Global AZ Media

The HU + Blind Channel & Nerv at The Van Buren
2023-10-26 20:00 - 23:30 (America/Phoenix) | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
In 2019, an NPR story put a spotlight on “a band from Mongolia that blends the screaming guitars of heavy metal and traditional Mongolian guttural singing,” accurately highlighting the cultural importance & unique musical identity of The HU. Founded in 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, The HU blend traditional Mongolian instrumentation & throat singing with Western rock in what they call “Hunnu Rock.” Their debut album, 2019 ‘s The Gereg, debuted at #1 on the World Album and Top New Artist Charts while receiving critical acclaim from the likes of Billboard, GQ, The Guardian, The Independent, Revolver, & Sir Elton John. It saw the band receive Mongolia’s highest state award, The Order of Genghis Khan, by the President of Mongolia. A deluxe version included collaborations with Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) and Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) & caught the attention of Metallica who enlisted them to cover “Through The Never” for their 2021 Metallica Blacklist album. THE HU were also featured performing an original song for EA Games’ Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Their second album, Rumble Of Thunder, was released in 2022 following sold-out tours across the world in North America, Europe, Asia, & Australia including festival appearances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Download Festival and more. In November 2022, The HU became the first-ever rock/metal band to receive the prestigious UNESCO “Artist of Peace” Designation. A deluxe version of RUMBLE OF THUNDER is due in 2023 via Better Noise Music.

Darkness which envelopes Finland is what fuels Blind Channel. The veritable coal to their roaring furnace of ambition, embracing it is the DNA that runs throughout their music. Balancing their tenacity with sincerity, “It’s this feeling of never being enough is what drives us forward right now,” vocalist Niko Vilhelm says.
When forming back in 2013 in the city of Oulu, way up in the North of Finland, vocalists Niko and Joel Hokka, drummer Tommi Lalli, guitarist Joonas Porko and bass player Olli Matela, plus the later addition of DJ/Percussionist Aleksi Kaunisvesi – knew that it was all about going big or going home. When they were told to sing in their native tongue, they refused. It was simply never an option. The doors that closed only made them want to grab an axe to break through, The Shining style, to properly make themselves known. This is exactly what they did when they found their way onto the largest stage in Europe: Eurovision, after competing in the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), Finland’s annual contest to discover their entry. Winning the spot, by the largest landslide the competition has seen, Blind Channel captured and enamoured the continent with the fiery nu-metal charge of ‘Dark Side’.
Be warned however, Eurovision isn’t the crux of Blind Channel’s story. This stepping stone that saw them take to that hallowed stage, was just that, a gambit towards the bigger picture.
MANAGEMENT Backbone Management antti (at) backbonemanagement (dot) fi

We are Nerv, a 4-piece genre-bending rock band residing in California. The band’s members are originally from all over the US with vocalist Dillon Jones (Sacramento, CA), guitarists Jordan Grokett and Scott Buchanan (Dallas, TX) and drummer Tyler Clark (Atlanta, GA). Nerv burst onto the scene in November 2017 with their heavy hitting debut single ‘Enough’. Then in Spring 2018 the band released their highly successful debut EP ‘Bad Habits’, working with producer Erik Ron (I Prevail, Godsmack, Hollywood Undead). In October of 2022, Nerv released their long-awaited debut full length album, ‘We’re All Patients Here’.

STATIC-X + SEVENDUST at Marquee Theatre
2023-10-30 17:30 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
American metal crew Static-X emerged at the tail end of the ’90s, pushing an aggressive thrash metal blend with industrial overtones and a techno pulse. Their breakthrough debut, 1998’s cult classic Wisconsin Death Trip, rocketed them to stardom in the heavy music world, their image boosted by frontman Wayne Static‘s distinctive hair and vocal delivery. While maintaining momentum into the 2000s with additional efforts like Machine and Shadow Zone, Static‘s passing in 2014 effectively halted the group in their tracks. However, at the close of the decade, the original lineup made a comeback with the help of previously recorded Static vocals, issuing Project Regeneration in 2020.
Static-X’s roots trace to the Midwest, where vocalist/guitarist Wayne Static grew up in Michigan and drummer Ken Jay in Illinois. They ended up in Chicago separately and met at the record store where Jay worked, introduced to one another by future Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan (who was in the band Deep Blue Dream with Static). Static and Jay decided to head west to California and start up a new band. Shortly after their arrival, Osaka native Koichi Fukada responded to the duo’s ad and became their new guitarist, as well as programmer. Bassist Tony Campos, the only true Californian, was the final piece of the puzzle. Signed to Warner Brothers in February 1998, Static-X debuted with Wisconsin Death Trip a year later. The album was a hit and eventually certified platinum, bolstered by the strength of the singles “Push It” and “Bled for Days.” Despite the success, founding guitarist Fukada briefly left the group in 2000, replaced by Tripp Eisen (ex-Dope) for 2001’s gold-certified Machine, their highest-charting effort to date. Further lineup changes followed, as drummer Jay left after the 2003 album Shadow Zone. Soon after, misdemeanor charges forced Eisen to leave the band in 2004 (he was later convicted and spent a year in prison). Still, Static-X was undeterred. Static tapped Fukada to rejoin on guitar and programming in 2005, while touring drummer Nick Oshiro took over full-time.
In June 2005, a rejuvenated Static-X returned to recording with Start a War, home to the single “I’m the One.” Fifth album Cannibal arrived in 2007, charting inside Billboard’s Top 40. The band toured and released a CD/DVD document, Cannibal Killers Live, then settled into the recording of their sixth studio album, Cult of Static. Released in March 2009, it debuted inside the Top 20, their second highest showing to date. The group went on hiatus not long after finishing a lengthy tour, with Wayne Static announcing a renewed focus on his Pighammer side project, with contributions from his wife, Tera Wray. In 2011, Pighammer appeared as a solo album under his own name. A year later, he re-formed Static-X — minus any of the original members. The lineup, which consisted of his solo backing band, mounted a tour but broke up by 2013, and a year later, Wayne Static was dead of a drug overdose at the age of 48. Just over a year after that, his widow Tera Wray took her own life.
This tragedy seemed to spell the end of Static-X, but a few years later, the remaining bandmembers patched up their differences and decided to see if they could salvage anything from past recordings. Starting from a slew of unreleased demos, the group went into the studio, once again with Ulrich Wild, where they stripped Wayne‘s vocals from the demos and composed entirely new tunes around them. The resultant album, Project Regeneration, was released in two volumes, with Vol. 1 arriving in the summer of 2020. To support the release, the band embarked on tour with a new, masked frontman named Xer0, rumored to be Edsel Dope of Dope. Lead single “Hollow” crashed the U.S. Dance/Electronic chart, peaking in the Top 15. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Josh Loehr, Rovi

Sevendust never follow a linear path. Instead, they continue to bulldoze a lane of their own with a proven one-two punch of rumbling grooves, unpredictable riffing, and stirringly soulful vocals unlike anything else in hard rock. As a result, their music connects straight to the heart as evidenced by their full-contact live shows and diehard “family” of fans. It’s why they’ve been around since 1994, tallied global sales of seven million, logged three gold-selling albums, delivered three Top 15 debuts on the Billboard 200, and garnered a GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Metal Performance.” They’re the rare force of nature who not only graced the bills of Woodstock and OZZfest, but also Shiprocked! and Sonic Temple and some of the largest stages around the globe. Along the way, they’ve notably collaborated with everyone from members of Deftones, Daughtry, and Staind to Alter Bridge, Periphery, and Xzibit. 2020 saw them deliver one of the most-acclaimed albums of their career with Blood & Stone, which Metal Hammer christened “Sevendust’s best work in years” and Outburn dubbed “everything a Sevendust fan could want.”
However, the Atlanta quintet—Lajon Witherspoon [lead vocals], Clint Lowery [lead guitar, backing vocals], John Connolly [rhythm guitar, backing vocals], Vince Hornsby [bass], and Morgan Rose [drums]—defy expectations yet again on their fourteenth full-length and debut for Napalm Records, Truth Killer.

An uncompromising New York City-based outfit that draws from both heavy metal and industrial music, Dope’s confrontational emissions evoke Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and White Zombie. Emerging in 1999 with the hard-hitting Felons and Revolutionaries, the group continued to beat the post-industrial drum on 2005’s American Apathy and 2018’s Blood Money, Part 1, while managing to weave in elements of speed, alternative, rap, and nu-metal.
The quintet was formed in the Chicago area by brothers Edsel Dope (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Simon Dope (keyboards). Simon studied chemistry at the University of Florida, then received a scholarship to Polytechnic in Brooklyn. There he was joined by his brother, with the two claiming to have financed their demos by selling drugs. The initial incarnation of the band included lead guitarist Tripp Eisen, bass player Acey Slade, and drummer Preston Nash. They began a selective series of gigs in late 1997. In October 1998, they were signed to Flip Records, which made a production deal with Epic.
Dope’s debut album and best-selling release to date, Felons and Revolutionaries, was released in September 1999. The Dope brothers gutted their lineup after the ensuing tour, switching Slade to guitar and bringing in original bassist Sloane Jentry, guitarist Virus, and drummer Sketchy Shay. In the fall of 2001, they released their second album, Life. Two years later, the band inked a deal with Artemis and issued the nu-metal-leaning Group Therapy. The punitive American Apathy arrived in summer 2005, featuring covers of Depeche Mode‘s “People Are People” and N.W.A‘s “Fuck tha Police.” It topped the Billboard Heatseekers chart upon release. No Regrets was issued four years later, and featured a guest appearance by Zakk Wylde. After an extended hiatus, Dope’s classic lineup returned with a new album and coinciding tour. The band — Edsel Dope, Acey Slade, Virus, and Racci Shay — released Blood Money, Pt. 1 in late 2016, with a sequel, the aptly-named Blood Money, Pt. 2, arriving in 2019.

No matter where you go, loyalty means the same thing. It represents a promise to uphold a code of honor. You remain true to yourself, your friends, and your family. Lines Of Loyalty maintain this level of commitment to both their craft and their mission. The Kenosha, WI trio—Nubz Morrison [vocals, guitar], Redo Ianni [bass, vocals, keys],—deliver melodically magnetic rock anthems with unapologetic dedication and diligence. After years of success under the name Mixed Company, they assert themselves as a hypnotic heavy rock force on a series of singles in 2021.
In fact, they’re so committed the word “Loyalty” adorns Nubz’ face…
To bring this vision to life, they hit the studio with producer Chris Dawson [Saul] to record in 2021. Now, they officially introduce Lines Of Loyalty via the single “I’m Not The One.” Anchored by a thick beat and punchy bass line, the track twists and turns through unpredictable riffs towards an instantly chantable chorus.
Due to this honesty, the guys will ultimately inspire just as much loyalty from listeners as they unleash more music.

Wednesday 13 + Gemini Syndrome & More at The Nile
2023-10-31 18:00 - 23:30 | The Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street, Mesa, 85201, United States
The Duke of Spook has returned once more from beyond the grave to reveal the “NECROPHAZE!” This latest full length offering from the ghouls of WEDNESDAY 13 will be available on September 27 2019 via Nuclear Blast Records. Heavily influenced by the real night terror occurrences of Wednesday himself, historical serial killers & a slew of 80’s horror films, the ideas behind NECROPHAZE are bizarrely familiar, frightening, & a hell of a lot of fun. While still consistently horrifying, this new album certainly carries with it a more humorous sentiment than its gloomy predecessor (and 1st album with Nuclear Blast Records), “Condolences” (2017). Songs like “Bring Your Own Blood (BYOB),” clearly a play off the phrase “bring your own booze,” manage to intertwine opposing ideas of the blood sucking undead w/ a teenage house party. “In every 80’s horror movie there’s always a party,” Wednesday chuckles, “so we wanted to get that vibe. The title made me laugh so we wrote a song that’s sort of a more violent ‘Monster Mash.’” The 1st single “Decompose,” which was initially written by drummer Kyle Castronovo, and was also the first song/demo brought to the table, is like a catchy anthem for the idea of “I know you’re dead, but I really wish you could be deader.”
Recording & mastering by Michael Spreitzer; producer, engineer, as well as the long time guitarist of DevilDriver. Dropping just in time to enjoy on Halloween, creepsters of the night, prepare yourselves, to ENTER THE NECROPHAZE.

GEMINI SYNDROME welcomes you to the third and final degree of your initiation into the Synner Society. 3rd Degree – The Raising, is GEMINI SYNDROME’s third full length album. Following the band’s 2013 debut Lux, and 2016 sophomore LP Memento Mori, this new album offers the closing chapter in a trilogy of song and narrative. This order of three steps, and three albums, is not by chance, but is a nod to many of the initiatory traditions that exist and act as a vessel for transmitting and preserving the Sacred Knowledge throughout the ages. The intention is to provoke the listener to think about the mystery of life, the nature of reality, the roles we play, and the masks we wear in this world. Wherein Lux, meaning “Light,” was concerned with birth; and Memento Mori, meaning “Remember That We Must Die,” dealt with the finite nature of life; the focus and message of 3rd Degree – The Raising, is of traversing Death, being Reborn and reintegrating with our True Self, and thus being raised into the next degree of experience.   “Every quest within deserves a good soundtrack…” — GS°

Moldovan progressive modern metal unit INFECTED RAIN have been turning heads in the metal world this fall with the next chapter of their metamorphosis – their otherworldly fifth album, Ecdysis, out January 7, 2022 via Napalm Records.
INFECTED RAIN have become one of the most exciting new acts in the heavy music world, with charismatic, multi-talented frontwoman Lena Scissorhands emerging as one of the fastest-rising leading ladies of the genre. Now, the band arises from the dark depths once again – freshly off their very first tour of the USA with Butcher Babies and Stitched Up Heart. Produced once again by Valentin Voluta, Ecdysis successfully demonstrates ultramodern brutality without sacrificing emotion and melody – showcasing a new layer of INFECTED RAIN that longtime followers and new fans alike will embrace. Frontwoman Lena Scissorhands adds about Ecdysis: “While the whole world was in a deep depression, Ecdysis was slowly but surely maturing. The time in isolation away from all our plans and goals, away from loved ones and the stage, brought out something so new and different in us. A new chapter starts with this album, a chapter of raw emotions and complete commitment.”

Hailing from NYC, Black Satellite, comprised of Larissa Vale and Kyle Hawken, is creating waves in the rock scene with a sound that’s dark, edgy, and distinctly their own. Fusing industrial and metal influences, their music transcends conventional boundaries solidifying their place in the genre. The band continues to break new ground through ceaseless hard work and non-stop touring, showcasing their dedication both on and off stage.
Shortly after launching their first single VALKYRIE from their debut album ENDLESS, Black Satellite garnished attention from press outlets such as Billboard, Huffington Post, Revolver, Loudwire, Knotfest, and Alternative Press.
The band recently concluded writing and recording their sophomore record, AFTERMATH, mixed by veteran producer Ben Grosse (Marilyn Manson, Breaking Benjamin) with tracks produced by Kane Churko (Papa Roach, In This Moment). Their single VOID is the first taste of the brand new album.
In 2021, they released a cover of Rammstein’s “Sonne” to critical acclaim with Revolver Magazine describing the track as “a masterclass in metal covers.” Followed by the release of their latest single BROKEN.
Black Satellite has since completed tours supporting John 5, Fozzy, Nita Strauss, Cold, Sumo Cyco, and Drowning Pool. The band also toured with with Cradle of Filth and Devil Driver in March, 2023. Continuing with the second leg of the tour in October 2023, directly followed by a massive Fall tour with Wednesday 13.

Phillip Phillips & Jonah Kagen at El Rey Theatre
2023-11-02 21:00 - 23:30 | El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 90036, United States
Former American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips is best known for his melodic radio hit, “Home” which launched him to fame in 2011 and marked the most successful coronation hit of any American Idol winner to date. Shortly after “Home” climbed the charts, Phillips released his first full length album The World From The Side Of The Moon, followed by Behind The Light and brought together by his 3rd release, Collateral. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Phillip, like many others, had to take a hard look at his life and career. After welcoming his son Patch in 2019, he found a new inspiration for writing music. 4 years after his last release, Phillips has brought us “Love Like That,” a song dedicated to the unconditional love he has for his wife and child. As he reintroduces himself to the world with his latest single, Phillips hopes to reconnect with his fanbase and get back on tour.

