Your home for 2018 Phoenix local music news.
As Fairy Bones prepare to celebrate the release of their first album since 2015’s “Dramabot” on Friday, Feb. 23, at Crescent Ballroom, they’ve premiered a music video for “Killing Me,” filmed by RaySquared Productions.
This is the fourth song they’ve shared from the album, following “No One Can Suffer Like I Can,” “8 Ball” and “Pink Plastic Cups.”
And “Killing Me” is yet another prime example of what Fairy Bones do best, a distorted guitar riff that rocks like the best of alternative radio in the post-Nirvana ‘90s drawing you into the fray, where Chelsey Louise sets the lyrical tone with “Wake up every morning with a lump in my chest / Alexa says it’s cancer from these damn cigarettes.”
That’s Alexa, the Amazon Echo voice.
Their version of Taylor Swift's 'Shake it Off'
If there’s a line in “Killing Me” that clearly captures the overall narrative arc of the album, though, it’s “But I find it hard to give a s—t / I really think I’m losin’ it.”
“It’s mainly about letting go of the emotions, people and things that are ultimately killing you,” Louise says. “Checking your symptoms online always turns out to be cancer. Staring at social media too long makes you antisocial. It’s like our version of ‘Shake It Off’ except we probably won’t make any money off of it.”
The video, which is charming as hell, shows the members of Fairy Bones doing simple choreography. “There’s nothing more iconic than a good group dance number performed by mediocre dancers,” Louise says. “Mostly, it was affordable.”
An echo of the nation: Depression and anxiety
The album began as a lyrically intimate dissection of personal thoughts and feelings for Louise but she began to realize she was echoing the thoughts and feelings felt around the nation in 2017.
“Everybody online was joking about depression and anxiety all of a sudden,” she says. “I had kept those feelings in for so long that when they started to become less taboo and more openly talked about, I felt way less alone.”
Touching on themes of anxiety, depression and the pressures of maintaining the perfect, Instagram-worthy façade, Louise describes the album as “an upbeat and often wildly sarcastic take on one woman's journey through her 20s.”
It’s not a concept album, she says. “But the lyrics are generally sarcastic or depressive and 80 percent of the music is upbeat and pop-rock. It’s the musical equivalent of plastering on a happy face.”
Highlights of the album
Other highlights yet to be shared include the hypnotic hip-hop-flavored guitar rock of “Hang Wit Da Boiz,” a brooding power ballad called “Incapable” that fires on all the same cylinders that made the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ most vulnerable moments what they were and the scuffed-up girl-group charms of “Look Good for the Radio.” There are no weak links, really. And it holds together as an album.
Fairy Bones’ pop sensibilities are front and center here and yet the vibe is every bit as edgy as their previous recordings, thanks in part to producer Bob Hoag.
“We’ve been working with Bob for years now,” Louise says. “He feels part of our recorded sound. He can deal with me being extremely obtuse with recording terms. I have to say, I felt really proud when we walked in with these songs and he did very little to change the structures. I think I personally wanted to impress him, so it felt validating when he said they were good songs.”
Ultimately, the difference between this record and the last, Louise says, “is we really focused on improving our songwriting. We just wanted to write better songs. Matt and I are the primary songwriters in the band and we became a little obsessed with Max Martin and pop structures. Pop always gets a bad rap, but they can make you feel confident and powerful instantaneously. That’s magical.”
Details about the show
The release show also features live performances by Doll Skin, Bear Ghost and Paper Foxes. Tickets go on sale February 17th through www.crescentphx.com.
Local jam-rock heroes Spafford playing Bonnaroo and it's a big deal
Prescott-based electro-funk sensations Spafford, who rang in the new year with a three-night stand at Crescent Ballroom, have been tapped to play one of America's most prestigious stages, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
Eminem, Muse and the Killers will headline this year's festival, which takes place June 7-10 in Manchester, Tenn., and also features sets by Future, Sturgill Simpson, Bon Iver, Bassnectar, Paramore, Sheryl Crow, Khalid, Kaskade, Dua Lipa, Alt-J, Sylvan Esso, Rebelution and Anderson .Paak, to name a few.
