At one time or another, two worries cross every fan’s mind about their favorite musician: What if the artist gets bored (we’ve all seen that disconnected, smug expression on stage)? Even worse, what if they get burned out? Some of the world’s greatest have met their demise this way, channeling…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved Phoenix band that only sounds like it…
There is no arguing that Treasure MammaL is one of the strangest musical acts in the Valley of the Sun. When the group drops its next album I Will Cut You With My E.B.T. Card, it will enter the argument for being one of the biggest bands in the Valley of the…
Happy Fall, Arizona metalheads! The heat is officially over, people are looking forward to the holidays, and one of the best holidays of the year just passed: Halloween. While I love the holiday, I must say that the Best October metal shows list was a bitch to write; there were…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new local music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. The Pleasure Victims – “Broken” The Pleasure Victims recently released a video for its forthcoming record’s (titled 7) debut single,…
Editor’s note: After this story was written and before it went to press, the Santana concert at Monster Mash festival in Tempe Beach Park was canceled by promoter Lucky Man Concerts. Here’s the piece in its entirety. Carlos Santana is a man at peace with his place in the musical universe. The…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
Halloween starts early. It begins with a couple of odd Facebook posts, a meme or two, and by the first week of October it’s already looking like the nightmare before Christmas all over social media. Everyone seems to love Halloween time, whether they love the parties, bobbing for apples, or…
Earlier this year Bogan Via got to live every musicians dream when they got to shoot a video for their song “Kanye” overseas in Dubai, one of the coolest cities on the planet. They’ve relocated to Los Angeles, they get to tour far more often than the average band, and…
Suicide Silence is a loud, energetic, positive force to be reckoned with, which some find ironic considering the band’s moniker. But in 13 years of existence, the band has received a 2009 Golden God award for Best New Talent, has helped pioneer the deathcore genre, has produced four diverse yet…
Insane Clown Posse performed with P.O.D. at The Pressroom last night, and it was a hot, sticky mess, quite literally — the show felt like a Faygo-filled sauna. We met a variety of juggalos along the way, some looked like dead ringers for Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, while…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
The Counterfeit Party – “Wanting More” Apparently, the first song The Counterfeit Party ever recorded (“The Best Party Anywhere!”) was adopted as the official song of the “Largest Music Festival in Motorcycling” at the Sturgis rally at Legendary Buffalo Chip. I can’t find anything not to love about these guys. Their approach…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
A few black metal bands scheduled a show for Saturday, October 24, at Palo Verde Lounge in Tempe. Soon, members of the local music community started calling them Nazis. The bands on the bill all had the same types of nearly illegible, scribbled black metal logos — the kind that…
It never fails. I write something, someone doesn’t like it, and they feel the need to seek me out and tell me about it. It’s never really surprising, even if I don’t understand it. I can barely muster the energy to tell people I know personally how much I disagree…
This piece was originally intended to be part of our Heritage Hump Day Series. Here it is, the Throwback Thursday edition of Heritage Hump Day. This week as we celebrate the 75th birthday of a legendary musician who was taken from us too soon, let’s turn our gaze to a…
In the early to mid 1980s, heavy metal music began to broaden beyond the first era of bands like Maiden, Priest, and Dio. It evolved into darker, faster territories with thrash metal like Slayer, Exodus, Kreator and many others. A somewhat new phenomena began to root itself in an even…
Strange Wilds are coming through town on October 3 to support their new record, Subjective Concepts, and if their familiar, yet totally rockin’, sound is any indication, the show is going to be pretty special. We caught up with one member of the Olympia, Washington-based three-piece, lead singer and guitar…
Many truly influential musicians only get better with age — no surprise there. But the key word here is “influence.” It’s not necessarily their own evolving music that makes waves; on the contrary it’s a drive to change what the industry produces, to open ears to new ideas and innovative…
For years, I volunteered at a radio station, where my job was sorting the massive pile of albums mailed to us every week. We’d pick songs we liked, making sure they were scrubbed of non-FCC-approved words like “goddamn motherfucker,” then lump them under labels such as “rock” or “jazz” for…
October has to be one of the greatest months of the year in Arizona. Not only is the weather finally, finally cooling down—but metalheads get to embrace the influx of heavy metal concerts that come to town, right in time for Halloween. With so much going on, it can be…
