Global AZ Media

Simple Plan + Sum 41 at The Van Buren
2022-08-03 20:00 - 23:30 (America/Phoenix) | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
From their new millennium rise to MTV superstardom through pop-punk’s modern resurgence, SIMPLE PLAN have been an indelible part of pop culture since forming in Montreal in 1999. They’ve sold 10 million albums worldwide, won multiple Juno Awards, performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics – and, most recently, launched the omnipresent #ImJustAKid TikTok challenge that’s spawned more than 3.4 million videos, including clips from Hilary Duff, Ed Sheeran, Usher and Venus and Serena Williams.
HARDER THAN IT LOOKS is the first self-released album from dummer Chuck Comeau, vocalist Pierre Bouvier and guitarists Sébastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco. The album respects Simple Plan’s storied career while pushing forward in new ways, with songs like “The Antidote,” “Ruin My Life” (ft. Deryck Whibley), “Congratulations,” “Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)” and “Iconic” set to stand as fan favourites for years to come.
“It’s amazingly complex to be in a band for 20-plus years, to keep going, stay relevant and manage all the challenges that come your way,” Bouvier says. “It’s the furthest thing from a ‘simple plan’ – it’s truly a lot harder than it looks. Throughout our career, it’s taken a while to be mature enough to understand that our sound is an asset, not a liability. On this album we said: ‘Let’s just embrace who we are and not be afraid to do what we do best.’ Making a good Simple Plan record is just as hard as making something off the beaten path.

Canadian rock outfit Sum 41 hit the worldwide radar in 1996 after their hometown of Ajax, Ontario, proved unable to fully contain the foursome’s mixture of arena-sized riffing, hip-hop poses, and toilet-bowl humor. Their breakthrough major-label debut, 2001’s All Killer No Filler, featured the chart-topping MTV hit “Fat Lip” and follow-up “In Too Deep.” From there, the band’s mischievous pop-punk style was steadily hardened with darker, world-weary lyrics and a heavier, metal-inspired attack. 2002’s Does This Look Infected? veered in that hardcore direction and still managed to maintain their popularity with singles “The Hell Song” and “Still Waiting.” By the time double-platinum third effort Chuck landed in 2004, Sum 41’s metallic tendencies were at the fore on songs such as “We’re All to Blame.” Despite achieving a chart peak with 2007’s Underclass Hero, the band soon found themselves in decline in the mainstream during the 2010s, due in part to lineup changes and creeping health problems. While Screaming Bloody Murder produced the Grammy-nominated single “Blood in My Eyes,” the album was the band’s lowest-charting effort since their debut. Soon after, frontman Deryck Whibley announced serious health issues that would sideline the band until 2016, when they issued the successful comeback record 13 Voices.
In addition to vocalist/guitarist Whibley, the band also originally included guitarist/vocalist Dave Baksh, bassist Cone McCaslin, and drummer Steve Jocz. Wooed by the boys’ goofy antics and incendiary live show (and excited about the prospect of promoting their very own blink-182), Island put Sum 41 on the payroll in 1999. The Half Hour of Power EP followed, and Warped Tour dates put the word out. They returned in 2000 with the fun-filled full-length All Killer No Filler, and the singles “In Too Deep” and “Fat Lip” became staples of both modern rock radio and Total Request Live. An extensive tour followed, and Sum 41 enjoyed their success the way all near-teenage boys would, with plenty of towel-snapping, groupie-loving, and self-deprecating low-ball humor. In 2002, they returned to wax with Does This Look Infected? While the album was a bit harder-edged, it found the band as excited as ever to mix punk-pop business with sophomoric pleasure: The video for “Hell Song” featured the guys acting out a sort of rock-star debauchery cage match with the aid of a few celebrity action figures. Metallica, Jesus Christ, and the Osbournes all made appearances in the hilarious clip.
It was not all fun and games, however, as Sum 41’s involvement in the charity group War Child Canada had them lending a hand in the making of a 2004 documentary covering the effects of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Five days into filming, fighting and gunfire suddenly erupted around them, and they barely escaped unharmed — these events led to 2004’s slightly more mature and serious effort, Chuck, named for the UN aid worker, Chuck Pelletier, who was instrumental in getting them to safety. The DVD Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo was released at the end of 2005, and the live album Go Chuck Yourself appeared the following March.
Guitarist Dave Baksh left the band during the spring of 2006 due to creative differences, going on to form the metal-punk outfit Brown Brigade. Sum 41 continued as a trio, and their first album as such, Underclass Hero, appeared in July 2007. They eventually returned to being a quartet, replacing Baksh with guitarist Tom Thacker, and began to work on a new album. Screaming Bloody Murder appeared in March 2011. “Blood in My Eyes,” a single from the album, was nominated for a Grammy that year. However, due to a series of back injuries for Whibley (and other issues that would soon come to light), Sum 41 would not return with new material for half a decade, despite their critical success.
During the break, Jocz left the band and was replaced by Street Drum Corps‘ Frank Zummo. Baksh also returned to the fold just in time for Sum 41’s comeback in 2016. The group signed with Hopeless Records and embarked on an international tour that included stops in China and a stint on that summer’s Warped Tour. Their sixth LP, 13 Voices, featured the lead single “Fake My Own Death” and became their third highest-charting release in their native Canada, peaking just outside the Top 20 in the U.S. During promotion for the album, Whibley revealed that he had been in an alcohol-related induced coma during the band’s hiatus in 2014. While recovery included learning to walk and play guitar again, Whibley contributed a large part of his healing to the writing process of 13 Voices. To coincide with the album’s release, the band embarked on an international tour dubbed “Don’t Call It a Sum-Back.”
After setting out on another trek to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their breakthrough, they returned to the studio. Their seventh set, Order in Decline, arrived in the summer of 2019. Intensely political and pulling no punches with their message, the album included the tracks “Out for Blood,” “45 (A Matter of Time),” and “The New Sensation,” borrowing from Linkin Park, Bad Religion, and even Muse on a series of rallying cries aimed at waking up a society on the brink of moral collapse. ~ Johnny Loftus & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

Avatar & Light The Torch at The Rialto Theatre
2022-07-31 20:00 - 23:30 | The Rialto Theatre, 318 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ, 85701, United States
AVATAR returns in 2020 with a bold manifesto called Hunter Gatherer . The band’s eighth album is an unflinchingly ruthless study of a clueless humankind’s ever-increasing velocity into an uncertain future, furthering the reach of the band’s always expanding dark roots. Songs like “A Secret Door,” “Colossus,” and “Silence in the Age of Apes” are ready-made anthems for the modern age, each struggling for a collective meaning amidst the savagery of technology. Hunter Gatherer shares the determined focus of the conceptually driven Feathers & Flesh and Avatar Country while decisively emphasizing the individual songs above any overarching story. At the same time, there are thematic threads throughout the album, reflecting the members’ shared state of mind. Hunter Gatherer is the darkest, most sinister version of Avatar, with deep studies of cruelty, technology, disdain, and deprivation. In 2019, Avatar reunited with producer Jay Ruston at Sphere Studios in Los Angeles, California, where the foundation for each song on Hunter Gatherer was laid with the band performing altogether, as they’d done only once before, on Hail the Apocalypse. The old-school method of playing as one in the studio, more akin to how they are on stage, captured the essence of Avatar. Recorded entirely to two-inch tape, something you don’t hear about much in 2020, Hunter Gatherer exhibits everything that makes AVATAR standouts in the vast, rich landscape of heavy metal’s past and present.

Since emerging in 2018, Light The Torch have grown stronger in lockstep together as a band and as friends. Through this growth, the Los Angeles trio—Howard Jones [vocals], Francesco Artusato [guitar], and Ryan Wombacher [bass]—only enhanced their signature sound. Upheld by head-spinning seven-string virtuosity and skyscraping melodies, the group crafted twelve no-nonsense anthems on their 2021 second full-length album, You Will Be The Death of Me [Nuclear Blast].
The group shot out of the gate as a contender on their full-length debut, Revival. It bowed at #4 on the Billboard US Independent Albums Chart and at #10 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart in addition to receiving acclaim from Revolver, Outburn, and many more. “Calm Before the Storm” racked up a staggering 14.5 million Spotify streams, while “The Safety of Disbelief” remains one of SiriusXM Octane’s all-time most requested songs. They toured North America and Europe with the likes of Trivium, Avatar, In Flames, Ice Nine Kills, Killswitch Engage and August Burns Red to name a few.
The guys returned to Sparrow Sound in Glendale, CA in late 2019 to once again work with the production team of Josh Gilbert and Joseph McQueen [Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Suicide Silence]. This time around, they also welcomed Whitechapel’s Alex Rudinger on drums.
In the end, the bond between Light The Torch burns brighter than ever in the music as they deliver a definitive statement with You Will Be The Death Of Me.

Anthrax - Black Label Society & Hatebreed at The Van Buren
2022-07-26 20:00 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Nearly as much as Metallica or Megadeth, Anthrax were responsible for the emergence of speed and thrash metal. Combining the speed and fury of hardcore punk with the prominent guitars and vocals of heavy metal, they helped create a new subgenre of heavy metal on their early albums. Original guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Spitz were a formidable pair, spitting out lightning-fast riffs and solos that never seemed masturbatory. Unlike Metallica or Megadeth, they had the good sense to temper their often serious music with a healthy dose of humor and realism. After their first album, Fistful of Metal, singer Joey Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello joined the lineup. Belladonna helped take the band farther away from conventional metal clichés, and over the next five albums (with the exception of 1988’s State of Euphoria, where the band sounded like it was in a creative straitjacket), Anthrax arguably became the leaders of speed metal. As the ’80s became the ’90s, they also began to increase their experiments with hip-hop, culminating in a tour with Public Enemy in 1991 and a joint re-recording of PE‘s classic “Bring the Noise.” The remainder of the decade saw the band continuing to both flex and expand its sonic muscle, but lineup changes and label woes remained a constant stress throughout, and by 2003 they were only playing sporadically. In 2010, after a seven-year hiatus, Anthrax reconvened for Worship Music, a return to form that many called their most potent offering since 1990’s Persistence of Time.
After their peak period in the late ’80s, Anthrax kicked Belladonna out of the band in 1992 and replaced him with ex-Armored Saint vocalist John Bush — a singer who was gruffer and deeper, fitting most metal conventions perfectly. Subsequently, their sound became less unique and their audience shrank slightly as a consequence, and after signing to Elektra for 1993’s Sound of White Noise, the group left the label after just one more album, 1995’s Stomp 442. At that point, Anthrax — now a four-piece consisting of Ian, Bush, Bello, and drummer Charlie Benante — built their own studio in Yonkers, New York, and after a three-year hiatus returned with their Ignition label debut, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real. Anthrax’s very first “hits” collection was released in 1999; titled Return of the Killer A’s: The Best Of, it was also their first release for the Beyond label. The album included a cover of “Ball of Confusion,” which featured a duet between current frontman Bush and former vocalist Belladonna. A proposed tour that was to include both vocalists was announced, but on the eve of its launch, Belladonna pulled out, reportedly for monetary reasons. The tour carried on, as Anthrax signed on to participate in a package tour during the summer of 2000 with Mötley Crüe and Megadeth, but left the tour after only playing a handful of dates.
Anthrax appeared on the Twisted Sister tribute album Twisted Forever in 2001 (covering the track “Destroyer”), and began recording their next album the same year. In addition, guitarist Ian found time to regularly host the metal television program Rock Show on VH1, plus he appeared as part of the fictional metal band Titannica in the film Run, Ronnie, Run. VH1 programming heads eventually replaced Ian with Sebastian Bach, but the band was ready to head back into the studio anyway. New guitarist Rob Caggiano joined in the spring of 2002, just in time for the recording. A year later, Anthrax made their Sanctuary debut with We’ve Come for You All. The band’s dynamic hadn’t changed, and touring in support of that album was met with overwhelming success. The CD/DVD set Music of Mass Destruction: Live in Chicago, which arrived in spring 2004, celebrated Anthrax’s two decades in the business. Then, in 2005, Anthrax’s entire original lineup of Ian, Spitz, Belladonna, Benante, and Bello reunited for a tour and the CD/DVD retrospective Anthology: No Hit Wonders 1985-1991. Anthrax also issued Alive 2, recorded during their summer 2005 reunion tour.
In 2007, Dan Nelson, formerly of the group Devilsize, took over vocal duties. The band announced the return of vocalist John Bush in 2009, though the stint was never deemed permanent. The vocal pendulum shifted again the following year with an announcement that Belladonna was returning to the fold for future shows, and beginning work on a new Anthrax album. The resulting Worship Music, the band’s tenth studio album, and the first to feature original material since 2003’s We’ve Come for You All, was released on September 13, 2011. Worship Music was a strong comeback that earned the group a Grammy nomination, and Anthrax followed it up with some dumb fun in the form of a 2013 EP of ’70s classic rock covers, titled Anthems. Shortly before the EP was released, Caggiano left the group, and he was replaced by Shadows Fall guitarist Jonathan Donais during live dates. In August, he officially became Anthrax’s lead guitarist.
The group began working on a new studio album in late 2013. A live DVD titled Chile on Hell appeared in 2014. The following year, they toured with Volbeat, whom Caggiano had joined after leaving Anthrax. The group’s 11th studio album, For All Kings, was released in February of 2016. Anthrax then toured with Iron Maiden, opening up for the metal legends during the Latin American leg of their Book of Souls World Tour. In 2018, the band released Kings Among Scotland, a concert film/album recorded on February 15, 2017 at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom. To commemorate the band’s 40th anniversary, Anthrax staged a global livestream event in 2021 at the Los Angeles soundstage/studio where they performed a two-hour set of fan favorites and deep cuts. The concert/film XL, which included the entire performance, as well as rehearsal footage and a Scott Ian-led walking tour of formative New York locations, was released in 2022 by Nuclear Blast. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, Rovi
https://youtu.be/gAH4Wo38iQE

Black Label Society bandleader Zakk Wylde wields his guitar like a Viking weapon, bashing out thick riffage and squeezing out expressive squeals as if the glory of his Berserker brotherhood depends upon every single note, which of course, it does. Charismatic beast and consummate showman, Wylde puts his massive heart and earnest soul on display with unbridled, unchained, animalistic passion in Black Label Society, whether it’s a crushingly heavy blues-rock barnstormer or a piano-driven ode to a fallen brother. Each Black Label Society album is another opportunity to top the one before it, but like AC/DC or The Rolling Stones, BLS isn’t here to reinvent the wheel. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s a brand we can trust. Mighty missives like Damn the Flood, In This River, Stillborn, My Dying Time, Queen of Sorrow and Blood Is Thicker Than Water have amassed millions of downloads and streams. They are the soundtracks to sweat soaked revelry, jubilant evenings that descend into bewildering mornings, and adrenaline fueled sports. Grimmest Hits, the band’s tenth full-length studio album and follow-up to Billboard Top 5 entries Catacombs of the Black Vatican (Deluxe) and Order Of The Black, Black Label Society submit new anthems like Room of Nightmares the bluesy Seasons Of Falter and Southern-fried The Day That Heaven Had Gone Away to the BLS faithful; 12 unstoppable tracks to add to that lifestyle soundtrack.

With unflinching tenacity, the impenetrable heavy metal hardcore factory that is HATEBREED has brought forth yet another iron cast, sonic weapon with Weight Of The False Self. It comes as no surprise that their eighth, full length album is the result of the usual sweat and blood that have cemented HATEBREED’s unique niche in the world of music for over two decades. Renowned for their ability to provide an intense and cathartic release for their fans, HATEBREED challenged their writing style through this album cycle in order to produce material that is exceptionally relatable in a contemporary world flooded with overstimulation, emotional dampening, and lack of social patience.A metaphorical weight is carried by almost every individual in regards to their emotional construct. Our experiences shape who we become and over time, gradually produce a heavy burden that we continue to lug along. For many of us, the weight becomes so much that we struggle to get out from underneath, let alone move. It is these struggles that are translated throughout Weight Of The False Self. Recording the album once more with the help of ZEUSS, the band experienced a sense of challenge and breakthrough that enabled them to obtain a new level of sound. After working with the band for several years, and while normally spending his time with bands that have a fairly different sound, Zeuss is able to test HATEBREED and expand their already infamous vibration.