23-year-old singer and songwriter, Jonah Kagen, grew up in Savannah, Georgia. He took up guitar at the age of six, diving deep into the instrument’s technical aspects after his musician grandfather showed him performance videos. He further found inspiration in the music of guitarist Andy McKee, whose finger-style technique lit a creative fire within. “He opened my eyes to what an acoustic guitar could be,” he recalls, as he dove deeper into creating music on his own. “If you can bring somebody something with your music that they can’t get anywhere else, there’s nothing better than that.”
Jonah’s debut EP, ‘georgia got colder,’ was released in December 2022 on Arista Records. He’s already cut impressive figures with over 140M+ global streams, a US tour supporting Maisie Peters, ~2 million Spotify monthly listeners, and was included on Shazam’s 2023 predictions list. An exciting new voice bringing undeniable energy and sincerity through his multifaceted sound, he is undoubtedly on the rise.

Switchfoot at The Wiltern
2023-11-12 19:30 - 23:30 | The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 90010, United States
Switchfoot has been unearthing all manner of musical gems since their 1997 debut The Legend of Chin, steadily expanding their global fan base and critical reputation through such releases as New Way to Be Human (1999), Learning to Breathe (2000), the multi-platinum breakthrough The Beautiful Letdown (2003), Nothing Is Sound (2005), Oh! Gravity (2006), the Grammy award-winning Hello Hurricane (2009), Vice Verses (2011), Fading West (2014) and Where The Light Shines Through (2016). Fading West doubled as the soundtrack to the band’s documentary of the same name. Along the way, SWITCHFOOT established itself as a world-class live act with a series of sold-out world tours, while racking up a string of radio hits, including “Meant to Live,” “Dare You to Move,” “Stars” and “Mess of Me.” Beyond their career achievements, SWITCHFOOT has been active in a variety of philanthropic efforts, raising over two million dollars to aid kids in their community through the band’s own Bro-Am foundation and their annual Bro-Am Beach Fest, a benefit surf contest and concert that’s held every summer in Encinitas, CA. They’ve also maintained a deep commitment to a variety of humanitarian causes, lending their support to such worthy organizations as DATA, the ONE Campaign, Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children, Food for the Hungry, CURE and To Write Love on Her Arms. SWITCHFOOT’s new album Native Tongue was released January 18, 2019 on Fantasy Records.

Highly Suspect + Good Boy Daisy at The Van Buren - SOLD OUT
2023-12-02 19:00 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
A muscular, hard-hitting, and wide-ranging group in the vein of Pop Evil, Queens of the Stone Age, 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 hip-hop-leaning MCID. The band continued to blur genres on 2022’s The Midnight Demon Club.
he band formed in Cape Cod in 2009 around the talents of Johnny Stevens (guitar, vocals, synths) and twin siblings Ryan (drums, vocals) and Rich Meyer (bass, vocals). 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 on 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. Three years later, Highly Suspect released The Midnight Demon Club, a kinetic and life-affirming set that paired hip-hop beats and cinematic soundscapes with blazing metal.

For some people, working with a sibling would be nearly impossible. But for identical twin sisters Hallie and Dylinn Mayes, starting a band together was the only thing that made sense. “We’ve never known anything different,” says Hallie. “We’ve spent our whole life together, each and every moment.” “We’re the typical twins,” adds Dylinn. “We’re best friends and we’re never apart.” So when the two discovered music was their calling, they formed GOOD BOY DAISY, becoming an alt-pop duo with plenty of rock influence. “It’s amazing to see how our chemistry is,” says Hallie, referring to both their onstage personas as well as their day-to-day experiences recording. “It’s unfairly easy.”
Raised on a steady diet of ‘90s grunge, the sisters inherited a lot of their early music taste from their father, as well as many rounds of the video game Rock Band—featuring Dylinn on guitar with Hallie playing drums. But as they began to thumb through vinyl at their local record stores, their favorite artists grew beyond Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to include more modern indie favorites such as alt-J and Matchbox Twenty. And somehow as they grew older, theirmusic interests became even more intertwined. “We’ll never complain about who has the aux cord,” says Hallie with a laugh.
While they continued to jam out as videogame rockstars, it wasn’t until they saw a group of friends perform at a local show that they realized real-life stardom was within their grasp. “It was the first time we saw someone our age playing in a band,” says Dylinn. “We’re like—wait a minute, you can play in a band? You can get up with your friends and play music you like? That’s a thing?” “Not only that,” adds Hallie, “I had no idea that people wrote their own music. When I saw kids our own age doing it, it was a game changer.”
Both of them recall coming home from that show and immediately scrambling to get their own real-life instruments. In addition to drumming, Hallie began to take on singing duties while Dylinn stayed with guitar. Before they continued with their own writing, their first sets were still full of grunge and rock covers, featuring cuts from AFI, Hole and Rage Against The Machine. “That’s all we knew, so that’s what came out of us,” says Hallie. “The more we developed our own musical taste throughout high school, we totally changed our sound,” says Dylinn.
They began to tour every weekend while also searching for a steady writing and producing partner. “No one pushed us like we wanted to be pushed,” says Dylinn. “It was always some kind of conflict or fighting in terms of musical taste, or where we wanted the song to go,” adds Hallie.

The duo are going for it every way they can; along with future song releases on the horizon, they’re more than ready to tour and play for crowds again. “We really shine when we play live,” says Hallie. “We’re excited to show everyone how fun our concerts can be.”
Beyond that, the two just want Good Boy Daisy to be known to the world. “As a band, we hope to become the coolest household name,” says Dylinn. “We’re real people,” says Hallie, “and I can’t wait for everyone to know who we are.”

Queens of the Stone Age + Spiritualized at Arizona Financial Theatre
2023-12-05 19:00 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Queens of the Stone Age emerged from the stoner rock underground of the 1990s to become one of the leading heavy rock bands of the 21st century, a transition sparked by the release of their major-label debut, Rated R, in 2000. A murky immersion in chemical excess, the album showcased QOTSA’s skill in wedding thick, grimy guitars with shape-shifting psychedelia, a blend suited for the desert leader Josh Homme called home. Over the years, Homme remained the constant in QOTSA’s mercurial lineup, anchoring the group as members and guests cycled through the studio and stage. Dave Grohl‘s presence on the drumkit on 2022’s Songs for the Deaf helped break the band to a wider audience in America, placing them at the vanguard of hard rock music. QOTSA’s membership stabilized around the release of …Like Clockwork, the 2013 record that returned them to indie status while giving them their first number one album on the Billboard charts. Homme maintained the same quintet through the Mark Ronson-produced Villains and In Times New Roman…, a 2023 album that found them discovering new shades and textures within their palette.
Queens of the Stone Age has its roots in Kyuss, the stoner rock band Josh Homme led during the early ’90s. After Kyuss split in 1995, Homme served as a supporting guitarist on a Screaming Trees tour, then decided to launch a new band called Gamma Ray. An eponymous EP appeared in 1996 before a German metal band named Gamma Ray threatened legal action over the appellation. Taking a cue from a nickname bestowed on the group by producer Chris Goss, Homme decided to rename his fledgling unit Queens of the Stone Age, unveiling this moniker on the Roadrunner various-artists compilation Burn One Up! Music for Stoners in 1997. Later that year, the split EP Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age — comprised of old tunes from the latter and new material from the former — confirmed the transition between Homme‘s two groups.
Homme co-produced Queens of the Stone Age’s eponymous 1998 debut with Joe Barresi, which was released on Loosegroove, the indie imprint from Pearl Jam‘s Stone Gossard and Regan Hagar. With Alfredo Hernandez on drums, Homme played all the guitars and most of the bass and keyboards on the record, but he soon expanded QOTSA into a touring outfit featuring former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri along with guitarist Dave Catching; the latter played on the first volume of Homme‘s shape-shifting collaborative project the Desert Sessions, which appeared in 1997. This group was by no means secure. By the time QOTSA entered the studio to record their major-label debut Rated R, Hernandez was no longer with the band; Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann split drumming duties on the record.
Co-produced by Homme and Goss and released on Interscope, Rated R built QOTSA’s audience exponentially. “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” gave the band a Top 40 hit in the U.K. Live spots at Ozzfest and with Foo Fighters and Hole helped broaden their following, while events like Oliveri getting arrested after performing nude at the 2001 Rock in Rio Festival helped generate headlines. All this buzz culminated in Foo Fighters leader — and former Nirvana drummer — Dave Grohl becoming a temporary member of QOTSA for 2002’s Songs for the Deaf and its 2022 supporting tour, which featured Homme, Oliveri, Grohl, ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, and A Perfect Circle guitarist/keyboardist Troy Van Leeuwen. With its singles “No One Knows” and “Go with the Flow,” Songs for the Deaf elevated Queens of the Stone Age into the upper ranks of modern rock acts, acting as a heavy, trippy counterpart to the prevailing neo-garage rock of the early 2000s.
Grohl decamped at the conclusion of the Songs for the Deaf tour, returning to his regular gig in Foo Fighters; he was replaced by Joey Castillo, who previously drummed with Danzig. In the wake of QOTSA’s success, Homme embraced a variety of outside gigs, including playing on a pair of Mark Lanegan albums and collaborating with Jesse Hughes on Peace, Love, Death Metal, the first album by their band Eagles of Death Metal. When it came time to reconvene QOTSA for a sequel to Songs for the Deaf, the band no longer featured Nick Oliveri; Homme fired him due to issues in the bassist’s personal life. With Alain Johannes taking over for Oliveri, the group finished recording Lullabies to Paralyze, making space for guest appearances by ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons and Shirley Manson. Preceded by the single “Little Sister,” Lullabies to Paralyze appeared in March 2005, followed by a supporting tour that occasionally featured Lanegan in his last live outings with the band.
Chris Goss returned to co-produce 2007’s Era Vulgaris alongside Homme. Featuring fewer guests than usual — Julian Casablancas of the Strokes appeared on the single “Sick, Sick Sick,” Lanegan provided vocals on one track — Era Vulgaris appeared in June 2007, wrapping up the band’s contract with Interscope. After a supporting tour featuring bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist Dean Fertita — the pair would become steady members of QOTSA from this point forward — the band went into a period of inactivity as Homme pursued other projects over the next few years. Chief among these was Them Crooked Vultures, a power trio also featuring Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, who released an eponymous album in 2009. The next year saw a deluxe reissue of Rated R and in 2011, the band reissued their hard-to-find debut and did a small supporting tour behind this deluxe edition.
Queens of the Stone Age began recording a new album in 2012, transitioning from drummer Joey Castillo to his replacement Jon Theodore during the sessions. The record found QOTSA bringing Grohl back into the fold while also finding spots for Mark Lanegan, Trent Reznor, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, and Elton John, as well as Nick Oliveri for his first spot on a QOTSA album in a decade. With the finished album in hand, Queens of the Stone Age signed with Matador in 2013 and the ensuing …Like Clockwork album was released in June of that year. Supported by the singles “My God Is the Sun” and “I Sat by the Ocean,” …Like Clockwork topped the Billboard 200, as well as the Alternative, Digital, Hard Rock, Independent, and Top Rock charts. Following the success of …Like Clockwork, Homme and various Queens’ members participated in the Sound City documentary project and Iggy Pop‘s 2016 Post Pop Depression album and tour. For Villains, the band’s seventh album, QOTSA worked with Mark Ronson and invited Nikka Costa and Matt Sweeney into the studio as guests. Featuring the singles “The Way You Used to Do” and “The Evil Has Landed,” Villains debuted at three on the Billboard charts upon its August 2017 release.
After the Villains tour, Queens of the Stone Age took an extended hiatus, reemerging in June 2023 with In Times New Roman…, their third album for Matador. It was the first QOTSA album to be produced by the band and to not feature any guests. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

When highly influential English psychedelic rockers Spacemen 3 splintered, singer/guitarist Jason Pierce (also known as J. Spaceman) formed his group Spiritualized, extracting his more melodic and plaintive songwriting from droning minimalism of his former band. Spiritualized evolved from the narcotic, Velvet Underground-inspired sounds of their earliest material to incorporate both gospel and blues influences and wistful orchestral pop touches that took cues from Brian Wilson and Phil Spector‘s teenage symphonies to God. The band reached a new level with the lush atmospheres and sad-hearted beauty of their 1997 classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space and found international chart success with 2001 album Let It Come Down. With a creative process that involves exacting composition, recording, and mixing, Spiritualized albums trickled out slowly throughout the 2010s and 2020s, with extended gaps between albums like 2012’s Sweet Heart, Sweet Light, 2018’s And Nothing Hurt, and 2022’s Everything Was Beautiful.
Although Spiritualized fully emerged after the acrimonious breakup of Spacemen 3, the band’s roots extended back to that group’s final LP, 1990’s Recurring. A Spacemen 3 album in name only, Recurring was split evenly between independently recorded work from Pierce and estranged partner Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember; as a result, while Kember’s side presaged his eventual work with Spectrum, Pierce’s half, recorded with most of the musicians who would later be featured in Spiritualized (including guitarist Mark Refoy, bassist Willie B. Carruthers, and drummer Jon Mattock), pre-dated the orchestral drones that became the band’s hallmark. The first true Spiritualized single, a dramatic reading of the Troggs‘ “Anyway That You Want Me,” was the final nail in the coffin — reportedly, Kember was so incensed by the Spacemen 3 logo appearing on the disc’s jacket that he disbanded the group for good.
In 1991, Spiritualized returned with a string of EPs — Feel So Sad, Run/I Want You, and Smile/Sway — before their long-awaited debut, Lazer Guided Melodies, finally appeared the following year. The masterful, blissed-out result of Pierce’s obsessive studio fine-tuning and endless remixing, the album was promoted by Spiritualized’s slot on the high-profile Rollercoaster tour, where they appeared with the Jesus and Mary Chain and Curve. A limited-edition live document, Fucked Up Inside, followed in 1993, trailed by another EP, Electric Mainline, later in the year.
In 1995, Spiritualized — now a trio consisting of Pierce, keyboardist/guitarist Kate Radley, and bassist Sean Cook — issued Pure Phase, a heady, dense production that boasted separate mixes from each stereo channel. With 1997’s platinum-certified Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Pierce deliberately jettisoned many of the band’s usual points of departure, including drones, tremolos, and phase tones; recorded with new drummer Damon Reece, it featured a cameo appearance from legendary New Orleans pianist Dr. John on one track, while Memphis studio legend Jim Dickinson appeared on another. Other guests included the Balanescu Quartet (also featured on Pure Phase), the London Community Gospel Choir, and Spring Heel Jack. The two-disc Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997 live album followed in late 1998.
The following year, Pierce gutted Spiritualized’s lineup, firing Cook, Reece, and Mike Mooney, who formed Lupine Howl after their dismissal; Radley left after she married Verve frontman and solo artist Richard Ashcroft. Only saxophonist Ray Dickaty and occasional keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (aka Tim Lewis) remained in the band. Pierce began writing and recording material for the next Spiritualized album at George Martin‘s Air Studios and recruited percussionist Tom Edwards, bassist Martin Shallards, Echoboy drummer Kev Bales, and guitarist Dogan (from Julian Cope‘s band), for the sessions. That critically acclaimed fourth album, Let It Come Down — which featured an even lusher, more involved sound than Ladies and Gentlemen — arrived in mid-2001. The effort was their highest-charting release to date, peaking at number three in the U.K. and marking the band’s first appearances on the French and U.S. charts.
The follow-up, 2003’s Amazing Grace (Dedicated/Arista), was more of a back-to-basics record. Although it entered the U.K. charts at number 25, it failed to make a dent in international markets. Their sixth album, Songs in A and E (Universal/Sanctuary), arrived in spring 2008 and saw Spiritualized bounce back toward the top of the charts. In 2010, the band embarked on a tour performing Ladies and Gentlemen in its entirety, writing new songs influenced by that album — as well as by the Beach Boys and Peter Brötzmann — while they were on the road. Pierce and company laid down the songs at studios in Los Angeles, Wales, and Reykjavik over the course of two years; the result, Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (Double Six/Fat Possum), was released in April 2012.
After a six-year hiatus, the longest yet for his band, Pierce wanted to make what he thought would be the last Spiritualized album. Not having the budget to record in a large studio, he opted instead to construct the effort on a laptop computer, “playing” everything himself (the lush strings are sampled) save for horns, upright bass, and timpani; it was a process he initially found exasperating. The end result, And Nothing Hurt, was released in September of 2018, followed by a full-band tour as well as the admission that the offering would not be the final one from the group. The album charted respectably throughout Europe and reached the Top 20 of the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart in the U.S. Everything Was Beautiful followed four years later and was as meditative and expansive as ever, with the lead single, “Always Together with You,” nodding yet again to both Spector and the Velvet Underground. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Heilung at Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall
2023-12-11 20:00 - 23:30 | Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall, 665 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, United States
Since its inception in 2015, the enigmatic ritual collective HEILUNG has been paving melodic paths to the past with their unique and mystifying sound. Evading all conventional genre tags and the confines of any specific labels, the group aptly self-describes their sound as “amplified history,” emphasizing their ability to connect modern society with the rudiments of humanity’s beginnings through music. HEILUNG once again journeys back in time with its new chapter, ‘Drif;’ however, unlike previous offerings that centered around prehistoric northern Europe, album number three will explore other great rudimentary civilizations outside of Europe.
“All the songs on ‘Drif’ have their own stories,” adds HEILUNG throat singer and one of the band’s three composers, Kai Uwe Faust. Each has its place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations,” explains the band. “We took the ancient surrounding advanced civilizations in account, because our ancestral Nordic civilizations did not just pop up, exist and disappear in isolation. Already in the Bronze Age, we found silk on German land that was imported already from the far, far East 3000 years ago. From the Viking age, we found beads that were brought there from present-day Syria high up in the Northern mountains.
“Centrally important concepts, still in extensive use today, like the number Zero and all the mathematical universes deriving from it, the use of iron and the general concept of settling all originate from traditional high civilizations outside the north and still fundamentally changing our ancestor’s world.
“With singing these primordial songs we want to give tribute to these cultures, reconnect to the beginnings and remember that we all, from East to West, from past to present, are connected through the exchange of ideas and inspiring each other.”
Meaning “gathering,” ‘Drif’ serves as more than merely a gateway that bridges history with modern day society, but is also a statement of the strength in unity and togetherness, which will come as no surprise to those who have experienced HEILUNG’s live ritual, in which every ceremony starts with a reminder that “we are all brothers.” “‘Drif’ means ‘gathering,’’ explains HEILUNG. “A throng of people, a horde, a crowd, a pack. In symbiosis with the album title, ‘Drif’ consists of a flock, a collection, a gathering, a collage of songs, that much like little flames were seeking towards each other, to join, to bond, to create, and be greater together.”
While HEILUNG features authentic and archaic instrumentation that ranges from rattles and ritual bells to human bones and throat singing, their captivating brand of music is far from primitive. Producer and founding member Christopher Juul implements subtle electronic elements that elevates the musical atmosphere and provides a more in-depth and layered soundscape.
“This album has very clearly dictated its own path. Our attempts to tame it were repeatedly fruitless, and once we came to this realization, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. So much so that sometimes it felt like the songs wrote themselves,” the band adds.
HEILUNG’s success has been unprecedented, achieving milestones in its few short years of existence that many do not see in a lifetime. The collective already had rapidly been growing a buzz upon the self-release of their first full-length, ‘Ofnir,’ in 2015, but their dizzying upward trajectory really took off from the moment they set foot on the stage at Castlefest in 2017 for the now-legendary debut of their live ritual. Luckily for those who were not fortunate enough to bare witness to this magical event, the full ceremony was captured on film, having since been viewed by tens of millions of fans across the globe.
As HEILUNG trekked across Europe and brought their mystifying experience to new audiences, talk of this new band and their stunning ceremony made way to Season of Mist label owner Michael Berberian, who quickly offered the band a record contract after seeing their undeniable musical impact for himself.
By 2019, HEILUNG launched their second full-length record, ‘Futha,’ which contrasted the masculine and battle-heavy themes of their debut with a feminine counterpart that celebrated fertility and female energy. Upon the first week of the record’s release, it graced the Billboard charts with coveted numbers, debuting at #3 on the Heatseekers Charts and #4 on the Billboard World Music Chart, placing on a total of seven Billboard charts while meeting critical-acclaim from the press on a global scale.
Having already made its way around Europe, HEILUNG announced its first ever North American tour for the start of 2020, which sold out entirely within 72 hours of ticket on-sale. The band later returned to the United States and performed their live ritual for a sold out audience of 10,000 people at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO (USA), further solidifying their early legacy status.
By this time, the band’s music started to appear in places outside the confines of music venues, videos, and vinyl. From hit television series like ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Vikings’ to video game giants like ‘Conqueror’s Blade VII: “Wolves of Ragnarök’ and ‘Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’ to the blockbuster Robert Eggers film ‘The Northman,’ HEILUNG’s music has risen far above the underground and has transcended into a greater world. Even a global pandemic couldn’t slow down HEILUNG’s success; it only strengthened them and gave them the gift of time to complete work on album number three, ‘Drif.’
According to Greek philosopher Pythagoras, three is a divine number, signifying harmony, wisdom, and understanding. He also believed it to be the number of time – past, present, future; birth, life, death; beginning, middle, end. Purposefully or not, ‘Drif’ embodies this philosophy, putting forth a divine work of art that ties together the beginning of civilization with the modern world today. Make no mistake, HEILUNG still does not represent any modern political or religious ideology, but rather delivers a humbling reminder of where we came from. “Remember, we are all brothers. All people, beasts, tree and stone and wind, we all descend from the one great being that was always there, before people lived and named it, before the first seed sprouted.”

