Phoenix Music Blog

Our good friend Dfactor, the blogger who runs Waved Rumor, has published a cool new  video of Kiss' "See You Tonight," in honor of next week's show at Jobing.com Arena. Check it out above or read about it here. After seeing this, we're also gonna ask him to come do another Kiss cover for The Sun Session, so stayed tuned for that.

Oh, and get your Kiss tickets here.

We try not to get too homerish around here, but I've gotta share this new video produced by Up on the Sun's senior freelance photographer Luke Holwerda.

The video is for a Jacksonville pop-punk band named Fit For Rivals but it was shot here in Phoenix. Aside form being shot here and directed by local guys, it's also great. Holwerda is seriously one of the most talented concert photographers (and now videographers) in the city. We're proud to bring his photos to you here -- at least as long as we can afford him and he has time, since he's been busy shooting for Spin recently.

Check out Luke's blog here for a behind the scenes look at the video and more on what he's up to.

Claymation has always lent itself brilliantly to music videos ("Sledgehammer, "Sober," "Hellbent"), but artist Allison Schulnik has used the art-form to create an absolute masterpiece

​The fine folks over at Stereogum have brought to my attention a new video for the Grizzly Bear song "Ready, Able." The Brooklyn band -- already enjoying a fantastic 2009 on the heels of their latest LP Vecaktimest -- have done it again, this time employing artist Allison Schulnik to create a brilliant, surreal claymation piece befitting of the song. The video evokes images of a woodland Fantasia with a Halo-esque spaceship and plastic, green army-men thrown in for good measure. Don't take my word for it, please enjoy the video after the jump.

By Benjamin Leatherman

The brothers Calabrese have a rather vampish video they wanna show you.

After weeks upon weeks of seemingly endless hype, the wait is paractically over. The big day is almost here, and no longer will we have to endure scary tales of doom and gloom that are currently clogging the airwaves.

Wait a minute, you might ask, you’re talking about Election Day this coming Tuesday, right? Nope.

A long-haired Henry Rollins (circa 1983) sings with Black Flag in Tucson. Photo by Ed Arnaud.

I was fortunate enough to attend Henry Rollins’ incredible spoken word gig last night at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. As staff writer Niki D’Andrea detailed in her review of the show, the punk icon was in rare form, spending two-and-a-half hours on the microphone, humorously ripping the shit out of George W. Bush, John McCain, and Sarah Palin, as well as describing his jaunts around the world. Afterwards, he graciously took time to conversate with many audience members out in the Marquee’s parking lot.

It was a fun experience, but nowhere near as memorable as the time Hank assaulted the ears of Phoenix punk fans with his vocal vitriol back in December 1982. As you'll hear in the YouTube clips embedded below, Rollins and the other members of Black Flag visited the Valley about a year after he joined the band and the singer had plenty to say on the mic that night.

By Benjamin Leatherman

Black Moses, 1942-2008. RIP.

The Grim Reaper’s had something of a hard-on for African-American is the entertainment industry as of late. In the past few weeks, death incarnate has taken a pretty staggering list of talented mofos into the great beyond: comedian Bernie Mac, blues guitarist Phil Guy, record producer Jerry Wexler (who coined the term “rhythm and blues”), and Dave Matthews band saxophonist LeRoi Moore. (There was also a near miss with actor Morgan Freeman, who survived a serious car accident earlier this month).

Another of the reaper’s recent conquests was legendary soul king Isaac Hayes (a.k.a. Black Moses), who also provided the bass-heavy voice of Chef on South Park (that is, until he had a falling out with the cartoon’s creators in 2006 over the Scientology-skewering episode “Trapped in the Closet”). Tragically, Hayes passed away on August 10 after suffering a stroke.

Personally, I was rather affected by Hayes’ passing. Chef was my favorite character on South Park (“Hello children!”) and was particularly heartbroken when he left the show over the Scientology beef. My parents also had a copy of Hot Buttered Soul on vinyl and would give it an occasional spin during my childhood years. One of the more memorable songs on the album was Hayes’ cover of the Glen Campbell/Johnny Rivers number “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” I remember digging the song way back when because it referenced my hometown (albeit in melancholy fashion, as the narrator’s first stop on his journey away from his woman). It’s a rather lengthy cover (running almost 20 minutes) and featuring an eight minute-long improvised spoken word intro where Hayes opined on the troubles of love. It’s a classic bit of late 60s soul that’s a scintillating mix of keyboards, horns, and strings (not to mention the soul singer's silky smooth voice).

I found a version of the song on YouTube recently (which is split into two parts and is set to a slideshow of photos of Hayes as well as his various album covers over the years) and have been listening to it a lot lately. I still think it’s kinda cool that our fair city is memorialized in such a notable song, and maybe y’all will too.