Machine Gun Kelly + Avril Lavigne at Footprint Center
2022-07-11 20:00 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Delivering lyrics with the speed of a bullet train, Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly experienced a meteoric rise in late 2011 when he transitioned from grinding out self-released mixtapes to working with major labels. From there, the rapper skyrocketed to superstar status, with each of his albums charting in the Top Ten. A beef with Eminem, a film career, and even some reality show appearances would follow as the high-powered lyrical rap style of albums like 2019’s Hotel Diablo morphed into a driving emo-rock sound on collaborations with Travis Barker and on the Barker-produced 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall, which topped the Billboard 200. Kelly worked alongside Barker again in 2022 on album number six, Mainstream Sellout.
Born Colson Baker in Texas but raised in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Machine Gun Kelly began making music in his teens and made news in 2009 when he became the first rapper to win amateur night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. A series of mixtapes, including 100 Words and Running, Lace Up, and Rage Pack, came next, and a 2011 performance at South by Southwest was followed immediately by a meeting with Sean Combs. Kelly signed with Comb‘s Bad Boy imprint that night and released the single “Wild Boy” on the label the same year. The track featured special guest Waka Flocka Flame, and Kelly’s debut album, Lace Up, landed in 2012. During this time, he also signed a deal with Young & Restless to work on a clothing line. The Black Flag mixtape arrived in 2013, featuring appearances by French Montana, Pusha T, Meek Mill, Wiz Khalifa, and Sleeping with Sirens‘ Kellin Quinn.
In 2015, he released his sophomore effort, General Admission, a dark, autobiographical LP that peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Kelly released the “Bad Things” single in 2016; the duet with ex-Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello became the first Top Ten single for both artists. In 2017, Kelly issued his third full-length, Bloom. In addition to “Bad Things,” the effort included collaborations with Hailee Steinfeld (“At My Best”), Quavo and Ty Dolla $ign (“Trap Paris”), James Arthur (“Go for Broke”), and DubXX (“Moonwalkers”). Bloom debuted in the Top Ten of the Billboard 200, peaking at number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Following the success of the gold-certified third album Bloom, Kelly received an unexpected boost in 2018 from an unlikely source: major influence Eminem, who resurrected a 2012 beef stemming from offhand comments about the Detroit rapper’s daughter. On Eminem‘s Kamikaze attack “Not Alike,” he lobbed a direct shot at Kelly, who quickly responded with the biting diss track “Rap Devil.” As tabloid headlines swirled, the latter song entered the U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop chart Top Ten, jumping to number 13 on the Hot 100. Capitalizing on the surprise boost in exposure, Kelly issued the EP Binge, a dark, trap-influenced set that marked a return to form with a focused flow and sly wordplay. Unencumbered by the star-studded distractions of the pop-friendly Bloom (rapper 24hrs is the only feature), Binge debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200, also charting in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 2019 found Kelly portraying Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in The Dirt, a stylized biopic on the rise and fall of the hair metal legends. In May of that year, he released the single “Hollywood Whore,” the first offering from his fourth album, Hotel Diablo. Landing that July, the introspective set featured additional singles “El Diablo” and “I Think I’m Okay,” as well as guests Lil Skies, Trippie Redd, Yungblud, and Travis Barker.
After Hotel Diablo, things shifted for Machine Gun Kelly, as his focus became more split between music and acting. On the music side of things, the rock-leaning Travis Barker collaboration “I Think I’m Okay” led to the duo working on more songs together and ultimately to Barker acting as executive producer on fifth album Tickets to My Downfall. Singles that preceded the record were a sharp turn from Machine Gun Kelly’s established rap sound. In April 2020, he released “Bloody Valentine,” an upbeat and melodic emo pop song dotted with synth touches. Successive singles “Concert for Aliens” and “Misery Business” followed a similar stylistic change-up. Tickets to My Downfall was released in late September 2020 and became Kelly’s first number one album. In March 2021, he reached number eight on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart with his non-album single “DayWalker” featuring Corpse Husband. Early 2022 saw the release of the grunge-tinged rocker “Papercuts,” the lead single from his sixth full-length effort. Originally titled Born with Horns, the album was retitled Mainstream Sellout, and saw Kelly working once more with Barker as co-producer. The album also featured a number of guest contributors, including two songs with Lil Wayne, an interlude featuring comedian/actor Pete Davidson, and appearances throughout from Willow, blackbear, Gunna, Bring Me the Horizon, and others. Mainstream Sellout was released in March of 2022. ~ Fred Thomas & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

https://youtu.be/_1kVVpfnMs8

Grammy-winning Canadian pop/rock singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne became an international star in the 2000s with her punk-influenced pop anthems and anti-starlet image. First appearing in 2002 with the spunky debut single “Complicated,” she touted a skatepunk image that purposely clashed with the polished glamour of mainstream pop. Lavigne, who was 17 at the time, quickly rose to teen idol status, selling several million copies of her debut album, Let Go (the best-selling album by a female artist in 2002), while inspiring a genuine fashion craze with her penchant for tank tops and neckties. As the decade progressed, so did Lavigne’s marketable sound, which took a contemplative turn on the chart-topping sophomore effort Under My Skin before reaching an aggressively upbeat tone for 2007’s The Best Damn Thing. A pair of hit albums later, she took a three-year hiatus from the spotlight to focus on health issues related to Lyme disease, returning in 2019 with her mature sixth album, Head Above Water. In 2021, she made her debut for Travis Barker‘s DTA label with the pop-punk single “Bite Me” from 2022’s Love Sux.
Born into a devout Christian household in the small town of Napanee, Ontario, Lavigne sharpened her vocal talents in church choirs, local festivals, and county fairs. She began playing guitar and writing songs in her early teens, focusing her early efforts on country music and contributing vocals to several albums by local folk musician Steve Medd. Arista Records caught wind of the singer and brought her aboard at the age of 16, with CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid personally taking Lavigne under his wing. She quit high school, relocated to Manhattan, and set to work with a handful of prime songwriters and producers, but the partnerships only produced country songs, not the rock music in which Lavigne had become increasingly interested. Arista relented and instead sent Lavigne to Los Angeles, where she fashioned her melodic, edgy debut alongside such writing teams as the Matrix. Released in 2002, Let Go was the polished product, and its four high-charting singles — “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” “I’m with You,” and “Losing Grip” — led the album to multi-platinum status within its second month of release. Lavigne became the youngest female musician ever to have a number one album in the U.K., and she supported the wildly popular LP (which eventually gained eight Grammy nominations) with a tour of Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia.
Compared with the antics of other teen idols of her day, Lavigne was a new kind of superstar, one whose appeal didn’t rely on sexy videos or suggestive music. She further distinguished herself by bypassing the assistance of professional writing teams during the creation of her second album, choosing instead to collaborate with singer/songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, Evanescence‘s Ben Moody, and Evan Taubenfeld (who had previously worked with Lavigne as her touring guitarist). Released in May 2004, Under My Skin was more serious than its predecessor, dealing with such issues as premarital sex (“Don’t Tell Me”), depression (“Nobody’s Home”), and the death of Lavigne’s grandfather (“Slipped Away”). The album debuted at number one in more than ten countries, went platinum within one month, and further established Lavigne as a pop icon. Incidentally, a song that was co-written by Lavigne and ultimately cut from the final track list — “Breakaway” — was later given to Kelly Clarkson, who used it as the title track and lead single for her Grammy-winning sophomore album.
Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Sum 41‘s Deryck Whibley, in July 2006, just one month after the animated film Over the Hedge announced her cinematic debut (Lavigne voiced the part of Heather, a hungry opossum). She also appeared in Richard Linklater‘s fictional adaptation of Fast Food Nation, which was released that November. Nevertheless, she spent most of the year working on her third album, enlisting former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker to play drums, and cherry-picking a variety of producers (including her husband) to helm the recording sessions. The Best Damn Thing appeared in April 2007, and its lead single, “Girlfriend,” marked a return to the bratty, spunky punk-pop of her first album. “Girlfriend” soon became the subject of controversy as the ’70s power pop band the Rubinoos sued Lavigne, claiming that her tune reworked their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” No amount of bad publicity could hurt the singer, however, as “Girlfriend” became her biggest U.S. single ever and The Best Damn Thing topped album charts worldwide.
Lavigne filed for divorce from Whibley in October of 2009. The dissolution of their union featured heavily on her next album, 2011’s Goodbye Lullaby, which included tracks produced by Whibley.
Lavigne returned to the studio just weeks after the release of Goodbye Lullaby and began work on her fifth album. In 2012, she started working on material with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and eventually the pair began dating; she married Kroeger on July 1, 2013. By that point, she had released the platinum-certified “Here’s to Never Growing Up,” the first single from her eponymous fifth album. Released in October, Avril Lavigne featured eight songs co-written by Kroeger, who also duetted with her on the record’s third single, “Let Me Go.”
In early 2015, Lavigne released “Fly,” an empowering ballad written for the Special Olympics World Summer Games. That same month, she also revealed that she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Soon after, she separated from Kroeger. For the next few years, as she healed, she remained out of the public spotlight. In 2018, she returned with the single “Head Above Water,” which was inspired by her battle with Lyme disease; it unexpectedly made the Christian radio top 10. Despite this success, the accompanying album, Head Above Water — which appeared in February 2019 — was a secular pop album, albeit one with an inspirational bent. While her worst-charting long-player to that point, it still reached Canada’s Top Five, the U.K. Top Ten, and number 13 on the Billboard 200.
After re-recording Head Above Water‘s “Warrior” as “We Are Warriors” to raise funds for pandemic relief efforts in 2020, Lavigne returned to the studio to record her seventh album with producers including Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, Mod Sun, and Goldfinger‘s John Feldmann. In the meantime, she was featured on the Mod Sun single “Flames” in early 2021, and with Barker on Willow Smith‘s “Grow” mid-year before signing with Barker‘s Elektra Music Group imprint, DTA Records. Her own single, “Bite Me,” appeared before the end of 2021. That punk-infused anthem landed on her seventh full-length, 2022’s Love Sux, which also featured “Love It When You Hate Me” with Blackbear.

Great White at Marquee Theatre
2022-07-07 18:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Great White emerged in the early 1980s with a sound rooted in the bluesy hard rock esthetic of classic rock radio behemoths like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Mott the Hoople. They found success in 1987 with the release of their sophomore long-player, Once Bitten, and dove headfirst into the mainstream in 1989 with the arrival of …Twice Shy, which went double-platinum thanks to a punchy, radio-ready cover of Ian Hunter‘s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” Great White’s popularity waned as grunge, and alternative rock took over the airwaves in the early ’90s, and they officially disbanded in 2001. They reunited in 2003 and made headlines when pyrotechnics used by the band sparked a fire in a Rhode Island nightclub, killing 100 people, including guitarist Ty Longley. They re-formed around the classic lineup in 2007 and released Back to the Rhythm, with Rising appearing two years later, but they soon splintered into two groups, with Russell leading Jack Russell’s Great White and guitarist and co-founder Mark Kendall fronting Great White proper.
Formed in the early ’80s by vocalist Jack Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall, Great White were regulars of the L.A. club scene, playing their Led Zeppelin– and AC/DC-influenced metal to a quickly growing fan base. Local radio play and more gigging helped sell 20,000 copies of their independent releases, the Out of the Night EP and the full-length Shot in the Dark, both released in 1983.
The EMI label took notice, signed the band, and released their self-titled, major-label debut a year later. Shot in the Dark would be reissued by the label in 1987, the same year as the new album Once Bitten… appeared with the hit single “Rock Me.” The release went platinum, but 1989’s …Twice Shy took things even further thanks in no small part to the massive success of the single “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” a cover of a Mott the Hoople song written by Mott member Ian Hunter.
Long tours with Ratt and a co-headlined tour with Tesla kept Great White out of the studio until 1991, when the polished Hooked appeared with two different album covers, one a provocative side shot of a mermaid hanging off an anchor in midair and one less scandalous with the mermaid still submerged. Hooked went gold, while their 1992 follow-up, Psycho City, sold less, leading to EMI saying goodbye to the band with the 1993 compilation The Best of Great White.
Sail Away from 1994 found the group on Zoo, while 1996’s Let It Rock was released by Imago. A live set of cover tunes featuring the work of their favorite band appeared as Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, released by Cleopatra in 1999. That same year, Can’t Get There from Here on the Portrait label gave fans their first taste of Russell‘s new writing partnership with longtime friend and former Night Ranger member Jack Blades. Another set of covers formed the 2002 Cleopatra album Recover, but this time the choices were surprising, with the Cult‘s “Love Removal Machine” and X‘s “Burning House of Love” getting the Great White treatment.
Forgotten by the mainstream, Great White were brought back into the limelight when pyrotechnics used by the band sparked a fire in a Rhode Island nightclub on February 20, 2003, killing 100 people, including the group’s guitarist, Ty Longley. The 2004 reissue of Recover drew some media attention, since the Horizon label had given it a new and now morbid title, Burning House of Love. Trials concerning the fire continued on into 2006 as questions about who authorized the pyrotechnics were being investigated. The band spent the rest of the year touring and playing some benefit concerts for victims of the fire. In early 2007, they began celebrating their 25th anniversary with some West Coast shows that were tied to the release of VH1 Classic Presents: Metal Mania – Stripped, Vol. 3, and in the summer they released a new studio album, Back to the Rhythm, with the original core lineup. 2009 saw the release of Rising, which would be the last Great White outing to include Russell, who elected to start up his own version of the group under the moniker Jack Russell’s Great White.
Vocalist Terry Ilous was brought in to replace Russell shortly thereafter, and he made his studio debut on 2012’s generally well-received Elation. In 2017, the band issued the aptly named Full Circle, which saw them reuniting with producer Michael Wagener (Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper), who helmed their 1984 debut. That same year, Jack Russell’s Great White released their debut album, He Saw It Comin’, which was followed by the stripped-down Once Bitten Acoustic Bytes in 2020. ~ James Christopher Monger & David Jeffries, Rovi

Starset + Red at Marquee Theatre
2022-06-08 18:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Visionary media collective STARSET have carved out a unique path as part cinematic rock band, part conceptual storytellers, weaving an intricate narrative through multimedia and redefining the concept of a truly immersive entertainment experience. Led by enigmatic front man and PhD candidate Dustin Bates, the band have made a mission to take fans on a journey through music, video, AR-integrated performances, a Marvel graphic novel, and online experiences, blurring the lines of science, fact, and fiction.

Since bursting on the scene with breakout single ‘Breathe Into Me’ and album ‘End Of Silence’ (2006), both certified gold, GRAMMY ® nominated band RED have built a career on more than music. Blending Nu-metal and Alternative hard rock with elements of classical and orchestral, the RED sound begs for a visual representation of matching scope, something the band has never failed to deliver. From cross-album narrative weaving music videos to pyrotechnic infused graphic-novel-come-to-life arena tours, the band delivers spectacle for multiple senses. The result is an intense, emotional connection with a global audience, now spanning 20+ #1 radio singles and 3M albums sold/streamed worldwide. Now fully independent, the band is partnered directly with fans to bring a series of new music, beginning with “The Evening Hate” single (June 2019) compete with and 13+ minute short film music video directed entirely by the band, and culminating with the full length album DECLARATION (April 2020).   www.thebandred.com

Fame on Fire is not a cover band.
Fame on Fire is genre-defying and pushing the boundaries of rock, hip hop, and heavy music, by unapologetically being themselves. Unpretentious, honest, and boldly brash, Fame on Fire has delivered a diverse, energetic, and emotionally-wrenching collection of songs for their debut album, LEVELS. Holding multiple meanings, LEVELS, is both about going through the motions of life, the various levels, ups and downs that all people can relate to, and about the quest to level-up and continue to progress and move forward. This dichotomy defines a band that is not willing to stand still or be complacent, but one that continuously tries to evolve their sound and craft.

LATEST NEWS; Heathens out now! THIS IS SMASH; With 6 released albums, 300+ million streams on Spotify and 150+ million views on YouTube – Smash Into Pieces have evolved into one of the fastest rising Scandinavian alternative-rock bands to this date. It all started back in 2009 when the very different but unique personalities found each-other for the first time. Benjamin “Banjo” Jennebo (guitar): Born to entertain and easy to like. Per Bergquist (guitar): The mastermind with a fetish for details. Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye (vocals): The man with titanium vocal cords. APOC (drums): Having the skills of a superhero, DJ and drummer combined, he is the leader of Smash! These 4 unique characters together creates the SmashSound that is best being described as a mix between raw rock, electro and pop. Lets call it Electro Rock! In 2020 Smash released an important concept album, the beginning of a story that is best described through a series of music videos that would reveal a world, a digital world – the world of Arcadia! In 2021 Smash Into Pieces released their sixth studio album A New Horizon and with it they closed the Arcadia story. The latest singles Deadman, Vanguard, A Shot in the Dark and Heathens marks the beginning of a new era and later this year Smash is joining forces with Within Temptation & Evanescence in Europe during the “Worlds Collide Tour”. Nothing can stop the Smash-train!

