a writer, not a rapper,” Masta Killa brags on “R U Listening,” one of the standout songs from his latest, Selling My Soul. It’s a tricky distinction to make, of course, but Killa has a solid case. Though none of his fellow Wu-Tang Clan brethren are lyrical slouches, Killa…
A lot has changed for Flyleaf since we first heard Lacey Sturm’s throat-shredding bellows on the band’s breakout hit, “I’m So Sick,” in 2005. The most notable is that she no longer is the band’s singer, having stepped down in October, a week before the band’s latest album, New Horizons,…
Like Ziggy Stardust before him, Mos Def knows the value of a good stage trick, some moniker-based sleight of hand. His decision to shelve “Mos Def” in 2011 in favor of “Yasiin Bey” struck some as a puzzling move, but it makes sense. Mos Def is as much an actor…
Typically, there are four things your average electronic dance music aficionado wants out of a rave experience: top-shelf DJs; music that’s loud, fast, and hard; sufficient room for dancing; and plenty of bodies to grind against. This weekend’s Bubble Bobble 5 will offer all those things in abundance, plus a…
Once again, it’s a sort of apprenticeship with Woody Guthrie that’s drawn Billy Bragg into a new realm. Thirty years since his debut, the seven-song Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs Spy, Bragg is back with a new album, Tooth & Nail, which came out Tuesday on Cooking Vinyl. Bragg…
Usually, people move from places like the middle of nowhere to big industry cities like New York and Los Angeles to find musical success, and stay there. Not the other way around. But for former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven and his wife Heather Vincent-Niven, finding solace in Arizona’s…
Unlike many New Wave acts, Depeche Mode has managed to withstand the ravages of time — more or less. See also: -Depeche Mode Is Coming to Phoenix; Shadowplay to Pay Tribute This Weekend…
With his 12th solo album set for release, it’s as good a time as any to revisit the question: Who is Bob Schneider? It’s not an easy question to answer, however. Though Schneider has carved out his own unique niche as an artist, he’s always been difficult to define, straddling genres, finding a bit…
What’s up with Eric Clapton in 2013? A glance at the past reveals the future. Clapton came to prominence in the mid-1960s British blues scene and quickly became a god. He took psychedelic music to new heights with Cream and Blind Faith, then managed to issue some of his best…
Mod Sun — Dylan Smith to his mom — is happy. We’re talking the kind of abnormally smiley and positive guy-you-want-to-punch-in-the-head-on-a-bad-day kinda happy. But on an average day, there’s no doubt the dude’s high energy and organic optimism can be downright infectious. Which is precisely why the 25-year-old stoner MC began making music he describes…
You’ve got to give mad props to a band that supports its frontman even after the group disintegrates. Such is the case with Chris Wallace, former singer of the now-defunct The White Tie Affair, who has found more mainstream success on his own than his band ever did. While TWTA…
Unlike many New Wave acts, Depeche Mode has managed to withstand the ravages of time — more or less. Despite all the personal drama that’s afflicted the members of the iconic British synthpop ensemble — ranging from drug addiction to near-fatal health issues — the band and its moody, electronica-laden…
Twenty-five years ago, the Phoenix hip-hop scene was virtually nonexistent. That’s when Irin Daniels — taking the name IROC — got involved, and since that time, he’s become one of the most respected hip-hop entities in Arizona. If you have had any semblance of a hip-hop career in this state,…
Editor’s Note: It’s not every day that a band capable of filling arenas headlines a gig at the (comparatively) intimate Marquee Theatre. But that’s exactly what’s going down tonight, when the Bieber-bashing, ¡Uno-¡Dos!-¡Tre! -releasing Green Day heads to Tempe for a sold-out show. Critical consensus can be pretty mixed when…
Chances are, if you’re a weekly reader of Metal Mondays here at Up on the Sun, you don’t think of metalheads as thickheaded, grotesque, and crude Neanderthals. You know metal fans can be smart, erudite, and witty. Still, among the pop masses, there’s a prevailing attitude that metal listeners are…
By now, you know the scoop regarding New Times’ Carnaval Eléctrico at Crescent Ballroom: It rained — a lot — but performances by pop princes Diners, the soulful Stan Devereaux and the Funky Suns, hard rockers Mergence, garage kingpin Hanni El Khatib, indie combo Cold War Kids, and more, made…
It’s not easy being beautiful. Just ask Zac Pennington, frontman of experimental pop group Parenthetical Girls, whose vocal strains fall halfway between Perfume Genius and Lightspeed Champion, complemented with the baroque pop stylings of Belle and Sebastian. Pennington, known for his gender-neutral lyrics and his Morrissey-borrowed wit, pens some brutally…
When March rolls around, the bum rush of SxSW season is a boon for Phoenix: All the West Coasters streaking toward beer-soaked Austin need gas money to brave the barren west Texas stretch, often resulting in mass pit stops in the desert. Rampage Fest, organized on a spotty year-to-year basis…