Here’s part one…

…followed by part two

By Benjamin Leatherman

Let mortal kombat begin.

It was announced recently that Danzig will be heading back to the Valley this November as a part of the “Blackest of the Black Tour,” which also features fellow black metal rockers Dimmu Borgir, Moonspell, Winds of Plague, and Skeletonwitch on the lineup. (Click here for all the details).

So I figured it’d be a perfect time to dig up one of more infamous video clips in the local music scene’s recent history: the July 2004 donnybrook where Danny Marianino, lead singer of the North Side Kings, laid out Mr. Glen Danzig with a nice little haymaker to the head. If you aren’t familiar with the details (which the esteemed Serene Dominic documented in a 2004 article), the scrap went down in Tuba City in northern Arizona where the North Side Kings were scheduled to perform an opening set during the legendary dark rocker’s gig. After Danzig decided to go on earlier than planned and NSK was bumped from the bill, Marianino confronted the musician.

By Benjamin Leatherman

Don’t know about y’all, but I really dig it when bands whip out a cover or two during their live gigs.

Whether it’s a song the band normally apes (like the Dead Kennedy’s parodies of “Viva Las Vegas” or “Rawhide”), or it’s just a rare, one-time-only kinda thing (such as Red Hot Chili Peppers’ send-up of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room”), it can make a particular gig that much more memorable.

Example time: I was watching Valley punk veterans Family Circle do their thing in 2002 at J-Heads (which was still known as Jugheads at the time) and the band was absolutely kicking the ever-loving shit out of the venue during their headlining gig that night. It was a phenomenal set that finished in spectacular fashion when the band launched into a cover of the Dead Kennedy’s “Moon Over Marin,” and the crowd went totally apeshit. Most of those in attendance began belting out the lyrics to the song with FC’s lead singer, and at least a dozen punks (including myself and my best friend who was with me) crowded the stage while trying to holler the words into the microphone at the same time. It was unreal.

All these memories were brought to the surface lately as I came across a bunch of videos on YouTube of local bands doing the cover thing.

By Benjamin Leatherman

I really wanted to go see Tom Waits a couple weeks ago. Sorta badly actually. So much so that I had the following debate with myself over whether or not to attack Ticketmaster’s Web site and drop a c-note to get my hands on some ducats for the sandpaper-voiced singer’s two-night stint last month at the Orpheum Theatre.

“Dude, Waits only comes through town like once every three decades. He’s like that fucked up liver-eating elastic mutant on the X-Files,” my right brain argued. “So the next chance you’re gonna get to see the cat is in 2038, and you’ll either be dead by then or the Earth will be conquered by Psychlos, take your pick.”

“Yeah, but $90 is a lot of green,” responded my left brain. “That’s like half a tank of gas or two cartons of cigarettes or -- most importantly -- rent money. I’m cool with hearing ‘Chocolate Jesus’ and ‘Cemetery Polka’ live and in person, but it’s much cooler not getting evicted.”

All this internal quarrelling over attending the Waits affair became a moot point when I found out that shows sold out in mere minutes. And there was no way I was gonna blow pay $200 to $300 on any tickets being hawked by scalpers or eBay opportunists. So I had to console myself with reading next-day reports of the gig from around the Internets (such as the illuminating review posted by my colleague Paul Rubin) and hoped that some daring fan grabbed some footage on the sly to post on YouTube.

They did.

My wish came true as not one, but three concertgoers in attendance both nights busted out with the clandestine camerawork. The quality is quite the mixed bag (and I needed to pop some Dramamine to counteract the earthquake-like videos), but at least I got to listen to Waits crack jokes during his between-song patter about hookers on Van Buren and the illegality of taking lions to the movies.

By Benjamin Leatherman

The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, site of rock 'n' roll history.

Long before either the U.S. Airways Center or Dodge Theatre were even a twinkle in some architect’s eye, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum was the premier concert venue in the PHX. Besides its status as the original stomping grounds for your Phoenix Suns, a virtual “who’s who” of classic rock superstars from the past four decades have performed underneath the coliseum’s distinctive saddle-shaped roof since it opened during the LBJ administration.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience stopped by in ‘68. Both “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin blew the roof off the place in ’70. And in '76 (the year I was born) the “Madhouse on McDowell” was visited by The Who and “Ziggy Stardust” himself, David Bowie (albeit in separate concerts).