Failure at The Crescent Ballroom
2022-06-05 20:00 - 23:30 | Crescent Ballroom, 308 N 2nd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
As otherworldly as Failure may often sound, the Los Angeles band is anchored by the distinctly terrestrial union of a long friendship between three musical allies. The band hinges on the interplay between Ken Andrews [vocals, guitar, bass, programming], Greg Edwards [vocals, guitar, bass, keys], and Kellii Scott [drums, percussion]. That bond fuels an ongoing artistic conversation, and it drives their new full-length offering, Wild Type Droid.

Bauhaus at Marquee Theatre
2022-05-27 18:30 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Bauhaus are the founding fathers of goth rock, creating a minimalistic, overbearingly gloomy style of post-punk rock driven by jagged guitar chords and cold, distant synthesizers. Throughout their brief career, the band explored all the variations on their bleak musical ideas, adding elements of glam rock, experimental electronic rock, funk, and heavy metal. While their following has never expanded beyond a cult, they kept their cult alive well into the ’90s, a full decade after they disbanded.
The group formed in 1978 in Northampton, England. Guitarist/vocalist Daniel Ash, bassist/vocalist David J (born David Jay Haskins), and drummer Kevin Haskins had played together as a trio called the Craze before forming Bauhaus with vocalist Peter Murphy. Originally, the band was called Bauhaus 1919 after the German art movement; by 1979, they had dropped the 1919 from their name.
In August of 1979, the group released their debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” on the independent record label Small Wonder Records. Although it did not make the pop charts, it became the de facto goth rock anthem, staying in the U.K. independent charts for years. Three months later, the group signed with Beggars Banquet’s subsidiary label, 4AD. The group’s second single, “Dark Entries,” was released in January 1980. Following their first European tour, Bauhaus released their third single, “Terror Couple Kill Colonel,” in the summer of that year, which became a hit on the indie charts.
After touring America for the first time in September, the group released a version of T. Rex‘s “Telegram Sam.” In October, they released their debut album, In the Flat Field, which reached number one on the independent charts and number 72 on the pop charts. The success of the album led to their first hits on the pop charts; both “Kick in the Eye” and “The Passion of Lovers” made the U.K. Top 60 in 1981. In October, they released their second album, Mask, which revealed a more ambitious musical direction; the new direction, which featured elements of metal and electronic sonic textures, made the music more accessible without abandoning the dark, foreboding core of their music. Mask was a commercial success, peaking at number 30 on the U.K. charts.
In March of 1982, Bauhaus released the EP Searching for Satori, which reached number 45 on the U.K. charts; another successful single, “Spirit,” followed in the summer. That fall, the group had a number 15 hit with their version of David Bowie‘s “Ziggy Stardust.” The success of the single propelled their third album, The Sky’s Gone Out, to number four on the album charts.
Murphy contracted pneumonia at the beginning of 1983, which prevented him from participating in the recording sessions for Bauhaus’ fourth album, Burning From the Inside. Consequently, the record featured substantial contributions from Ash and J, who both pursued more personal and atmospheric directions. After Murphy recovered, the band toured Japan and then returned to the U.K. to promote the summer release of Burning From the Inside. The album was another hit, peaking at number 13. In July, Bauhaus split up.
After Bauhaus’ breakup, Murphy formed Dali’s Car with Japan‘s Mick Karn and then pursued a solo career. Ash continued with Tones on Tail, a project he began in 1981; Kevin Haskins also joined the band after Bauhaus’ split. J made some solo records and joined the Jazz Butcher briefly. Ash, Haskins, and J formed Love and Rockets in 1985 after a proposed Bauhaus reunion fell apart because Peter Murphy wasn’t interested in the project. More than a decade later, however, with the careers of both Love and Rockets and Peter Murphy at a standstill, Bauhaus re-formed for several live dates in Los Angeles, mounting a full-blown tour in 1998; the two-disc Gotham documented the reunited group’s performance at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. In 2008, the band resurfaced again with Go Away White, a studio album they promised as their last statement. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

New Kids On The Block at Footprint Center
2022-05-25 19:30 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK have sold more than 80 million albums worldwide — including back-to-back international #1 songs, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step — and a series of crossover smash R&B, pop hits like “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” “Cover Girl,” “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” “Hangin’ Tough” “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) ,” “Step by Step” and “Tonight.” The group shattered concert box office records playing an estimated 200 concerts a year, in sold out stadiums throughout the world. Following 2013’s hugely-successful Package Tour, the group performed alongside Paula Abdul and Boyz II Men on the aptly-titled TOTAL PACKAGE TOUR, which made its debut on the very same day as their latest release, Thankful. Thankful features five tracks of all-new music and the first from the group since 2013’s 10. As part of the 40+ date trek, the Boston natives made their return to Fenway Park for the first time in 5 years, since they visited the Green Monster on their acclaimed NKOTBSB Tour with the Backstreet Boys. The trek also included the group’s debut performance at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as well as additional stops in Brooklyn, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and more.

By the late ’80s, hip-hop was on its way to becoming a male-dominated art form, which is what made the emergence of Salt-n-Pepa so significant. As the first all-female rap crew (even their DJs were women) of importance, the group broke down a number of doors for women in hip-hop. They were also one of the first rap artists to cross over into the pop mainstream, laying the groundwork for the music’s widespread acceptance in the early ’90s. Salt-n-Pepa were more pop-oriented than many of their contemporaries, since their songs were primarily party and love anthems, driven by big beats and interlaced with vaguely pro-feminist lyrics that seemed more powerful when delivered by the charismatic and sexy trio. While songs like “Push It” and “Shake Your Thang” made the group appear to be a one-hit pop group during the late ’80s, Salt-n-Pepa defied expectations and became one of the few hip-hop artists to develop a long-term career. Along with LL Cool J, the trio had major hits in both the ’80s and ’90s, and, if anything, they hit the height of their popularity in 1994, when “Shoop” and “Whatta Man” drove their third album, Very Necessary, into the Top Ten.
Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandy “Pepa” Denton were working at a Sears store in Queens, New York, when their co-worker, and Salt‘s boyfriend, Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor asked the duo to rap on a song he was producing for his audio production class at New York City’s Center for Media Arts. The trio wrote an answer to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick‘s “The Show,” entitling it “The Show Stopper.” The song was released as a single under the name Super Nature in the summer of 1985, and it became an underground hit, peaking at number 46 on the national R&B charts. Based on its success, the duo, who were now named Salt-n-Pepa after a line in “The Show Stopper,” signed with the national indie label Next Plateau. Azor, who had become their manager, produced their 1986 debut Hot, Cool & Vicious, which also featured DJ Pamela Green. He also took songwriting credit for the album, despite the duo’s claims that they wrote many of its lyrics.
Three singles from Hot, Cool & Vicious — “My Mike Sounds Nice,” “Tramp,” “Chick on the Side” — became moderate hits in 1987 before Cameron Paul, a DJ at a San Francisco radio station, remixed “Push It,” the B-side of “Tramp,” and it became a local hit. “Push It” was soon released nationally and it became a massive hit, climbing to number 19 on the pop charts; the single became one of the first rap records to be nominated for a Grammy. Salt-n-Pepa jettisoned Greene and added rapper and DJ Spinderella (born Deidre “Dee Dee” Roper) before recording their second album, A Salt With a Deadly Pepa. Though the album featured the Top Ten R&B hit “Shake Your Thang,” which was recorded with the go-go band E.U., it received mixed reviews and was only a minor hit.
The remix album A Blitz of Salt-n-Pepa Hits was released in 1989 as the group prepared their third album, Blacks’ Magic. Upon its spring release, Blacks’ Magic was greeted with strong reviews and sales. The album was embraced strongly by the hip-hop community, whose more strident members accused the band of trying too hard to crossover to the pop market. “Expression” spent eight weeks at the top of the rap charts and went gold before it was even cracked the pop charts, where it would later peak at 26. Another single from the album, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” became their biggest pop hit to date, climbing to number 13. They later re-recorded the song as a safe-sex rap, “Let’s Talk About AIDS.”
Before they recorded their fourth album, Salt-n-Pepa separated from Azor, who had already stopped seeing Salt several years ago. Signing with London/Polygram, the group released Very Necessary in 1993. The album was catchy and sexy without being a sellout, and the group’s new, sophisticated sound quickly became a monster hit. “Shoop” reached number four on the pop charts, which led the album to the same position as well. “Whatta Man,” a duet with the vocal group En Vogue, reached number three on both the pop and R&B charts in 1994. A final single from the album, “None of Your Business,” was a lesser hit, but it won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 1995. Since the release of Very Necessary, Salt-n-Pepa have been quiet, spending some time on beginning acting careers. Both had already appeared in the 1993 comedy Who’s the Man? ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

When En Vogue debuted to dazzling, chart-topping effect in 1990, the vocal R&B group attracted comparisons to the Supremes, even though Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, and Dawn Robinson shared lead vocals and intentionally designated no particular singer the group’s Diana Ross. The quartet had more in common with fellow Oakland natives the Pointer Sisters, as they drew from all eras of R&B with convincing stylistic diversions and a knack for recalling the past and sounding current at once. After three consecutive platinum albums and six Top Ten pop hits during the ’90s alone, En Vogue had set a standard by which all subsequent female vocal groups were judged. Lineup changes, lawsuits, and infrequent recordings during the ensuing decades did not diminish the impact of their impeccable harmonies.
En Vogue were conceived and put together by producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, former members of Club Nouveau. Foster and McElroy wanted a vocal group who could exude sultriness and intelligence in addition to technical proficiency, and as producers, they wanted material that would fuse R&B and girl group traditions with contemporary new jack swing rhythms. The two held auditions and settled on a membership of Herron (a former Miss Black California), Jones, and Robinson. Ellis auditioned later and made the group a quartet. Originally called 4-U, they first appeared on Foster and McElroy’s 1989 album FM2 as Vogue, and then switched to En Vogue after learning of another group with the same name.
Born to Sing, En Vogue’s debut album, appeared in 1990 and was the source of four major hit singles. “Hold On,” “Lies,” and “You Don’t Have to Worry” all topped the Billboard R&B chart, while “Don’t Go” reached number three. “Hold On” also crossed over and narrowly missed the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The parent release was eventually certified platinum. In between albums, Herron appeared in the film Juice. When En Vogue returned in 1992 with Funky Divas, critical and commercial response was overwhelming. The album’s wide array of styles, from pop and R&B to rap, rock, and reggae, was lauded in print. “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” “Giving Him Something He Can Feel” (written by Curtis Mayfield and originally performed by Aretha Franklin), and “Free Your Mind” (the chorus of which quoted George Clinton) all went Top Ten pop, sending the album to multi-platinum status. En Vogue were in the Top Ten again in 1993, backing Salt-N-Pepa on their hit “Whatta Man.”
The group’s third album took a few more years to materialize. In the meantime, they took part in the recording of “Freedom” for the Panther soundtrack and appeared in Batman Forever. Ellis released the solo album Southern Gal. “Don’t Let Go (Love),” a song they contributed to the Set It Off soundtrack, became a number two single in early 1997. That June, the group released EV3, titled in reference to its place in their discography and the absence of Robinson, who left during the album sessions and went on to join Lucy Pearl. Like Funky Divas, EV3 peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200. “Whatever” and “Too Long, Too Gone” gave them their tenth and 11th Top 40 pop hits. The Best of En Vogue closed out the decade in 1999.
Album four, Masterpiece Theater, was released in 2000. Only one single, “Riddle,” was out before the plug was pulled on its promotion. En Vogue were informed after an interview that they had been dropped by their label. Jones departed to take care of her family and was replaced in 2001 by Amanda Cole. Another anthology, The Very Best of En Vogue, was out by the end of the year. In 2002, En Vogue returned with a contribution to the Deliver Us from Eva soundtrack and their first Christmas album, The Gift of Christmas, released quietly on an independent label. Cole left the group in the middle of 2003 for a solo career. That September, the group reappeared for a small European tour with Jones temporarily in place of Herron (who had just given birth) and Rhona Bennett as a new member. Bennett, Ellis, and Herron released Soul Flower in 2004. The next several years were marked by numerous lineup changes, false starts, occasional performances, and legal battles over contractual obligations and the group’s name. The lineup that made Soul Flower returned in 2018 with Electric Café. Foster and McElroy, Raphael Saadiq, and Ne-Yo were among the collaborators. ~ Andy Kellman & Steve Huey, Rovi

It’s one of contemporary music’s most unlikely tales. At the age of 21, Rick Astley emerged from the shadows of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman production house as their former tea boy became one of the biggest stars on the planet. His era-defining classic ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ topped charts the world over and catapulted the young Lancastrian on a journey that would encompass 8 consecutive UK Top 10 hits and 40 million sales.
In 2016, Rick celebrated his half-century by releasing ‘50’ – an album title that put a cheeky, middle-aged twist on Adele’s ‘19’, ‘21’ and ‘25’. Having written and produced the album as well as playing all of the instruments himself, suddenly it was like he’d never been away. It raced to the top of the charts and began a seven-week run in the Top 10. In the months that followed, he sold 400,000 albums and 100,000 tickets to his headline shows.
He cemented that comeback with 2018’s ‘Beautiful Life’. It was an emotionally-charged collection with songs that celebrated his love for his wife, his daughter and music as a whole. His commitment was rewarded with a #6 chart position – his fifth Top 10 album.
Now Rick celebrates his extraordinary story with the release of the new career-spanning compilation ‘The Best of Me’. It charts that initial run of hits alongside recent fan favourites such as ‘Keep Singing’, ‘Angels On My Side’ and ‘Beautiful Life’. It also digs into some deep cuts too, such as ‘Lights Out’ from 2010.

98KUPD Presents UFEST 2022
2022-04-24 14:30 - 23:30 | Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, 2121 N 83rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85035, United States
If ever there was a perfect time for a new album from the outspoken, socially-conscious, multi-Gold and Platinum punk rock band Rise Against, it’s right now. Nowhere Generation, due out June 4 on Loma Vista Recordings, is blazing and aggressive, fusing old-school punk attitude with post-hardcore fury. Lyrically, the eleven songs were influenced by input from the band’s vocalist/lyricist Tim McIlrath’s two young daughters, and the band’s community of fans, and point an enormous spotlight at the social and economic deck that has been stacked against younger generation’s pursuit of The American Dream. Today, there is the promise of The American Dream, and then there is the reality of The American Dream. America’s “historical norm” that “the next generation will be better off than the one that came before” has been diminished by an era of mass social, economic, and political instability, and a sell-out of the Middle Class. The brass ring that was promised by hard work and dedication no longer exists for everyone, and as was the case with the counterculture of the 1960s, disruption becomes the only answer for the Nowhere Generation. Nowhere Generation was recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO under the tutelage of Jason Livermore, Andrew Berlin, Chris Beeble and long-time producer/engineer Bill Stevenson who has worked with the band on nearly all of their acclaimed releases since their sophomore effort, 2003’s Revolutions Per Minute.

It’s been over two years since Coheed and Cambria’s 2015 album, The Color Before the Sun, was released as the band’s first “non-concept” album over the span of their 15-year career. The album left the sci-fi universe of “The Amory Wars” and instead focused on frontman Claudio Sanchez’s personal life, including the birth of his first child. With 2018 upon us, and a major summer tour now announced, the volume of fans’ chatter for a new album and whether or not it will return to the band’s fictional concept arc will surely reach new heights.
Coheed and Cambria is a rare band whose music is able to transcend “scenes” and effortlessly cross genres of rock – from indie to progressive, to metal and pop-punk to classic rock. The band is frequently compared to progressive, operatic rock bands of the ‘70s, ala Queen, Supertramp or Rush due to their thrilling concept albums that take you on a grand journey of sounds and often clock-in around 10 mins, but still somehow include sugary pop-laden hooks.
The group’s following has grown steadily every album, partly due to their ferocious live show that brings fans to their knees with an equally expansive light show. This summer, the band will be performing songs from their expansive catalog, and we can only imagine they’ll pull a few new tricks from up their sleeves.

