Thugs Life

Judging by the malevolently eager look on his face, whatever Dale Fox of Phoenix band World Class Thugs has been keeping in his trunk for the past six months promises to be good. It is. It’s three oversized masks of World Class Thugs singer Jocelyn Ruiz-Fox, blown up from a…

Make Like Morrissey

Morrissey, England’s most dapper downer, isn’t quite as depressed as he used to be. In fact, he almost seems to be enjoying what he does these days. Nevertheless, the guy is still as press-shy as ever and just can’t be bothered to pick up a phone to chat with nosy…

The Men Behind the Man in Black

Why on Earth would anyone want to see Johnny Cash’s backing band without Johnny Cash? It’s a fair question, perhaps even necessary, given the Man in Black’s hallowed status. Cash’s music meant so much to so many that it would be easy for former bandmates to coast on the demand…

Mo’ Metal: John Wayne Jefferson

By Brendan Joel Kelley If you saw my column this week, you might wonder exactly what a guitar/drums/vocals metal three piece like John Wayne Jefferson sounds like. You can find the answer below, although you should be warned that the songs come off much better live and the production on…

Summer of Sound Part Deux: Americana

By Brendan Joel Kelley Just a reminder for you that tonight’s the second installment of the Summer of Sound series; tonight you can hear (and vote for) the bands in the Americana category. That’s Flathead, the Liar’s Handshake, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and Wormwood Brothers, with Deadbolt as the national headliner…

J.D. Stooks’ Latest Steez

By Brendan Joel Kelley Tempe singer/songwriter J.D. Stooks hit me off with one of his new tracks a couple days ago, “10 Lb Coat,” which you’ll find below. J.D.’s an incredibly talented kid, which you’ll hear below and you can hear more of on his Myspace. He’s actually out in…

Metal Health

In e-mails and comments on my blog, Ear Infection, I’ve gotten into it with the metal kids in town. They’ve criticized me for my opinions about metal or for my not paying attention to it. It’s generally people like Marshall Beck, a musician in several metal bands who got butt-hurt…

Mindcrime and Punishment

Even armed with an illustrated libretto, it’s hard to divine most rock opera story lines. Before Ken Russell’s film adaptation of Tommy revealed the importance of champagne, Marilyn Monroe, and baked beans to the plot, betcha just assumed it was about a deaf, dumb and blind kid pinball-messiah who gets…

Sending Out an S.O.S.

Jackson Ellis is freaking out. In late April, the 26-year-old publisher of the independent music and fiction magazine Verbicide got word that starting on July 15, his shipping rates would increase by somewhere between 30 and 40 percent. “It’s not going be the thing that kills me, but coupled with…

Spring Flowers: New rock from Violet Wild

By Brendan Joel Kelley A while back I wrote a column about Violet Wild, the band fronted by former Mink Rebellion singer Bobby Scott and Black Moods guitarist Josh Kennedy, along with drummer Joey Schwegler and bassist Phil Fenix. At the time they’d just completed the band’s first full length…

Road Trip to Cowtown: Checking in with Andy Hersey

Apologies for my absence from the blogosphere; prior to the weekend I went on a camping/hiking/swimming trip to Fossil Creek in the Mogollon Rim, and there was no wireless internet up there. Before I left though I went on Thursday night to see my cowboy crony Andy Hersey play his…

Word Play

I’ve got a friend who showed up at the bar recently with his arm in a sling and stitches on his chin from an ass-whippin’. I asked him if he’d deserved it, and he said he didn’t think so. But some dude bigger than him was talking bad about his…

No Sleep for Brooklyn

“I really don’t like looking at the back of a record and seeing the word featuring a million times,” says Brooklyn rapper/producer/label overlord El-P. Incidentally, his new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, features cameos from members of the Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, and Yo La Tengo, not…

Long Live Mock ‘n’ Roll

The difference between a cover band and a tribute band is the difference between a slut and a prostitute — one just plays with all sorts of people’s stuff because it’s fun and they like it. The other plays with particular people’s stuff only because it’s a profession with a…

Man of Steel

You wouldn’t think a guy who dusted off Artie Shaw’s arrangement of Cole Porter’s classic “Begin the Beguine” — on pedal steel, no less — would say his third release for Bloodshot Records was inspired by the advent of the iPod age. But that’s exactly how Phoenix native Jon Rauhouse…

The Real Bar closes without notice

I never went to the Real Bar a whole lot because, well, the service sucked and the setup for their all ages shows left the drinkers (i.e. the ones spending real money) at a sight line disadvantage when the bands were playing. It’s nice to still have venues around that…

Bach to Basics

About a year ago, a former girlfriend asked me why this town seemed so culture-less. She’s from Los Angeles and is the sort of girl who likes to dress up and go to the ballet. “In L.A., people our age get dressed up and go to the symphony; you’ll see…

Getting Harry

The music opens with flowery acoustic guitars double-tracked for a 12-string feel and shimmying with opulent drama, reminiscent of records made in the ’60s by acid-hungry British rockers prowling green country lanes in faux-druidic rituals. After a drawn-out introduction, drum hits recorded backward make way for a chorus of singers…