Heilung at Orpheum Theatre – Phoenix. Photos By: Adam Messler

MxPx at The Hollywood Palladium
2024-01-06 18:00 - 23:30 | The Hollywood Palladium, 6215 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 90028, United States
MxPx is a punk rock band from Bremerton, Washington that started in 1992, playing shows in backyards, local VFW halls, and bars they weren’t old enough to drink in. They went on to sell millions of records, tour the world, and become one of the forerunners to the pop punk movement.
Groups like New Found Glory and Good Charlotte credit MxPx for helping them get their start, and for many longtime fans, listening to the band was their first time hearing punk music. They survived the crash of the record industry by reinventing themselves and focusing on what matters most: the fans. After all these years, they’re still here, still touring the world, and making the best music they’ve ever made, hoping to see you at the next punk rawk show.

The story of ska-rockin’ maestros Less Than Jake isn’t told in their sizable discography. It can’t be calculated by the amount of road miles they’ve logged. (But if we’re forced to calculate, we think they might be a block or two short of the Van Allen belts.) Nah! Less Than Jake’s cumulative worth is all about what they bring to your party. From sweaty club shows to uproarious festival dates to opening up for America’s most beloved rock acts, these five lifers’ deeds are best measured in the smiles they’ve slapped on the faces of true believers and new listeners, alike. Silver Linings is the name of the new Less Than Jake album, their first fulllength for the Pure Noise label and the follow-up to 2013’s See The Light. It also doubles as a bunch of sonic diary pages and a mission statement that cements their conviction after two decades in this rock ‘n’ roll circus. Indeed, LTJ—frontman/guitarist Chris DeMakes, bassist/vocalist Roger Lima, trombonist Buddy Schaub, saxophonist Peter “JR” Wasilewski and new drummer Matt Yonker—have escaped most (but not all) forms of ennui, depression and violence against screen-based objects to create an endorsement of humanity. Silver Linings also does a good amount of myth-exploding in its pursuit of joy. The songwriting core of DeMakes, Lima and Wasilewski wrote all the lyrics. While Silver Linings doesn’t skimp on the joy, fun or grooves, careful listeners will sense a bit more reality seeping into LTJ’s escapism.

Canton, Ohio’s Relient K formed in 1998 and joined the parade of Christian punk-pop artists (MxPx, Ghoti Hook, Slick Shoes) with their self-titled 2000 debut, mixing catchy melodies and snotty attitude with spiritual concerns. The record was produced by dc Talk guitarist Mark Townsend, and the band was comprised of vocalist/guitarist/pianist Matt Thiessen, guitarist Matthew Hoopes, bassist Brian Pittman, and drummer Stephen Cushman. David Douglas joined up in place of Cushman by the year’s end, and Relient K followed up in August 2001 with The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek. The album sold 300,000 copies and Relient K’s momentum continued to build as they played nearly 200 shows in North America before the year closed out. A third full-length, Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right… But Three Do, debuted at number 38 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart upon its release in spring 2003. The band didn’t waste any time recording a fourth album; MMHMM, produced by lead singer Thiessen and dc Talk‘s Townsend and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, was released in November 2004 by Gotee/Capitol. MMHMM scanned over 51,000 copies sold during its first week, hitting number 15 on the Top 200 and number one for Christian albums. It eventually went gold, Relient K’s third consecutive album to do so, and the band’s mainstream crossover was in full swing with singles “Be My Escape” and “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” doing very well on modern rock radio and MTV.
Pittman left the group after MMHMM‘s release (later going on to play with Inhale/Exhale), and John Warne (ex-Ace Troubleshooter) filled in on bass for touring purposes, becoming a permanent member in 2005. Relient K further added Jonathan Schneck as a third guitarist (who also played banjo and bells) that year, bumping them up to quintet status. With Relient K touring constantly in support of MMHMM, Apathetic EP followed in November 2005 as another treat to hold over fans as the guys readied their next album. Five Score & Seven Years Ago (as in their fifth album in seven years), largely produced by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Less Than Jake), was released in early March 2007. True to form, Relient K set out on a full round of nationwide dates, including spring shows with Mae and Sherwood, before releasing the Christmas-themed album Let It Snow Baby… Let It Reindeer (containing several tracks from the band’s previous holiday release, Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand) later that fall. In October, Douglas announced that he would be leaving Relient K to dedicate himself full-time to his side project Gypsy Parade. He was replaced in early 2008 by Ethan Luck, who would accompany the group during its appearances on that year’s Warped Tour. In July, the group released the B-side album The Bird and the Bee Sides, which was packaged with The Nashville Tennis EP. The band released its sixth studio album, Forget and Not Slow Down, in 2009.
Two seven-song covers EPs, titled K Is for Karaoke, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2, appeared in 2011. Later combined into one single LP release, K Is for Karaoke included their takes on hits from the likes of Cyndi Lauper, the Wallflowers, Cake, Toto, and Stone Temple Pilots. Their next set of original music wouldn’t arrive until 2013. During recording, Luck parted ways with the band, his vacated slot filled a couple months later by the very drummer he replaced, David Douglas. The band’s seventh LP, Collapsible Lung, was released that summer, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard 200. Their eighth effort would also fair well. Produced by Mark Lee Townsend, Air for Free featured the single “Look on Up” and debuted at number 44 on the Billboard 200, topping the Christian chart.