Few bands have endured with as much demonstrably California-encompassing vibrancy as the Hermosa Beach, CA institution that is Pennywise. They reign unchallenged, outside the margins of the mainstream, a staple on the SoCal radio airwaves and worldwide festival circuit revered and championed by generations of fans filling theaters and clubs.
Pennywise possess the power to merge the subversive with the celebratory. Each Pennywise record is chock full of fast-paced anthems expertly engineered to inspire radical change, personal empowerment, relentless hijinks, and reckless fast times. On paper it may read like a mess of contradictions, but on record, it sounds like California.
At this point, three decades since the band’s DIY beginnings, Pennywise classics like “Same Old Story,” “Fuck Authority,” “Alien,” “Homesick,” and “Bro Hymn” are as fundamental to punk rock and hardcore as stage dives and guitars.
The defiantly titled Never Gonna Die is the first full album of brand new songs with singer Jim Lindberg, guitarist Fletcher Dragge, drummer Byron McMackin, and bassist Randy Bradbury in over ten years. It’s as timely as it is timeless, charging head first into the chaos of the current climate of the world with the tried-and-true determined sound the Pennywise faithful demand. Never Gonna Die was forged in the same space where the band penned classic songs with late bassist Jason Thirsk and produced once again by rock producer and close collaborator Cameron Webb.

A muscular, hard-hitting power rock outfit in the vein of Queens of the Stone Age, Band of Skulls, and Royal Blood, Brooklyn’s Highly Suspect rode a series of indie EPs and years of touring to a pair of Grammy nominations for their 2015 debut. A year later, their follow-up delivered another hit in the Grammy-nominated single “My Name Is Human,” setting high expectations for their third outing, 2019’s genre-hopping MCID.
The band formed in Cape Cod in 2009 around the talents of Johnny Stevens (guitar, vocals, synths) and twin siblings Ryan (drums, vocals) and Rich (bass, vocals) Meyer. After working regionally as a cover band, they relocated to Brooklyn and began recording original material, resulting in a pair of EPs, First Offense (2009) and The Gang Lion (2010). They continued to establish themselves with one more EP, The Worst Humans, in 2012 before heading into the studio with producer Joel Hamilton (Black Keys, Elvis Costello) to record their debut long-player. The resulting Mister Asylum, which featured the fiery single “Lydia,” was released via 300 Entertainment in 2015. Their debut received critical praise and two unexpected Grammy nominations, leading to an extensive supporting tour. Off the road by early 2016, they immediately returned to the studio to record a second full-length, The Boy Who Died Wolf, which saw release in November of that year. The album’s lead single, “My Name Is Human,” topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and earned Highly Suspect another Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song. As early as November 2018, they began teasing information about their next album which they later revealed would be called MCID. A pair of singles, “Upperdrugs” and “16,” were released in August of that year, with the eclectic, hip-hop-infused MCID, which featured guest spots from Young Thug, Gojira, Tee Grizzley, and Nothing But Thieves‘ Conor Mason, arriving in November 2019. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Emerging from Southern California during the rap-metal explosion around the turn of the century, Atreyu crafted a hardcore sound much closer to Agnostic Front or Hatebreed. Their warped, detuned guitars were matched by pounding drums and acidic vocals, which gave the material a distinct metalcore edge. Originally operating under the moniker Retribution, the band eventually changed their name to Atreyu, after a character from the Michael Ende-penned fantasy book The Neverending Story, and released their debut album, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses, in 2002 on Victory Records. They continued to refine their punitive but melodic post-hardcore sound on career best-of offerings like Lead Sails Paper Anchor (2007) and Congregation of the Damned (2009), before going on hiatus in 2011. They reconvened four years later and released their sixth studio effort, Long Live, with In Our Wake following in 2018. After a change in vocalists, the band reintroduced themselves with 2021’s Baptize.
The quintet was formed in Orange County by Brandon Saller (drums/vocals), Dan Jacobs (guitar), Chris Thomson (bass), Travis Miguel (guitar), and Alex Varkatzas (vocals). Atreyu released various demos, including the seven-song EP Visions, in the late ’90s before commercially debuting with the Fractures in the Facade of Your Porcelain Beauty EP on Tribunal in late 2001; the full-length Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses appeared the next year on Victory. Touring almost nonstop in support of the record, the group faced lineup changes as bassist Marc McKnight replaced Thomson before the recording of their follow-up. Atreyu’s second full-length, The Curse, surfaced in June 2004 and went on to sell over 300,000 copies; it was re-released with an accompanying DVD a year later. The band hit the road hard, playing 2004’s Ozzfest and 2005’s Warped Tour, in addition to headlining their own successful world tour. They contributed a track to 2006’s soundtrack to Underworld: Evolution and were near the top of the billing for the year’s Taste of Chaos tour alongside the Deftones and Thrice. Their next effort, A Death Grip on Yesterday, was issued in late March 2006 and hit number nine on the Billboard charts. Following a summer spent headlining the second stage at the year’s Ozzfest, Atreyu jumped into the major-label waters over at Hollywood Records, leaving an early 2007 best-of collection as their Victory farewell. Their Hollywood debut, Lead Sails Paper Anchor, followed later in the year. In 2008 the album was re-released with bonus materials, including a concert film. Atreyu didn’t waste any time, and in late 2009 they released their fifth studio album, the critically acclaimed Congregation of the Damned. The album would be their last for some time, as the band went on hiatus the following year to focus on family matters and various other musical pursuits. They reconvened in 2015 with the Destroy/Spinefarm Records-issued Long Live, which featured 12 new hard-hitting tracks, including the blistering title cut and first single. In September 2018, the band issued a trio of singles ahead of the release of their eighth studio long-player, In Our Wake, which arrived later that October. Once promotion for that album concluded, the band hit the road to celebrate two decades on the scene.
In 2020, Atreyu announced the departure of founding vocalist Varkatzas. Brandon Saller stepped up to take on clean vocals while McKnight handled the dirty. They also recruited drummer Kyle Rosa. The new unit issued “Save Us” later that year; the track would appear on their eighth set, 2021’s Baptize. The single “Warrior” with Travis Barker was also featured on the album. ~ Bradley Torreano, Rovi

DED has been turning heads as one of rock’s most promising newcomers since the release of their 2017 debut album Mis-An-Thrope.Originating from Phoenix, AZ, DED embodies elements of rock, alternative and metal, with pop melodies, hooks and choruses, cloaked in some of the densest, most histrionic, headbanging music on the planet. But when you dig beneath the aggressive surface, DED’s unexpectedly soulful music is about bringing hope, relief and self-awareness of the things we consume and the way we act so that we can strive to be the best we can be for ourselves and others. Helmed by powerhouse rock producer Kevin Churko (Five Finger Death Punch, Ozzy Osbourne, Disturbed), the new music takes on the fury of their debut and deepens the emotions with a compassion for humanity and a thought-provoking consciousness. DED is building a community by offering comfort in times of despair, positivity by exposing negativity, and clarity through suffering. DED, who are quickly becoming one of rock’s most exciting torchbearers, blaze their own trail as they cathartically stare down various beasts – both existential and innate – proving that there’s a way to live through the struggle and come out stronger, happier, and more aware of how we look after ourselves and each other.

PLUSH is composed of four talented women, under 21, whose accomplishments and talent eclipse their age. This female rock force is fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Moriah Formica. Drummer Brooke Colucci, guitarist Bella Perron and bassist Ashley Suppa round out the lineup. The mission of PLUSH is to bring the heart of rock back to the mainstream with a new fresh spin on the sounds you already love. PLUSH hopes to inspire young women everywhere to follow their dreams, regardless of whatever challenges may lie in the way.

Dropout Kings are a generational evolution of rap infused rock bands such as Linkin Park, fusing together heavy metal sounds with the progressive rhythms of hip hop and trap music. Dubbing it as ‘Trap Metal’, DOK prides themselves on pioneering and molding the genre, crafting unique soundscapes that feel familiar yet fresh and innovative. Songs like ‘Scratch & Claw’ feature impactful and introspective rap lyrics and haunting yet passionate vocals over polished, metal inspired, instrumentation, while ‘Going Rogue’ pushes the creative threshold of what a band can excel to be. Dropout Kings, formed in 2016, have already garnered millions of streams from their debut album, AudioDope, which was released August 10th, 2018 through Napalm Records. The group signed to the label before they even performed their first concert, confirming the band’s raw talent and creative fortitude. AudioDope went on to receive rave reviews, being herald for it’s refreshing yet nostalgic sound while blurring the lines between rock and hip hop. In 2019, Dropout Kings signed to Stay Sick Recordings and released the GlitchGang EP. In 2021, DOK signed with Suburban Noize Records and re-released the GlitchGang EP, only further cementing them as a force to be reckoned with. Dropout Kings are on a quest to make the world hear their story.  (US) ashley@mac.agency (EUR) thorsten.harm@napalm-events.com (MGMT) larry@regimemusicgroup.com

All That Remains & Miss May I at Encore
2022-04-22 18:30 - 23:30 | Encore, 5851 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson, AZ, 85713, United States
Formed by guitarist Oli Herbert and ex-Shadows Fall vocalist Phil Labonte in 1998, Massachusetts’ All That Remains debuted in 2002 with Behind Silence and Solitude on Metal Blade. Rounded out by drummer Michael Bartlett, guitarist Chris Bartlett, and bassist Danny Egan, the record first showcased the band’s blistering and heavy take on melodically infused hardcore death metal. All That Remains went through some lineup changes, and guitarist Mike Martin was added for their 2004 breakthrough on Prosthetic Records, This Darkened Heart. Produced by Killswitch Engage‘s Adam Dutkiewicz and released to rave reviews, the record landed All That Remains on various shows and tours with the likes of GWAR, the Crown, Arch Enemy, Darkest Hour, and more. They continued touring nonstop behind Heart, taking a break only in late 2005 to begin writing new material for their third full-length. Working again with Dutkiewicz and Prosthetic, the band recorded The Fall of Ideals, which appeared in July 2006. By this time, the group comprised Labonte, Herbert, Martin, drummer Shannon Lucas, and bassist Jeanne Sagan. All That Remains hit the road once again, spending time on the European leg of the Sounds of the Underground tour and that summer’s Ozzfest; nationwide headlining dates were completed that fall.
Overcome followed in 2008, and included two singles (“Chiron,” “Two Weeks”) that also appeared in the video game franchise Rock Band. Their fifth album, For We Are Many, was produced by Dutkiewicz and appeared in 2010. The album shot to the tenth spot on the Billboard 200 while the band set out on tour with Hatebreed and Five Finger Death Punch. All That Remains’ eclectic sixth album, A War You Cannot Win, arrived in 2012; it was almost, though not quite, as successful as its predecessor, going to number 13 on the Billboard chart. It was three years before the band dropped another record. For 2015’s The Order of Things, produced by Josh Wilbur, they upped the ante, making it faster, heavier, and more melodic than ever before. The album was preceded by the brutal single “No Knock.” In 2017, All That Remains issued their eighth studio long-player, the Howard Benson-produced Madness, via Razor & Tie. Channeling the sonic heft of 2010’s For We Are Many, the band issued the punishing Victim of the New Disease in 2018, this time via Fearless Records. ~ Corey Apar, Rovi

The sound and fury of MISS MAY I is deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of a legion of fans. These are people from different backgrounds, of different ages, with diverse life experience, who all come together and connect with MISS MAY I’s combination of brutal proficiency and impassioned delivery. The five-piece powerhouse, from the fertile metalcore grounds of America’s heartland, have become an integral part of the worldwide heavy music community, transcending boundaries and limitations, galvanizing crowds, and energizing each person they encounter.
Miss May I celebrates a decade of savage metalcore and soaring melodic refrains, newly revitalized, and poised for an insurgent career renaissance; armed with unmistakable power, road hardened experience, a steadily building catalog, and unrelenting spirit, supported by a diehard community.

The Hu & The Haunt at The Van Buren
2022-04-21 20:00 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Founded in 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, The HU, comprised of producer Dashka along with members Gala, Jaya, Temka, and Enkush, are a modern rock group rooted in the tradition of their homeland. The band’s name translates to the Mongolian root word for human being, and their unique approach blends instruments like the Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle), Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), Tumur Khuur (jaw harp) and throat singing with contemporary sounds, creating a unique sonic profile that they call Hunnu Rock. Their debut album, The Gereg, debuted at #1 on the World Album and Top New Artist Charts. They have accumulated over 250 million combined streams and video views and have received critical acclaim from the likes of Billboard, NPR, Revolver, Vice, GQ, and even Sir Elton John himself. Proving their global appeal, the HU have sold out venues across the world in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, with scheduled festival appearances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Download Festival, and more, creating a community of fans from all walks of life. They’ve quickly grabbed the attention of the industry, leading to collaborations with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, and Metallica, who most recently gave the band’s Mongolian rendition of their hit, “Sad But True,” the official seal of approval. The band has also explored eclectic ways to reach audiences with their sound, most notably writing and recording music for EA Games’ Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The Haunt conjures a wild, youthful and stylish indifference that reflects an era when rock n’ roll was ‘by and for’ the beautiful outcasts. Led by siblings Anastasia (18) & Maxamillion (22), the group creates a strong bond with fans through their live shows and online, by encouraging confidence and authenticity.   Their Alt-Rock-Pop sound elicits a feeling of both classic and contemporary rock/pop icons who have influenced their music, and denies any claim to chasing trends.   The band released their self-titled debut EP in 2018, produced by Josh Diaz, and Maxamillion Haunt. After touring with Palaye Royale throughout late 2018 and early 2019, the band spent time recording their sophomore EP “Social Intercourse” produced by Matt Good.   “MAKE ME KING” the first single off of the band’s debut full-length album, out now!!!

Behemoth & Arch Enemy at Marquee Theatre
2022-04-16 17:30 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
“It doesn’t get more blasphemous than this.”
That’s Behemoth mastermind Nergal talking about the title of the band’s 11th and latest album, I Loved You At Your Darkest. While it certainly seems an unlikely title for a black metal band—especially one that called their last album The Satanist—its origin might surprise you even more than the words themselves. “It’s a verse from the Bible,” Nergal reveals. “It’s actually a quote from Jesus Christ himself. For Behemoth to use it as the basis of our record, it’s sacrilege to the extreme.”
Nergal and his bandmates—Orion (bass) and Inferno (drums)—have channeled that passion into I Loved You At Your Darkest. A crushing salvo of black metal majesty replete with hellish riffs, thundering drum cannonades and soaring liturgical choirs reminiscent of classic horror cinema, the album is also bejeweled with nimble-fingered rock guitar solos on songs like “God=Dog,” “Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica” and “Sabbath Mater.”

Time passes, the world changes, but some things remain constant and unassailable. Heavy metal has endured for more than four decades because its spirit is eternal, and few bands embody the intensity, integrity and lofty artistic ambitions of the genre with more dazzling aplomb than Arch Enemy. Formed in Sweden in the mid-90s by former Carcass/Carnage guitarist Michael Amott, this most explosive and proficient of modern metal bands have spent the last 20 years propagating an unerring creed of technical excellence, songwriting genius and thunderous, irresistible live performance, accruing a huge global fan base along the way.

When Arch Enemy released their debut album Black Earth in 1996, death metal was stagnating and in desperate need of a kick up the ass. Amott’s blueprint for the purest of metal strains proved an instant underground hit, both in Europe and Japan, and almost single-handedly resurrected death metal as a viable art form with mainstream potential. Signed to Century Media Records for 1998’s sophomore effort Stigmata, Arch Enemy marched purposefully towards a new millennium with a rapidly growing reputation. 1999’s Burning Bridges added to the band’s momentum, their razor-sharp blend of brutality and epic melody becoming more refined with each creative step. But it was in 2001, when original vocalist Johan Liiva stood aside and mercurial frontwoman Angela Gossow stepped in, that Arch Enemy truly took off.
Released in 2001 in Japan and nearly a year later in Europe, Wages Of Sin showcased a revitalised line-up and newfound gift for immortal anthems, Gossow’s feral roar adding many layers of charisma and power to Arch Enemy’s already monstrous sound. Swiftly dedicating themselves to a relentless touring schedule, the band’s upward trajectory continued throughout the first decade of the 21st century, with each successive album enhancing the band’s reputation and bringing legions of new fans to this resolute heavy metal campaign.

