TheRecordingArtist.com Remakes the Music Biz

Oh, foolish, foolish record industry! You could’ve saved yourself once — maybe twice over — if only you had you listened to forward-thinkers like Otto D’Agnolo. In 2005, the producer/owner of Chaton Recording Studios wrote a slim volume, The Music Business Is Burning Down, Thank God, in which he foreshadowed…

Bassist Mike Watt Reps Blue-Collar Ethos

Mike Watt doesn’t waste time. Picking up the phone in San Pedro, the town he’s called home since his childhood, he answers with a distinct, direct bark: “Watt!” He plays music the same way he greets interviewers, with no time for introductions and pleasantries. We’ll recap anyway: He was one-third…

Eddie Vedder Steps Aside from Pearl Jam for Solo Work

Nirvana or Pearl Jam? It’s the Beatles-or-Stones query of the flannel era, a sort of musical litmus test, almost a line in the sand. Nirvana, of course, has the tragedy going for it (like The Beatles), and the successful followup projects (Foo Fighters is Nirvana’s Wings, and Eyes Adrift is,…

Second Suspect Arrested in Clubhouse Music Venue Shooting

Officials from the Tempe Police Department recently arrested a second suspect in connection with the now-infamous shootings that took place outside of the Clubhouse Music Venue earlier this year. According to documents from Maricopa County Superior Court obtained by Up on the Sun, Tempe cops apprehended Bryston Zavion Ware a…

Haley Grigaitis of Ruca Explains “Hands Off”

There’s nothing more annoying than when your boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend just can’t move on — especially when it involves her posting adorable animal pictures on his Facebook page. It’s that kind of ex-girlfriend misbehavior that inspired local musician Haley Grigaitis, aka Ruca, to write the bluesy song, “Hands Off.” “‘Hands Off’…

Why Would Any Band Play Spokane?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…

My Stolen MP3 Collection Got Stolen

My house got robbed over the summer and among the items taken were my laptop and iPod. I had backed up none of my data. I would estimate I lost somewhere around 12,000 songs. It also feels safe to estimate that 95 percent of my MP3 collection was not purchased…

Green Day Cancels Upcoming Tempe Tour Stop

A lot of folks were buzzing about seeing Green Day in a club as intimate as the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Monday, December 10, but it looks like folks will just have to keep imagining (or read our review of the Foxboro Hot Tubs gig at the dearly departed…

Record Heat: PFFFT! by Brad Dwyer

Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…

Morrissey U.S. Tour Postponed; Tempe Tour Date to Be Rescheduled

Bummer news Moz fans: Morrissey’s upcoming stop at the Marquee Theatre on Wednesday, November 21, has been postponed. The singer is returning to to England to be with his ailing mother. Current ticket-holders are advised to hold on to their tickets, as replacement dates will be “announced shortly.” A representative…

Kristy Aguirre, What Are You Listening To?

Kristy Aguirre Aguirre is the booker/promoter for Tickle Your Bone Comedy at Brigett’s Last Laugh, Tuesday’s at 8 p.m. For more information, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? I’m without a vehicle at the moment,…

Blues Guitarist Shawn Pittman Figures It Out

When you spend as much time on the road as blues artist Shawn Pittman, you come to savor places like the Czech Stop on I-35 in West Texas. “It’s this little gas station and has all these great Czech pastries and sandwiches and stuff,” he says during a phone interview…

Korn, Alt-Metal Standard Bearers, Aren’t Slowing Down

The year is 1993. A crowd is gathered outside Underground Chicken Sound Studios in Huntington Beach, California, curious about the noises reverberating from inside. There’s something about the sounds that is different. The band is Korn, and it was just the start. Within years, the band would be headlining festivals…

Calexico Taps Into New Orleans on Algiers

Maybe you hear it directly, maybe you don’t. But there’s a spirit that sits in between the notes on Algiers, a spirit that guided the record, some decades-old essence of a converted Baptist church near the Mississippi River that Tucson’s Calexico drew on like a well to record its seventh…

Why Arizona?

Since the New Times is moving this column to coincide with the print edition, I thought I’d take a moment to re-introduce myself and give you a peek into why I’ve resided in Arizona for the past 17 years. It has a little to do with the glowing gray area…