EAGLES at FootPrint Center in Phoenix, AZ
2024-01-19 19:30 - 2024-01-20 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
The Eagles were unquestionably the biggest mainstream American rock band to emerge in the 1970s. Not only did they sell more records and concert tickets than their peers — Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California are two of the biggest-selling albums of all time — but they captured the shifting zeitgeist of the ’70s, riding the country-rock hippie hangover at the end of the ’60s until it reached the slick, expensive, and expansive pop/rock of Southern California in the late ’70s. Co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey didn’t seem like brothers, but rather partners who made a pact to lead a coolly professional outfit designed to maximize their impact. This was not a group of teenage friends who played local dances together. Every one of the original members — Henley, Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner — had headed toward LA with different bands and once those groups fell apart, they stuck around town, playing whatever gig that happened to show up. For all four, one of those gigs was supporting Linda Ronstadt in 1971. The chemistry was evident on-stage and in the studio, so the quartet decided to form a band, releasing their debut in 1972. Hits came swiftly but stardom didn’t settle in until the latter half of the decade, after 1975’s One of These Nights became a smash. Soon afterward, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) turned their early years into canon and then came 1976’s Hotel California, a record that defined all manners of ’70s excess. By that point, the band’s lineup had shifted — Leadon and Meisner were out, as was Leadon‘s replacement Don Felder; guitarist Joe Walsh and bassist Timothy B Schmit were in — and the group turned out to be ill-equipped to handle their mega-stardom. One more record, 1979’s The Long Run, appeared before the band split, with Henley and Frey achieving considerable solo success during the ’80s. Rumors of reunions never abated, not even when Henley quipped that hell would freeze over before the Eagles would play again and, eventually, an album materialized in 1993, when the Hotel California-era band adopted the MTV Unplugged format for their own needs on an album naturally called Hell Freezes Over. From that point on, Eagles tours were regular events — sometimes they were ambitious endeavors, sometimes they were a gig or two, the one thing in common being their success — and although the group continued to thrive on the existence of its back catalog, they recorded a brand-new double-album called Long Road Out of Eden, a record that once again put the Eagles on the top of the charts in 2007.
The band was formed by four Los Angeles-based musicians who had migrated to the West Coast from other parts of the country. Singer/bassist Randy Meisner moved to L.A. in 1964 as part of a band originally called the Soul Survivors (not to be confused with the East Coast-based Soul Survivors, who scored a Top Five hit with “Expressway to Your Heart” in 1967) and later renamed the Poor. He became a founding member of Poco in 1968, but left the band prior to the release of its debut album in order to join the Stone Canyon Band, the backup group for Rick Nelson. Meanwhile, singer/guitarist/banjoist/mandolinist Bernie Leadon arrived in L.A. in 1967 as a member of Hearts and Flowers, later joining Dillard & Clark and then the Flying Burrito Brothers. Singer/drummer Don Henley moved to L.A. in June 1970 with his band Shiloh, who made one self-titled album for Amos Records before breaking up. Finally, Glenn Frey performed in his hometown and served as a backup musician for Bob Seger before moving to L.A. in the summer of 1968. He formed the duo Longbranch Pennywhistle with J.D. Souther, and the two musicians signed to Amos Records, which released their self-titled album in 1969.
In the spring of 1971, Frey and Henley were hired to play in Linda Ronstadt‘s backup band. Meisner and Leadon also played backup for Ronstadt during her summer tour, though the four only did one gig together: a July show at Disneyland. They did, however, all appear on Ronstadt‘s next album, Linda Ronstadt. In September 1971, Frey, Henley, Leadon, and Meisner signed with manager David Geffen, agreeing to record for his soon-to-be-launched label, Asylum Records; soon after, they adopted the name the Eagles. In February 1972, they flew to England and spent two weeks recording their debut album, Eagles, with producer Glyn Johns. It was released in June, reaching the Top 20 and going gold in a little over a year-and-a-half on the strength of two Top Ten hits — “Take It Easy” and “Witchy Woman” — and one Top 20 hit, “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
The Eagles toured as an opening act throughout 1972 and into early 1973, when they returned to England to record their second LP, Desperado, a concept album about outlaws. Produced by Glyn Johns and released in April 1973, it reached the Top 40 and went gold in a little less than a year and a half, spawning the Top 40 single “Tequila Sunrise” in the process. The title track, though never released as a single, became one of the band’s better-known songs and was included on the Eagles’ first hits collection.
After touring to support Desperado’s release, the Eagles again convened a recording session with Glyn Johns for their third album. Their desire to make harder rock music clashed with Johns’ sense of them as a country-rock band, however, and they split from the producer after recording two tracks, “You Never Cry Like a Lover” and “The Best of My Love.” After an early 1974 tour opened by singer/guitarist Joe Walsh, the band decided to hire Walsh‘s producer, Bill Szymczyk, who handled the rest of the sessions for On the Border. Szymczyk brought in a session guitarist, Don Felder (born in Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 1947), an old friend of Bernie Leadon‘s who so impressed the rest of the band that he was recruited to join the group.
On the Border was released in March 1974. It went gold and reached the Top Ten in June, the Eagles’ fastest-selling album yet. The first single, “Already Gone,” reached the Top 20 the same month. But the most successful song on the LP — the one that broke them through to a much larger audience — was “The Best of My Love,” which was released as a single in November. It hit number one on the easy listening charts in February 1975 and topped the pop charts a month later.
The Eagles’ fourth album, One of These Nights, was an out-of-the-box smash. Released in June 1975, it went gold the same month and hit number one in July. Moreover, it featured three singles that hit the Top Five: the chart-topping title song, “Lyin’ Eyes,” and “Take It to the Limit.” “Lyin’ Eyes” won the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus, and the Eagles also earned Grammy nominations for Album of the Year (One of These Nights) and Record of the Year (“Lyin’ Eyes”). The group went on a headlining world tour, beginning with the U.S. and expanding into Europe. But on December 20, 1975, it was announced that Bernie Leadon had quit the band, and Joe Walsh (born in Wichita, Kansas, on November 20, 1947) was brought in as his replacement. He immediately joined the tour, which continued to the Far East in early 1976.
The Eagles’ extensive touring kept them out of the studio, and with no immediate plans for a new album; they agreed to release a compilation, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), in February 1976. The album’s success proved to be surprisingly meteoric. It topped the charts and became a phenomenal success, eventually selling upwards of 25,000,000 copies and dueling with Michael Jackson‘s Thriller for the title of the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.
It took the Eagles 18 months to follow One of These Nights with their fifth album, Hotel California. Released in December 1976, the record was certified platinum in one week, hit number one in January 1977, and eventually sold over 10,000,000 copies. The singles “New Kid in Town” and “Hotel California” hit number one, and “Life in the Fast Lane” made the Top 20. Meanwhile, “Hotel California” won the 1977 Grammy for Record of the Year and was nominated for Song of the Year; the album itself was nominated for Album of the Year and for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus. The Eagles embarked on a world tour in March 1977 that began with a month in the U.S., followed by a month in Europe and the Far East, then returned to the U.S. in May for stadium dates. At the end of the tour in September, Randy Meisner left the band; he was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit (born in Sacramento, California, November 20, 1947), formerly of Poco, in which he had also replaced Meisner. (Randy Meisner died on July 26, 2023 at the age of 77.)
The Eagles began working on a new album in March 1978 and took nearly a year and a half to complete it. The Long Run was released in September 1979. It hit number one and was certified platinum after four months, eventually earning multi-platinum certifications. “Heartache Tonight,” its leadoff single, hit number one, and “I Can’t Tell You Why” and “The Long Run” became Top Ten hits. “Heartache Tonight” won the 1979 Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The Eagles toured the U.S. in 1980, and at a week-long series of shows at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, they recorded Eagles Live. (Also included were some tracks recorded in 1976.) Released in November 1980, the double LP (since reissued as a single CD) reached the Top Five and went multi-platinum, with the single “Seven Bridges Road” reaching the Top 40.
The Eagles were inactive after the end of their 1980 tour, but their breakup was not officially announced until May 1982. All five released solo recordings. (Walsh, of course, maintained a solo career before, during, and after the Eagles.) During the rest of the ’80s, the bandmembers received several lucrative offers to reunite, but they declined. In 1990, Frey and Henley began writing together again, and they performed along with Schmit and Walsh at benefit concerts that spring. A full-scale reunion was rumored, but did not take place. Four years later, however, the Eagles did reunite. In the spring of 1994, they taped an MTV concert special and then launched a tour that ended up running through August 1996. The MTV show aired in October, followed in November by an audio version of it, the album Hell Freezes Over, which topped the charts and became a multi-million seller, spawning the Top 40 pop hit “Get Over It” and the number one adult contemporary hit “Love Will Keep Us Alive.”
The Eagles next appeared together in January 1998 for their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, when the five present members performed alongside past members Leadon and Meisner. On December 31, 1999, they played a millennium concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that was recorded and included on the box set retrospective Selected Works: 1972-1999 in November 2000. All was not well within the band, however, and Felder was expelled from the lineup in February 2001. A protracted legal battle ensued as the Eagles soldiered on as a quartet, releasing The Very Best of the Eagles in 2003 and achieving minor success with the single “Hole in the World.” Felder‘s case was settled out of court in 2007; that same year, the Eagles returned with the band’s seventh studio album, Long Road Out of Eden, a double-disc album that quickly went multi-platinum. In 2013, the band made the documentary History of the Eagles, and toured behind it until mid-2015. Six months later, Glenn Frey became ill and passed away on January 18, 2016. He was 67. Just over a year after Frey‘s death, the Eagles were revived with Glenn‘s son Deacon taking his place; Vince Gill also joined on guitars and vocals. The group played the Classic West and Classic East festivals in July of 2017, then set out on the road in 2018. At the end of the year, the group’s entire discography was boxed up as the Legacy set. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Most rock & roll bands are a tightly wound unit that developed their music through years of playing in garages and clubs around their hometown. Steely Dan never subscribed to that aesthetic. As the vehicle for the songwriting of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan defied all rock & roll conventions. Becker and Fagen never truly enjoyed rock — with their ironic humor and cryptic lyrics, their eclectic body of work shows some debt to Bob Dylan — preferring jazz, traditional pop, blues, and R&B. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. With producer Gary Katz, Becker and Fagen gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring professional musicians to record their compositions. Though the band didn’t perform live between 1974 and 1993, Steely Dan’s popularity continued to grow throughout the ’70s as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of AOR and pop radio stations. Even after the group disbanded in the early ’80s, their records retained a cult following, as proven by the massive success of their unlikely return to the stage in the early ’90s.
Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards) were the core members of Steely Dan throughout its various incarnations. The two met at Bard College in New York in 1967 and began playing in bands together shortly afterward. The duo played in a number of groups — including the Bad Rock Group, which featured future comedic actor Chevy Chase on drums — which ranged from jazz to progressive rock. Eventually, Becker and Fagen began composing songs together, hoping to become professional songwriters in the tradition of the Brill Building. In 1970, the pair joined Jay & the Americans‘ backing band, performing under pseudonyms; Becker chose Gustav Mahler, while Fagen used Tristan Fabriani. They stayed with Jay & the Americans until halfway through 1971, when they recorded the soundtrack for the low-budget film You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, which was produced by the Americans‘ Kenny Vance. Following the recording of the soundtrack, Becker and Fagen attempted to start a band with Denny Dias, but the venture was unsuccessful. Barbra Streisand recorded the Fagen/Becker composition “I Mean to Shine” on her album Barbra Joan Streisand, released in August 1971, and the duo met producer Gary Katz, who hired them as staff songwriters for ABC/Dunhill in Los Angeles, where he had just become a staff producer. Katz suggested that Becker and Fagen form a band as a way to record their songs, and Steely Dan — who took their name from a dildo in William Burroughs‘ Naked Lunch — were formed shortly afterward.
Recruiting guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder, and keyboardist/vocalist David Palmer, Becker and Fagen officially formed Steely Dan in 1972, releasing their debut, Can’t Buy a Thrill, shortly afterward. Palmer and Fagen shared lead vocals on the album, but the record’s two hit singles — the Top Ten “Do It Again” and “Reeling in the Years” — were sung by Fagen. Can’t Buy a Thrill was a critical and commercial success, but its supporting tour was a disaster, hampered by an under-rehearsed band and unappreciative audiences. Palmer left the band following the tour. Countdown to Ecstasy, released in 1973, was a critical hit, but it failed to generate a hit single, even though the band supported it with a tour.
Steely Dan replaced Hodder with Jeff Porcaro and added keyboardist/backup vocalist Michael McDonald prior to recording their third album, Pretzel Logic. Released in the spring of 1974, Pretzel Logic returned Steely Dan to the Top Ten on the strength of the single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” After completing the supporting tour for Pretzel Logic, Becker and Fagen decided to retire from live performances and make Steely Dan a studio-based band. For their next album, 1975’s Katy Lied, the duo hired a variety of studio musicians — including Dias, Porcaro, guitarist Elliot Randall, saxophonists Phil Woods, bassist Wilton Felder, percussionist Victor Feldman, keyboardist Michael Omartian, and guitarist Larry Carlton — as supporting musicians. Katy Lied was another hit, as was 1976’s The Royal Scam, which continued in the vein of its predecessor. On 1977’s Aja, Steely Dan’s sound became more polished and jazzy, as they hired jazz fusion artists like Wayne Shorter, Lee Ritenour, and the Crusaders as support. Aja became their biggest hit, reaching the Top Five within three weeks of release and becoming one of the first albums to be certified platinum. Aja also gained the respect of many jazz musicians, as evidenced by Woody Herman recording an album of Becker/Fagen songs in 1978.
Following the release of Aja, ABC was bought out by MCA Records, resulting in a contractual dispute with the label that delayed until 1980 the release of their follow-up album. During the interim, the group had a hit with the theme song for the film FM in 1978. Steely Dan finally released Gaucho, the follow-up to Aja, in late 1980, and it became another Top Ten hit for the group. During the summer of 1981, Becker and Fagen announced that they were parting ways. The following year, Fagen released his solo debut, The Nightfly, which became a critical and commercial hit.
Fagen didn’t record another album until 1993, when he reunited with Becker, who produced Kamakiriad. The album was promoted by the first Steely Dan tour in nearly 20 years, and while the record failed to sell, the concerts were very popular. In 1994, Becker released his solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack, which was produced by Fagen. The following year, Steely Dan mounted another reunion tour, and in early 2000 the duo issued Two Against Nature, their first new studio album in two decades. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Steely Dan followed it in 2003 with Everything Must Go. Fagen‘s solo album Morph the Cat was released in 2006, and Becker released Circus Money in 2008 as Steely Dan embarked on another tour. In September 2017, it was announced that Becker had died in Maui, Hawaii. He was 67-years-old.
Fagen carried on with Steely Dan after Becker‘s passing, often calling the group “the Steely Dan Band.” This new lineup was showcased on a pair of live albums released in September 2021: Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live and Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly Live, both recorded between 2018 and 2019. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

John 5 at EL Ray in Los Angeles, CA
2024-01-27 19:00 - 23:30 | El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 90036, United States
When Guitar World convened their State of Guitar in 2021 all-star summit, JOHN 5 appeared on the magazine’s cover, right alongside Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Tool’s Adam Jones. Without a doubt, his reputation as a guitar-slinging troubadour and top-notch shredder is well-earned, recognized by friends, peers, and collaborators like Slash, Paul Gilbert, and Steve Vai over the years. But the man whose passport reads “John William Lowery” is more than a postmodern guitar hero. An eclectic showman and horror-obsessed pop culture maverick, his tastes and talent are as vast and diverse as his renowned collection of guitars and as robust as his expansive discography. As evidenced by the latest slab of sinister sounds credited to his JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES outfit, the Michigan-born musician, who moved to Hollywood as a teen to pursue his rock n’ roll dreams, follows his artistic muse wherever it leads. SINNER is pure JOHN 5, summoned with the same mix of vibrant energy and passionate emotion beloved by fans of his work as guitarist for Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and David Lee Roth. His 5th record with Zombie, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, became the hard rock icon’s first No. 1 album. The debut single from L.A. RATS, pairing John and Zombie with Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe) and Tommy Clueftos (Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie), cracked Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Top 40. The key to it all was John’s uniquely identifiable style, which he nails on SINNER.

Armed with one guitar–his battered-and-bruised, heavily-customized Gibson Les Paul, aka “Old Glory” – a gritty, soul-stirring voice, and an unshakable spirit, Jared James Nichols reaffirms the power and glory of good ol’ hot-wired, blues-drenched rock ‘n’ roll. Since the beginning, Nichols has carved out his own singular path in the music world and his new songs reveal newfangled sides and a different level of depth to the JJN experience. On Skin ‘n Bone, Nichols takes an introspective look at what divides us as people, but also, what should unite us.
Known for his high-energy, pick-less guitar-playing from his electrifying riff-‘n’-roll from records like his 2015 debut Old Glory & the Wild Revival, and the 2018 follow up Black Magic, Jared has performed over 400 live dates traveling around the world with his band and performed onstage with giants like Slash, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Zakk Wylde, and the late, great Leslie West, among others.
In 2021, Jared was officially welcomed into the Gibson family as a brand ambassador alongside the likes of Slash and Dave Mustaine (from Megadeth), and will release his EP – Shadow Dancer – on September 17th.

Orianthi + The Black Moods at Celebrity Theatre
2024-02-04 19:30 - 23:30 | Celebrity Theatre, 440 N 32nd St,, Phoenix, AZ, 85008, United States
Australian-born guitarist and singer Orianthi Panagaris, aka Orianthi, is a virtuoso performer whose sound is steeped in hard rock traditions. She first began wowing audiences in her teens, opening for Steve Vai and jamming with Carlos Santana. After issuing her debut long-player Violet Journey in 2005, Orianthi relocated to Los Angeles where she performed on national television with Carrie Underwood and was part of Michael Jackson‘s planned This Is It tour. She broke through to a wider audience with 2009’s Believe, netting the international hit single “According to You.” Along with her own albums, like 2013’s Heaven in This Hell, she has continued to earn respect from veteran rock icons, including forming the group RSO with Richie Sambora, with whom she released Radio Free America in 2018. Through it all, Orianthi’s searing fretboard skills and passion for anthemic rock remain her focus, as evidenced by 2020’s O and 2022’s Rock Candy.
Born in 1985 in Adelaide, Australia, Orianthi Panagaris was only six when she fell in love with the electric guitar, thanks to her dad’s record collection. Legendary names like Clapton, Hendrix, and Santana influenced decision to take lessons. She spent five years learning the acoustic guitar before switching to the electric at the age 11. Playing in bands since she was 14, she performed in her first stage show for Steve Vai at the age 15. Subsequently, she left school, turned her focus to songwriting, and began her professional career. Three years later, at 18, while working as a studio and utility player, Orianthi met and jammed with Carlos Santana in Adelaide. He invited her on-stage to play during his soundcheck and was so impressed he asked her to perform with him that night. The single-song guest spot evolved into a 30-minute jam. With Santana‘s enthusiastic endorsement, she went on to share stages with Prince, ZZ Top, and others. In 2006 she independently released her debut album Violet Journey. Not only did it receive enthusiastic press response, it won her a record deal with Geffen. The album was reissued a year later by Universal, while she played as an opener for guitarist Steve Vai on a world tour.
Upon her return, Orianthi emigrated to Los Angeles. While working on her sophomore album she played extensively as a session and touring musician. Her abilities were noted by millions of television viewers when she joined Carrie Underwood‘s band for a 2009 Grammy Awards performance. That same year, an email invitation arrived asking her to audition for Michael Jackson, who was assembling a band for a 50-date residency at London’s O2 Arena. One blistering rendition of the “Beat It” solo was enough to land the gig, but the King of Pop unexpectedly passed in June of that same year. Orianthi sang at the memorial service, and rehearsal footage of the guitarist backing Jackson was featured in the popular film Michael Jackson’s This Is It.
Her second long-player, Believe, arrived several days before the movie’s release, featuring the Top 20 single “According to You.” It was re-released in 2010 as Believe (II) with four different songs, including a cover of John Waite‘s “Missing You.” It also featured a guest spot from Vai on the tune “Highly Strung.” The set charted inside the top half of the Top 200. The following year, Orianthi released the digital EP Fire featuring production from the Eurythmics‘ Dave Stewart. In 2013, Orianthi returned with her third full-length album, Heaven in This Hell. Also produced by Stewart, it contained all five tracks from the EP and centered on modern country and blues. It charted inside the Top 40 on the Independent Albums chart. Orianthi also appeared during the Top Seven week on season 12 of American Idol to play guitar for each of the performances.
While working with Cooper in 2013, she met former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora who was vacationing in Hawaii. Cooper, who was playing a benefit for the Maui Food Bank, invited Sambora on-stage. He and Orianthi played Hendrix‘s “Voodoo Child” and Montrose‘s “Rock Candy” (the latter was sung by its original vocalist Sammy Hagar). The pair hit it off professionally and personally. A month later, Sambora invited Orianthi to join him for a tour of Europe and Australia. By the time it ended, they were a romantic couple. After fulfilling her remaining commitments to Cooper (while fending off numerous invites from Prince to join his band), Orianthi and Sambora built a home studio while making plans for a recorded musical collaboration. It took two years, but by 2015, the pair’s band, called RSO (after their respective initials) enlisted Bob Rock as producer and began tracking some of the 70-plus songs they had penned together. In 2017 they released the five-track EP Rise and followed it a year later with the album Radio Free America. In May of 2018, they performed during the 11th season of the PBS performance series Soundstage. Though they eventually split as a couple, RSO remained a going concern.
In November of 2020, Orianthi released her fourth solo album, O, produced by Marti Frederiksen on Frontiers Records. It was followed two years later by Live from Hollywood, a concert album recorded at L.A.’s Bourbon Room. On the heels of that release, she delivered her fifth studio album, 2022’s Jacob Bunton-produced Rock Candy. ~ Matt Collar & Thom Jurek, Rovi

Born in the Arizona desert and reared on stages across North America, The Black Moods deliver a modern update of a timeless sound, breathing fresh life into a familiar mix of electric guitars, anthemic hooks, and percussive stomp. The Black Moods’ three members — frontman/guitarist Josh Kennedy, drummer Chico Diaz and bassist Jordan Hoffman — aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they’re piling into a vehicle that’s existed for decades, souping up the engine to suit their contemporary needs, and steering those wheels toward their own rock & roll horizon.
The band formed in Tempe, Arizona. Inspired by local heroes like the Gin Blossoms and Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers — both of whom have become champions of the Black Moods, often tapping the group as a high-profile opening act — The Black Moods began building their audience the old-school way: by hitting the road. They toured heavily, promoting albums like their 2012 self-titled debut and 2016’s Medicine with gigs across the country. By the time “Bella Donna” hit the radio airwaves during the summer of 2018, The Black Moods’ fanbase had grown exponentially. The song became a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, paving the way for the band’s biggest shows to date.
Modern-day torchbearers of ageless rock & roll, The Black Moods aren’t shy about nodding to their influences. “Bella Donna” was inspired by the Doors’ slinky strut, while the chorus of “Bad News” points to rockers like the Foo Fighters.