Hi Napalm heads ! Shane bouncing in here late Sunday night ! 49 mins left before we face another Monday Morning .. i am gonna chip in frequently now on this Spotify page as regular as i can with new playlists – Stuff i or members of Napalm are into musically – and playlists of stuff we are liking – bands that have influenced etc !! meanwhile check out the latest @Venomous Concept album Politics Versus the Erection.. cheers and good night

Apocalyptica & Lacuna Coil at The Van Buren
2022-04-15 20:00 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
“Cell-0 represents the core of everything. For us it is a particle that symbolizes the essence of all. That is to say, where everything comes from and where everything ends up…” Apocalyptica are true explorers, always seeking new frontiers and uncharted territories in which to express themselves. With Cell-0, their 9th studio album, the ambitious and electric quartet have not simply returned to their non-vocal roots, they have traveled deeper and further into the universe of instrumental music than ever before. That first love and passion which fueled Apocalyptica to form during 1993 in Helsinki now carries richer layers of knowledge and experience, which in turn have led to the band to a fundamental realization and creative path.

Formed in 1994, Lacuna Coil quickly became one of Century Media’s biggest selling bands. From Comalies (2002) and Karmacode (2004) to Shallow Life (2009) and Broken Crown Halo (2014), the high-flying Italian act demonstrated an uncanny ability to pull in rock, gothic, and metal audiences. The band’s spirited and lauded live performances have also earned them a solid reputation for a band that not only delivers night in/night out, but also a band whose stage performance reverberates long after the show is over. Indeed, Lacuna Coil’s heartfelt, heavy, melodic, and rhythmic metal—a hybrid of gothic, groove, and alternative—has created a rabid worldwide following. Whether it’s “Our Truth” and “Delirium” or “Nothing Stands in Our Way” and “Trip the Darkness,” Lacuna Coil’s dual-vocalist assault is immediately identifiable. New album, Black Anima, continues the Italian’s reign atop the metal stack. BLACK ANIMA line up Cristina Scabbia – Vocals Andrea Ferro – Vocals Marco ‘Maki’ Coti Zelati – Bass Guitar, Keys & Synth Diego ‘DD’ Cavallotti – Guitars Richard Meiz – Drums

Poppy - Never Find My Place Tour at Marquee Theatre
2022-04-13 20:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Runeterra has no shortage of valiant champions, but few are as tenacious as Poppy. Bearing a hammer twice the length of her body, this determined yordle has spent untold years searching for the “Hero of Demacia,” a fabled warrior said to be the rightful wielder of her weapon.
As legend describes it, this hero is the only person who can unlock the full power of the hammer and lead Demacia to true greatness. Though Poppy has searched the furthest corners of the kingdom for this legendary fighter, her quest has proven fruitless. Each time she has attempted to pass the hammer on to a potential hero, the results have been disastrous, often ending in the warrior’s death. Most people would have abandoned the task long ago, but most people do not possess the pluck and resolve of this indomitable heroine.
Poppy was once a very different yordle. For as long as she could remember, she had been in search of a purpose. Feeling alienated by the chaotic whimsy of other yordles, she preferred to soak up stability and structure where she could find it. This drive brought her to the human settlements of western Valoran, where she gazed in wonder at the caravans striping the countryside in an endless file. Many of the people there looked tattered and weary, but they stumbled on in pursuit of some ephemeral better life that might lie just beyond the horizon.
One day, however, a different sort of caravan passed through. Unlike the other travelers, these people seemed to move with purpose. They all awoke at the exact same time each morning, roused by the sound of a watchman’s horn. They took their meals together every day at the same hour, always finishing within a few minutes. They set up their camps and took them down with remarkable efficiency.
While yordles used their innate magic to fashion extraordinary things, these humans achieved equally astounding feats through coordination and discipline. They acted in concert like the cogs of a gear, becoming something much larger and stronger than any single person could ever be. To Poppy, that was more marvelous than all the magic in the world.
As Poppy watched the camp from the safety of her hiding place, her eyes caught the gleam of armor emerging from a tent. It was the group’s commanding officer, wearing a brigandine of gleaming steel plates, each piece overlapping, each an integral part of the whole. The man’s name was Orlon, and his presence seemed to stir the souls of everyone there. If someone became discouraged, he was there to remind them of why they pressed on. If someone collapsed from exhaustion, he inspired them to get up. It reminded Poppy of certain yordle charms, though again, without magic.
Poppy crept in for a closer look. She found herself following this shining commander, as if drawn to him by fate itself. She observed Orlon as he led his soldiers in training exercises. He was not a large fellow, yet he swung his massive battle hammer with surprising alacrity. At night, Poppy listened intently to his hushed discussions with the elders of the camp. She heard them making plans to pull up stakes and head west to build a permanent settlement.
Poppy’s mind was overwhelmed with questions. Where was Orlon going? Where did he come from? How did he assemble this meticulous band of travelers, and was there a place for a yordle in it? At that moment, she made the most important decision in her life: For the first time ever, she would reveal herself to a human, as this was the first time she’d ever felt a connection with one.
The introduction was a jarring one, with Orlon having just as many questions for Poppy as she had for him, but the two soon became inseparable. He became a mentor to her, and she a devotee to his cause. In the training grounds, Poppy was an invaluable sparring partner–the only member of Orlon’s battalion who was unafraid to strike him. She was never obsequious, questioning his decisions with an almost childlike innocence, as though she didn’t know she was supposed to meekly follow orders. She accompanied him to the site of the new settlement–an ambitious new nation called Demacia, where all were welcome, regardless of station or background, so long as they contributed to the good of the whole.
Orlon became a beloved figure throughout the kingdom. Though few had actually seen him wield his hammer, he always bore it on his back, and the weapon quickly became a revered icon for the fledgling nation. People whispered that it had the power to level mountains and tear the earth itself asunder.
Orlon passed the hammer to Poppy on his deathbed, and with it, his hope of an enduring kingdom. It was only then that Orlon told her the story of his weapon’s creation, and how it was never truly intended for his hands. He explained to Poppy that the hammer was meant to go to the Hero of Demacia–the only one who could keep Demacia whole. As her friend drew his last breath, Poppy swore to him that she would find this hero and place the weapon in his hands.
But what Poppy possesses in resolve, she lacks in ego, as it never even occurred to her that she might be the hero Orlon described.

Ministry with Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity at The Van Buren
2022-04-12 19:00 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Born in 1981 in Chicago, Ministry has been the lifetime passion project of founder Al Jourgensen, considered to be the pioneer of industrial music. In its early days, Ministry was identifiable by its heavy synth-pop material in line with the new sounds and technology that were being developed in the ‘80s. Ministry’s output began with four 12” singles on Wax Trax! Records in 1981 before the first LP With Sympathy in 1983 via Arista Records. As time progressed however, so did Ministry, quickly developing a harsher, and more stylized sound that the band soon became infamous for on seminal albums Twitch (1986), The Land of Rape and Honey (1988), and The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989). With the release of Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and The Way to Suck Eggs (1992), Ministry hit an all time high in the mainstream musical realm and received its first Grammy nomination. In total, Ministry has been nominated for a Grammy award six times. After an indefinite hiatus in 2013, Ministry’s 2018 album, AmeriKKKant, continued to reflect Jourgensen’s views on the frightening state of society and politics. Ministry’s newest album MORAL HYGIENE is set to be released on October 1st, 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The Melvins weren’t the first band to acknowledge the heavy metal influences that most left-of-center bands had been trying to shake off since punk rock broke in 1977 (that honor would go to Black Flag on their polarizing 1984 album My War). But no other band to emerge from the punk/alternative underground would mine Black Sabbath‘s slow, monolithic roar with greater effect than the Melvins, and they would prove to be wildly influential despite barely breaking out of cult status. The drop-D tunings and brontosaurus stomp of grunge icons such as Tad, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden would be unthinkable without the trails the Melvins blazed, and Kurt Cobain often sang their praises, helping them land their first major-label recording deal in 1993. They became a bridge between the edges of the punk and metal communities, who would find greater common ground from the ’90s onward. (Their debut EP, 1986’s 6 Songs, found them wavering between speedier punk-oriented numbers and full-on heaviness, but by 1991’s Bullhead, the Melvins’ trademark gargantuan sound was firmly in place.) And while the Melvins were as recognizable as any band of their day, they also proved to be more creatively flexible than nearly all their peers, willing to experiment with different styles (the massive suite on 1992’s Melvins [aka Lysol], the ambitious studio experimentation of 1996’s Stag, the noisy soundscapes in 2017’s A Walk with Love and Death) and a variety of musical configurations (bringing in multiple guest vocalists on 2000’s The Crybaby, using two drummers on 2006’s A Senile Animal, working with a rotating team of bassists on 2016’s Basses Loaded, recording with two bassists at once on 2018’s Pinkus Abortion Technician, and recording an epic-scale acoustic set for 2021’s Five Legged Dog), all of which helped the band remain productive and prolific more than three decades after they launched.
The band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, the same town that produced Nirvana‘s Cobain and Krist Novoselic. For Nirvana and many other Seattle-area bands, the Melvins’ sludge was inspirational; the younger bands took the Sabbath-styled heaviness of the Melvins and added an equally important pop song structure, which the group tended to lack. While all of their disciples became famous after Nirvana broke big in 1991 (including Mudhoney, which featured former Melvins bassist Matt Lukin), the Melvins only expanded their cult slightly. They did earn a major-label contract with Atlantic, but after releasing three records for the label, they were dropped in late 1996 and the group returned to indie status, landing with Amphetamine Reptile for 1998’s Alive at the F*cker Club. The late ’90s and early 2000s saw a flurry of releases by the band: The Maggot, The Bootlicker, The Crybaby, Electroretard, The Colossus of Destiny, Hostile Ambient Takeover, Pigs of the Roman Empire, and Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust, all of which (except for the fourth one) were issued on Mike Patton‘s Ipecac label.
In addition to their Melvins activities, singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne joined Patton (and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn) for the experimental outfit Fantômas, resulting in a number of releases (1999’s self-titled debut, 2001’s The Director’s Cut, 2002’s Millennium Monsterwork by “the Fantômas Melvins Big Band” (recorded live in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve 2000 but not released until two years later), 2004’s Delirium Cordia, and 2005’s Suspended Animation), while the Melvins’ latest bassist, Kevin Rutmanis, joined Patton in another side project, Tomahawk. In 2006, Big Business bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis joined the Melvins, appearing on that year’s Senile Animal album. The follow-ups, 2008’s Nude with Boots, 2010’s The Bride Screamed Murder, and a live album titled Sugar Daddy Live, were recorded with the same lineup and released by Ipecac.
The band returned in 2012 with a stripped-down lineup, dubbed Melvins Lite, for Freak Puke, which found Crover and Osborne recording without the boys from Big Business and instead adding standup bassist Dunn to their roster to round out the band’s already formidable bottom-end sound. Mixing things up even further, the band invited a host of guests, including the likes of Jello Biafra and J.G. Thirlwell, for Everybody Loves Sausages, an album of covers that arrived in 2013. Another new album, Tres Cabrones, released in November of that same year, saw them reunited with original drummer Mike Dillard — who had previously appeared only on their early demo tapes — while usual drummer Dale Crover took over on bass duties. Another odd combination occurred in 2014, as Crover and Osborne joined the Butthole Surfers‘ Jeff “J.D.” Pinkus and Paul Leary on the eclectic Hold It In.
Two unusual releases from the Melvins arrived in 2016. An album the group began recording in 1999 with Mike Kunka of Godheadsilo was finally completed and released as Three Men and a Baby, credited to Mike & the Melvins. And in the middle of 2016 they issued Basses Loaded, where the group recruited a handful of favorite bass players to collaborate on songs. The guest artists included Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, Steve McDonald of Redd Kross and OFF!, J.D. Pinkus, Trevor Dunn, and Jared Warren. One of the few things the Melvins hadn’t done was release a double album, but they were finally able to cross that off their list in 2017 with A Walk with Love and Death. The 23-track release included material written and recorded as the score to a film by Jesse Nieminen. In 2018, the Melvins broke ground with a lineup featuring two bassists on the album Pinkus Abortion Technician. The sessions found J.D. Pinkus (returning from his previous appearances on Hold It In and Basses Loaded) handling the bottom end along with Steve McDonald (also heard on Basses Loaded), while King Buzzo and Dale Crover took their usual places on guitar and drums. The band reunited several times with first drummer Dillard, releasing several EP-length or stand-alone recordings under the sub-moniker Melvins 1983. In 2021, this formation of the band released a full-length titled Working with God. With touring off the table during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hard-working Melvins played a series of live streamed concerts under the banner Melvins TV, and set to work on an unusual project. Five Legged Dog, released in October 2021 and featuring the Osborne/ Crover/McDonald lineup, was the group’s first all-acoustic album, running nearly two-and-a-half hours, and featuring new interpretations of songs spanning their recording career, as well as covers of songs that influenced them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, Rovi

One of the first punk-metal fusion bands, Corrosion of Conformity were formed in North Carolina by guitarist Woody Weatherman during the early ’80s. In their early years, C.O.C. became known for their aggressive sound, intelligent political lyrics, and willingness to break away from both hardcore and metal conventions. In the ’90s, their shift to a more stripped-down, deliberate sound — sort of Black Sabbath filtered through the Deep South — brought them enough in line with the alt-metal Zeitgeist to bring them a measure of mainstream popularity.
C.O.C. debuted in 1983 with the thrashy, Black Flag-influenced Eye for an Eye, featuring a lineup of Weatherman, drummer Reed Mullin, vocalist Eric Eycke, and bassist Mike Dean. They began to build up a cult following with 1985’s Animosity, but their label at the time, Death, grew tired of their internal instability — lineup changes found Eycke replaced by vocalist Simon Bob — and dropped them following 1987’s Technocracy. It took several years for a new lineup to come together — featuring Weatherman, guitarist Pepper Keenan, Mullin, vocalist Karl Agell, and bassist Phil Swisher — but when it did, the result was 1991’s Blind, a powerful, focused, more metallic record that increased their audience by leaps and bounds. Agell was fired following its success, and he and Swisher went on to form Leadfoot; meanwhile, Keenan became the full-time lead vocalist on 1994’s even more Sabbath-esque Deliverance, which also featured the return of original bassist Mike Dean. During 1995, Keenan took a short detour into the Southern metal supergroup Down (which also featured Pantera‘s Phil Anselmo and members of Crowbar).
Thanks to a shift in popular taste in favor of the ultra-heavy brand of alternative metal, the group had helped pioneer, C.O.C. found themselves with a larger audience than ever before when they released 1996’s Wiseblood, which continued and expanded their rock radio success. After a lengthy break from recording and a world tour with Metallica, C.O.C. returned with a new album in the fall of 2000, titled America’s Volume Dealer. Another break ensued, resulting in the release of the live recording Live Volume in 2001. It wasn’t until April of 2005 that the band regrouped for the hard-hitting and complex In the Arms of God. C.O.C. went on hiatus, with the members working on various side projects until 2010, when drummer Reed Mullin rejoined the band, reuniting the Animosity lineup while Pepper Keenan continued working with his other band, Down. The remaining trio began work on new material, and in 2012 released their eighth album, the eponymous Corrosion of Conformity, on Candlelight Records. Their ninth album, aptly titled IX, arrived in 2014. Shortly after the latter LP’s release, C.O.C. reunited with Keenan and began work on their tenth studio long-player, No Cross No Crown, which dropped in January 2018. The band announced the death of Reed Mullin on January 27, 2020. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi

Journey & ToTo at Gila River Arena
2022-04-09 19:30 - 23:30 | Desert Diamond Arena, 9400 W Maryland Ave, Glendale, AZ, 85305, United States
JOURNEY is one of the most popular American rock bands of all time, creating some of the best-known songs in modern music. Since the group’s formation in 1973, the band has earned 19 top 40 singles and 25 Gold and Platinum albums and has sold nearly 100 million albums globally. Their Greatest Hits album is certified 15 times-Platinum, bringing Journey into the elite club of Diamond-certified award holders. The band continues to tour and record into the 21st century, performing concerts for millions of fans worldwide, and received the prestigious Billboard “Legends of Live” touring award. 2018’s massive co-headlining tour with Def Leppard was the band’s most successful tour to date, landing them in the Top 10 year-end touring chart with more than 1 million tickets sold. In 2017, Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In March 2019, Journey released a live DVD/CD set from their concert at the Budokan in Tokyo, featuring the first-ever performances of the band’s “Escape” and “Frontiers” albums in their entireties. Journey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, and is the subject of the award-winning documentary, “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey.”

