Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. Biweekly, he shares stories of great music and wacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always-zany music biz. Generally when I tell people that I write about music, they assume I write reviews…
Heads up, music lovers: If you happen to spy someone trying to hock a few gold records at a local pawn shop — particularly one for the 1977 Player hit “Baby Come Back” — better call the Phoenix Police Department, STAT. That’s because John Friesen, the former drummer for the…
This Saturday Rubber Brother Records is putting on a different type of show — a Round Robin. Rather than have a typical show where each band plays for 25 minutes, followed by the rest, a Round Robin puts five bands in the same room all set up at the same…
Nailing down Boris is no easy task. The Japanese band has released 19 albums in its 22-year career, all with varying material that shifts from doom metal, to prog rock, screamo to power pop, space to thrash–sometimes on the same album. That’s part of the band’s appeal, however, as the…
It’s almost that time of year to enjoy funnel cakes and ferris wheels again, as the Arizona State Fair approaches. The event is known for its games and attractions, but don’t look past the musical entertainment. The festival has started by releasing a few names that will be coming to…
No genre has combined these elements better than hard rock and heavy metal. From Kiss to Cannibal Corpse, lyrical subject matter alone often pushes the envelope, but when bands add elements of anti-authoritarianism and eroticism to their killer guitar solos, it’s hard for fans to look away. Influenced by everything…
Ice-T admitted to “mailing it in” for his band Body Count’s 2006 album Murder 4 Hire. The rapper was knee-deep in being a full-time actor at the time and didn’t have the time or energy to give it his all, especially in the wake of the death of founding member…
Ten years ago, writer Tom Reardon had a front-row seat to see the punch heard ’round the punk world. Reardon was playing bass for Phoenix punk act North Side Kings, which was in Tuba City, Arizona, to open for Danzig, the metal band fronted by former Misfits singer and punk…
Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. Biweekly, he shares stories of great music and whacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always-zany music biz. Have you been watching the World Cup? Me too. I’m a huge sports fan, but…
The story goes, Mr. Picasso is sitting in a posh Paris café when he is approached by a young woman. She instantly recognizes the famous painter and begs him to draw for her. He snorts, until the lady offers to pay him. So Pablo whips out his pen, doodles something…
In March, Gina Lombardi announced that longstanding Tempe rock venue Sail Inn had been purchased by a local developer and would be demolished to make way for a new location of The Lodge, a restaurant in Scottsdale. The announcement bummed out the club’s loyal regulars and the local musicians who’ve…
The Arctic Monkeys will play a concert at Comerica Theatre on Oct. 25. The band released its latest album, AM, in September. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 27, at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster, Comerica Theatre’s website, or the box office…
Despite all it’s nihilistic, anarchistic, and pugilistic leanings, Fight Club is actually a tale of hope and redemption. No, really. Strip away all the brutality, bedlam, and bathing products, and the overall message of both Chuck Palahniuk’s original novel and David Fincher’s flick is that one can attain salvation, albeit…
Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. Biweekly, he shares stories of great music and whacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always-zany music biz. When you are a music geek like I am, you are constantly aware of the…
Normally, we don’t care much for cover bands or tribute acts. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with a group of musicians choosing to forgo creating original music in lieu of capitalizing on the artistic works of others; it’s just that nine times out of 10, there’s nothing worth writing…
Walking through Mo Neuharth’s Phoenix home, you don’t get the sense that you’re in the house of a 23-year-old artist and part-time server. She has roommates, but the place is immaculate — like a catalog for redux vintage design. She and her bandmates, Emily Hobeheidar and Sophie Opich, shuffle around…
Many metal heads will know Massachusetts as the birthplace for many vital modern bands. There must be something in the chowder. Artists like All That Remains, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, and specifically, Unearth, all hail from the Bay State. Unearth is currently on tour with Texas In July, Cruel Hand,…
Mississippi songwriter Jimbo Mathus sounds as though he was ripped from the pages of Jack Kerouac or Mark Twain, like a blues allegory or some half-remembered hillbilly hero from lore. The former leader of vaudeville act Squirrel Nut Zippers, a band that crested to fame on the wave of the…
UPDATE, October 7, 2014, at 11:41 a.m.: Ain’t life grand? Due to expected rainfall, the Belle & Sebastian concert has been moved to Orpheum Theatre. How Civic Space Park functions as a concert venue is a question for another day. Indie critical darlings Belle & Sebastian are playing their first-ever…
The Vans Warped Tour offers an overwhelming selection of bands each year for its annual summer tour. The problem with the all-day event is that you have to know going in to the event which artists to see. Because of the huge list of performances, it’s impossible to watch them…
Country singer and pianist Ronnie Milsap canceled his June 12 show at Celebrity Theatre due to unspecified health reasons…
Steve Wiley is Up on the Sun’s resident Record Store Geek. Biweekly, he shares stories of great music and whacky characters from his continuing 27 years in Valley record stores and the always-zany music biz. When I was a young music fan, I just liked what I liked. I didn’t…
