It used to be that plays like Hair epitomized the marriage between rock and musical, but recent years have seen the combination pushed to new limits. You probably know Green Day’s American Idiot and U2’s constantly flailing Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, but have you heard of Serj Tankian’s musical…
It’s hard to think of a band more gloriously schizophrenic and prolific than Japanese band Boris. The group dropped two records in the United States on May 24, Attention Please and Heavy Rocks (which shares its title with a 2002 album from the group), and is scheduled to issue a…
Joel Marquard has a motto: “Life is messy. That’s how I like my music.” Messy is the right word. How else could you describe Marquard’s new side project, The Through & Through Gospel Review, which finds the songwriter stepping away from his popular indie-rock band Gospel Claws, to explore 12…
When Chicago soul band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound went into a recording studio to lay down tracks for their recent new album Want More, they weren’t interested in re-creating the high-energy feel of their live shows. “For me, they’re two different ways of experiencing the band,” he says…
One of our favorite weirdo acts is Captured! By Robots, and the gang of automatons and their human slave JBOT are back in town tonight at the Rhythm Room. In honor of their inevitable rise, we thought we’d try to appease the cold and heartless droid rage by demonstrating how…
This week’s issue bring you the story of Joel Marquard’s Through & Through Gospel Review, which finds the songwriter stepping away from the indie rock sound of his band Gospel Claws to explore gospel music. Marquard speaks about belief, his family ties to gospel music, and why everyone (mistakenly thinks)…
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 did Hoodlums Music owner Steve Wiley have to say about owning a record store for…
his week we’re bringing you Breaking Infinity, a blog run by hip-hop/rap artist Jaron Ikner, aka Black One.You can even get yourself some fresh new music for free just by going to the site.More on what’s awesome about this week’s Tumblr of the Week after the jump…..
The last couple of days have been downright lousy. On Thursday, November 3, Gwar guitarist Cory Smoot was found dead by his bandmates as they crossed the Canadian border while on tour. On Monday, boxing great Joe Frazier succumbed to liver cancer. Yesterday afternoon, TMZ reported that Dwight Arrington Myers,…
Dead Meadow’s coming through town tonight with Drainbow and Strangers Family Band, so expect the Rhythm Room to get a little frizzle-fried by the band’s psychedelicized rockers. Three Kings, the band’s most recent release, drags listeners through a bluesy, backwards-glancing psych-rock reminiscent of proto-metal bands like Blue Cheer. While Dead…
I was there last time, and many would agree that it was easily one of the best shows to have come through Phoenix in 2010.Roger Waters, New Edition, Megadeth and Motorhead will be gracing the Valley with their presence in the coming months.The rest of this week’s shows after the…
It was over a year ago that we speculated that Radiohead, and by extension Thom Yorke, must have vowed “to never step foot in The Grand Canyon State again.” Well, if there was such a edict issued by the lads from Oxford, they’ve totally called it off. Radiohead has announced…
Plenty of folks like to think of The Rogue has Scottsdale’s own CBGB’s — and with that excellently dingy punk rock bathroom, it’s hard to argue against the club being one of the best loved dive/rock ‘n’ roll clubs in town.Its’ the sort of place where things can go from…
“There is no better time, or more perfect setting, for the powerful voice and uplifting message of Immortal Technique.” That’s how a Sound Strike press release reads regarding an upcoming performance by the Harlem-based rapper to benefit AZ-based human rights organization Puente. The press release continues: “The boycott strategy has…
Birthday parties for 13-year-olds are usually pretty awkward (or maybe I’m thinking of my own, just-sorta-pubescent 13th birthday), but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Hoodlums Music’s 13th birthday bash this weekend. On Saturday, November 5, the local record store institution celebrates being a teen in the retail…
Sebastien Millon You can check out the local artist and fashion designer’s work here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? NPR. I love keeping up on the news, but they also have so many great stories on culture, including…
Gwar guitarist Cory Smoot was found dead Thursday morning, according to NME.The band found Smoot, also known to metal fans as Flattus Maxiumus, while they were preparing to cross the border to Canada. The cause of his death is currently unknown.Frontman Dave Brockie, also known as Oderus Urungus, has released…
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from thrash-metal stalwarts, Suicidal Tendencies. Most of the 2000s were void of any new albums, as the band lay dormant following their 1990s retirement. The good news for all you “cyco” fans is that as of 2009 original frontman Mike Muir has…
We know our audience here at Up On the Sun isn’t the type to snub its nose toward local music, but if your friends have been willfully ignorant to the scene, there are no more excuses. And if they’re still making excuses, blindfold them and take them downtown. The Phoenix Center…
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 does Henry Rollins have to say about Occupy, his new book, and KCRW in Los…
This week’s issue is a weird one. In our feature, Danny Torgersen and Trevor Denton of Captain Squeegee and Sun Ghost discuss the Rock the R3volution tour, a musical celebration of Ron Paul. Yeah — as strange as that is. In our Shrapnel section, Chris Piel examines the potentially long-lasting…
Danny Torgersen and Trevor Denton are two very different guys. We’re huddled around a table at Cartel Coffee Lab in Tempe on a busy Tuesday night. Torgersen is firing off rapid-fire statements, punctuated by a unique laugh, akin to a cackle, one that half endears you to him and half…
