Chadwick Fowler

​Now that we all know most record companies are the loss leaders for their conglomerate parent company we always believed they were, you kinda wish just once someone at the label would say "I don't know how to do my job" instead of "We don't have a way of marketing you."

That was the speech Aaron Beavers of the Austin alt-rock, alt-country group Shurman got when his band begged off their deal with Vanguard Records and again when the band's independently released 2008 album Waiting for the Sunset was re-released by Universal Republic when major distribution failed to sell more copies in 2010. It couldn't have helped that the subsidiary, Vain Records, went belly up the week of release.

If Shurman's blend of classic rock sounds like Tom Petty and alt-country rock like The Jayhawks has fallen through the cracks much of their ten years, they've subsequently learned that there's a lot of life to be lived between those cracks, including accruing new fans overseas and off the arena circuit -- in short, when you do things your way that's where you're directing people.

Since opening up for Roger Cline and the Peacemakers back in the early aughts, Shurman has maintained Tempe as a second home away from home which is why they're having a CD release party here. They were here in November when Beavers was touring with John Popper and the Duskray Troubadours for six months, which gave him and the band time some breathing space and a clear head to plan the next move

We caught up with him between a dance card filled with phoner and early morning TV interviews to talk about how a band survives firing the Doc McGhee, manager of KISS, Bon Jovi, and Mötley Crüe and The William Morris Agency and still draw lots of healthy breaths in this business of show.

Shurman is scheduled to perform Friday, February 24, at 910 Live in Tempe.

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Roddy Radiation

​Roderick James Byers -- known to two-tone fanatics as Roddy Radiation -- has got ska credentials locked down. Not only did he play guitar in the seminal rude boy band The Specials, but he wrote some of the band's catchiest tunes, like "Concrete Jungle" and "Hey Little Rich Girl."

Radiation kept busy following the band's dissolution in '81, fronting rockabilly acts like The Tearjerkers and The Bonediggers. He worked with The Specials 2, backing Desmond Dekker for his King of Kings album. In recent years, he's focused on The Specials reunion (including a stop at Coachella in 2010) and his Skabilly Rebels, a band with both US and UK lineups that blends ska rhythms with rockabilly twang.

Radiation took some time to answer Up on the Sun's questions about the Rebels and the future of The Specials.

Roddy Radiation and the Skabilly Rebels are scheduled to perform with Liam & The Ladies and DJ Shameless on Thursday, March 1, at the Rhythm Room.

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​Here's kind of a crazy realization: Stephen Malkmus has been performing and recording with The Jicks longer than he played and recorded with Pavement. But following Pavement's reunion (I saw them at Coachella 2010, and had one of those mythic "Brochella Moments" with a complete stranger during "Cut Your Hair"), all anyone could say in response to the Jick's 2011 release Mirror Traffic was how much it sounded like Pavement.

Of course the record doesn't sound entirely unlike Pavement, especially light of Real Emotional Trash's heavy, prog-rock intricacy. In comparison, Mirror Traffic is lighter, breezier, and spunkier. It doesn't sound like exactly like Pavement, but given Malkmus' singular voice, it's hard not to draw parallels.

"I like Real Emotional Trash, I love that record, and I think the songs are great, but after touring it heavily I think we got a little burnt on playing a bunch of nine-minute songs," says Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme. "They were kind of darker or something. I think we were feeling a little bit lighter, and wanted to express a more sunny side of the band, I guess."

Up on the Sun caught up with Bolme to discuss Malkmus' relocation to Berlin, the future of the Jicks, and "jamming out."

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks are scheduled to perform Friday, February 24 at Crescent Ballroom.

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​29-year-old local musician Braden McCall "feels too much," and while he might humbly admit this is, well, a rather annoying personality trait, it certainly hasn't hurt his ability to write and record music.

As a Valley native, McCall has used his time and talents wisely, spending the majority of his late teens as one of the key members of former Phoenix-based emo-core band, Before Braille, before moving on to a project in 2007 with cousin Sean McCall (and former member of The Format) called "Alcoholiday," once described by Spin Magazine as "electro-clash upstarts".

His latest project,Dead Wildlife, is a danceable, drum heavy electro-pop project that McCall has been proud to pour his heart and some serious musical man-power into. We caught up with McCall to learn more about his nearest and dearest band baby, his upcoming slot at SXSW, and you know, other stuff he feels too much about.

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Cursive

​Being in a band is tough. Just listen to Cursive's travails in "Art is Hard." Over the last decade, the Omaha-based indie rockers have endured their share of personnel changes: subtracting a cellist, adding a horn section, going back to a four piece, and eventually settling on a five piece band (heavy on the keyboards) for the brand new I Am Gemini (it's online and in stores today).

"I'm really happy with where we are. We're at the point where we've been in the game a long time and we've been through a lot of membership transitions, which is pretty normal for this business," says guitarist Ted Stevens. "We're representing the entire history of the band pretty fairly and in a great way."

We spoke to Stevens about I Am Gemini. Although the record features a complicated set of characters and a bunch of open-ended themes about duality, Stevens doesn't want fans to lose sight of its capabilities of being an enjoyable rock album.