It’ll be a damn shame when they finally tear down the aging venue (which really only hosts concerts during the annual Arizona State Fair in the fall), as it’s got so many memories attached to it. Hippie burnout friends of mine speak in reverential tones of attending gigs by Three Dog Night and Rush at the venue way back in the day. And my own personal coliseum concert-going experience didn’t happen until I was 18 years old and saw INXS in 1994 (three years before vocalist Michael Hutchence accidentally offed himself -- allegedly -- through autoerotic asphyxiation). I’ve also witnessed the Ramones, Pearl Jam, Beck, Reba McEntire, and “Weird Al” Yankovic (twice) performing at the joint.

By Benjamin Leatherman

Juggalos (a.k.a. the rabid fans of demented horror-core rap duo Insane Clown Posse) tend to scare the shit out of most people. Maybe it’s because they’re connected with violent hooliganism, wear clown makeup out in public, or are just all-around freakazoids. (There’s also the fact their cars usually sport a sticker of a hatchet-wielding killer on their cars, which is the logo for ICP’s label, Psychopathic Records).

Personally, I dig Juggalos and think they’re funny in a weirdo-cool kind of way, which why I was highly amused by this clip I found on YouTube recently of the local Juggalo known as Spooky Z Tha Gravedigguh. Besides being a rabid follower of ICP, the dope dude likes to unleash wicked raps and horrific hip-hop verses in much the same fashion as his heroes Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope while dressed in brutal-looking costumes. He’s not the only one of his kind, however, as there’s a whole crew of PHX rappers like Spooky Z who rock the same kind of hip-hop style as ICP or other artists on Psychopathic Records like Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Boondox.

By Benjamin Leatherman

Who needs MTV when you’ve got YouTube? Personally, I’ve managed to survive without basic cable for a couple years now, mostly due to the fact that anything worth watching on MTV -- or television in general -- can pretty much be found on the online video site (or elsewhere on the Web). Episodes of The Hills or Cribs? Check. The extreme exploits of the kids of Barrio 19? Yep, those are available, too.

And another way that YouTube towers over MTV is in its vast selection of practically every music video that’s ever been made. I can find some pretty rare and choice shit on the site, whether I’m craving videos of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Living Colour, old school Ice Cube, or a million other artists. All I have to do is dial up YouTube for a fix. It’s also a tremendous place for finding videos from countless underground and unsigned musicians who (sadly) aren’t anywhere near landing on MTV’s radar. For instance, one thing I’ve been digging on as of late are the off-the-chain music videos from underground hip-hop artist MC Bener One.

As music editor Niki D’Andrea wrote about this past January in her cover story “Raising Terrazona,” the hip-hop scene in the Valley is thriving, and a big part it are Latino artists like Bener (pronounced “Bee-ner”) One. A founding member of former P-Town hip-hop crew FNX UNDERGROUND, Bener is a pimp MC who’s been creating killer tracks for years with the assistance of his brother DJ Tranzo (who used to spin on the weekends over at the 27th Avenue Bar & Grill).

I’m also a big fan of musicians who reference their hometown stomping grounds in their music and videos, and Bener One apparently loves to represent both the PHX and the west side (He’s “born and raised 3900 block west,” according to his MySpace), and does that with gusto with his jams.

Peep Bener One’s comical video for his song “Smokin Weed 2 Much,” where he raps to the camera about his love of the wacky tobaccy at various locations around downtown Phoenix.

By Benjamin Leatherman

A decade ago, I used to be big-time into collecting bootleg concert videos of my favorite bands. I’d habitually visit stores like East Side Records in Tempe or Shirts ‘n’ Things in Mesa to scope out their latest tapes, or log onto eBay to buy up shakily-shot VHS vids of groups like the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, Dead Kennedys, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against the Machine.

These days, I generally don’t pick up bootlegs anymore (except for the occasional rare find on eBay) since my thirst for illicit footage of performances has been more than satisfied by YouTube.

As my friends and co-workers can attest, I’m kind of a whore for YouTube, constantly spending my free time digging through the online video powerhouse for music stuff, old TV shows, and various and sundry other clips. I’ve also occasionally come across shitloads of cool videos relating to music in Phoenix in some fashion or another, like weird interviews, third-generation copies of concert films, or other oddities.

To wit: I recently came across a bunch of clips of grunge vanguards Nirvana performing at now-defunct Valley rock club the Mason Jar way back in the day. The gig depicted went down on February 19, 1990, when the pre-Dave Grohl version of the band was doing a West Coast tour with fellow Seattle rockers TAD.

As evidenced by the clips (as well as “The Nirvana Video Guide”), the set 14-song set was a mix of songs from Bleach, the Blew EP, and even one from Nevermind (“Polly”). The video guide also mentions that bassist Krist Novoselic “opens the show by announcing ‘Hi, we're a Motley Crue cover band,’” and eventually stripped down to his underwear during the show.

Sadly, the footage shows neither of these moments, but check them out anyway.