Tool & Elder at Footprint Center
2024-02-09 19:30 - 23:30, 2024-02-10 19:30 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Tool established themselves as one of America’s most enduring and unpredictable acts with an ever-evolving brand of muscular but mind-altering sonics, a wry sense of humor, and a mystical aesthetic that attracted a cult-like following of devoted fans with just a handful of albums spread across decades. Their greatest breakthrough was to meld dark underground metal with the ambition of art rock, crafting multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were classical composers. While embracing the artsy, they also paid musical homage to the relentlessly bleak visions of grindcore, death metal, and thrash. Even with their post-punk influences, they executed their music with the sound and feel of prog rock, alternating between long, detailed instrumental interludes and lyrical rants in their songs. Debuting in the early ’90s with Undertow, they were initially lumped in with the nu-metal contemporaries of the time, which made them a hit on rock radio with their sophomore effort, 1996’s Ænima. However, they soon broke away from those associations, evolving beyond the confines of traditional song structures and song lengths, crafting epics that often clocked in past the ten-minute mark on LP head-trips Lateralus (2001) and 10,000 Days (2006). After a lengthy 13-year hiatus, they returned to the fold in 2019 with their fifth opus, the chart-topping, Grammy-nominated Fear Inoculum. In 2022, they celebrated their 30th anniversary with “Opiate²,” a re-recorded version of their debut single.
Formed in Los Angeles by percussionist Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, and original bassist Paul D’Amour, Tool had a knack for conveying the strangled, oppressive angst that the alternative nation of the early ’90s claimed as its own, which helped them slip into the scene during the post-Nirvana era. Buffered by a prime slot on the third Lollapalooza tour in 1993, their debut full-length album, Undertow (Zoo Entertainment), rocketed to platinum status. Fervor for the band even resurrected their first effort, 1992’s Opiate EP, on the Billboard charts. While they were in the studio recording a follow-up, D’Amour amicably parted ways with Tool and his spot was filled by Justin Chancellor. By the time the fresh quartet delivered their sophomore album, Ænima, in late 1996, the alternative rock mainstream was ready. The album shot to number two on the Billboard charts and was certified multi-platinum in less than a decade. Singles “Stinkfist,” “Forty Six & 2,” and the Grammy-winning title track were all Top Ten hits on the U.S. Rock chart, boosted by the twisted and often disturbing music videos created by Jones. After a co-headlining slot with Korn on Lollapalooza ’97, Tool remained on the road, supporting Ænima into the next year.
As nu-metal established its mainstream dominance at the close of the decade, Tool returned to the shadows. During their hiatus, Keenan formed a side project with former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel. A Perfect Circle debuted in 2000, and their album Mer de Noms was a surprise hit. Their ensuing tour was a sold-out success as well, which only served to fuel Tool breakup rumors. To quell the speculation, they issued the stopgap B-sides/DVD set Salival late the same year. Meanwhile, in the studio, the band continued to journey down a new path that further distanced them from the mainstream. Delving deeper into their own mythos, songs grew longer, lyrics more inscrutable, and artwork increasingly psychedelic. Though they retained their pummeling, metal-oriented base, the quartet smashed the formula by further experimenting with complex time signatures, expansive atmospherics, and a classical approach to song compositions. The first taste of 21st century Tool arrived in January 2001 with the Grammy-winning single, “Schism,” which was also their first song to chart on the Hot 100. Lateralus (Volcano) arrived that May, topping the Billboard 200. Subsequent singles “Parabola” and “Lateralus” were favorites on the U.S. Rock charts, and the album soon went multi-platinum.
After another several-year sabbatical — during which time Keenan bounced back to A Perfect Circle — the group returned with another chart-topper, 2006’s 10,000 Days. Their most esoteric statement yet, the album spawned the singles “Vicarious,” “Jambi,” and U.S. Mainstream Rock number one “The Pot.” Although it was also the band’s lowest-selling effort to date, the record still managed to win the group their third Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. At the conclusion of touring, Tool began another extended hiatus. Although the band re-emerged for a brief summer tour in 2009, it would be another ten years before fans could hear new music. During this period, Keenan debuted his de facto solo project, Puscifer, and returned for a third album with A Perfect Circle. Behind the scenes, the band was also bogged down by a lawsuit that wouldn’t be resolved until 2015. The next year, shaking off the cobwebs, Tool returned to the road for another quick jaunt in the U.S., kicking off another cycle of speculation from fans starved for new material.
After an interminable 13-year gap between albums, Tool returned in 2019 with their epic fifth album, Fear Inoculum. Their third straight chart-topper, the set also featured their second Hot 100 placement to date, the ten-minute title track, which became the longest song to ever appear on that chart. Meanwhile, for the first time, Tool made their entire discography available for streaming; this propelled all of their past albums back to the charts, breaking records in the process. They embarked on a sold-out arena tour of the U.S. alongside Killing Joke and capped their successful comeback with a pair of Grammy nominations for “7empest” and “Fear Inoculum.” The former track scored them a Grammy in 2020 for Best Metal Performance. In March 2022, they released “Opiate²,” a re-recorded version of their 1991 single “Opiate,” issued to mark the 30th anniversary of their debut EP. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Elder is a genre-pushing rock band that melds heavy psychedelic sounds with progressive elements and evocative soundscapes. Formed in a small coastal town in Massachusetts in the mid aughts, the band has reinvented their sound over the course of six albums to grow from a stalwart of the stoner/doom scene into one of the most unique voices in the heavy rock underground. Their long-scale compositions unfold as journeys, running the gamut of styles from the 70’s to the present within a single song with a penchant for “sheer gatefold-era grandeur” (Rolling Stone).

Tool at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, CA
2024-02-14 19:30 - 23:30, 2024-02-15 19:30 - 23:30 | Crypto Arena, 1111 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA, 90015

BEARTOOTH + The Plot In You at The Van Buren
2024-02-20 17:30 - 23:30 | The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
The fearlessly determined and creative Ohio-based powerhouse perfected a sound sought by a generation of bands, equal parts solitary musical confession and celebratory exorcism. BEARTOOTH music is an outright refusal to suffer in silence, weaponizing radio-ready bombast to deliver raw emotion mixed with noise-rock chaos. They combine hard rock and hardcore in a way that’s smart, lean, melodic, and irresistible, without apology. After over 900 million streams from songs like “The Past is Dead,” “Fed Up,” and “In Between”, in addition to the band’s fourth album, Below, topping charts and finding its way into Best Rock/Metal Albums of the Year in 2021, Rolling Stone introduced BEARTOOTH as one of 10 New Artists You Need To Know. The 2013 Sick EP was an emotionally stranded Shomo’s “message in a bottle,” tossed into a figurative ocean. Disgusting (2014), Aggressive (2016), Disease (2018), and Below (2021) expanded those themes of desperation, each sonically getting a step closer to the magical balance between the blood, sweat, and tears of classic recordings and the smooth gloss of modern production. Their latest single “Riptide” is the culmination of that battle: a furiously courageous song of self-empowerment serving as a victory lap to memorialize a struggle with mental health and self-acceptance, which has defined so much of BEARTOOTH since its inception. BEARTOOTH offers no cure, but the recovery comes in the process; the journey is the destination. So enjoy the ride.

Through balancing even the most extreme dynamics, The Plot In You consistently overturn and upend expectations. On any given track, it might seem like they’re about to go one way, but the band will turn on a dime and shift course before the crowd can even catch a breath. This uncanny element of surprise has entrenched the gold-selling Ohio quartet—Landon Tewers [vocals], Josh Childress [guitar], Ethan Yoder [bass], and Michael Cooper [drums]—on the cutting edge of heavy music. Whether it be threads of alternative, electronic, pop, or R&B, nothing is off limits, and everything is fair game for their creative process. That process has continued to morph. Following a series of fan favorite releases, the band made major waves with DISPOSE [2018]. “FEEL NOTHING” surged on social media as a viral phenomenon, generating hundreds of millions of streams and picking up a gold certification from the RIAA. The musicians only maintained this momentum with Swan Song in 2021. Hysteria rated it “9-out-of-10.” Simultaneously, they sold out shows coast-to-coast. During 2023, the band kickstarted another era with Vol. 1. “Divide” generated 9 million Spotify streams right out of the gate followed by “Left Behind,” exploding to the tune of 15.9 million Spotify streams. Upon the arrival of “Forgotten,” Revolver praised it among the “6 Best New Songs Right Now.”

Amid a generation gripped by loneliness, fear, and a desperate concern for the state of the world, Invent Animate are grabbing fans by the hand and choosing to walk with them.
There’s a sense of duty among the band – comprising vocalist Marcus Vik, bassist Caleb Sherradan, drummer Trey Celaya and guitarist Keaton Goldwire – to bare their own pain and tragedy for their listeners, indeed creating a safe, familiar place for listeners to process their own. It’s this deeply empathic and concerned approach to their output that sets Invent Animate apart, and has seen the band develop a close knit, cult-like following over their 10 years together. Stationed across Texas, Colorado and now Sweden (following Vik’s recruitment in 2019), the four-piece mark the latest addition to the UNFD roster. Home to a plethora of the band’s touring partners including Silent Planet and ERRA, alongside Spotify “sounds like” mates such as Like Moths To Flames, Void Of Vision, and Thornhill, Invent Animate perfectly complement their new label address with their ambient metalcore, djent and prog blends.

In January 2023, Sleep Theory’s first song (“Another Way”) hit 500k views on TikTok within 36 hours of its release. But what seemed like an overnight success was years in the making. Since retiring from the US Army several years ago, vocalist Cullen Moore’s dedicated his entire life to carving his own path in the music industry. Officially starting Sleep Theory in 2019, the current incarnation of his musical journey began as a studio project to fuse his love of hard rock, funk and R&B.
Now a four-piece band, Sleep Theory’s first two tracks both reached #1 on SiriusXM’s Octane, played their first run of shows to massive crowds, and signed to Epitaph Records for the release of their debut EP. Combining metalcore-like breakdowns with bluesy grooves and a pop sensibility made for modern radio, they’ve also racked up 13M global streams in 6 months and saw “Numb” crack the Top 40 on the Active Rock chart.

Gloria Trevi at Arizona Financial Theatre
2024-02-23 20:00 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
With more than 25 million social media followers, and surpassing over 30 million records sold worldwide, Gloria Trevi continues to be one of the most influential, impactful and inspiring Latin artists of all time. With a career record spanning over three decades, she’s been recognized with multiple high honors, including Billboard Latin and Premio Lo Nuestro awards, the BMI President’s Award and a Latin GRAMMY® nomination. In addition, she was recognized by Pollstar magazine as one of the “best-selling touring artists of the 21st century” and “the best-selling Mexican touring artist in North America.” Gloria Trevi made history in 2022 as the only female artist to have three tours simultaneously, which she also produced (Isla Divina World Tour, Trevi Hits and Valientes with Monica Naranjo). Her Isla Divina World Tour was recognized by Pollstar as the “second highest-grossing Latina female tour in North America of 2022” with more than 250,000 tickets sold. She was recently nominated for Premio Lo Nuestro 2023 for “Pop Album of the Year” (“Isla Divina”), “Female Pop Artist of the Year” and “Pop/Ballad Song of the Year” (“Ensayando Cómo Pedirte Perdon”). As the most successful Mexican songwriter of our time, Gloria Trevi kicked off 2023 with the same passion and fury that characterizes her, and just one month into the year she achieved 4 irrefutable SOLD OUTS in León, Monterrey and two in Mexico City. Undeniably, Gloria Trevi is not alone.

Olivia Rodrigo at Footprint Center
2024-02-24 19:30 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
After shattering records with her chart-topping, 4x Platinum debut album SOUR – the fastest album in history to have all of its songs certified RIAA Platinum or higher – Olivia Rodrigo makes a monumental return with her new album GUTS, revealing newly heightened sophistication as a vocalist and lyricist. Produced by and co-written with Daniel Nigro (her main creative partner on SOUR), each song intensifies the emotional honesty that’s always imbued her storytelling. Rodrigo expands her expressive palette, uncovering entirely new dimensions of her artistry, as exemplified by lead single “vampire.”
Hailed by Pitchfork as the “Best New Track” upon release, “vampire” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – as did SOUR hits “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” making Rodrigo the first artist ever to debut the lead singles from two career-opening albums atop the prestigious chart. The 20-year-old is the youngest artist in Hot 100 history to debut three hits at No. 1.
Named the #1 Album of 2021 by Rolling Stone and hailed as one of the Best Albums of 2021 by The New York Times, among others, SOUR is now triple Platinum in the U.S. and has sold over 16.8 million global album adjusted units with over 66 billion streams worldwide. She received seven GRAMMY® Award nominations—including nods in each of the Big Four categories—and took home awards for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 64th GRAMMY® Awards.

A purveyor of yearning keyboard pop and bright synth-backed anthems, Chappell Roan is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Her debut EP, School Nights, arrived on Atlantic in 2017, and she had a streaming smash with “Pink Pony Club” in 2020. She went the independent route for subsequent releases, including 2022’s “Naked in Manhattan” and “Feminomenon,” and 2023’s “Kaleidoscope” and “Red Wine Supernova.” Roan’s first full-length, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, landed in 2023.
Born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in Willard, Missouri, in 1998, she started taking piano lessons as a preteen as well as teaching herself to play along by ear to her favorite records. She was also a member of her school choir. After Roan won a school talent show in the eighth grade, her mother encouraged her to perform around town, and she soon began posting her music online. Still going by her given name, Kayleigh Rose, she visited New York City in 2015 for label showcases, and on the strength of the single “Die Young” ended up signing with Atlantic Records as a junior in high school. Taking the stage name Chappell Roan (a tribute to her grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell), her official debut single, “Good Hurt,” saw release in mid-2017. That September’s School Nights EP was accompanied by a tour in support of Vance Joy. By then relocated to Los Angeles, Roan next toured with Declan McKenna and issued a series of singles, including “Bitter” (2018) and “Pink Pony Club” (2020). A dramatic pop fantasy about a dancer, the latter song garnered millions of plays on streaming services.
Roan parted ways with Atlantic in 2020, later returning in early 2022 with her first new material in two years, “Naked in Manhattan.” A West Coast support slot for Olivia Rodrigo followed in May. She delivered more singles, including “My Kink Is Karma” and “Feminomenon,” before the end of the year. She kicked off 2023 with a headlining jaunt dubbed “The Naked in North America Tour,” also releasing the streaming hits “Red Wine Supernova” and “Kaleidoscope.” These tracks appeared on her official debut LP, the Dan Nigro-produced The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which arrived in September. Roan supported the breakthrough release with “The Midwest Princess Tour,” as well as a supporting slot on Olivia Rodrigo‘s GUTS tour.