In the last year, Spafford have played sold-out rooms across the country, toured with Umphrey’s McGee and appeared at such high-profile festivals as Summer Camp, Electric Forest, Peach Music Festival, North Coast, and most recently, Suwannee Hulaween. But this is a new high.
A recent article at Huffington Post raved, "Spafford is the latest buzzword in the jam-band scene. I’m not surprised in the slightest that everyone is freaking out so hard for this four-piece funk rock group.... Their sound is like everything and nothing you’ve heard before."
The story also hailed their latest offering, "Abaculus: An Improvisational Experience," as in "industry game changer." The album is an hour-long, fully improvised session recorded in a single take.
Phoenix Rock Lottery returns to Crescent Ballroom: 25 musicians split into 5 bands to play
Twenty-five musicians will start the day. Five bands will end it.
That’s how they’re pitching the 5th Annual Phoenix Rock Lottery at Crescent Ballroom, which takes place Saturday, Jan. 27.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the format, for the past four years, a lineup of musicians from diverse backgrounds and musical styles has gathered in the morning with no idea who they’ll be performing with that night.
Names are drawn at random to divide those 25 musicians into five bands. Then, they’re sent away sent off to write and rehearse a set of songs to play that same night, which makes for a totally unpredictable experience for fans at each Lottery.
New faces
The 5th Annual Phoenix Rock Lottery will feature an entirely new group of musicians. No musicians from the previous four Lotteries were included, although a number of performers come from bands previously represented in years past, including AJJ, Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra, Jared And The Mill, Wyves and Dent.
Jimmy Eat World’s Tom Linton’s participation will mean that every member of Jimmy Eat World will have now performed in a Phoenix Rock Lottery.
“A lot more time and discussion went into this year's lineup than past years,” says the event's producer Stephen Chilton of Psyko Steve Presents. “There was a real effort to make the lineup more diverse, both musically and with the performers themselves. In past years I have selected everyone myself, but this year I had a lot of conversations with past performers, and other influencers in the music community to get their input in putting together this year's lineup."
Some newer faces include Anna C. from Willetta, Eamon Ford from Pro Teens, Seth Smades from Luxxe, Raquel Willand from Panic Baby, Brenden McBride from Wyves & Hyperbella, Jack Vanderpol from Sunday At Noon, Amelia Kestner who performs as Amelia, Tru Vonne, and Tindal Muzic.
A big impact on the local music scene
In just four shows, including two sell-outs, the Phoenix Rock Lottery has already had quite an impact on Phoenix’s music scene and local community.
The first Phoenix Rock Lottery, held at Crescent Ballroom on February 9th, 2014, was named “Best Club Show in Phoenix 2014” in the Phoenix New Times “Best Of Phoenix” issue, where the event was hailed as “yielding goods that had Phoenix feeling pretty damn great about its music scene.”
The 2015 solo 7” series by Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins included the song “Love Don’t Wait”, originally written during that first Lottery.
In 2016, the band Wet Lab, formed in the second Rock Lottery, released formal recordings of two of the songs they wrote together on cassette via the new local label Saint Joseph. The single was prominently marketed nationally as part of that year’s Cassette Store Day.
The gift of music for charity
For the fifth year in a row, the proceeds will benefit Rosie’s House, a local non-profit organization that delivers the underserved youth of greater Phoenix the gift of music education by providing instruments and free instruction.
“Funds raised by the Phoenix Rock Lottery provide music education training to youth from low-income backgrounds,” says Rosie’s House CEO Becky Bell Ballard. “Specifically, the funds underwrite our Beginning Guitar Class for 12 students providing free instruction, a loaned instrument, curriculum and performance opportunities. We are so thankful to local musicians, Psyko Steve and Crescent Ballroom.”