Few ensembles in the history of recorded music have individually or collectively had a larger imprint on pop culture than the members of TOTO. As individuals, the band members can be heard on an astonishing 5000 albums that together amass a sales history of a half a billion albums. Amongst these recordings, NARAS applauded the performances with more than 200 Grammy nominations. Toto has over 400 million streams on Spotify alone along while views on YouTube far exceed over a half billion.
With close to 40 years together and literally thousands of credits, including the biggest selling album of all time: Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and accolades to their names, TOTO remains one of the top selling touring and recording acts in the world. They are the benchmark by which many artists base their sound and production, and they continue to transcend the standards set by the entire music community, being simply synonymous with musical credibility. Their repertoire continues to be current via high profile usage on broadcast television. They are pop culture, and are one of the few 70’s bands that have endured the changing trends and styles to a career enjoy a multi-generational worldwide fan base.
On February 9, 2018, TOTO will release their brand new Greatest Hits package 40 Trips Around The Sun featuring three new tracks.

10 Years, Black Map & Vrsty at Crescent Ballroom
2022-04-06 18:30 - 23:30 | Crescent Ballroom, 308 N 2nd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
For nearly two decades, 10 Years have quietly pushed themselves and modern rock towards evolution. Building a formidable catalog, the group’s gold-selling 2005 breakthrough The Autumn Effect yielded the hit “Wasteland,” which went gold, infiltrated the Billboard Hot 100, and clinched #1 at Active Rock Radio and #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart. They landed three Top 30 entries on the Billboard Top 200 with Division [2008], Feeding the Wolves [2010], and Minus the Machine [2012]. Most recently, 2017’s (How to Live) As Ghosts marked a reunion between Jesse, Brian, and Matt and achieved marked success. Not only did the album bow in the Top 5 of the US Top Hard Rock Albums Chart, but it also yielded the hit “Novacaine.” The single ascended to the Top 5 of the Billboard US Mainstream Rock Songs Chart and tallied 16 million Spotify streams, alongside 29 million streams across all dsp’s. The cumulative total for all track streams from repertoire on How To Live (As Ghosts) exceeds 51 million plays. Along the way, they sold out countless headline shows and toured with everyone from Korn, Deftones, and Stone Sour to Chris Cornell and Linkin Park. The new album, Violent Allies, is a collaboration with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer and Feeding the Wolves collaborator Howard Benson [My Chemical Romance, Halestorm, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace].

A muscular American prog metal/hard rock trio with an impressive pedigree, San Francisco’s Black Map is the creation of Dredg guitarist Mark Engles, Far drummer Chris Robyn, and Trophy Fire vocalist/guitarist Ben Flanagan. While Driver, their 2014 debut EP, offered gritty vocals and overblown distorted guitars, by the time they issued their first full-length album, …And We Explode, they had begun crafting more deliberate hooks and prog riffs. On 2017’s In Droves, their sound showcased clean, melodic vocals with detuned, multi-pedaled, hook-laden guitar riffs and syncopated prog drumming. They dug into harder-edged prog and alternative metal for 2022’s Melodoria.
Black Map was formed in 2014 in San Francisco. They came together as the trio’s respective primary bands were on hiatus and discovered a solid penchant for writing together. The group issued their debut EP, Driver, shortly after forming, with their full-length debut, …And We Explode, appearing from Minus Head Records just eight months later. It drew favorable reviews from critics, who made comparisons to bands like A Perfect Circle, Deftones, and Chevelle.
The trio moved to eOne for their Aaron Hellam-produced sophomore long-player, In Droves, which arrived in 2017. Garnering an even larger array of positive reviews, Black Map hit the road and played the American music festival circuit for the lion’s share of the next 12 months, racking up more than 150 gigs in the process. Between festival dates, they booked studio time with producer Mike Watts in Long Island, New York, and cut three songs. They recorded a fourth with Hallam upon returning home, and the tracks were all released as the prog metal-oriented Trace the Path EP later that year. The band toured across 2019 before being sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Black Map reunited in 2021 and spent many hours writing at home in San Francisco. They booked time in several studios across the Bay Area. Deciding to produce themselves, they enlisted Zach Ohren (Machine Head, the Ghost Inside, Set Your Goals) as a guiding light and co-producer. That September, they issued the pre-release single “Chasms” on Minus Head; it served as the opening track for 2022’s ten-song Melodoria. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

New album WELCOME HOME out 1/21 on Spinefarm Records. Learn more @ www.vrsty.nyc.
Sure, it’s easy to believe everything has been done before. VRSTY (Var-Si-Ty) prove it hasn’t. The New York City quartet—Joey Varela [vocals], Javy Dorrejo [bass], Chris Cody [drums], and Paul Gregory [guitar]—layer R&B vocal styles over heavy metallic grooves and chugging riffage. After posting up over 2 million streams and charting Billboard with their independent releases, the group crafted a unique and unexpected hybrid on their 2020 debut EP for Spinefarm Records, Cloud City.
Fueled by the success of Cloud City – which saw hit singles Massive & Shameless rack up over a million streams each in under a year – VRSTY will release their label debut full-length WELCOME HOME on January 21, 2022.
“When people ask me what we sound like, I say, ‘We’re whatever you want us to be’,” states Joey. “I can’t put a genre on us, because I’m a pop and R&B singer who loves metal. There are pop tracks, metal tracks, and R&B tracks. It’s super different heavy music with pop-inspired vocals. The genre has enough bands who sound similar. If you spend time trying to do what’s popular, you fall into a mode. That’s not something we’re interested in. The music has to be fun for us and the people listening to it.”
In the end, VRSTY break all of the rules and ultimately break ground.

Motionless In White + Ice Nine Kills + Black Veil Brides at Mesa Amphitheatre
2022-03-17 19:00 - 23:30 | Mesa Amphitheatre, 263 N. Center St, Mesa, 85201, United States
While their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania is mostly known in popular culture for being perfectly mundane, gothic metalcore band Motionless in White make music that’s anything but tame. Blending the raw fury of metalcore with the dramatic atmospherics of goth-metal and industrial, the band has cultivated a dark and moody sound that owes as much to Type O Negative as it does to Slayer. Emerging in 2010, the group entered the mainstream four years later with the release of their third studio LP Reincarnate, which debuted at number nine the Billboard Top 200.
Formed in 2005 while members Chris Cerulli (vocals), Angelo Parente (drums), Mike Costanza (guitar), and Frank Polumbo (bass) were still in high school, they become a quintet after the addition of keyboard player Josh Balz in 2007, the same year the band would release their debut EP, The Whorror, on Masquerade. In the years following that release, Polumbo and Costanza parted ways with Motionless in White, with Ryan Sitkowski and Ricky Olson coming on board to fill in the gaps, allowing the band to forge ahead after the release of their second EP, When Love Met Destruction, on Tragic Hero in 2009. The group signed to Fearless Records in 2010, and their first full-length album, Creatures, arrived that year, followed by their sophomore effort, Infamous, in 2012. A third album, Reincarnate, arrived in the summer of 2014. In June 2016, the band announced their signing to Roadrunner Records. They released the single “570” the same day.
At the beginning of 2017, Balz announced his departure from the band. His synth duties were taken over by Marie Christine-Allard for the recording of the band’s fourth set, Graveyard Shift. Issued in May 2017, the album featured the singles “Rats” and “Loud (Fuck It),” as well as an appearance by Korn‘s Jonathan Davis. The group headed back into the studio the following year, returning in 2019 with their fifth studio long-player Disguise. ~ Gregory Heaney, Rovi

Like the undead slashers celebrated in their songs, Ice Nine Kills return with The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood, a sequel of gruesome movie-sized proportion to The Silver Scream. The new album carves out a fresh, bloody homage to the VHS celluloid classics that possessed singer Spencer Charnas at an early age, with a devilish new twist.
Ice Nine Kills make music both timeless and timely, mixing metal, hardcore, and punk, with accessible power. New anthems like “Rainy Day” and “Hip To Be Scared” demonstrate Spencer’s fascination with fright, pop culture obsession, and his expertise with inescapably wicked melodic hooks and clever twists of phrase. Producer Drew Fulk returned for Welcome To Horrorwood which includes cameos from members of Papa Roach, Cannibal Corpse, Atreyu, Fit For A King, and Senses Fail.
Decadent, devious, and fiercely insane, Ice Nine Kills celebrate pop culture’s darkest edges, mining a cinephile library’s worth of iconic horror on The Silver Scream and its sequel. The creative marriage made in hell of music and fiction began in earnest with the Every Trick In The Book, which brought the previous three records’ themes to new levels.
The band’s synergy of music and lifestyle draws favorable comparisons to Slipknot and Rob Zombie. Visionary trailblazers and multimedia raconteurs, INK built a thrilling world for a growing legion of devoted true believers, with theatrical shows, high-concept videos, and inventive band-to-fan communion.

In an era when rock music is regularly declared “dead,” Black Veil Brides music videos have been viewed over a half a billion times. The band (and its members) Instagram and Twitter accounts command close to 10 million followers between them. Vale, the group’s most re- cent full-length album, went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
With a rightful reverence for the pop cultural icons of the past, the young outfit has never- theless fashioned their own collective future, with relentless fury. In the hearts and minds of their fans, Black Veil Brides represents an unwillingness to compromise and a resistance to critics (personal and professional), fueled by the same fire as the group’s own heroes, the iconoclasts whose creative output, once dismissed, is now canonized.

Lilith Czar arrives with the force of an otherworldly thunder, arising in visceral rebirth from an untimely grave of surrender and sacrifice. Her voice is the sound of supernatural determination, summoned with a confessional vulnerability and unapologetic authenticity. The girl who was Juliet Simms – her dreams discouraged and dismissed, her identity confined and controlled – is no more. In her place stands Lilith Czar, a new vessel forged in unbridled willpower and unashamed desire.
Her motivation is simple: if it’s truly a man’s world? She wants to be King.
Created from Filth and Dust, the debut album from Lilith Czar, is an evocative invitation into her bold new world. It’s aggressive music with warm accessibility; huge hooks with driving hard rock—the new larger-than-life icon channels the fierce combativeness of Fiona Apple and Stevie Nicks’ seductive witchery. Lilith Czar arms herself with sonic power, theatricality, and confidence. It’s a sound where the pulse of Nine Inch Nails, Halestorm’s songcraft, and the libertine spirit of David Bowie converge, all in service of a ritualistic ache for a more just and equitable world.

Judas Priest and Queensrÿche at Arizona Federal Theatre
2022-03-16 19:00 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
One of the most influential heavy metal groups of all time, Judas Priest emerged at the dawn of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Decked out in leather and chains, the band combined the gothic doom of Black Sabbath and blazing speed of Led Zeppelin with the inventive art rock of Queen, powered by the dynamic banshee wail of Rob Halford and the vicious dual lead guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Judas Priest set the pace for the genre from 1975 until 1985 with iconic albums like British Steel (1980), Screaming for Vengeance (1982), and Defenders of the Faith (1984) and helped lay the groundwork for speed and death metal. The group struggled after Halford‘s departure in the early ’90s but were restored to prominence in the 2000s upon his return, issuing a string of acclaimed efforts — Angel of Retribution (2005), Nostradamus (2010), Redeemer of Souls (2014), and Firepower (2018) — that skillfully married melody, pageantry, and muscle.
Formed in Birmingham, England, in 1970, the group’s core members were guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill. Joined by Alan Atkins and drummer John Ellis, the band played their first concert in 1971. Atkins’ previous group was called Judas Priest, yet the members decided it was the best name for the new group. The band played numerous shows throughout 1971. During the year, Ellis was replaced by Alan Moore; by the end of the year, Chris Campbell replaced Moore. After a solid year of touring the U.K., Atkins and Campbell left the band in 1973 and were replaced by vocalist Rob Halford and drummer John Hinch. They continued touring, including a visit to Germany and the Netherlands in 1974. By the time the tour was completed, they had secured a record contract with Gull, an independent U.K. label. Before recording their debut album, Judas Priest added guitarist Glenn Tipton.
Rocka Rolla was released in September 1974 to almost no attention. The following year, they gave a well-received performance at the Reading Festival and Hinch departed the band; he was replaced by Alan Moore. Later that year, the group released Sad Wings of Destiny, which earned some positive reviews. However, the lack of sales was putting the band in a dire financial situation, which was remedied by an international contract with CBS Records. Sin After Sin (1977) was the first album released under that contract; it was recorded with Simon Phillips, who replaced Moore. The record received positive reviews and the band departed for their first American tour, with Les Binks on drums.
When they returned to England, Judas Priest recorded 1978’s Stained Class, the record that established them as an international force in metal. Along with 1979’s Hell Bent for Leather (Killing Machine in the U.K.), Stained Class defined the nascent New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. A significant number of bands adopted Priest’s leather-clad image and hard, driving sound, making their music harder, faster, and louder. After releasing Hell Bent for Leather, the band recorded the live album Unleashed in the East (1979) in Japan; it became their first platinum album in America. Les Binks left the band in 1979; he was replaced by former Trapeze drummer Dave Holland. Their next album, 1980’s British Steel, entered the British charts at number three, launched the hit singles “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight,” and was their second American platinum record; Point of Entry, released the following year, was nearly as successful.
At the beginning of the ’80s, Judas Priest was a top concert attraction around the world, in addition to being a best-selling recording artist. Featuring the hit single “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” 1982’s Screaming for Vengeance marked the height of their popularity, peaking at number 17 in America and selling over a million copies. Two years later, Defenders of the Faith nearly matched its predecessor’s performance, yet metal tastes were beginning to change, as Metallica and other speed/thrash metal groups started to grow in popularity. That shift was evident on 1986’s Turbo, where Judas Priest seemed out of touch with current trends; nevertheless, the record sold over a million copies in America on the basis of name recognition alone. However, 1987’s Priest…Live! was their first album since Stained Class not to go gold. Ram It Down (1988) was a return to raw metal and returned the group to gold status. Dave Holland left after this record and was replaced by Scott Travis for 1990’s Painkiller. Like Ram It Down, Painkiller didn’t make an impact outside the band’s die-hard fans, yet the group were still a popular concert act.
In the early ’90s, Rob Halford began his own thrash band, Fight, and soon left Judas Priest. In 1996, following a solo album by Glenn Tipton, the band rebounded with a new young singer, Tim “Ripper” Owens (formerly a member of a Priest tribute band and of Winter’s Bane). They spent the next year recording Jugulator amidst much self-perpetuated hype concerning Priest’s return to their roots. The album debuted at number 82 on the Billboard album charts upon its release in late 1997. Halford had by then disbanded Fight following a decrease in interest and signed with Trent Reznor‘s Nothing label with a new project, Two. In the meantime, the remaining members of Judas Priest forged on with ’98 Live Meltdown, a live set recorded during their inaugural tour with Ripper on the mike. Around the same time, a movie was readying production to be based on Ripper‘s rags-to-riches story of how he got to front his all-time favorite band. Although Priest was originally supposed to be involved with the film, they ultimately pulled out, but production went on anyway without the band’s blessing (the movie, Rock Star, was eventually released in the summer of 2001, starring Mark Wahlberg in the lead role). Rob Halford in the meantime disbanded Two after just a single album, 1997’s Voyeurs, and returned back to his metal roots with a quintet simply named Halford. The group issued their debut in 2000, Resurrection, following it with a worldwide tour that saw the new group open up Iron Maiden‘s Brave New World U.S. tour and issue a live set one year later (which included a healthy helping of Priest classics) — Live Insurrection.
In 2001 the Ripper-led Priest released a new album, Demolition, and Priest’s entire back catalog for Columbia was reissued with remastered sound and bonus tracks. In 2003 the band — including Halford — collaborated on the liner notes and song selections for their mammoth career-encompassing box Metalogy, a collaboration that brought Halford back into the fold. Owens split from the group amicably in 2003, allowing the newly reunited heavy metal legends to plan their global live concert tour in 2004, with their 16th studio album, Angel of Retribution, to be released the following year. In 2008 the band released Nostradamus, a sprawling, two-disc conceptual piece that charted the life and times of the famous French seer. On December 7, 2010, Priest broke the news that their upcoming Epitaph world tour would be their last. The following month, however, they clarified that they were not disbanding, announcing that they were working on new material. Before the tour began, founding member Downing left the band over differences with the other members and their management; he was replaced by Richie Faulkner.
Priest worked on their new album during the tour, which ran until 2012. The record’s release was delayed several times, but it was eventually announced that it would see the light of day in July 2014. Entitled Redeemer of Souls, it was described by Priest as a traditional, crowd-pleasing return to their roots, and went on to become the group’s first Top Ten album in the U.S., landing at the number six slot on the Billboard 200 chart. A lengthy tour followed, and in early 2016 Priest issued the concert album Battle Cry, which featured highlights from their August 1, 2015 performance at Germany’s Wacken Festival.
Judas Priest began loosely demoing ideas for a studio album in 2016, but they didn’t enter the studio as a band until a year later. It wasn’t until January 2018 that they announced to the press and social media that they’d completed Firepower, their 18th studio album. They revisited their original, organic way of recording, with the entire band playing together at the same time in the studio. They underscored this by enlisting producers Tom Allom — who worked on all of the band’s records from 1979 through 1988 — and Grammy-winning veteran Andy Sneap. In a press release, Halford explained, “Tom Allom has got this classic metal thing, and Andy is a bit more of a ‘modern metal producer’,” adding, “I think to get this balance between that classic old-school metal to what Andy’s world is was just a remarkable coalescence.”
In January 2018, the band announced the March release of Firepower with a teaser video for the single “Lightning Strikes” and news of a forthcoming world tour. In February, guitarist Tipton — diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a decade earlier — announced that it had progressed to the point where he had to retire from touring. Sneap would fill his slot on the road. Former guitarist K.K. Downing, who claimed he was shocked that he wasn’t asked to replace Tipton on tour, asserted in public that “Sneap’s role was actually much more than as a producer on Firepower” — i.e., he actually played Tipton‘s parts on the album. Halford took to the media to respond, saying that “everything that you hear from Glenn on Firepower is the amazing Glenn Tipton.” He called Downing’s accusation “completely superfluous” and “a thousand percent false.” On March 2, Judas Priest released the lyric video for second single “Never the Heroes.” Firepower was issued on March 9 and soared to number five in the U.K., making it their first Top Ten album there since British Steel. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, Rovi

