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​Without music education, it's safe to say there would be no Bears of Manitou.

To help foster the local talent of the future, the band is pairing with Ear Candy Charity, a local nonprofit that seeks monetary and musical instrument donations to help with Arizona's dismal arts education funding, for the More Than Music Festival on Saturday, February 11 at Sail Inn.

The Tempe-based rockers, along with local acts Conjugal Visit, Adriene Blanco, Trinket and Peppermint James, donated their abilities, all thanks to their personal convictions.

We talked to guitarist Gabe Williams and drummer Brian Champ about what their music education meant to them and why they think the Ear Candy cause is a worthy one.

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Hooves.

​When we last touched base with Hooves, they were splitting town, cramming into the Bikini Lounge for a goodbye celebration before heading to Washington. I noted "...we can take comfort in knowing they'll be back to visit. It'll be "Party Time" then, but it's hard to imagine it all feeling and sounding this good again." Looks like we'll all find out soon enough.

The rock 'n' rollers have announced a slew of tour dates, which finds them headed our way on Friday, March 16 at Crescent Ballroom, as well as making a stop at Austin's SxSW festival. The band will have a new record, Fetch Little Doggie (we debuted a demo of the track "Gallows" back in August).

Listen to another song from the record, the twinkling, rustic "No Use for Dying" after the break.

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All American Rejects

​It's no "Dirty Little Secret" : Pop-punk band All American Rejects will be performing on ASU campus this Friday, February 10.

Last time I saw All American Rejects live, the were warming up for Blink-182's in 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band is back with a brand new album, Kid's in the Street, set for release on March 26, 2012 .

Listening to the the album's first single, "Beekeeper's Daughters," I don't hear much change in the band's trademark pop-rock sound. That's a good thing. It gets annoying when bands don't stick to their original roots, because that's usually what the band is best at, and often what their audience wants to hear. The All American Rejects style is still the same -- only they look just a little older than what most screaming middle school and high school girls remember.

The band is performing as part of Devilpalooza, a yearly concert put on by ASU's Programming and Activities Board. This year All American Rejects will perform with special guest, Wallpaper, and Campus Rail Jam Wakeboarding will be going down as well.

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​"All My Ex's Live in Texas."

That's true for me. What about you?

The one and only "King of Country", George Strait, will be in Phoenix performing live tomorrow night, Friday, February 3.

Now maybe it's just the fact that I am originally from Texas that makes me excited to him live again. When I moved out here, I kept wondering if there were any country stations, because when I asked most seemed disgusted. However there is a big scene right here in the Valley, most just overlook it. Just tune to KMLE 108, who in excitement and support of Strait keeps calling themselves 1-0-STRAIT.

Strait always seems to write about things that are close to him. Since the early '80s he has brought true western swing, honky-tonk styles all with such a traditional sound of country music. Not the Taylor Swift crap. Sorry, but this whole pop-country thing annoys me.Sticking to his true Texan, country roots, Strait is a true troubadour

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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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​With the passing of Soul Train's Don Cornelius it seems only right that we should celebrate his life, with a little local funk.

On Friday, February 3, Martini Ranch is a place to find some when Catfish Mustache take the stage.

The East Valley band will be bringing their fusion of rock, hip-hop and ska music to Scottsdale, promising to make for a raging good time that will be, if nothing else, funky as hell.

To help get you in the mood, we're sampling the extraterestially-inspired "Take Me Away" and catching up with lead vocalist Tania Warfield for the low-down on the track.

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​The members of electronic pop outfit Factories put themselves in a tight situation last year when they locked themselves in a shipping container in the middle of the summer.

With a wall full of amps, flashing strobe lights, and of course a ton of balloons, the Tempe trio had themselves a little dance party and caught it all on film. Along with the filming, the band also recorded their first full-length album, Together, which recently broke into CMJ's Top 200 list.

Before the end of the world year, they'll be debuting three music videos as well as performing at SXSW. But before that, they'll be helping local record label Black Cactus Records celebrate their second anniversary with a show at Long Wongs in Tempe on Saturday, February 4. They also appear on the label's compilation album which will be released some time in March.

We caught up with Bryan, Audra, and Duffy for a quick Q & A session.

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​Starting a revolution of your own is a difficult task, but jam band O.A.R. (Of a Revolution) makes it look pretty easy.

Of course, it's harder than it seems. I spoke with drummer Chris Culos, in hopes of finding what lessons O.A.R. has learned in its transition from garage band to college rockers, and the success the band has experienced since figuring out a unique, creative method to market their sound across campuses nationwide.

"It all goes by in the blink of an eye, but other times you have these really intimate shows...where the crowd's right there in front of you and there's no curfew and the band can play as long as they want," Says Culos. "That's the fun stuff and keeps us wanting to do this night after night."

We discussed the band's history, their new album, King, which debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 chart.

O.A.R. is scheduled to perform Wednesday, January 25 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe.

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​In this week's issue, I interviewed Shawn Stern of Youth Brigade and Tony Brandenburg of The Adolescents to determine what has kept punk alive for all these years. Both musicians have obligations outside of their perspective bands, with Stern running BYO Records and preparing for Punk Rock Bowling and Brandenburg being a parent and a elementary school teacher. Yet through it all, both bands continue to tour.

So, what's The Adolescents' secret to success? "Stubbornness. That's it, a very strong will to see this thing through until its done," said Brandenburg in our two hour interview. In the abridged version of our Q&A, Brandenburg discusses The Adolescents breaking up and making up, a current cultural lull, and sharing the stage with the Vivian Girls.

The Adolescents and Youth Brigade are scheduled to perform at Clubhouse Music Venue on Saturday, January 21.

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