Nicki Minaj at Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ
2024-03-13 20:00 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Nicki Minaj’s unique combination of ferocity and humor, and a rap style built on razor-sharp wordplay, mercilessly blunt lyricism, and delivery that turns on a dime from sugary to snarling, has skyrocketed her from mixtape phenom to enduring global pop star.The rapper’s early days included attempts at an acting career and losing her job at Red Lobster for being rude to customers, but she progressed quickly from MySpace demos to nationally adored mixtapes to household-name status. Pink Friday, Minaj’s 2010 album debut, saw her appeal to a broader audience with chart-topping reception. Although she has had similar success with later full-lengths such as 2014’s The Pinkprint and 2018’s Queen, her singles have made an even greater impact. In just over a decade, Minaj has hit the Top 40 over two-dozen times as a headliner with singles such as “Super Bass,” “Starships,” and “Anaconda.” These and other highlights were compiled in 2022 for Queen Radio, Vol. 1, an anthology containing the number one hit “Super Freaky Girl” among its new songs. Her Top 40 entries as a featured artist are even more numerous and include Kanye West‘s “Monster,” David Guetta‘s “Turn Me On,” and Ariana Grande‘s “Side to Side.” In 2023, Minaj finally released the long-awaited sequel to her debut with her fifth studio album Pink Friday 2.
Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj in 1982. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago to parents who were both gospel singers, she lived with her grandmother in Saint James until the age of five, when she joined her mother, who had relocated to Queens, New York. In high school she discovered the performing arts, setting her sights on acting as her main pursuit. She eventually transitioned into music, working as part of a group called the Hood$tars in the early 2000s before going solo. In 2007 she was discovered by Dirty Money Entertainment CEO Big Fendi, who happened upon her demos on MySpace and signed Maraj to the label. At Fendi’s suggestion, Maraj took on the stage name Nicki Minaj, jumbling her last name to reflect a more ruthless persona. Dirty Money Entertainment released both her 2007 debut mixtape, Playtime Is Over, and its 2008 follow-up, Sucka Free. Industry buzz was already surrounding Minaj on her earliest releases, and these mixtapes featured guest appearances from stars like Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Jadakiss, and Lil’ Kim.
The 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty was a favorite among a growing fan base and included her first songs to hit the Billboard charts. In August of 2009 Minaj signed to Lil Wayne‘s Young Money Entertainment, becoming the label’s first female artist. The floodgates opened from there, as Minaj made cameo appearances on tracks from Gucci Mane, Kanye West, Pusha T, and others as well as offering verses to hits like “Bedrock” and “Roger That” from the 2009 Young Money collaborative album We Are Young Money. An official non-mixtape debut album came in the form of Pink Friday, released in November of 2010 but preceded by the hit singles “Your Love” and “Check It Out.” The album saw her leaning more into a pop style than the hard-edged rap of her mixtapes, but the hybrid of the two proved immediately successful, and the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, selling upwards of 375,000 copies during its first week alone. She earned a handful of 2011 Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance. An all-out media blitz followed between albums, with extravagant performances at award shows across the globe, an appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and joining Madonna — alongside M.I.A. — for her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show.
In early 2012, the Euro-dance-influenced single “Starships” signaled the coming of her official sophomore effort, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, an album built around her devil-may-care alter ego “Roman Zolanski.” Guest artists included Nas, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, and Beenie Man, while production came from the likes of RedOne and Ke’Noe. The album hit number one on the U.S. album charts, driven by a Top Ten showing for “Starships,” and “Va Va Voom” also reached the Top 40. By the end of 2012, Minaj had been announced as a judge for the 12th season of American Idol, although she left at the end of the season. It hardly affected her success, as she set two career records during 2013: the most-charted female rapper in the history of Billboard’s singles chart, and the first person to win Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards four times in a row.
In December 2014, Minaj released her third studio album, The Pinkprint. First single “Lookin Ass” was also featured on the Young Money compilation Rise of an Empire released in March of that year, while follow-up “Anaconda” was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Filled with songs about guilt and failed relationships, the album was well received by critics and debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Throughout 2016, Minaj guested on numerous singles, including DJ Khaled‘s “Do You Mind” and Ariana Grande‘s “Side to Side,” and she also released her own “Black Barbies.” In 2017, she issued a trio of stand-alone singles: “Regret in Your Tears,” “Changed It” with Lil Wayne, and “No Frauds” with Lil Wayne and Drake. The latter track went gold and broke into the Top 20 of the Hot 100 and Top Ten of the R&B and rap charts. That year, she also appeared on the Migos track “MotorSport” with Cardi B, and on Jason Derulo‘s “Swalla” with Ty Dolla $ign.
She returned with the singles “Chun-Li” and “Barbie Tingz” in spring 2018, paving the way for her fourth studio album, Queen, which arrived in August of that year. In addition to third single “Bed” featuring Ariana Grande, the LP also features guests Labrinth, Eminem, Lil Wayne, the Weeknd, Future, Foxy Brown, and Swae Lee. Upon release, Queen matched its predecessor with a number two debut on the Billboard 200. More singles arrived the following year, including the non-album track “Megatron,” “Tusa” with Karol G, “Trollz” with 6ix9ine. Minaj was also featured alongside Murda Beatz on PnB Rock 2019 track “Fendi.” In February 2020, the rapper returned with her own stand-alone song “Yikes.” Minaj’s third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty was reissued in 2021, eleven years after its original release. The project was given new cover art and the track listing was altered somewhat, omitting some of the songs from the original 2009 release and including several new tracks. This new version of Minaj’s breakout project debuted in the number two spot on the Billboard 200, making it the highest-charting mixtape from a female rapper up to that point.
Throughout the early 2020s, Minaj continued her usual bevy of guest features and collaborations, appearing on tracks by Doja Cat, former Little Mix vocalist Jesy Nelson, BIA, and Elton John. In 2022, she scored more hits as a lead artist with the Lil Baby collaborations “Do We Have a Problem?” and “Bussin,” then topped the pop chart with “Super Freaky Girl.” All three of these singles were included on Queen Radio, Vol. 1, a celebratory anthology released that August. Minaj kicked off 2023 with the flamenco- and trap-inspired “Red Ruby da Sleeze,” which she followed with a feature on YoungBoy Never Broke Again‘s “WTF,” as well as collaborative singles with Ice Spice and Kim Petras, spots on tracks from Lil Uzi Vert and Sexyy Red, and a very on-brand take on Aqua‘s “Barbie World” (again with Ice Spice) for the Barbie soundtrack Barbie The Album. In September of 2023, Minaj released the slow-moving R&B song “Last Time I Saw You” following “Super Freaky Girl” as the second single to precede the upcoming album Pink Friday 2. The album, Minaj’s fifth proper studio effort and sequel to her 2010 studio debut Pink Friday, had been in the works since 2019 and was slated for release on December 8, 2023, the rapper’s 41st birthday. ~ David Jeffries & Fred Thomas

Madonna at Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ
2024-03-16 20:30 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Madonna changed the trajectory of popular music not long after “Borderline” became her first Top Ten hit in 1984. Fusing post-disco dance with effervescent pop, the song was unexpected and fresh, a trick that soon became her signature. Over a career that lasted for decades, Madonna ushered underground sounds into the mainstream, specializing in trends percolating in dance clubs. As she arrived at the dawn of the MTV era, she seized the possibilities of music videos, creating a series of sexy, stylish clips that earned her the reputation of a provocateur while also establishing the network as the bastion for hip culture in the 1980s. Madonna recorded many of the pop anthems that defined that decade — “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” “Live to Tell,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Open Your Heart,” “Like a Prayer,” “Express Yourself” — and in the process she created the archetype of a modern pop star: one whose music was inextricably tied with its visual representation, and one who was loathe to trade upon past glories. As Madonna entered her second decade of stardom, she continued to take artistic risks; she delved into modern R&B for 1994’s Bedtime Stories and electronica for 1998’s Ray of Light. During the 2000s and 2010s, Madonna continued to be driven by that restless artistic spirit, a move helped put the entirety of her body of work into perspective, emphasizing the common threads and consistency that run throughout her music — connections that were as evident on albums such as 2019’s Madame X as they were on retrospectives like Finally Enough Love, a 2022 chronicle of her dance club hits.
She moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977 with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit that had the hit “Born to Be Alive.” She traveled to Paris with Hernandez, and it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. A demo tape of these worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982.
Kamins produced Madonna’s first single, “Everybody,” which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983’s “Physical Attraction,” was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly “Holiday,” which was produced by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna’s self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983; “Holiday” became her first Top 40 hit the following month. “Borderline” became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits. While “Lucky Star” was climbing to number four, she began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan.
Madonna’s second album, the Nile Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After “Material Girl” became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys. “Crazy for You” became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn’t the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985 — both Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of Madonna that she’d posed for in 1977. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearance, being dubbed “Madonna wannabes.” In August, she married actor Sean Penn.
Madonna began collaborating with Patrick Leonard at the beginning of 1986; Leonard would co-write most of her biggest hits in the ’80s, including “Live to Tell,” which hit number one in June of 1986. A more ambitious and accomplished record than her two previous albums, True Blue was released the following month, to both more massive commercial success (it was a number one in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over five million copies in America alone) and critical acclaim. “Papa Don’t Preach” became her fourth number one hit in the U.S. While her musical career was thriving, her film career took a savage hit with the November release of Shanghai Surprise. Starring Madonna and Penn, the comedy received terrible reviews, which translated into disastrous box office returns.
At the beginning of 1987, she had her fifth number one single with “Open Your Heart,” the third number one from True Blue alone. The title cut from the soundtrack of her third feature film, Who’s That Girl?, was another chart-topping hit, although the film itself was another box office bomb. The year 1988 was relatively quiet for Madonna as she spent the first half of the year acting in David Mamet’s Speed the Plow on Broadway. In the meantime, she released the remix album You Can Dance. After withdrawing the divorce papers she filed at the beginning of 1988, she divorced Penn at the beginning of 1989.
Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most ambitious and far-reaching album, incorporating elements of pop, rock, and dance. It was another number one hit and launched the number one title track as well as “Express Yourself,” “Cherish,” and “Keep It Together,” three more Top Ten hits. In April 1990, she began her massive Blonde Ambition tour, which ran throughout the entire year. “Vogue” became a number one hit in May, setting the stage for her co-starring role in Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy; it was her most successful film appearance since Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna released a greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, at the end of the year. It featured two new songs, including the number one single “Justify My Love,” which sparked another controversy with its sexy video; the second new song, “Rescue Me,” became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales in the spring of 1991.
Madonna returned to the charts in the summer of 1992 with the number one “This Used to Be My Playground,” a single featured in the film A League of Their Own, which featured the singer in a small part. Later that year, Madonna released Sex, an expensive, steel-bound soft-core pornographic book that featured hundreds of erotic photographs of herself, several models, and other celebrities — including Isabella Rossellini, Big Daddy Kane, Naomi Campbell, and Vanilla Ice — as well as selected prose. Sex received scathing reviews and enormous negative publicity, but that didn’t stop the accompanying album, Erotica, from selling over two million copies. Bedtime Stories, released two years later, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. Initially, it didn’t chart as impressively, prompting some critics to label her a has-been, yet the album spawned her biggest hit, “Take a Bow,” which spent seven weeks at number one. It also featured the Björk-penned “Bedtime Stories,” which became her first single not to make the Top 40; its follow-up, “Human Nature,” also failed to crack the Top 40. Nevertheless, Bedtime Stories marked her seventh album to go multi-platinum.
Beginning in 1995, Madonna began one of her most subtle image makeovers as she lobbied for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Evita. Backing away from the overt sexuality of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, Madonna recast herself as an upscale sophisticate, and the compilation Something to Remember fit into the plan nicely. Released in the fall of 1995, around the same time she won the coveted role of Evita Peron, the album was comprised entirely of ballads, designed to appeal to the mature audience that would also be the target of Evita. As the filming was completed, Madonna announced she was pregnant and her daughter, Lourdes, was born late in 1996, just as Evita was scheduled for release. The movie was greeted with generally positive reviews and Madonna began a campaign for an Oscar nomination that resulted in her winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy), but not the coveted Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack for Evita, however, was a modest hit, with a dance remix of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and the newly written “You Must Love Me” both becoming hits.
In 1997, she worked with producer William Orbit on her first album of new material since 1994’s Bedtime Stories. The resulting release, Ray of Light, was heavily influenced by electronica, techno, and trip-hop, thereby updating her classic dance-pop sound for the late ’90s. Ray of Light received uniformly excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and debuted at number two on the charts. Within a month, the record was shaping up to be her biggest album since Like a Prayer. Two years later she returned with Music, which reunited her with Orbit and also featured production work from Mark “Spike” Stent and Mirwais, a French electropop producer/musician in the vein of Daft Punk and Air.
The year 2000 also saw the birth of Madonna’s second child, Rocco, whom she had with filmmaker Guy Ritchie; the two married at the very end of the year. With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the film Swept Away in 2002; the movie didn’t fare well with critics or at the box office. Her sober 2003 album, American Life, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts but it didn’t generate any hit singles in America, but it did produce two hit singles in the U.K., “Nothing Fails” and “Love Profusion.” That same year also saw the release of Madonna’s successful children’s book, The English Roses, which was followed by several more novels in future years.
Confessions on a Dance Floor marked her return to music, specifically to the dance-oriented material that had made her a star. Released in late 2005, the album topped the Billboard 200 chart and was accompanied by a worldwide tour in 2006, the same year that I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, a CD/DVD made during her Re-Invention Tour, came out. In 2007, Madonna released another CD/DVD set, The Confessions Tour, this time chronicling her tour of the same name.
She inched closer to the completion of her Warner Bros. contract with 2008’s Hard Candy, featuring collaborations with the Neptunes and Timbaland. As poorly received as it was, the bold album boasted a Top Five hit in “4 Minutes,” and it was supported with the Sticky & Sweet Tour, which concluded in September 2009 (a month prior to her filing for divorce from Ritchie) and produced yet another CD/DVD package, released in 2010. It was her final Warner Bros. release and set the stage for her long-term recording deal with Live Nation.
Madonna began work on her 12th album midway through 2011, with the goal of releasing it early in 2012. The subsequent full-length, MDNA, featured production from French electronic musician and DJ Martin Solveig, as well as longtime collaborator Orbit. The album’s title, an abbreviation of Madonna’s name, appeared on the heels of her performance at the 2012 Super Bowl. Preceded by the Top Ten single “Give Me All Your Luvin'” (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.), MDNA debuted at number one across the world, including the U.S. and U.K. Her MDNA Tour took up the rest of the year, as she performed in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America. She filmed a concert special, and also released the live album MDNA World Tour in September 2013. At the beginning of 2014, Madonna announced that she was starting work on her 13th studio album. Taking to social media to capture the process, she revealed that recording sessions with the likes of Avicii, Diplo, and Kanye West had taken place. Excerpts from the sessions leaked toward the end of 2014, forcing Madonna to release a digital teaser EP by the end of the year. The full release of Rebel Heart came in March 2015; the album peaked at number two in the U.S. and U.K. She toured from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016, playing more than 75 dates in North America, Europe, and Asia.
In April 2019, Madonna began to issue singles leading up to the June release of her 14th album, Madame X, starting with “Medellín,” a collaboration with Colombian reggaeton singer Maluma. The album featured co-production by Mirwais, Mike Dean, Diplo, and Jason Evigan, as well as collaborations with guest artists including Brazilian singer Anitta and rappers Swae Lee and Quavo.
Upon its June 14, 2019 release, Madame X debuted at number one in the U.S. and number two in the U.K., generating four number one Billboard Dance Club hits: “Medellin,” “Crave,” “I Rise,” and “I Don’t Search I Find.” Madonna’s remarkable four-decade run at the top of the Dance Club charts was chronicled on Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, a 2022 compilation that featured nearly all of her chart-topping dance singles. Finally Enough Love was the first release in a prospective reissue program by Warner, launched in 2022 to celebrate her 40th anniversary as a recording artist. This catalog series coincided with Madonna developing a biopic chronicling her own career, a film she planned to direct herself. In June 2023, she joined the Weeknd and Playboi Carti for the song “Popular” as part of the soundtrack to the Netflix drama The Idol. A month later, she embarked on The Celebration Tour, her first greatest-hits-themed live show. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Bob the Drag Queen is a drag performer and recording artist best known for winning the eighth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She has released various hit singles since her run on Drag Race (Purse First, Yet Another Dig) and appeared on television (A Black Lady Sketch Show, We’re Here) and film (Cherry Pop, The Queens). She currently co-hosts the podcast “Sibling Rivalry” with Monét X Change and continues to inspire others with his iconic comedy chops.

Bruce Springsteen at Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ
2024-03-19 19:30 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, 85004, United States
Bruce Springsteen’s recording career spans over 40 years, beginning with 1973’s ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ’ (Columbia Records). He has garnered 20 Grammys, won an Oscar and a Tony, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received a Kennedy Center Honor and was MusiCares’ 2013 Person of the Year. Springsteen’s memoir ‘Born to Run’ (Simon & Schuster) and its companion album ‘Chapter and Verse’ were released in September 2016, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2016. His historic 236-show run of ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre from October 2017 to December 2018 also yielded an accompanying soundtrack album and Netflix special. In 2019, Springsteen released ‘Western Stars,’ his first studio album in five years, and together with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny he co-directed ‘Western Stars,’ a feature film released through Warner Bros.

Go Ahead and Die, with Bodybox and Deep Within at The 44
2024-03-23 19:00 - 23:30 | The 44 Sports Grill and Nightlife, 4494 W Peoria Ave, Glendale, AZ, 85302, United States
Arizona death-crusters GO AHEAD AND DIE will deliver their caustic sophomore album Unhealthy Mechanisms on October 20, 2023 via Nuclear Blast Records. A torrential whirlwind born from the livid minds of Igor Amadeus Cavalera (HEALING MAGIC) and Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY). This new installment to the band’s dystopian catalog is a fresh dive into the madness of society and the pollution that ravages our minds.
GO AHEAD AND DIE is: Max Cavalera | Vocals, Guitar Igor Amadeus Cavalera | Vocals, Guitar, Bass Johnny Valles | Drums

TWO FISTED TWO STEPPIN DOUBLEWIDE DEATH METAL. STRAIGHT FROM FLORIDA. MAGGOT STOMP.

