Gwen Stefani

At a Gwen Stefani show, you are not a citizen of the world, but the subject of a commanding cultural empress whose red-lipped orders are your new desires. That is because Gwen Stefani publicly exists in and presents as her aesthetic a hugely successful, colorful and fun Gwen Nation. Not…

McDowell Mountain Music Festival

Of all forms of music, you’re most likely to catch two complementary bands on the same bill at a jamband show. In this case, San Francisco four-piece Tea Leaf Green and rural New Jersey sextet Railroad Earth both take the indelible influence of the Band in divergent directions that, when…

Field of Dreams

Wanna rave on without having to worry about whether the abandoned warehouse you’re dancing at is about to get busted by the cops? Then throw on your club-kid duds and head for Tumbleweed Park, 2250 South McQueen Road in Chandler, where Nightowl Entertainment will present the “100 percent legal” event…

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

Thursday 26 AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Bikini Lounge: Scratchy Rekkid Night with DJ Shane Kennedy (various) Blue Note: DJ Soloman, & Fredj (acid jazz, trip-hop, house) Bobby Cs: Willie B (old-school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: DJs Tranzl8tr, & Earth (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop)…

What’s To Do?

Actually, there’s a whole hell of a lot to do, and in the interests of honoring the artists/designers that make up the (mostly) dope flyers around town, here’s a truncated round-up… Look at the pretty pictures and see what gets a rise out of you; seems like a busy week/weekend…

Isn’t “Hella” Kind of a Berkeley Word From ’89?

This is a bit of either a spoiler or a teaser, since my column about Hellas Mounds won’t be out until late today on the internet or tomorrow on the stands, but whatever the case, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what the band that I’ve blogged…

State of the (Punk) Union

Over at AZPunk.com, my friends and detractors are polling and discussing the state of punk here in Arizona. The thread is here, and this is what overlord TPStank has to say about it: I’m trying to determine the current state of our community, and it’s got me somewhat disappointed. In…

Chip Again? Yeah, One More Song

Above – Chippy’s first drum set, 1971 Not to beat a dead country horse, but I was remiss yesterday in not mentioning that Chip Hanna, who I wrote about in my column Revolver this week, is playing at Mardi Gras tonight – the reason I mention this although I already…

Bright Spots

I’m a little bit shocked that my ol’ homeboy Conor Oberst and his latest lineup for the ever-evolving Bright Eyes have actually debuted at #4 on the Billboard charts, despite remaining on Omaha’s stalwart indie label Saddle Creek. The album, Cassadaga, is a step forward for Conor, Mike Mogis, and…

Idol Weirdness

A strange email came to us lately that’s just so out there I’ve got to share it with you… this is what it said: Can a dead man win the American Idol songwriter contest? Maybe… I was co-writer with the late Kurt Mayberry. (research NT archives for Kurt Mayberry or…

Mixtapes… Finally

A while back I issued a call to arms in my column (found here) for DJs to send me their mixtapes/mix-CDs… and I didn’t get much of a response. There was a little big, which I posted about here, but just a trickle. So I was stoked when DJentrification shot…

Diamonds Redux

Last week, I promised to throw up some Runaway Diamonds tracks once I figured out how to do that with my new blogging software; all the glitches have been solved, so here’s the tunes for you. I’m torn in my opinion of the songs, I think Pomerenke’s lyrics are just…

Chippin’

Hopefully you saw my column this week on punk-rock-drummer-gone-country-troubadour Chip Hanna (if not, read it now, you’re obviously not working). I was under the weather a lot of this weekend and didn’t get out to any shows, but yesterday Chip and his wife Erin had me over for some steaks…

The Skunk

Yes, it’s the infamous 4/20, which means little to anyone except the legions of pot smokers out there who need yet another reason to get stoned. And it also means there’s a plethora of shitty jam band shows crackin’ off, but I wouldn’t recommend any of those unless you’re really…

X Marks the Spot

Of course, we love the club life, but after so many weeks of hitting bar after bar, we needed a change of scenery. We found it on Friday, April 13, at Brand X Store, where local artists Disposable Hero, Family Soda, Mad One, and Fixer showcased their goods, spun some…

Country Punk

“As a drummer, let me tell you, in my experience it’s all the same,” says Chip Hanna, longtime skin hitter for punk stalwarts U.S. Bombs and One Man Army and, nowadays, country singer, songwriter, and guitar player. We’re discussing the similarities between punk rock and country. “If it’s on the…

Slam-o-Rama

My buddy B-Boy looks like he could kick some serious ass. At 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds, he strikes an imposing figure in his baggy Dickies pants and stained T-shirts. His shaved head and scraggly beard add to the intimidation factor, so it’s a good thing he’s not a bully. In…

Green Way

After touring incessantly from 1996 to 2001, local trio Fred Green had an enviable fan base and horror stories from the road to prove it. Tons of ’em. The time their roadies unwittingly trashed Bruce Willis’ guesthouse. The time vocalist/guitarist Todd Minnix got hopelessly lost after a gig until drummer…

Bear Affair

What the hell is a Limbeck? Short answer: a member of Limbeck, a So-Cal cocktail of Jayhawks roots rock and Shins dream-pop that often gets called alt-country. The long answer: Many moons ago, the Bastards of Limbeck were a teen pop-punk band named after Charles in Charge sidekick Buddy Lembeck,…

Occult Classic

“For me, religion didn’t have a redemptive quality,” says Celtic Frost bassist and co-founder Martin Ain. “It didn’t help me to have a more positive outlook on life. It was a negative, oppressive kind of thing.” Speaking to New Times from his home in Zurich, Switzerland, Ain is describing his…

Dir En Grey

This Japanese rock band is huge in its home country, and it’s starting to make waves here in the States, despite being way too cool for us. Dir En Grey is seriously the hippest hard metal band to hit the Western world in a long time. Originally part of Japan’s…

The Blood Brothers

The Blood Brothers make “come down” music for people who never want to come down. Testing the edges of various sonic turf with their toes, this is an unconventional band that tears through a multitude of genres, including hardcore, punk rock, screamo, No Wave and disco, in their teeth-gnashing, fist-forming…