One of rock’s most respected names who have weathered the storm and emerged in 2019 with ‘The Verdict’. It’s an album that echoes Queensryche’s three decades of career high-points while pushing ahead with the confidence and urgency of a band just now coming into its own.
With a legacy behind them that’s shifted over 30 million records and built a dedicated legion of fans while touring the globe alongside giants including Metallica, Def Leppard and The Scorpions, Queensryche have exceeded themselves once again. If Queensryche’s 15th studio album sounds like a young, hungry band just hitting its stride, it’s because that is precisely the case. Produced and mixed by Chris “Zeuss” Harris (Hatebreed, Rob Zombie), who helmed 2015’s Condition Human, it’s also Queensryche’s third album with frontman Todd La Torre, who joined the veteran band in 2012, taking the reins from erstwhile voice, Geoff Tate.
Queensryche’s impact on other bands and musicians is undeniable. While they dominated rock radio in the 90’s with a string of hits including “Jet City Woman” and “Silent Lucidity”, their influence on rock and progressive bands including the likes Dream Theater or the late, lamented Nevermore has been undeniable.
The Verdict is in and it’s testament to not merely Queensryche’s staying power as a force in rock in a turbulent new world, but a band without boundaries who continue to prove how timeless they truly are.

Sevendust, Tetrarch & Dead Poet Society at Marquee Theatre
2022-03-16 18:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Atlanta-based quintet Sevendust are one of the most prominent nu-metal acts, rising above their contemporaries with an aggressive blend of bottom-heavy riffs and soulful, accessible melodies delivered by vocalist Lajon Witherspoon. Over the years, the band balanced the raw energy and brutality of early albums like 1997’s Sevendust and 1999’s Home with increasingly atmospheric production and even late-era acoustic sets on releases like Time Travelers & Bonfires (2014) and Kill the Flaw (2015), home to the Grammy-nominated single “Thank You.”
The band — comprising frontman Witherspoon, John Connolly (guitar), Clint Lowery (guitar), Vince Hornsby (bass), and Morgan Rose (drums) — first appeared in 1995 as Crawlspace, releasing the single “My Ruin” on the Mortal Kombat: More Kombat soundtrack. Shortly thereafter, the group changed their name to Sevendust and released a 1997 self-titled debut, home to the breakthrough singles “Black” and “Bitch.” Two years later, they issued the gold-selling sophomore set Home (TVT), which featured their mainstream rock hit “Denial.” As the band’s audience grew, they played over 800 shows alongside such groups as Korn, Godsmack, Disturbed, and Metallica, even making an appearance at Woodstock ’99. Their angst-ridden third album, the aptly titled Animosity, appeared in fall 2001 and landed in the Top 30 on the Billboard 200. Seasons followed in 2003, their highest-charting album to date and last with TVT.
In late December 2004, word surfaced that Lowery had left the band, and those rumors proved true the following February when Sevendust announced ex-Snot guitarist Sonny Mayo as Lowery‘s replacement. (Lowery, a co-founder of Sevendust, eventually surfaced in the hard rock supergroup Dark New Day.) Sevendust’s fifth album and first self-produced effort, Next, appeared in October 2005 on Winedark Records. The record failed to sell as much as its predecessors, and Sevendust later signed to Asylum Records, issuing Alpha in March 2007. Alpha fared better than Next, climbing to number 14 on the Billboard charts and paving the way for the band’s seventh effort. Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow arrived a year later and featured appearances by Chris Daughtry, Myles Kennedy, and Mark Tremonti.
At this time, the band parted ways with Mayo, welcoming Lowery back to Sevendust and restoring their original lineup. The reunited crew followed with Cold Day Memory in 2010. Landing just outside the Top Ten, it was their highest-charting set to date, yielding the trio of mainstream rock hits “Unraveling,” “Forever,” and “Last Breath.” Their ninth album, Black Out the Sun, arrived in 2013, topping the hard rock chart.
Looking to change things up, Sevendust stripped away their metal edge for their next effort, issuing an album of acoustic tracks. Time Travelers & Bonfires, released in the spring of 2014, debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200. Bouncing back to basics a year later, the group returned with the heavy yet atmospheric Kill the Flaw, which included the Grammy-nominated single “Thank You.” After touring, they returned to the studio to record their 12th album. Produced by Michael Baskette (Stone Temple Pilots, Incubus), All I See Is War arrived in May 2018 on Rise Records. Two years later, the band returned with Blood & Stone, which included an emotionally charged cover of Soundgarden‘s “The Day I Tried to Live.” ~ Kirk Dombek & Neil Z. Yeung

Tetrarch is a Metal band from Atlanta, GA, currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. They are tried-and-true blend of intense heavy riffage and driving drums with the dark vibes and the haunting choruses of hooky modern hard rock. Throw in Diamond’s thrash influenced guitar solos and you have Tetrarch. Tetrarch’s influences are evident but never replicated, as they stay true to their own unique sound that will appeal to any heavy music fan.
The bands debut full length album FREAK debuted at #3 on the iTunes metal charts and #16 on the Rock Charts. They were heavily championed on Sirius XM Liquid Metal and Octane and became one of the most played artist in 2018. The single FREAK also hit the active rock charts.
Tetrarch has received extreme amounts of major press including Guitar World Magazine, Loudwire, Grammy.com, Red Bull, Guitar Player Magazine, Afropunk, Alternative Press, Revolver Magazine and several others. They have also left a lasting impact of those who have seen them on countless tours and festivals around the country including DWP Epicenter Festival (with bands like Korn, Rob Zombie, Tool), Exit 111 (with Guns n Roses, Ghost, Gojira, Deftones) and several others. Their guitar player Diamond also became the first female african american lead guitar player to be featured in major rock/metal publications around the country.
The band has a very promising future and budding fanbase and they always deliver exactly what their fans and metal fans want to hear.

Dead Poet Society are poised to have a major year in 2022. The band released their debut album -!- (said as “The Exclamation Album.“) a year ago and have since accumulated over 30 million global streams, with over 10 million in the U.S. alone. The single “.CoDA.” was a Top 15 single at radio, spending over 20 weeks on the chart. The track was also featured on Spotify’s Rock This playlist. The band hit the road last fall in support of Badflower and made appearances at the Welcome to Rockville and Louder Than Life festivals. Across the pond, the band appeared at the Reading and Leeds festivals. At Reading, they drew one of the biggest crowds of the day.

Flogging Molly at Marquee Theatre
2022-03-15 18:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Los Angeles-based seven-piece Flogging Molly are an interesting mix of traditional Irish music and spunky punk rock. Former Fastway acoustic guitarist/frontman and Dublin native Dave King formed the band with fiddle player Bridget Regan, guitarist Dennis Casey, accordion player (and former pro skateboarder) Matt Hensley, bassist Nathen Maxwell, drummer George Schwindt, and mandolinist Bob Schmidt. Getting their start playing regularly at the L.A. bar Molly Malones, Flogging Molly eventually took their music to the road; their explosive and passionate live show was the heart of the band, after all, and they toured relentlessly around the world throughout their career. Their rowdy folk-rock punk revival sound has been compared to the likes of other Irish bands such as the Pogues and Black 47, but the raucous septet opted for its own unique brashness that defied genre lines.
Flogging Molly released their debut, Swagger, in March 2000 on Side One Dummy and followed up two years later with Drunken Lullabies. Crafting exuberant anthems to raise up a full Guinness to, King often used personal touchstones — such as his childhood in a war-torn Ireland, his father’s premature death, and an eight-year exile in the United States — for the band’s compelling lyrical content. Within a Mile of Home appeared in September 2004, and the band continued to hit the road hard in support. The DVD documentary Whiskey on a Sunday was issued in July 2006; it was a candid look at Flogging Molly as both a band and seven individuals, and came with a ten-song CD of acoustic and live tracks. In early 2007, as the group geared up for a U.S. headlining run, Hensley amicably departed to spend more time with his family.
In March 2007, Flogging Molly released the Complete Control Sessions EP. Their fourth studio album, Float, followed a year later. The band then hit the road, documenting the tour in 2010 with the release of Live at the Greek Theatre. Eventually they settled back into the studio with producer Ryan Hewitt, and the following year released their fifth album, Speed of Darkness. Prior to the recording, original drummer Schwindt was replaced by Mike Alonso, who had formerly played with King in the hard rock band Katmandu. Flogging Molly continued to tour over the next several years, and began curating their annual Salty Dog Cruise, which set sail each year over St. Patrick’s Day. They eventually returned to the studio, heading to Dublin to record their sixth album, Life Is Good, which was released in early 2017. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi

Russkaja play with Slavic clichés and melancholic minor melodies which then pick up speed again and invite you to dance. The beat of the so-called “Turbo Polka” with a Jamaican Ska-offbeat makes the people’s feet and souls celebrate, dance and happily forget all their woes.
Excursions into punk rock, metal and dub-step also make even lovers of the harder genres shake their heads. Upbeat powerful songs swing between countries, languages and cultures – High Speed Polka Ska Groove hits virtuoso dirt guitars. Gorgeous violins let the big bass baritone voice of lead singer Georgij Alexandowitsch Makazaria shine as bright as the stars. Since 2005 RUSSKAJA have been touring their modern and cosmopolitan Austro-Soviet roots.
Georgij Makazaria – voc / Lea-Sophie Fischer – violin / Nico Loro Ravenni – sax / H-G. Gutternigg – potete / Engel Mayr – guitar / Dima Miller – bass / Mario Stübler – drums /

Vandoliers are the next wave of Texas music. The six-piece Dallas-Fort Worth group channels all that makes this vast state unique: tradition, modernity, audacity, grit, and—of course—size. While tracking alongside the muddy path that country-punk bands like Old 97’s, Jason and the Scorchers, and the True Believers blazed in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Vandoliers define their own style; no one else is upending the genre quite like them.

Imagine Dragons at Footprint Center
2022-03-14 18:00 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Formed in 2009, Imagine Dragons first revealed their emotionally charged and inventive sensibilities with a series of independently released EPs that earned them grassroots following. Signed to KIDinaKORNER/Interscope by hitmaking producer Alex Da Kid, the band greatly expanded their fanbase with the release of their multi-platinum breakthrough single “It’s Time” (featured on the 2012 EP Continued Silence). With their past hits also including “Radioactive” (a diamond-selling smash that won Best Rock Performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards), Imagine Dragons went on to see Smoke + Mirrors debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart upon its release in early 2015.
For Imagine Dragons, one of the greatest achievements of Evolve is its unfettered honesty. “Instead of hiding behind metaphors, I was able to be more direct in my lyrics,” says Reynolds. “I really focused on searching deeper for lyrical value.” Along with giving the album untold emotional depth, honesty cuts through everyday chaos to reveal a luminous truth. “Right now the world can seem like a very dark and daunting place,” says Reynolds. “We wanted to create something like a lot of the records we grew up on, where it feels like you’re escaping into a world that’s much more vibrant. Our hope is that the album helps people focus on the beauty of each moment, and really see all the brilliance and color of life.”

Papa Roach "Kill The Noise" Tour With Hollywood Undead and Bad Wolves
2022-03-02 19:00 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Papa Roach doesn’t do lanes.  Be it rap-rock, electronic rock, rock ’n’ roll or anything in between, the quartet – vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, bassist Tobin Esperance and drummer Tony Palermo – have spent more than 20 years veering across freeways that most bands barely have the nerve to occupy, creating one of the most diverse and fearless discographies in music.   A hard left turn that sees them making their most daring maneuver yet, new single ‘Swerve’ is breathless in its unpredictability. Drawing inspiration from everything from jazz, funk and old-school hip-hop to hard rock and electronica, it’s a white-knuckle ride featuring a blistering array of rock solid beats, thumping bass lines, curveball saxophone licks and crunching guitar grooves, built around a chorus that features a stark warning cry of “Don’t swerve in my lane”, the track displays the fearless ability of its creators to cross as many as they desire.  With Fever 333 frontman Jason Aalon Butler and rap sensation Sueco joining proceedings to create a triple-pronged vocal attack, ‘Swerve’ provides a first glimpse at one of the most varied and compelling periods of the the group’s career. Clear, confident and above all competitive, it sees them challenging perceptions and breaking new ground, tossing the handbrake out of the window in the process.

Hollywood Undead hail from the streets of Hollywood, California, mixing brash hip-hop, rock, and minor metalcore touches with cocky posturing. With their colorful pseudonyms and unique hockey goal tender-inspired masks, the band debuted in 2008 with Swan Songs, but didn’t hit their commercial stride until the release of their 2011 sophomore effort, American Tragedy, which cracked the Top Ten on the Billboard 200 chart. Subsequent outings like Notes from the Underground (2013), Five (2017), and the two-volume New Empire (2020) performed just as well, if not better, cementing the group’s reputation as one of rapcore’s leading lights.
Owing much of their popularity and exposure to the social networking website MySpace, the group started as the musical project of J-Dog and Tha Producer in June 2005. They uploaded some new music to their profile and very quickly started amassing song plays and online friends with tracks about drinking, sex, and emo kids. “The gang,” as the guys liked to refer to themselves, grew to include six members: J-Dog and Tha Producer alongside Charlie Scene, Johnny 3 Tears (formerly called the Server), Funny Man, and Da Kurlzz. As the band’s online profile steadily increased, MySpace head honcho Tom Anderson wasn’t immune and wound up featuring Hollywood Undead‘s song “No. 5” on MySpace’s first compilation album, in addition to giving them the distinction of being the first act signed to the site’s new record label (distributed by Interscope) in 2005.
Swan Songs finally appeared in 2008 on A&M/Octone Records. A year later, that label released an album of B-sides, live tracks, and covers titled Desperate Measures. In 2010, vocalist Aron “Deuce” Erlichman left the group; he was replaced by Daniel “Danny” Murillo, a former contestant on American Idol and lead singer of Lorene Drive. After shows with Avenged Sevenfold on The Nightmare After Christmas Tour, Hollywood Undead released their sophomore album, American Tragedy, in April of 2011, and the album debuted in the Top Five of Billboard’s Top 200. The following November, A&M/Octone Records released a remix version of the record called American Tragedy Redux, which featured mixes by Andrew W.K., Borgore, and KMFDM, among others.
In January of 2013, after embarking on The Underground Tour, Hollywood Undead released their third studio album, Notes from the Underground, which proved to be their highest-charting outing to date, landing at the number two spot on the Billboard Top 200 and soaring to number one on the Canadian albums chart. Their hotly anticipated fourth studio album, Day of the Dead, arrived in March 2015, and was preceded by the singles “Usual Suspects,” “Gravity,” “How We Roll,” and the explosive title cut. The band returned to the studio in late 2016 to record its fifth studio album, Five. With their contract with Interscope finished, Hollywood Undead set up their own label, Dove & Grenade Media, in collaboration with BMG to release the album. The first single, “California Dreaming” — a scathing look at the inequalities between the two sides of Los Angeles culture — was released in mid-2017, with the full-length Five arriving later that October. In 2018 the Undead released the standalone single “Gotta Let Go,” a summery blast of feel-good nostalgia about letting go of pain. The EP Psalms also arrived that year. Two years later, the band released their sixth album, New Empire, Vol. 1. A deliberate attempt to change their sound, it was heavier than before, with more electronic elements. The like-minded sequel, New Empire, Vol. 2., arrived in 2020.