Arizona Bike Week 2024 at WestWorld of Scottsdale
2024-04-03 08:00 - 2024-04-07 23:30 | WestWorld of Scottsdale, 16601 North Pima Road, Scottsdale, AZ, 85260, United States
What is Arizona Bike Week?
Arizona Bike Week is a five-day celebration of motorcycles and music, all located at WestWorld in Scottsdale, AZ. In the ABW PowerYard, you’ll find hundreds of vendors, builders, dealers and manufacturers, offering all the best elements of the powersports industry. Plus, daily stunt shows, contests, live entertainment and bike shows. The RockYard features nightly blockbuster concerts at the most affordable ticket pricing you’ll find.
TICKETS

Brittany Howard + June McDoom at Marquee Theatre
2024-04-13 18:30 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
With five Grammy® wins and sixteen nominations, Brittany Howard follows up her massively acclaimed solo debut Jaime with the new single “What Now” and teases what is to come from her upcoming album of the same name. Like Jaime (whose celebratory single “Stay High” earned a Grammy for Best Rock Song), What Now finds Howard once again taking the helm as producer and working closely with longtime collaborator engineer/co-producer/co-mixer Shawn Everett. The album emerged through a deliberately free-flowing process, with Howard doubling down on the unfettered creativity that’s long defined her work. “What Now” takes on a potent urgency fueled by its syncopated grooves, blistering guitar riffs, and fiercely honest lyrics (“I’ve been making plans that don’t include you anymore/My heart wants to stay but I don’t know what for”). “‘What Now’ is maybe the truest and bluest of all the songs,” says Howard. “It’s never my design to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I needed to say what was on my mind without editing myself. I like how it’s a song that makes you want to dance, but at the same time the lyrics are brutal.” There’s a double meaning to the title of What Now. “With the world we’re living in now, it feels like we’re all just trying to hang onto our souls,” says the Nashville-based musician and front woman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes. “Everything seems to be getting more extreme and everyone keeps wondering, ‘What now? What’s next?’

June McDoom is an emerging singer-songwriter based in New York City. Her unique approach to folk music incorporates influences of early soul, reggae, and vintage analog experimentation into a new world all its own.

Sessanta with Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
2024-04-16 19:30 - 2024-04-17 23:30 | Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, 2121 N 83rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85035, United States
A post-punk Rush spiked with the sensibility and humor of Frank Zappa, Primus’ songs are often secondary to showcasing their instrumental prowess. Led by elastic bassist and sole constant member Les Claypool, their music is willfully weird and experimental, but it’s not alienating; the band was able to turn its goofy weirdness into pop stardom. At first, Primus were strictly an underground phenomenon, but in the years between their third and fourth albums, their cult snowballed. Released in 1991, Sailing the Seas of Cheese found mainstream success and spawned the alt-rock hit “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.” Pork Soda (1993) and Tales from the Punchbowl (1995) received platinum and gold certification, respectively. Citing creative stagnation, the band ceased operations after the release of 1999’s Antipop but re-formed as a touring entity in 2010. Since then, Primus has remained active, releasing idiosyncratic efforts like Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble (2014), The Desaturating Seven (2017), and the EP Conspiranoia (2022), with the core trio of Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde, and drummer Tim Alexander.
Primus is all about Les Claypool; there isn’t a moment on any of their records where his bass isn’t the main focal point of the music, with his vocals acting as a bizarre sideshow. Which isn’t to deny guitarist Larry LaLonde or drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander any credit; no drummer could weave in and around Claypool‘s complicated patterns as effortlessly as Alexander, and few guitarists would willingly push the spotlight away like LaLonde does just to produce a never-ending spiral of avant noise. This means that they are miles away from being another punk-funk combo like the Red Hot Chili Peppers; Claypool may slap and pop his bass, but there is little funk in the rhythm he and Alexander lay down. Formed in El Sobrante, California, in 1984, the band saw multiple lineup changes before releasing their 1989 live LP, Suck on This, and 1990 debut studio album, Frizzle Fry. Their heady blend of art-rock, funk, and heavy metal found favor with the masses the following year with the release of the gold-selling Sailing the Seas of Cheese. 2003’s Pork Soda fared even better, earning the band their first platinum certification.
After touring for a year — including a headlining spot on Lollapalooza 1993 — Claypool revived his Prawn Song record label in 1994 and released a reunion record by Primus’ original lineup under the name Sausage. In the summer of 1995, Primus released their fifth album, Tales from the Punchbowl. It was another success, going gold before the end of the year. In the summer of 1996, Primus announced they were parting ways with their drummer, Tim Alexander. He was replaced by Brian “Brain” Mantia, who made his debut on The Brown Album, was released in the summer of 1997. The covers EP Rhinoplasty followed in 1998, and a year later, Primus returned with Antipop. Antipop was a departure from previous Primus albums, as different producers were used on almost every track (including such notables as Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Limp Bizkit‘s Fred Durst, Tom Waits, South Park creator Matt Stone, and former Police drummer Stewart Copeland), and it featured such guest artists as Metallica‘s James Hetfield and former Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin. After a supporting tour wrapped up in 2000, Mantia left the band to join Guns N’ Roses. Claypool talked about reuniting with former drummer Tim Alexander in the press, but shortly afterward announced that Primus was going on indefinite hiatus. During the ensuing break, Claypool focused on recording the debut album by his side project, Oysterhead (who also included Copeland and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio), as well as releasing his two-part solo outing, Live Frogs: Set 1 and Set 2.
The band focused on touring in 2010, when Alexander once again left the band. Claypool and LaLonde turned to former drummer Jay Lane; the band went back into the studio to work on a new full-length. In 2011, Primus released their seventh album, Green Naugahyde. Three years later, the band followed up with Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble, an album that found the band reuniting with drummer Alexander to cover the iconic soundtrack to the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In 2017 they returned with yet another literary-influenced album, The Desaturating Seven, which was inspired by Italian author Ul de Rico’s children’s book The Rainbow Goblins. Included on the album was the single “The Seven.”
In 2022, the band issued their first new music in five years with the politically charged three-song EP Conspiranoia, which featured the 11-minute title track. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Photo By Adam Messler
When he’s not fronting Tool and A Perfect Circle, Midwest-bred singer/songwriter Maynard James Keenan exorcises his solo demons with a third project dubbed Puscifer. As an outlet for the darker and more personal musings that don’t quite fit into the Tool and APC molds, Puscifer blends introspective reflection and sophomoric humor in a way that is distinctly Keenan, apparent in the titles of releases such as the 2007 debut V Is for Vagina, 2013’s Donkey Punch the Night, and 2015’s Money $hot. By 2020, in light of world events, Keenan and company buckled down and got a little more serious for their fourth set, Existential Reckoning.
While one might imagine Keenan would have enough going on to keep him busy as vocalist for Tool and A Perfect Circle, in 2007 he decided to branch out with a project called Puscifer. Described by Keenan as “the space where my Id, Ego, and Anima all come together to exchange cookie recipes,” Puscifer first appeared as the name of a fictional band Keenan fronted in a cameo on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show in 1995. It wasn’t until 2003 that Keenan actually recorded under the name, when he teamed up with Danny Lohner for a track called “Rev 22:20” for the Underworld soundtrack. Four years later, he set to work on an entire Puscifer album. Organized less as a traditional “rock band” and more as a musical collective in which Keenan could work with a rotating lineup of like-minded artists, Puscifer’s early recording projects featured a large cast of noted musicians, including Tim Alexander from Primus, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk from Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine, former King Crimson member Trey Gunn, violinist Lisa Germano, pop singer/songwriter Jonny Polonsky, and actress and vocalist Milla Jovovich.
The first product of Puscifer’s new life was a single issued in early October 2007; the A-side was “Cuntry Boner,” a gleefully offensive song originally recorded by Electric Sheep (a short-lived punk band featuring Adam Jones and Tom Morello years before they would respectively join Tool and Rage Against the Machine), while the flipside was a cover of the Circle Jerks‘ “World Up My Ass.” Later the same month, Puscifer’s debut album, V Is for Vagina, was released; like the single, it was issued in the United States by Keenan’s own Puscifer label, and it featured ten original songs, many of which were dominated by slow but potent dance grooves rather than Tool‘s prog metal textures. Keenan said the group had no immediate plans to tour, but he was collaborating with several filmmakers on short movies based on the songs, which could be shown at live performances. In April 2008, a remix album titled V Is for Viagra: The Remixes was released and featured contributions from members of Nine Inch Nails, Telefon Tel Aviv, Ministry, and Slipknot, among others.
Keenan returned the following year with the EP “C” Is For (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) before releasing the full-length Conditions of My Parole in 2011. The EP Donkey Punch in the Night arrived in 2013 with a pair of new tracks, as well as covers of Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Accept‘s “Balls to the Wall.” Money $hot, the band’s third studio LP, followed in 2015 and featured the single “Grand Canyon.” A remix collection, Money $hot Your Re-Load, arrived the next year. To close out the decade, Keenan revived both A Perfect Circle and Tool, which kept him busy into 2020. That year, along with longtime collaborators Carina Round and Mat Mitchell, Puscifer issued their fourth long-player, Existential Reckoning. More subdued and with fewer jokes than usual, the album took aim at American society in a year consumed by pandemic and political turmoil, which could be heard on the singles “Apocalyptical” and “The Underwhelming.” It reached number seven on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart and was followed by the 2021 concert recording Existential Reckoning: Live at Arcosanti. A third set from the era, Existential Reckoning: Re-Wired, was released in 2023 and featured reimagined versions of album tracks from the likes of Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Phantogram, Justin Chancellor (Tool), Scott Kirkland (the Crystal Method), and many more. ~ Mark Deming & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

American rock supergroup A Perfect Circle was formed in the late ’90s by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel. On their debut, Mer de Noms, A Perfect Circle were seen as an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art-rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-’90s. Despite comparisons, however, A Perfect Circle quickly developed into its own entity, focusing on lighter and more melodic sounds that were combined with a theatrical, ambient quality incorporating occasional strings and unconventional instrumentation on later albums like Thirteenth Step and Eat the Elephant. Over the decades, members of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Smashing Pumpkins, and Queens of the Stone Age have played a role in the band’s revolving lineup under the core songwriting duo of Keenan and Howerdel.
After the release of Ænima in 1996, Tool found themselves in the midst of an extended legal battle with former label Freeworld Entertainment. When the dust settled two years later, the band reached a 50-50 joint venture agreement for future recordings and, feeling a little burned out, decided to take some time off. It was at this point that Keenan joined up with Howerdel and Paz Lenchantin to form A Perfect Circle. Keenan had met Howerdel in 1992 when Tool opened for Fishbone. Howerdel had been Fishbone‘s tech at the time and he played Keenan a few of his songs. Keenan was impressed and the two talked of collaborating in the future. However, the opportunity wouldn’t present itself until the end of the decade. With Keenan on vocals, Howerdel on guitar, and Lenchantin on bass, the trio recruited ex-Failure and Enemy member Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and ex-Vandals and Guns N’ Roses member Josh Freese on drums.
The quintet rehearsed together but didn’t announce the formation of a new band until performing for the first time on August 15, 1999, at a benefit concert at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Howerdel, who had been composing songs for years, as well as working with bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, became the band’s chief songwriter and producer. A Perfect Circle released their debut album, Mer de Noms, in 2000. Featuring the hit singles “Judith” and “3 Libras,” Mer de Noms debuted in the Top Five of the Billboard 200 and eventually went platinum. The band opened Nine Inch Nails‘ Fragility Tour in 2000, but soon attracted their own headlining audience. The band took a short break between albums, allowing Keenan to hop back to Tool for the release and promotion of 2001’s Lateralus.
In the meantime, preparation for A Perfect Circle’s sophomore effort continued. Lenchantin and Van Leeuwen — both involved with other projects at the time — were swapped out for Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson) and Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), respectively. Keenan returned to the fold in early 2003. Months later, Thirteenth Step arrived, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. Moodier and more expansive, the set included Top Five rock chart singles “Weak and Powerless” and “The Outsider.” Lohner made way for James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) as the band embarked on an international tour.
Concluding the trek, A Perfect Circle issued the covers album eMOTIVe in 2004. The politically charged, anti-war collection featured interpretations of songs like John Lennon‘s “Imagine,” Marvin Gaye‘s “What’s Going On,” and Depeche Mode‘s “People Are People.” The album was also notable for the inclusion of new track “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drum” and “Passive,” a holy grail for fans written by Keenan, Howerdel, Lohner, and Trent Reznor for their scrapped Tapeworm project.
Shortly after the release of eMOTIVe’s companion DVD set aMOTION — which bundled the band’s music videos along with a remix CD — A Perfect Circle went on a hiatus that would last over a decade. During their downtime, Keenan recorded albums with Tool and his solo project, Puscifer, while Howerdel started a new band, Ashes Divide. While rumors of the band writing songs cropped up now and again, A Perfect Circle returned (to the stage, at least) in 2010, and released a new song, “By and Down,” on their 2013 greatest-hits compilation Three Sixty. However, it would be another half-decade before an official return.
In late 2017, the group reunited for a tour of the United States, teasing fans with the possibility of a trek to the studio. They issued the single “The Doomed,” their first new song in over a decade. “Disillusioned” and “TalkTalk” followed in early 2018. That April, A Perfect Circle released their fourth LP, Eat the Elephant, with another revamped lineup that added Matt McJunkins (Eagles of Death Metal) and Jeff Friedl (Puscifer) to the Keenan/Howerdel/Iha trio. As political as eMOTIVe and even more melodic than Thirteenth Step, Eat the Elephant also marked the first time the band recruited an outside producer; namely, Dave Sardy. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Tracy Frey, Rovi

Jinjer at Marquee Theatre
2024-04-25 18:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, 85281, United States
Through their relentless hard work, non-stop touring and critically acclaimed /chart-breaking releases gaining over 250M streams/views across all platforms globally – JINJER are truly one of modern metal’s hottest and most exciting bands around today. The band has become synonymous with doing things their own way and breaking every rule in the Heavy Metal handbook- which they made loudly clear on their hugely successful fourth studio album: WALLFLOWERS.
In less than12 years, the four-piece Progressive Groove metal wrecking machine known as JINJER have carved their very own place in the Metal landscape. Hailing from Donetsk but now based in Kiev, this Ukrainian musical oddity formed in 2009 but consider the official start of the band with the addition of the incredible vocalist and Femme Fatale Tatiana Shmayluk in 2010. The band labored intensively and honed their sound in practice rooms and local stages relentlessly, culminating in their now cult debut album release INHALE, DO NOT BREATHE in 2012 and winning Best Ukrainian Metal Band in 2013. They would be awarded this prize again a few years later.
While most bands from a country not exactly known for it’s Heavy Metal exports would be content to enjoy the recognition gained in those first few years, it was clear that JINJER craved more and were willing to go the distance to make this happen. It was this attitude and clear vision that saw the band quickly write and release their second album CLOUD FACTORY in 2014, and venture into the international touring market for the first time, booking their own shows and building their reputation face to face, fan to fan and more importantly under their own terms.
It was this intensity that caught the attention of Napalm Records, who quickly signed JINJER, leading to the release of their critically acclaimed third album KING OF EVERYTHING in 2016, as well as the game changing single video for PISCES, which gained the band new fans, millions of views/streams and countless reaction videos on Youtube. KING OF EVERYTHING showcased the musical prowess and growth of the entire band while opening the floodgates to a bigger International touring circuit which JINJER gladly took advantage of. By the end of nearly two years of non-stop touring in Europe, JINJER added new territories such as Israel, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, America, Canada and most of Latin America, while sharing the stages and touring with the likes of Arch Enemy, Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver.
Somewhere between touring vans, visa applications, and flights to new tour destinations, JINJER buried themselves in the rehearsal room to compose 5 brand new tracks for what would become the MICRO EP, written not only for the fans but for themselves, as they needed something new to keep their sanity on the road. Released in January 2019 and coinciding with their European Tour start together with Soilwork and Amorphis, the MICRO EP spawned the instant fan favorites APE and PERENNIAL, climbing to the top of many industry charts and radio station lists worldwide and once again showcased the musical growth and songwriting talent of the band, as well as Tatiana’s amazing vocal range.
In October 2019 JINJER turned on the heat even more with the release of their third album MACRO. Once again written and recorded between non-stop touring, MACRO’s sheer intensity and straight up technical brilliance propelled them to a whole new level in the metal scene, spawning eight videos including the huge hits JUDGEMENT (& PUNISHMENT), RETROSPECTION and HOME BACK, and once again raising the bar and gaining massive respect by fans, press and peers alike.
America and Europe, the band started 2020 off with high hopes with sold out performances in Tel Aviv, Australia and Latin America. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they played their final show in Mexico at the Hell & Heaven Festival which not only ended their touring plans abruptly but was probably the last metal festival on the planet. Still, never ones to ever give up, JINJER rallied together and in September 2020, they played 6 shows in Europe becoming the very first international band to cross borders to perform live during the pandemic. In November 2020, JINJER released their very first live album and concert video ALIVE IN MELBOURNE, which was filmed one week before the lockdown hit, giving not only their fans but themselves some hope that better days were on the way.
In August 2021, to the surprise and delight of fans, JINJER released their most ambitious album to date: WALLFLOWERS, presenting a methodical and premeditated next step in the band’s already imposing career, but moreover, mirroring the personal adversities they’ve faced during the worldwide events over the last few years. WALLFLOWERS is not only an upgrade to the progressive groove metal sound that all JINJER fans crave, but also a sonic pressure cooker of technical musicianship, emotional fury and an intense soundtrack befitting the harrowing state of the world today. From the blast beat laden banger COLOSSUS, to the 90s grunge vibe of DISCLOSURE! and dynamically blazing MEDIATOR, to the dark and gloomy psychedelic ride of WALLFLOWER and blistering urgency of tracks such as VORTEX and AS I BOIL ICE – the unbridled heaviness and personality proved to be another standout addition to JINJER’s already widely celebrated catalog, and a new standard for creativity in Modern Metal as a whole.
JINJER closed 2021 with over 70 concerts including many summer festivals, a short tour of mainland Europe and a hugely successful two month North American Tour, proving to the band and their fans that Metal music is here to stay … and so are JINJER …
to be continued.

