People either love or hate cover bands. Some think they are fantastic tributes, while others think they are blatant rip-offs.

Personally, I love tribute bands. They give music fans a chance to hear songs live and celebrate a favorite band--and often it's a band that's disbanded, one you'll never be able to see live anyway. Some of the biggest cover bands are doing it up huge today, like the Pink Floyd Experience and Led Zeppelin II; The Pink Floyd Experience have played Pink Floyd's music for decades, and Led Zeppelin II recreates their live performance to perfection after studying tapes of the Led Zeppelin's performances, appearances, antics and body language.

I'm lucky that when it comes to my favorite band, Pantera, I have two different tribute bands that know how to rock wonders. One is Far Beyond Driven, based in my hometown of Kansas City, and the other is Cowboys N Hell, based right here in Phoenix.

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Todd Pollock

Hardcore/post-punk act Ceremony returns to Rhythm Room tonight, and it is not a show to miss. I saw the band perform for the first time about six months ago, opening for Titus Andronicus. The vibe of the night was a little weird -- it was Election Night -- but it ended up being one of my favorite shows of the year. I can count on one hand how many times I've purchased a shirt from an opening band I wasn't familiar with, and I love my $10 Ceremony shirt.

If you're looking for something to do tonight, here are six reasons to consider going to the Ceremony show.

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We talked to John O'Callaghan of The Maine Monday afternoon about their upcoming tour, the way moving to analog recording changed their sound on Forever Halloween, and what their goals are after a brief stint with Warner Bros. But before they kick their tour off with a free performance at Tempe Marketplace Tuesday afternoon, they're hanging out tonight at Zia Records in Tempe, where you'll be able to buy their new album and hear an acoustic set at 11 PM.

Here's what you can expect if you pay them a visit:

John O'Callaghan: Tonight will be a more intimate kind of--it's just hangout style. We're playing a few songs on the acoustics and really just talking with people, whoever decides to show up. That's always the nervewracking thing: Is anybody going to be there?

But I think it'll be fun regardless. If two people show up it'll be good.

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These vibrant young people aren't dead yet...

The atmospheric, bluesy local rockers in Mergence may already be known for keeping it weird with communes, nomads and robots with the release of their first album, Those Vibrant Young People Are Dead--but with their upcoming EP they are taking it to an entirely new level.

It makes sense, since the name Mergence describes the future evolution of their influence on the industry and their sound, which has been compared to the likes to The Black Keys, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Up On The Sun talked with front man Adam Bruce over a post-band practice phone call, punctuated by the clinking of ice from glasses of whiskey and gin. He discussed how he lived up to his statement in our last interview of writing the second album in the middle of the desert, why the band didn't appear in the "White Bark" music video, and the new experimentation the band dabbled with in the studio.

Mergence is scheduled to perform at Crescent Ballroom on Saturday, June 1.

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Lauren Wise

Founded in 2007, Columbus, Ohio's Rock on the Range has become one of heavy metal's largest events, and every year, it just gets bigger and better. As Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach said in an interview: "As far as rock festivals in America go, Rock on the Range in No. 1 in my book. Straight f****n epic!"

I attended in 2012, but this year's event (May 17-19) had some significant changes, and sold out -- for the first time -- to ticket-buyers that had traveled from 49 states and three countries.

This year, ROTR expanded to live music all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as opposed to last year's Saturday and Sunday, and the headliners were more focused on bringing then nostalgia for powerhouse '90s rock -- Soundgarden, Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn and Alice and Chains, with the side stages bringing more of the metal. Last year, headliners included Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth and Mastodon, and the side stages were more radio rock. So this year, it seemed the stages were switched: The majority of the metal acts were on the side stages, providing a plethora of opportunities to check out the best up-and-coming metallers around -- even if it did force me to hightail it to stages spread across Columbus Crew Stadium for a straight 10 hours a day. But who wouldn't want to try and catch more than 50 bands in one weekend? Especially at a festival that's actually great to watch from the bleachers, even with the pollen floating through the air as thick as snow at times.

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Carla Morrison's return to the Valley is a bit of a homecoming: She attended high school at Marcos de Niza and took music classes at Mesa Community College before dropping out to perform with friends in Tempe's Babaluca. They built a local following for three years before Carla moved out to Mexico City, to pursue her solo career.

Since then, she's won multiple Latin Grammy Awards and played to growing crowds as a solo artist. On Thursday, her Valley fans will get a chance to watch her perform again when she pays a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum Theater; we got a chance to talk with her ahead of the show about struggling through class and finding the will to keep going with an assist from First Fridays.

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The Berlin-based DJ Thomas Gold will be visiting Maya, one of Scottsdale's newest hosts for EDM artists and events, this Friday.

Up on the Sun spoke with Gold about his upbringing in music, how his touring and festival schedules have been going, and what we can possibly expect to see from him at Maya Day and Night Club on Friday, May 24.

Up on the Sun: You've been super-busy lately, whether it's Ultra, Coachella, or your most recent North American tour. From what I hear, this was your first Coachella. How did everything turn out for you?

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@ChristosofDC

Washington, D.C., Silver Ticket winners.

When people and brands re-create the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket promotion, they don't always seem aware that Willy Wonka is kind of a sociopath. Regardless: Taylor Swift is re-creating the Golden Ticket promotion, and it's coming to Phoenix. If you can connect a series of clues on Diet Coke's Twitter account(!) this Friday and arrive at the "local Phoenix treasure" they point to, and you're one of the eight fastest Social Media Types to do it, you will receive a Silver Ticket, worth two passes to one of the Taylor Swift concerts set to create enormous traffic jams around Jobing.com Arena on May 28 and 29.

Yes, that's really weird. Yes, I'm a little fascinated by it. If you're a little fascinated by it, this is what the scavenger hunt looked like when they were handing out Silver Tickets in Austin on Monday.

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Crescent Ballroom wasted no time becoming a downtown Phoenix staple putting on shows almost every day of the year, and serving delicious food and drinks in the lounge. The venue expanded its horizons last year with Los Dias de la Crescent, where local bands performed both inside and outside for two days of fun. Crescent set up an outdoor stage twice more for Cold War Kids, Hanni El Khatib and more at Carnaval Electrico, and once again for Modest Mouse a few weeks ago.

The venue returns to its two stage format next week for Du Hot Club de Bizarre, a two-day festival featuring a bevy of local and touring bands that could be qualified as strange and bizarre. Find out more about the lineup after the jump.

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Courtesy Brandon Capps/Beautiful Noise Archives

Kimber Lanning of Half String

It was 1993 when Brandon Capps and a few like-minded friends started coordinating the first Beautiful Noise "shoegaze" festivals around Arizona. But 20 years ago, shoegaze wasn't a compliment. It was an insult, a pejorative tossed at the kind of guitarist who stared down at his pedals, waiting for the right moment to trigger the phaser or fuzzbox.

Twenty years later, shoegaze doesn't carry the same sting it used to. In fact, it's pretty hip these days. Last year, Brooklyn label Captured Tracks re-issued the complete recordings of Capps' old Phoenix-based band Half String to indie-blog acclaim and a series of reunion shows.

And now Capps has reignited the festival to celebrate its anniversary at Hollywood Alley in Mesa.

See also:
-Vintage Phoenix Shoegaze Band Half String Reissued by Brooklyn Label Captured Tracks
-Half String: Vintage Phoenix Shoegazers Reunite for California Tour

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