Expectations never mattered to Bad Wolves. Instead, the Los Angeles band fused unpredictable metallic intensity and impressive instrumental proficiency to arena-ready hooks, transforming from underdogs into elite platinum-certified hard rock contenders without compromise or apology. Since 2017, the core group—John Boecklin [drums], Doc Coyle [lead guitar, backing vocals], Chris Cain [rhythm guitar], and Kyle Konkiel [bass, backing vocals]—have consistently subverted expectations and accomplished the seemingly impossible. In 2018, the band earned a platinum plaque, topped iTunes, and ruled Active Rock at #1 for three weeks straight. This momentum also propelled their debut album, Disobey, to a Top 25 debut on the Billboard Top 200. In between performing to sold out audiences on multiple continents with heavyweights such as Five Finger Death Punch and Megadeth, 2019’s N.A.T.I.O.N. yielded their fifth straight #1 at Active Rock, “Sober,” and brought their total stream tally past the half-billionmark—unprecedented for a modern rock band. Not to mention, LoudWire hailed it among the “50 Best Rock Albums of 2019” as Billboard and Consequence of Sound chronicled their rise. In the midst of 2021, Bad Wolves welcomed Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz—previously of The Acacia Strain—as lead vocalist, ushering in a new chapter with their third full-length offering, Dear Monsters,[Better Noise Music], led by the single “Lifeline.”

Ghost & Volbeat with Special Guest Twin Temple at FootPrint Center
2022-03-01 19:00 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Ghost are a Grammy® Award-winning rock band from Linköping, Sweden. The band’s critically acclaimed third full length, Meliora and its accompanying EP Popestar, elevated the Swedish rock band into the pantheon of rock greats and resulted in a Grammy Award for ‘Best Metal Performance’. Meliora debuted at No. 1 at Independent Retail, No. 2 at Rock, and in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart, selling over a quarter million copies globally. Popestar debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart. Fans have come along for the ride for years, not knowing for certain who was behind the anonymous band… that is, until Tobias Forge revealed himself as the man behind Ghost in August of 2017. Ghost released their critically acclaimed fourth studio album Prequelle on June 1, 2018 on Loma Vista Recordings. Previous Ghost albums have dealt with broad themes like impending doom (Opus Eponymous – 2010), the antichrist and the Inquisition (Infestissumam – 2013), humanism and avarice (Meliora – 2015). Prequelle delves into the plague, the apocalypse, and dark ages.

Servant of the Mind, Volbeat’s eighth album, takes the signature heavy metal, psychobilly, punk ‘n’ roll sound on which they have built their reputation up a notch while showcasing front man Michael Poulsen’s keen ability for songwriting and storytelling.
Lead single “Wait A Minute My Girl” drafted as a love song to his fiancé, became the band’s ninth No. 1 on the Billboard Rock Airplay chart. The rest of the songs on the album weave intricate and fascinating tales. “The Sacred Stones” tells the story of “an earthly being who has committed himself to the dark side.” “Shotgun Blues” explores the ghostly paranormal events he had recently experienced upon moving into a new home. “The Devil Rages On” looks at the idea of the devil taking human form, while “Temple of Ekur” returns to the ancient themes explored in past songs, and epic album closer “Lasse’s Birgita” explores the story of the first witch burnings to occur in Sweden. “Dagen Før” offers a brief respite from the ‘thunder and lightning’ and features guest vocals from Stine Bramsen.
“I wrote the whole album in three months,” recalls Poulsen, noting that the process of drafting a Volbeat album is normally two years in length. “I was in a good place and mood while at home [during the pandemic] and had a captive audience of myself.” He found himself inspired and as a result, the music and lyrics just flowed out of him, resulting in the thunderous Servant of the Mind.

Pioneering the “Satanic Doo-Wop” genre, Twin Temple combines Occult aeshetics with classic 1950’s and 1960’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Although you may expect heavy guitar riffs and a thumping bass to accompany cries of Hail Satan, instead you’ll hear old-school, classic riffs and Alexandra’s crooning voice that sounds straight out of the ‘60s. While many confine Satan to the likes of black metal, the duo is breaking the notion that Satan has a musical type. Inspired by the golden era of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Twin Temple rejects conformity of any kind, whether it’s through their magick, performance, or sound.
And while a lot of “Satanic” metal bands begin and end their worship of Satan on stage, the same can’t be said for Twin Temple. Both their music and their practice of Satanism, on and off the stage, are rooted in the ideals of free will and giving space to those who are often not allowed any.
So no, Twin Temple doesn’t drink the blood of virgins or kill babies to sacrifice on the full moon. They are challenging notions about what it means to free the oppressed, fight back against dated and binary ways of thinking, and doing it all while hailing Satan herself.
If there’s anything to expect with Twin Temple, it’s the unexpected.

Justin Bieber at Gila River Arena
2022-02-22 19:00 - 23:30 | Desert Diamond Arena, 9400 W Maryland Ave, Glendale, AZ, 85305, United States
Justin’s recent album JUSTICE includes the chart-topping global smashes “Peaches feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon”, “Holy” feat. Chance The Rapper, “Lonely” feat. Benny Blanco, “Anyone,” and “Hold On.” The album also features guest appearances from The Kid LAROI, Dominic Fike, Khalid, Beam, Burna Boy, Lil Uzi Vert, Jaden, Quavo + more. The JUSTICE campaign has reasserted Justin’s dominance as a live performer; from his triumphant return to the live stage with his T-Mobile-sponsored NYE livestream concert, to his record breaking TikTok performance “Journals Live” to his stunning AR-assisted performance for Spotify, to his epic Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards set and this week’s blockbuster NPR Tiny Desk Concert, Justin has delivered undeniable, show stopping performances. Along the way, Justin has appeared as musical guest twice on Saturday Night Live, performed on The American Music Awards, The People’s Choice Awards, and much more.
With over 86 billion career streams and over 78 million albums sold worldwide, Justin Bieber continues to reign as one of the biggest artists in the world. Bieber is the #1 artist on Spotify with over 75 million monthly listeners!

Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red, Light The Torch at Marquee Theatre
2022-02-17 17:30 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Killswitch Engage first shook the structure of heavy music upon climbing out of snowy industrialized Western Massachusetts in 2000. The band pioneered a union of thrashed-out European guitar pyrotechnics, East Coast hardcore spirit, on-stage hijinks, and enlightened lyricism that set the pace for what the turn-of-the-century deemed heavy. 2002’s Alive Or Just Breathing became avowed as a definitive album, being named among “The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade” by Decibel and celebrated by everyone from Metal Hammer to Revolver. They also garnered two GRAMMY® Award nominations in the category of “Best Metal Performance” in 2005 and 2014 and gold certifications for The End of Heartache [2004] and As Daylight Dies [2006]. The group landed three consecutive Top 10 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 with Killswitch Engage [2009], Disarm The Descent [2013], and their career high best bow at #6 with Incarnate [2016]. The latter two releases would also both capture #1 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts. Their total streams have exceeded half-a-billion to date.
2019 represents another turning point. The quintet—Adam Dutkiewicz [lead guitar], Joel Stroetzel [rhythm guitar], Mike D’Antonio [bass], Justin Foley [drums], and Jesse Leach [vocals]—sharpen every side of this signature sound on their eighth full-length and first for Metal Blade, Atonement.

Upholding artistic pillars of tightly wound technical proficiency, airtight grooves, and pensive lyricism, August Burns Red fulfill a quiet, yet staunch 17-year commitment to a diehard audience worldwide. The two-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated Pennsylvania quintet—JB Brubaker [lead guitar], Brent Rambler [rhythm guitar], Matt Greiner [drums], Jake Luhrs [lead vocals], and Dustin Davidson [bass]—have preserved this level of integrity since first emerging in 2003. Following the seminal Messengers [2007] and Constellations [2009], the band infiltrated the mainstream via 2015’s Found In Far Away Places. Not only did the latter stand out as their second straight #9 bow on the Billboard Top 200, but it also garnered the group’s first GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Metal Performance” for “Identity.” The momentum increased with the arrival of Phantom Anthem in 2017. Marking the group’s fourth Top 20 debut on the Billboard Top 200, it paved the way for their second “Best Metal Performance” GRAMMY® nod for “Invisible Enemy.” Between sold-out shows worldwide, they continued a 15-year tradition of holiday shows by launching the Christmas Burns Red Festival. Now, their 2020 eighth full-length, Guardians [Fearless Records], sees them not only preserve but perfect this definitive sound as evidenced by the likes of “Defender” and “Bones.”

Since emerging in 2018, Light The Torch have grown stronger in lockstep together as a band and as friends. Through this growth, the Los Angeles trio—Howard Jones [vocals], Francesco Artusato [guitar], and Ryan Wombacher [bass]—only enhanced their signature sound. Upheld by head-spinning seven-string virtuosity and skyscraping melodies, the group crafted twelve no-nonsense anthems on their 2021 second full-length album, You Will Be The Death of Me [Nuclear Blast].
The group shot out of the gate as a contender on their full-length debut, Revival. It bowed at #4 on the Billboard US Independent Albums Chart and at #10 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart in addition to receiving acclaim from Revolver, Outburn, and many more. “Calm Before the Storm” racked up a staggering 14.5 million Spotify streams, while “The Safety of Disbelief” remains one of SiriusXM Octane’s all-time most requested songs. They toured North America and Europe with the likes of Trivium, Avatar, In Flames, Ice Nine Kills, Killswitch Engage and August Burns Red to name a few.
The guys returned to Sparrow Sound in Glendale, CA in late 2019 to once again work with the production team of Josh Gilbert and Joseph McQueen [Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Suicide Silence]. This time around, they also welcomed Whitechapel’s Alex Rudinger on drums.
In the end, the bond between Light The Torch burns brighter than ever in the music as they deliver a definitive statement with You Will Be The Death Of Me.

Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators at Arizona Federal Theatre
2022-02-15 19:30 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
SLASH–the iconic, GRAMMY-winning, American rock guitarist, songwriter and film producer–has amassed album sales of over 100 million copies, garnered a GRAMMY Award and seven GRAMMY nominations, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is a New York Times Best-selling author. SLASH is considered one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time and one of the most recognizable faces in pop culture worldwide. Time magazine placed SLASH at #2 (Jimi Hendrix was #1) in its list, “The 10 Greatest Electric Guitar Players.” SLASH created signature sounds like the guitar riff on #1 hits for Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Welcome To The Jungle.” After leaving the band, SLASH went on to critical acclaim with SLASH’s Snakepit and global success with the supergroup Velvet Revolver before embarking on his own solo career. After landing on the top of the charts with his first solo album, Slash (2010)–which featured Ozzy Osbourne, Fergie, Myles Kennedy and more–he formed his current band SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS (SMKC)–which features Myles Kennedy (lead vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass/vocals) and Frank Sidoris (rhythm guitar)–who’ve been touring worldwide and making music together non-stop for over a decade. SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS (SMKC) released their debut album, the critically acclaimed Apocalyptic Love (2012) which stormed the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart debuting at #4 on the overall chart as well as the #1 Top Rock album, and spawned SLASH and the band’s first-ever #1 solo radio hits “You’re A Lie” and “Standing In The Sun.” The band’s second album, World On Fire (2016) debuted to global praise and the album’s title track, “World On Fire” ascended to #1 at U.S. Rock Radio. In 2016, Guns N’ Roses re-united and SLASH joined Axl Rose and Duff McKagan for the historic and ongoing world tour which Billboard magazine now ranks as the third highest grossing tour of all time. SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS’ most recent release is their critically–acclaimed third album Living The Dream (2018) which Rolling Stone declared “a biting blues filigree at the end of a riff, weeping solos full of long notes and boogie-woogie riffs” and the Los Angeles Times added is full of “unexpected funk, boogie, blues and garage rock influences.” Living The Dream debuted with 12, Top 10 Chart placements across the globe and fueled by the Top 5 song “Driving Rain,” and the single “Mind Your Manners”

Lindsey Stirling in Mesa, AZ on February 4th at Bell Bank Park
2022-02-04 19:00 - 23:30 | Bell Bank Pak, 1 Legacy Drive, Mesa, AZ, 85212, United States
Platinum-selling electronic artist, violinist, and multi-talented entertainer Lindsey Stirling, known all over the world for her unique, futuristic violin-driven electronic music and exquisite live show, is bringing her talents home to Arizona to headline the grand opening of the new Bell Bank Park in Mesa on Friday, February 4th. The upcoming Mesa show will mark Stirling’s first performance of 2022, following her wildly successful 22-date annual holiday outing, The Lindsey Stirling Christmas Program, which wrapped at the end of December.

The multi-hyphenate star, who is currently helping families in need through her nonprofit charity outreach program The Upside Fund, also recently launched the Lindsey Stirling “Crystallize” Signature Yamaha Violin and Intentional Beauty by Lindsey Stirling Citrine Palette. The limited-edition violin model, which immediately sold out its first run last year and now has a new batch available for pre-order, features unique details exclusively designed by Stirling; PRESS HERE to watch a special video from Lindsey describing the violin and PRESS HERE for more info. Stirling’s Citrine Palette, available via bellapierre, is a 12-color eyeshadow palette infused with Citrine crystal, known for facilitating positive energy, creativity, intuition, and abundance, featuring a variety of highly pigmented, pressed-powder eyeshadows ranging from velvety mattes and shimmery neutrals to bold metallics, all formulated with natural and cruelty-free ingredients; PRESS HERE to purchase.

DIAMANTE at The Rebel Lounge - Feb 2022
2022-02-03 19:00 - 23:30 | The Rebel Lounge, 2303 E Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ, 85016, United States
Undeniable rock chanteuse DIAMANTE has today dropped her latest single “Difícil De Amar” (out via Anti-Heroine). The track is the Spanish version of her heartbreaking single “Unlovable” which has already clocked up a staggering 763,000 views and counting on YouTube. Speaking on today’s release, DIAMANTE shares:

“‘Difícil De Amar’ is the Spanish version of my latest single “Unlovable”. Not only was this version the most requested version I have ever received for a song, but it was also important for me to do this because I am proud of my Mexican heritage, and I wanted to give this gift to all my Latin American fans!”

Fans also have their chance to see DIAMANTE hit the stage on her headlining American Dream Tour across the US starting on Monday, January 31, in San Diego, CA, as well as on The Revolution’s Live Tour with Shinedown and The Pretty Reckless later this spring. Watch the visual stream for “Difícil De Amar” here or at the link below, click here for American Dream Tour tickets, and click here for more info on The Revolution’s Live Tour.

With a show-stopping voice, runway-ready fashion swagger, and an empowering message, the Boston-raised and Los Angeles-based Mexican-Italian-American siren brings new fire to rock and alternative music.

Diamante spent her teenage years cutting her teeth at local gigs on the Sunset Strip to become the powerhouse performer she is today. A disciple of both P!nk and Guns N’ Roses who doesn’t fall into rockstar excess or even sport tattoos, she devoted every waking minute to honing a signature “hard rock sound with a modern alternative edge.” This unique and undeniable approach caught the attention of Better Noise Music who signed her in 2015. She hit the studio with super producer Howard Benson [My Chemical Romance, Halestorm, Kelly Clarkson] to record what would become her full-length debut, ‘Coming In Hot’.

Now three years later, and after extensive touring with bands like Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Chevelle, and Shinedown… Diamante is in full force shining brighter than ever before. In 2019, Diamante reunited with Howard Benson along with Neil Sanderson of Judge & Jury as an independent artist to make her sophomore album, ‘American Dream’. Diamante capitalized on her newfound ultimate creative freedom and independence by being her own CEO throughout every facet of the album process. On working with Benson and Sanderson, Diamante praises that they were instrumental in “bringing my stories to life and pushing me to embrace my vulnerabilities”. With her most recent music video for “Unlovable”, she has also previously shared smash hits such as fan-favorites “Ghost Myself”, “Serves You Right”, the beautiful reimagination of Goo Goo Dolls classic “Iris” (featuring Breaking Benjamin), and “I Love Myself For Hating You”.

‘American Dream’ shows exponential growth from ‘Coming In Hot’ sonically and in its raw authenticity, proving now more than ever that Diamante’s fearlessness to bare her soul in her music is what truly sets her apart.
