Top Five Must-See Shows This Weekend in Metro Phoenix
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| X [Top] and The Blasters [Bottom] |
| X and The Blasters are scheduled to perform Saturday, December 15, at Rhythm Room |
It's peculiarly fitting that these two punk trailblazers should arrive in town on the same night, because they've been inextricably bound together for more than 35 years since the beginnings of Los Angeles' punk underground.
For one thing, they've endured, even though (or perhaps because) their members have solo careers. Similarly, for much of their careers, both acts' laurels rested on music made in the early to mid-80s. (In 2005, The Blasters released 4-11-44, their first new album in 20 years, and followed that in July with Fun on Saturday Night; X hasn't released a new studio album since 1993's Hey Zeus!)
More importantly, both bands drew upon traditional roots and rockabilly in making their music helping imbue it with a timelessness that their noisier, snottier peers may have lacked. They certainly weren't solitary in that interest -- in the intervening years, many of their peers have also embraced roots music, such as Chuck Prophet (Green on Red), Mike Ness (Social Distortion), and Alejandro Escovedo (Nuns, Rank & File, True Believers).
Ness credits "bands like X, Johnny Thunders, and The Stray Cats" with opening his eyes to American roots music. "When you're 17, you don't really care about your roots, but as you get older, as you're trying to find your own identity, that's when the search begins," he says. "It led us. It led us to Americana music and the history of rock 'n' roll before the music of the '70s."--Chris Parker
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Club Red
2155 E. University Drive, Tempe, AZ
Category: Music
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