Vincent Sanchez & Justin Keefer, with Nick Nappa and A.J. Slater

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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we offer a peek into "The Iron Lady," an alleged former brothel in CenPho where scuzzy power poppers Naive practice.  If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom.

Naive plays May 11th w/The Beets at YOBS, May 15th w/Jacuzzi Boys at the Yucca, and May 25th w/ Brilliant Colors, Grass Widow at Trunk Space. You can download their debut EP, "Puberty Kisses," here for free.

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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the cavernous Fransisco Studios, where Phoenix hard rockers Smokus Pocus . If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom.

Smokus Pocus are performing and releasing their brand new EP at Chopper John's on April 23rd. The band, Andrew Francis, bass and vocals, Brandon Maguire, guitar and vocals, and Mark Mustacci, drums recorded their album all over Phoenix, including The Conservatory of Recording Arts. 

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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the vintage movie-poster adorned practice space of Tempe/Yuma post-punk band Earthmen & Strangers. If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom.

Earthmen & Strangers leader Ryan Rousseau isn't much of a talker. Actually, he's known about town for being notoriously demure. Visiting his cozy Tempe abode, it's clear that he's just got other stuff on his mind: the walls are lined with books, records, vintage movie posters and assorted memorabilia. Rousseau's as busy as he is quiet, too. This weekend, he'll reunite with his legendary punk combo The Wongs at the second annual Sundown Showdown, an event held at the Yucca Tap Room which Rousseau curates himself. His main band, Earthmen & Strangers will play as too, and will be debuting two records: a brand new seven inch on Perfectly Round Records and the latest Sailor Jerry music compilation, featuring Earthmen as well as King Khan & BBQ Show, Thomas Function, The Oh-Sees and Mariachi El Bronx. 
 

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The Hollywood Saints don't mess around.  The brainchild of bassist Naked Dave, who coincidentally owns Naked Dave's Music, the guitar/drum shop where the band practices, the group cover 80s hair-metal classics, but also put their Aqua Net sheen on classics by C.C.R. and Thin Lizzy. Lead by charismatic, booze swilling front-man Geno Dellamorte, the band have opened for Faster Pussycat and L.A. Guns at neighboring Club Red, which, when combined with Rockzone Records, Naked Dave's and Waffle House make up some sort of butt-rock nexus in Tempe.  The 'Saints open for Firehouse at Club Red on April 10th. More >>

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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the home of Phoenix rock n' rollers Hooves. If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom. Currently seeking grind-core acts, rappers and bands Frankie Muniz is in.

Hooves are a rock 'n' roll band, plain and simple. Acknowledging The Boss and The Band as influences, the band makes loose, swaggering music, complete with horn section. They don't practice much, out of principal: "We don't necessarily have a practice space," says singer Andy Krissburg. "I write a song, and play it for Chris on acoustic, he figures his parts out, I tell Steven the chords, then we drink a lot of beers at the bar by my house. After that we play the song live and I call out the chord changes to the other guitar/piano/trumpet [players] and that's our practice schedule." 

"Yeah," adds drummer Chris Lamb. "When we get up there, we know what we're doing, so we don't really need to practice."

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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the industrial cozy space of Tempe-based punk band Rumspringer. If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom. If you've got musician friends, encourage them to get off their asses and invite us over to where they park those asses.

Rumspringer (drummer Mikey, bassist Matt, guitarist Wes) play pop-punk. Don' tune out yet. This is the good stuff. Like, the kind of jams Green Day used to write before they decided to be an arena rock act. Stuff that would fit in perfectly on the vintage Recess Records roster.

The guys will be rocking the newly re-opened Nile Basement on March 24th with Off With Their Heads and Dead To Me. 

Smells Like: Last week I whined that all the practice spaces I've visited have been just a bit too squeaky clean for my taste.  Rumspringer's abode was a real rock n' roll hideaway: pizza boxes tosses about, littered with beer cans, hazy with cigarette smoke. When I visited on Tuesday night, the boys were holed up inside "Fuck City Studios" working on their new album, but they also practice there, and as Mikey showed me, take great pride in their toilet.      
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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the industrial cozy space of Phoenix rockers The Dust Jacket. If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom. Coverage will most likely result in universal acclaim, and reduced prices on burritos at Filiberto's Mexican restaurant.  Okay, probably not, but it's still pretty awesome.

Dust Jacket, a Phoenix-based indie act who has previously opened for bands like Vampire Weekend and Cold War Kids, will be sharing the stage at Chyro Arts with recently Nothing Not New-approved New Jersey band Titus Andronicus on March 22. 

Smells Like: You know, when I started this column, I expected a lot of the practice spaces would smell really bad. Unfortunately for me, every place I've visited has smelled fine, with Dust Jacket's pad in keeping with all the rest. So consider this a call for truly stinky, interesting-smelling bands to get in touch.
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Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the industrial strength rehearsal space of The Whisperlights. If you would like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom. Think of how exciting it will be to show off your space to your mom, aunts and little sister!

Tempe based indie-rock band The Whisperlights will share the stage at the Phoenix Civic Space Park Friday, March 5th with shaggy rockers What Laura Says.

Smells Like: The Whisper-dudes practice in one of Tempe's industrial parks, sharing a building with a bunch of bands, including a particularly pissed off sounding grindcore band.  Though Whisperlight's space smells like warm amp tubes, the hall smelled suspiciously like another band was partaking mid-jam. 
 
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​Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside the rehersal space occupied by Hashknife Outfit. If you'd like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom.  

You can catch Hasknife live at the Yucca Tap Room's Valley Fever on March 7.

Smells like: Clean air.

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Jeremy Marcanti & Miss Laura D may front a rough-and-tumble bluegrass outfit, but their practice spot was immaculate.

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Welcome back to our continuing series The Grand Tour, a feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we give you a look inside Seven Car Pileup's rehearsal space. If you'd like your band featured, tweet @PHXmusicdotcom or leave a comment below with contact info.

Smells Like: Upon arriving, the kindly dudes in Seven Car Pileup were kind to offer me some pizza and a beer, which, though I had to turn it down, was appreciated and informed the smell of the practice space. 

Most cherished piece of gear: Jess Pruitt was especially proud of his bass guitar, which was custom-made for his hands. Drummer Mike Vigil noted that his drum kit was pretty cherished, as well. "It cost more than my car altogether," he said. Guitarist Mark Mason was also eager to point out that he just purchased a nifty new Strat. A bunch of gearheads, these fellas.

Odds 'n' ends: The band practices in Jess' house, which actually belongs to his grandmother. Though she doesn't reside there, much of her belongs do, giving the house a strange "old lady" feel juxtaposed against the piles of rock 'n' roll-related stuff stashed everywhere.

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