It’s a cold Thursday evening in early February, right in the heart of what’s been an unremittingly bleak — at least by Valley standards — winter season. As the bark of a dog guarding a nearby scrap yard echoes faintly in the night, I find myself sitting in a car…
Local promoter (and self-proclaimed “Independent Rock Martyr”) Rob “Fun Bobby” Birmingham has announced details for the first annual Fun Bobby Festival. The three-day event, held at Mesa’s Hollywood Alley, will showcase some top local acts as well as a bevy of rawk and punk bands on their way to the…
Even in an era marked by its frequency for highly touted busts — the Supremes reunion, Speed 2, the Steven Tyler/Justin Timberlake Super Bowl dance-off — it’s still a disappointment when a band fails to live up to its hype. Even more disheartening are those instances when a group can’t…
Gloritone drummer Scott Hessel is an avid sports fan. A regular at Phoenix Suns games and an avowed ESPN junkie, Hessel is familiar with the old notion of “taking one for the team.” And it’s fortunate, because that’s exactly what the trapsman did last Friday during an unbelievably outlandish appearance…
Sunday afternoon and the smell of pomade is heavy in the room. Such an air is to be expected when there are 40 or so rockabilly types packing a sweltering Cannery Row, whooping, hollering and generally acting about as rowdy as the bug-eyed XFL fans mugging on the TV screens…
After nearly 18 months of anticipation, setbacks and delays, Valley music aficionados and compophiles are finally hailing the release of the local music sampler Not One Light Red. The disc is a joint venture between Modified impresario Scott Tennent’s fledgling This Argonaut label and Before Braille singer Dave Jensen’s Sunset…
Of the many acts swept up in the mid-’90s’ record company signing frenzy that hit Phoenix, few stayed very long in the major-label fold. Of those, only the Phunk Junkeez, inked to Interscope in 1995, are still standing with contract intact. This week, the rap-rock pioneers return with the release…
It’s nearly midnight on New Year’s Eve, and the Arizona Roadhouse and Brewery is packed. The place is filled with revelers and roots music courtesy of the Rustic Record label and its cohorts: the Trophy Husbands, Heather Rae and the Moonshine Boys, Nitpickers, Grave Danger, Mark Insley, Chicken. As the…
The last few months of 2000 have proven fruitful for Valley music. With a series of high-profile CD releases and promising debuts from a number of new bands, the scene seems to have escaped the typical year-end doldrums. But it’s also been a bittersweet time, the winter air heavy with…
The living room of Jamal Ruhe’s downtown Tempe home is a mess. The small quarters are cluttered with amplifiers, cables and instruments of every variety and size. Amid this labyrinth, it’s nearly impossible to find a place to sit down. The only unoccupied seat, it turns out, is behind the…
While so much music over the years has mythologized the “road” — CCR’s “Travelin’ Band” and Grand Funk’s “We’re an American Band” immediately spring to mind — it is, in reality, a life filled with constant hardships and genuine dangers for musicians. It’s not merely about coming to town and…
As unwarranted as last year’s premillennial (or is it Willennial?) hysteria was, it was nothing compared to the elaborate steps city fathers took to mark the historic occasion. Between the well-attended corporate hokum of Tempe’s Tostitos/Fiesta Bowl bash and the disastrously ill-conceived debut downtown Phoenix party, levelheaded citizens with a…
The early winter air is crisp, but Robin Wilson is looking for a spot in the sun. Settling down on a bench, clutching a cigarette and coffee mug in one hand and a cell phone in the other, he’s about to hold court in front of his Tempe Mayberry recording…
The odds of hearing any Valley artists — save the Gin Blossoms and Refreshments — on the radio took a big hit last year when KZON-FM 101.5 canned all its local programming. Granted, KUPD-FM 97.9 Red Radio show (hosted by effervescent on-air personality Larry Mac) has done its part to…
When you think of the cutting edge of hip-hop, a flurry of names immediately springs to mind: Killah Priest, Sauce Money, Major Figgas, C-Murder, Barry Goldwater. Barry Goldwater? It’s true. Barry Goldwater III, the grandson of the late Arizona senator and presidential candidate, is poised to become a “playa” in…
Gloritone bassist Nick Scropos remembers vividly when the myth of major-label recording came crashing down, near the end of the band’s monthlong sessions for its 1998 debut. Recording with producer Bradley Cook (Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age) in Hollywood’s Grand Master studios, the group expected all the trappings…
When she traveled to Austin last November to make a guest appearance on Willie Nelson’s new album, Milk Cow Blues, veteran Phoenix diva Francine Reed expected only to contribute vocals to the title track. But things got interesting after she and Nelson wrapped up their languid reworking of the 1934…
It’s fall once again, and that means the Arizona State Fair will get into full swing shortly. This year’s lineup of musical performers is enough to make us think your time at the fair would be better spent blowing chunks on the Tilt-a-Whirl.Granted, there are a couple of decent shows…
It’s late April, well after midnight, and there’s something strange going on at the Arizona Roadhouse. The pleasant, somewhat upscale Tempe brewery is in a state of near chaos. Walking in, your gaze naturally turns toward the stage. The first thing you notice is the indelible image of a cream-colored…
“Musicality” — and all that the term implies — has long been the most misunderstood and undervalued element of punk rock. It’s the kind of thing that so-called “real” punks have frowned upon ever since Glen Matlock was drummed out of the Sex Pistols for being too fond of the…
“Novel” is a word rarely used to describe bands in the Valley music scene. And while, strictly speaking, The Weaker Sex is not a “novelty act,” it boasts a membership that’s already raising curious eyebrows around town. Led by longtime local rockabilly kitten Ruth Wilson, The Weaker Sex is an…
With new stuff on the way from Chicken, Truckers on Speed, the Pistoleros, the Piersons and Big Blue Couch, the remainder of this year offers no shortage of highly anticipated local roots and rock releases. Before the aforementioned fall/winter platters hit, we’ll get a couple of offerings from Dave Insley…