Complete list of musicians performing in the 2018 Phoenix Rock Lottery:
- Scott Hessel (Gin Blossoms)
- Brian Champ (Coyote Tango / Greeley Estates)
- Dominic Armstrong (Jon Rauhouse Orchestra / The Sunpunchers)
- James Pope (Gentlemen of Leisure / Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra)
- Jordan Tompkins (Twin Ponies / OO / Dent)
- Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World)
- Mark Glick (AJJ)
- Chuck Morriss III (Jared And The Mill)
- Eamon Ford (Pro Teens)
- Seth Smades (Luxxe)
- Jessie Demaree (Jerusafunk / Sunn Trio)
- Nicole Laurenne (The Darts / The Love Me Nots)
- Michael V Cornelius (The Father Figures / JFA)
- Lawrence Zubia (Pistoleros)
- Kal Benion (The Color 8)
- Gabo (Fayuca)
- Anna C. (Willetta)
- Raquel Willand (Panic Baby)
- Greg Diarra (Alassane)
- Brenden McBride (Wyves / Hyperbella)
- Amelia Kestner (Amelia)
- Tru Vonne
- Tindal Muzic
- Jack Vanderpol (Sunday At Noon)
- Paul McAfee (The Stakes)
Huffington Post premieres new music video for Phoenix rockers Jane N' the Jungle
It’s been a good year for Jane N’ the Jungle. And it ended on a high note with Huffington Post premiering their new video for “One Time,” which the critic hailed as “premium!”
The article goes on to say, “Two factors make ‘One Time’ wickedly powerful and evocative: first, the song’s Spartan melody, which is totally bereft of harmonic layering and digital enhancement, just a single acoustic guitar. And second, the spine-chilling, devouring potency of (Jordan) White’s highly charged vocals.”
It's a striking video, shot by Brian Dellis, who complements the understated, acoustic-guitar-and-voice recording by keeping the camera trained on White, a captivating presence, as she walks the streets singing the bittersweet lyrics (in a really nice coat).
The song was recorded at Switchblade Studios in Tempe as a demo while working on pre-production for the upcoming Jane N' The Jungle project. As White says, the "raw demo recording captured something uniquely beautiful and pure with having no added effects, overdubs, vocal correction, and very little production."
They also felt it didn't really fit the album they plan to release in 2018, so they decided to share it as a single and release it as "an end-of-the-year reflective song."
The video was directed by Dellis with the same intention as the demo, to keep it simple hoping to capture raw authentic moments.
Rolling Stone names Phoenix native Tommy Ash a country artist you need to know
Phoenix native Tommy Ash, a veteran of the local scene who now resides in Nashville, was named to a Rolling Stone magazine's list of 10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.
The magazine described her sound as "country shuffles, train beats and honky-tonk heartbreak, all delivered by a magnetic entertainer who's been serenading barflies since the age of 13." The writer cited Dwight Yoakam, Waylon Jennings and Margo Price as fairly spot-on frames of reference.
And Ash is quoted in the article as saying, "I make revved-up honky-tonk bar-room music. It's not mellow. It really moves."
The story talks about the singer growing up "a bar-room baby," hanging out at country gigs in Arizona with her mom and dad before taking the stage in her early teens, where she sang country covers every Friday and Saturday night at a Phoenix roadhouse.
Ash, who moved to Nashville in 2016, shared a link to Rolling Stone on Facebook, where she wrote, "Umm Holy S--t guys!!!!!! I am so BEYOND EXCITED to share this with you! ROLLING STONE included me in The Top 10 New Country Artists You Need to Know!!!! I can't thank you all enough for your support and love you have all given me throughout the years. Xoxo."
Reached for further comment, she told acentral, "It is such an honor to be mentioned as one of the 10 New Country Artists You Need to Know by Rolling Stone. I've been doing this for so long, it feels good to get a little recognition for the hard work and to know that people are paying attention to true country music."
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