98KUPD Presents UFest 2024
2024-04-26 16:00 - 23:30 | Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, 2121 N 83rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85035, United States
Legends and innovators of the Southern California punk scene, The Offspring have seen massive global success.
The story began when their punk pop sound became a popular sensation in 1994. The Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their 2nd album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the huge success of their 3rd album 1994’s Smash which paved the way to radio success. The Offspring were played on both alternative and album rock stations, confirming their broad-based appeal.
Five successful gold and platinum albums followed: Ixnay on the Hombre; Americana; Conspiracy of One; Splinter; Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace; and Days Go By. The band’s 10th album was their first in 8 years. But 2021 was the year that SoCal legends released their blistering new album Let the Bad Times Roll. Album highlights include the title track which takes a critical eye at the state of America in recent years, the devastating urgency of The Opioid Diaries, and the horn-fueled skank of “We Never Have Sex Anymore” a song that nods to the band’s cheeky humor.
The Offspring have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, won countless awards, and have toured consistently, playing more than 500 shows in the last decade alone. The band’s music has had a lasting impact across film, television, and gaming and continues to make its mark on pop culture today.

CHEVELLE is the understated musical powerhouse who have continually delivered rock anthems for the past 24 years. 7 number one hits, 17 songs reaching the top 10 charts, over 4 million records sold in the USA and many more worldwide. Platinum and gold albums across their 8 studio records and successful live CD and two live DVD releases completes their extensive body of work to date. It’s all credit to their continuing dedication to be true to their craft, the genre and their fans. Chevelle’s last two album releases, La Gargola and The North Corridor both debuted #1 on the Billboard rock charts and #3 and #8 respectively, on the Billboard top 200 charts. With no signs of this Chicago alternative rock trio slowing down any time soon, their numerous chart-topping releases have certainly earned this band a place in American rock music history. After more than two decades together, numerous releases, and countless worldwide tours, the band consisting of brothers, Pete Loeffler [guitars, vocals] and Sam Loeffler [drums], have confidently sailed through decades of uncharted waters and have emerged with a collection that’s equally intricate and intimate.
Their next album release, set for 2020, will be sure to add another chapter to the extensive catalog of this successful music career.

In 2006, Motionless In White materialized out of Scranton, PA with an inimitable conjuration of sharp metallic rock, industrial, magnetic melodies, and larger-than-life visual imagery. The quintet—Chris Motionless [Vocals], Ricky Olson [Guitar], Ryan Sitkowski [guitar], Vinny Mauro [drums], and Justin Morrow [bass]—quietly clawed their way to the forefront of hard rock, gathering nearly half-a-billion cumulative streams and views to date. Following the success of Creatures [2010] and Infamous [2012], Reincarnate [2014] sunk its teeth into the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200, bowing at #9 and capturing #1 on the Top Rock Albums Chart. Both Graveyard Shift [2017] and Disguise [2019] cracked the Top 5 of the Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and Top Rock Albums Chart. Along the way, they sold out headline tours and supported everyone from Slipknot and Korn to Breaking Benjamin. Not to mention, Motionless In White have collaborated with Jonathan Davis of Korn, Maria Brink of In This Moment, Dani Filth of Cradle Of Filth, Tim Sköld of KMFDM, Caleb Shomo of Beartooth, and more. The five-piece kept busy throughout 2020 with the Deadstream event performance of Creatures for its decade-anniversary, a cover of The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me,” and the standalone single “Creatures X: To The Grave.” Now in 2022, Motionless In White are set to return with their new album Scoring The End of the World which sees them perfecting the poetically pummeling sound they patented.

They’ve been a band — and a vital one at that — for more than 30 years. But ask rock icons P.O.D. what still inspires them after all this time, and they’ll tell you they still operate as if they’re perpetual underdogs. Yes, with every new album they release, with every show they play, these musical lifers still feel they have something to prove. “We’re still here and we’re still creating some of the best music we’ve ever made,” says guitarist Marcos Curiel. “When it comes to heart, grit and soul, P.O.D. is your band.” Adds vocalist Sonny Sandoval: “We’re always still proving who we are — always having that punk-rock mentality.”
Their new single “DROP”, via Mascot Records, features a vicious vocal cameo from Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe. “‘DROP’ is another one of a kind, unparalleled banger that sets this band apart from everyone else,” says Sandoval. “When you hear it, you know it’s P.O.D.!

Bad Wolves refuse to follow. Instead, the platinum-certified Los Angeles band—John Boecklin [drums], Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz [lead vocals], Doc Coyle [lead guitar, backing vocals], Max Karon [guitar], and Kyle Konkiel [bass, backing vocals]—circumvent convention by stretching the boundaries of hard rock with earthquaking heaviness, enigmatic experimentation, and enthralling melodies. Bulldozing boundaries is nothing new for the boys though… Bad Wolves arrived with the rarity and the force of a lightning bolt in 2018. This collective of tried-and-true musicians rallied around an unconventional vision for heavy music, grafting rafter-reaching hooks to pit-splitting riffs and mind-bending rhythms with a penchant for unexpected twists and turns. Their full-length debut, Disobey, bowed in the Top 25 of the Billboard 200 and delivered a platinum single and a gold single. On its heels, they showed no signs of stopping with N.A.T.I.O.N. [2019]. However, Dear Monsters kickstarted another season in 2021 as “Lifeline” netted their sixth #1 at Active Rock Radio. Reaching a critical high watermark, Billboard hailed the latter as “Bad Wolves’ most diverse and far-reaching album to date,” and Hysteria raved, “The band has served up something truly monumental.” Nearing 1 billion total streams, they sold out headline shows on multiple continents and toured with everyone from Papa Roach and Hollywood Undead to Volbeat.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR MERCH www.burythedarkness.com Based out of Tempe, Arizona, Bury The Darkness, comprised of — Frankie Ghiloni [Vocals], Marc Rosenfeld [Lead Guitar], Brandon Brantley [Bass], Brennan Davis [Rhythm Guitar], Devin Bowers [Drums] — are a hard hitting Modern Metalcore band carving their path after releasing their debut single during the strains of a global pandemic. After the success of their debut single the band went on to collaborate with fellow Arizona Metal band Dropout Kings on their single ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’. Bury The Darkness are here to stay with bouncy guitar riffs and anthem like choruses. Their debut album ‘Dead Inside’ produced by Ryan Daminson (Asking Alexandria ,Memphis May Fire, The Word Alive) Out Now!

Slaughter To Prevail at The Hollywood Palladium
2024-04-26 18:00 - 23:30 | The Hollywood Palladium, 6215 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 90028, United States
For all enquires: ilya@full-time.ninja   Kostolom is the epic second LP from the duo Alex Terrible and Jack Simmons’ band Slaughter to Prevail. The album expands on the dynamic extremes of their 2017 debut, Misery Sermon — pairing Alex’s dark, cathartic lyrics with Simmons’ pummeling riffs and tense, cinematic solos. “We wanted to make each song for us stand out in a different way,” the guitarist says. “On some of the songs, we focused on wanting to keep it uptempo, building to a breakdown as the focal point. Other songs it was about groove or the chorus — ‘how can we make this melodic?’ The albums we love the most have those dynamics, and we want to use them to make each part hit harder.”   The songs evolved over several years, the first demos constructed shortly before the release of Misery Sermon. And they finally finished the material in late 2020, with everyone (Alex, Simmons, bassist Mikhail Petrov, guitarist Dmitry Mamedov) having tracked their respective parts at home. (Evgeny Novikov recorded his drums at a nearby studio in Moscow.)   Alex’s words — largely sung in Russian, with occasional bursts of English — are also more balanced than the bleak song titles may suggest. “The lyrics,” Simmons says, “are quite personal to anyone who listens, I think — of personal struggle, keeping a positive mental attitude and going through the shit to have a better life and achieve your goals.”

Kublai Khan TX is an American metalcore / heavy hardcore band from Sherman, Texas, previously called Kublai Khan. The group formed in the summer of 2009 and have released four full-length albums. Kublai Khan self-released their first EP, Youth War in 2010. In February 2014, Kublai Khan signed to Artery Recordings. On April 29, 2014, the band released their debut full-length album titled Balancing Survival and Happiness. The album was listed in Alternative Press’s “The Best Albums Of 2014 so far” list. On November 27, 2015, Kublai Khan released their second full-length album titled New Strength. In July 2017, Kublai Khan signed to Rise Records, and on September 29, 2017, they released their third full-length album titled Nomad. Kublai Khan play a style of metalcore reminiscent of the early 90s metallic hardcore scene. The band employs heavy, slow breakdowns, heavily downtuned guitars and raspy vocals.

LORDS OF ACID + PRAGA KHAN at Nile Theater
2024-04-28 18:30 - 23:30 | The Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street, Mesa, 85201, United States
The iconic pioneers of Sextreme Disco LORDS OF ACID, featuring stunning new vocalist GIGI RICCI, are set to embark on a thrilling journey across North America with their highly anticipated MAKE ACID GREAT AGAIN TOUR! z
Renowned for their boundary-pushing sound and unabashed exploration of taboo themes, LORDS OF ACID have carved out a unique niche in the electronic music scene since the late 1980s. With hits like “I Sit on Acid” and “Pussy,” they have captivated audiences with their provocative lyrics and infectious rhythms.
“The upcoming Lords of Acid ‘Make Acid Great Again’ tour, starting on April 26 in the US and including several dates in Canada, marks our long-awaited return to the stage after the cancellation of our previous tour due to the global pandemic. This tour embodies our resilience and dedication to our fans as we eagerly look forward to reconnecting with our audience and delivering unforgettable performances. It is a testament to the timeless power of music to inspire and unite, and we are greatly anticipating embarking on this journey together, spreading joy, excitement, and an unbridled spirit of creativity wherever our music takes us. ” – LORDS OF ACID
PRAGA KHAN and co-composer OLIVER ADAMS, the team behind the unforgettable “Mortal Kombat” album, which is celebrating its 30th Anniversary, are set to kick off each night of the tour with an electrifying set that will transport audiences back to the golden age of electronic music. With hits like “Injected with a Poison” and “Breakfast in Vegas, they have captivated listeners with their infectious beats and boundary-pushing sound.
“As the opening act of the Lords of Acid tour, I will be performing for the last time in the USA. Two years ago, I bid farewell with a memorable series of sold-out concerts in Belgium. Now, for the final time, I will be performing our songs with my musical partner, Oliver Adams, in the USA and Canada. After 35 years of touring all over the world, I have decided to retire completely from live concerts as Praga Khan. On the MAGA tour, Oliver Adams and I will be performing some of our classics, as well as songs from the legendary Mortal Kombat album, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. This promises to be an unforgettable evening in honor of our legacy and the iconic Mortal Kombat soundtrack.” – PRAGA KHAN
The “Make Acid Great Again” tour will kick off on April 26, 2024 in Pomona, CA before hitting the Las Vegas SICK NEW WORLD FESTIVAL, then will traverse major cities across the country, including New York, San Francisco, Orlando, and Chicago. Audiences can expect a spectacle of pulsating beats, mesmerizing visuals, and an atmosphere charged with the raw energy that only LORDS OF ACID and PRAGA KHAN can deliver.
Tickets for the “Make Acid Great Again” tour are on sale now, and fans are encouraged to secure their spot for what promises to be a euphoric journey through the heart of electronic music.
Don’t miss your chance to witness history in the making as LORDS OF ACID and PRAGA KHAN unite to “Make Acid Great Again.” For ticket information and tour updates, visit http://www.lordsofacid.com and follow LORDS OF ACID and PRAGA KHAN on social media.

From his first single, “I Sit On Acid”, released in 1988, to the present, Belgium’s Praga Khan remains one of the most innovative acid house musicians in circulation. Thanks to extensive experimentation with drugs, Crowley-ian sex magic, and esoteric paths of self-deprivation and mutilation known only to himself, this orgiastic orchestrator created the LORDS OF ACID to further encapsulate the seductive messages and raw sex of his ever-evolving musical vision. From the raw carnality of their 1991 release Lust to the electro-thrash of 2012’s Deep Chills, Lords of Acid has re-defined the pure pleasures of drugs, hedonism, and deviant sex for thirty years. Now, despite numerous lineup changes, world tours, over 2.5 million album sales, and every possible point of crisis and conflict a band can face, Lords of Acid is returning to the unsuspecting again, this time with a new crew of deviants, dilettantes, and sonically transmitted diseases.

Gigi Ricci was born in Belgium to an Italian mother and a Belgian father.
Even though her early childhood was shaped by the marital problems of her parents, Gigi had always been an energetic and cheerful child. Always excited, and adventurous. Gigi loved to be surrounded by creative people as that formed a big source of inspiration, which is understandable since her father grew up in a music-loving gypsy family. “I can’t imagine my daddy other than singing whilst simultaneously playing the piano. My mama… she loved to dance. Dancing was in her blood. I inherited my interest in music and dance from my parents,” says Gigi.
When her parents decided to divorce, Gigi chose to move with her mother to a trailer park. As a teenager, Gigi became fascinated by the gypsy life, the unique atmosphere, its culture, the glitter and glamour, their freedom, and their joie de vivre. The gypsy and t the artist, and the partying hedonist. Gigi describes her teenage years in the trailer park as follows: “Life in the park was a great adventure. There was always something going on; karaoke, barbecues, bingo nights, live performances, disco parties, campfire evenings, and lots of friends. There was an intense feeling of unity, cosines, and freedom, the youthful, rash type of freedom”.
When a fortune-teller told Gigi that she would become famous abroad, Gigi was convinced that a music career was meant for her. She decided to go out into the wide world and ended up in Amsterdam, the dissolute metropolis that guarantees freedom, acceptance, and diversity.
Back in Belgium, Gigi meets the well-known fashion photographer “Dave Grønnesby” who asks her to consider a career as a fashion model. Not much later, Gigi makes her debut on the catwalk and grows into one of the fashion world’s rising stars. Gigi said: “I quickly felt that this was not for me. I was a wild child, a free spirit. The modeling world, on the other hand, is very superficial, which can be felt as a model. As a model, you are like a mannequin without an opinion. You can feel that as a person you don’t really matter”.
Not much later, her first great love, music, started to take over again. Gigi bought herself a home studio and started recording demos that she distributed on social media. She was pleasantly surprised that she received great feedback. When a mutual acquaintance introduced her to “Praga Khan” from “Lords of Acid” the ball started rolling. Praga was looking for a new singer for the new Lords of Acid album and asked Gigi if she would be interested.
“I immediately said yes! In the meantime, we have already recorded several new LOA demos, and we have been playing live gigs all over Belgium. A spicy detail is that my dad had a relationship with a former singer of the band. So, their music was not unknown to me”, says a mischievously smiling Gigi.
Lastly, we can remark that Gigi’s favorite music genre is rock, metal, and punk, her favorite color is dark red, and her hobbies are fitness and tattoos. As for her favorite food, she sticks to lobster and oysters. She celebrates her birthday on April 22nd, hence her zodiac sign is Taurus.
