See also: Packrat Ready to Bring the Noise to Rogue Bar Experimental prog-punk rockers Packrat might be going through a lineup shakeup at the moment, but that hasn’t derailed core members Brandon Wilson and Rodrigo Ibieta from making new music. Emmit Thatcher renounced his position as the band’s drummer earlier…
There’s no diggity, no doubt that we’re oddly delighted to hear that Blackstreet’s hitting the road, and with Ginuwine, no less. These ’90s R&B crooners are going to tear up the stage at the Celebrity Theatre with some of your favorite hits from around 15 years ago. Blackstreet’s got us excited,…
As much as everyone might be sick of Carly Rae Jepsen’s smash hit “Call Me Maybe,” none of us can get the song out of our heads, much to our chagrin. Let’s admit it: We’re all secretly jamming out when we’re all alone in our car or bedroom. We’re not…
Every Monday morning Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
While most DJs are content with having only one slick-sound moniker, Matthew Hinman has almost a half-dozen nom de guerres at his disposal. Depending on the particular gig he’s working, the 39-year-old could be performing as Spyder, Franck Matthews, Cosmic Sea, or any of the other idenities he’s developed during…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. The ’80s weren’t all bright chords and poppy dance songs. The emergence of new wave also ushered in the era of the slow, ghoulish drones of goth rock. Phoenix’s resident…
Jackie Morales Morales is the mid-day DJ for 101.5-FM Jamz. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Of course, 101.5! What’s the first album you bought? I honestly don’t go out and buy very many albums, but when…
Seeing the Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra is kind of like seeing the reformed Misfits — it’s just not quite the same when it’s only Jerry Only, but that’s better than nothing, right? Or is it? Jello hasn’t performed with the Kennedys since the band’s split in 1986, but the…
Plenty of people visit the merch stand at concerts. Some people buy an item with the intent to wear it again and again, and it unexpectedly becomes destined to live on the top shelf of a closet where it won’t be seen again for years. Others sport their band merch…
See also: Joel Marquard Makes a Mess of Gospel With The Through and Through Gospel Review If history has shown us anything in the local music and arts scene, it’s that the community has a fierce love of its own champions. That love will be on full display on Saturday,…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up on the Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What five releases are we most excited for this summer? We ask: Are local band residencies…
Just as fortunetellers have their little fishing expeditions to crack a sucker’s psyche, so, too, rock writers have their shortcuts on deconstructing a band’s sound without using the dreaded catch-all phrase “eclectic” (which, in truth, we’ve already exhausted in this article’s headline). Here’s the laziest methodology: Just ask the band…
“I’m not particularly that brilliant,” El-P says, laughing. “It takes me longer to do something worthy of putting out.” The Brooklyn-based rapper, former label head, and indie hip-hop stalwart isn’t bothered by the five years it took to put together his latest collection, Cancer 4 Cure (out now via Fat…
Ian Astbury, throat of the long-running British rock band The Cult, doesn’t appreciate his band being reduced to “dumb rock ‘n’ roll” by hipsters. Not one bit. “The illuminated, erudite, indie, or post-modern culture, whatever — it almost serves them to shove people like us out of the room,” Astbury…
You have to look pretty hard for someone who doesn’t have an opinion about Spotify, the Swedish music-streaming service that launched in 2008 and hit the States in 2011. It’s hard to deny its ease, selection, and um, free-ness, but it’s also been a magnet for controversy. In both the…
It’s been a weird couple of weeks in the world of music-meets-advertising. Between Andrew W.K.’s announcement to speak at a My Little Pony convention and KISS’ licensing deal with Family Guy, it’s been pretty damn weird indeed. But think about it: A hard-partying My Little Pony would look great sitting…
Yesterday we ran a list of our most anticipated summer releases featuring, among others, Fiona Apple and Passion Pit. Lo and behold, Apple announced a tour date in Phoenix, and now, we can add Passion Pit to the list. The indie-pop combo is heading to the Marquee Theatre in Tempe…
“Lay Lady Lay” is a classic Bob Dylan tune, even if it doesn’t sound like classic Dylan. ‘Ole Bobby D. claims his voice sounded different on Nashville Skyline because he quit smoking before recording. Magnet and Gemma Hayes’ soft, orchestral take on the song appeared on the Mr. & Mrs…
Some of Phoenix’s premier rappers will have a unique chance to share the stage with a hip-hop institution when Phife Dawg of legendary outfit A Tribe Called Quest rocks the mic at Club Red in Tempe, this Friday, June 22. Not only is it a chance to revel in some…
Well, how’s this for a good East Valley announcement day? Not only is Morrissey headed to Tempe’s Marquee Theatre in November, but singer/songwriter Fiona Apple has announced a tour that brings her to the Ikeda Theater at Mesa Arts Center on Tuesday, September 18. Touring in support of her highly…
See also: Rumspringer: Earnest Trio Builds Nothing on Punk’s Ever-Shifting Sands Bachelor parties are a tradition. The kind of debauched, “I-can’t-believe-we-did-that” bone-headed tradition that works for popcorn flicks (coming soon: The Hangover 3: Still Hangin’, where the boys find themselves in outer space or something). But a DIY bachelor party…
See also: We Love Morrissey, but Does He Love Us? See also: Morrissey at the Orpheum Theatre It’s weird time to be Morrissey: British rock tabloid NME recently apologized to the downer-pop icon for alleging he’s racist (stop me if you think that you’ve heard that one before), he’s currently…