More on I Am Gemini, lineup changes, and what Cursive has been up to after the jump.

Cursive is scheduled to play Crescent Ballroom on Tuesday, February 27.

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​You gotta hand it to American thrash metalheads Megadeth. For as rocky as their successful road has been, the band has done great job at keeping things surprising. Just last week, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine made headlines by announcing his endorsement of far-right presidential candidate Rick "Please Don't Google My Last Name" Santorum, then backing off, stating to our sister blog, Seattle Weekly's Reverb, that he wasn't necessarily voting for Santorum, though he does oppose gay marriage. "I'm a Christian," Mustain clarified.

He's not the only guy repping Jesus in the band: Bassist and founder Dave Ellefson is studying to become a pastor. More than 20 years ago, Ellefson shrugged off some of the elements of the rock star lifestyle and reconnected with his faith. He ended up at Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, where he started a contemporary worship service -- think Old Testament lyrics -- used as a springboard for praise and worship songs soft rock songs. He also started MEGA Life, a music ministry at the church that helps those new to Christianity or those seeking a new church home a dynamic center for developing faith. And don't think the road keeps him from progressing. Though he's currently on the Gigantour, alongside Motörhead, Volbeat, and Lacuna Coil, Ellefson focuses on online studies at Concordia's Specific Ministry Pastor Program, where he takes such classes as "Preaching I & II" and "Scripture and Faith" from his tour bus.

We spoke with Ellefson about the role of heavy metal in religion (and the other way around), Mustain's "hexing" past, and Alice Cooper as a role model. We didn't get to ask how he felt about the bullshit fact that the band has been nominated for a Grammy 10 times (including this year), and still hasn't brought a golden gramophone home. Maybe next time.

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​Resident rapper Jaron Ikner, better known as Black One, may call Phoenix his home, but his heart still lives in his hometown. Tucson.

Fresh off of his first full-length album, Black Sun Rising, Ikner looked to T-Town for a lot of the material that comprise the 14-track record. Only two months removed from that release, Ikner is already working on a new album where once again, past experiences from home manifest themselves into verse, rhythms and rhymes.

On Saturday, March 24, you'll be able to hear Ikner first hand when he opens for music collective Writer's Guild at Club Red; one of the 28 acts that rocked the house last week at New Times' Soundcheck. The collaborative of contemporaries is made up of Valley hip-hop heavyweights, Mr. Miranda, Pennywise, Random, Roknowlege, and RoQ'y TyRaiD.

We caught up with Ikner for his explanation of the track "City Lights" as well as his take on Black Sun Rising and Writer's Guild.

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​The road to Austin's SxSW music and arts festival is a long and arduous one. A total of 1,006 miles to be exact. (Well, according to Google Maps anyhow.) One of the many Valley acts making the trek in March include local Latin reggae rockers, Fayuca.

Last week the trio announced a spring tour that includes 13 dates across four states next month. The south west leg kicks off on March 8, at Scottsdale's Roxy Lounge and concludes March 24 in Pueblo, Colo.

They'll be playing three days in Austin, including High Times Magazine's party stage. The group is up for a Doobie Award, an honor bestowed upon the, "stoniest music of the year."

We spoke with Fayuca frontman Gabo Solorzano about the upcoming tour and what it takes to be the stoniest musicians of the year.

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​He stomps. He hollers. He yodels and howls. Scott H. Biram also plays guitar, shakes tambourines and basically, utilizing various effects, makes more of a racket on stage then one man should be allowed the pleasure. But it is a pleasure for Biram, whose music has been featured on FX's Sons of Anarchy, and who recently released "Bad Ingredients," his eighth album (many self-released).

Unlike his wild stage act, Biram's studio work is more formulaic and features added instrumentation. "Whatever it takes to make a song sound full," he says. On stage, where Biram has cemented his reputation as dynamic performer with a primal energy (and scream), he is able to reproduce, through the magic of electronics and creative passion, most of those songs without backing musicians -- and he likes it that way.

Up On The Sun caught up with Biram in West Palm Beach, Fla. where he was nursing a cold and prepping for his upcoming tour. Biram, however, was jovial enough, even with a nasally southern drawl, to talk about his new album, the expectations of being a one-man band, and how faith sort of plays into his music.

Scott H. Biram is scheduled to perform Friday, February 17 at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale.

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​The Lost Leaf in Downtown Phoenix is notoriously loud. Both on the crowd side and on the music side.

Last summer, I saw Former Friends of Young Americans singer Toby Fatzinger and Marco Holt of The Tremulants perform solo sets there and they were literally drowned out by the bar-hopping crowd.

Even though they were rocking by their lonesomes, that's a pretty loud decibel level the crowd has to hit to compete with a plugged-in guitar.

When Snake!Snake!Snakes! visit the Leaf tonight, they'll be rolling with full band in tow, so they shouldn't have that problem. They'll be busting out two sets at the free First Friday show.

Snakes! will be taking the stage at 10 p.m., so make sure you get there early enough to secure your corner of the bar. Oh, and crowded or not, vocalist Jonathan Messenger says you'd better bring your dancing shoes.

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