People should be dancing and skanking at a ska show. This was not the case for the majority two nights ago, and it was frustrating. Tonight, people came to move, dance, and sing with the bands from start to finish. There was always at least one person dancing around to every band, and it was awesome. If there is an example of a great show with some amazing touring and local acts, this is a good model to look at. Opening up was our local ska band who has been…
Read MoreWhen a band you listened to a bunch years ago announces they are coming back, that tends to get you excited. The one and only time I saw Save Ferris was in 1999 at the No Snow X-Mas Show. Back then, when you’re sixteen year old male and the lead singer talks about it being the “Year of the Vagina” you tend to pay attention. The band would break up a couple years after that, many of the former members forming Starpool. Flash forward to three years ago, the comeback…
Read MoreI’ve been listening and watching Authority Zero for nearly two decades now. My first album was Patches in Time, but my sixteen year old self was catching them on the Ska Punk Show before that. I can recite almost all the lyrics to any album released before I became a slave to the GameStop corporate machine in 2006. After that, I got pulled out of the scene for a few years only to hit an occasional bigger show. Attention and time unfortunately eaten by the salaried job. Even so, I…
Read MoreA cool thing about these things is I get to bring bands to the forefront of people’s attention. I get to showcase bands I enjoy to see a lot. It creates an exercise in writing too, as I see bands more often trying to put different words into my take for the night. Tonight was a great night to see bands you don’t hear enough about from me that I think are fantastic, along with my usual staples of awesome local punk bands. Right off of the bat, I got…
Read MoreThe Trunk Space for over a decade has been one of the best DIY venues in Phoenix. When it was announced last year that they would be closing down the old space due to the landlord, the local scene took a hit. It had been there over a decade. What I loved about it was that it gave musicians a place to play that other venues wouldn’t always book. I knew going to a show there I would see great things and sometimes new, interesting performances too. Stephanie, who owns…
Read MoreTwenty Years, two decades, those national crowds have been listening and watching both Anti-Flag and Reel Big Fish. That’s two thirds of my life they’ve been in my life, although my listening to either didn’t start until about two years after that listening to Ska Punk on the old Edge 106.3. Turning sixteen with a shiny new driver’s license, I filled that void of a quiet car with the local radio airwaves. This tour, while not an expected combination of headliners, brought me great excitement to watch two favorite bands…
Read MoreWhat do you do when there is a bunch of music in one night? If you’re me, you try to find the best way to hit as much as you love and enjoy it. For tonight, probably one of the best examples of how I earned my nickname, I hit up two separate shows almost simultaneously. In this case, it was an easier example with both 51 West and Yucca Tap Room being walking distance. It was catching a great combination of some awesome folk punk, punk, and rockabilly combined.…
Read MoreChange is inevitable and going to happen whether you want it to or not. Tonight brought forth a change you can see from the pictures with Yucca no longer having the black curtain behind the stage. I think it helps the stage look brighter and better, although based on the more than usual feedback has the audio bouncing around the room. The new look was brought with some of the fastest, loudest punk I’ve seen at the Yucca Tap Room tonight. Opening up was the band Thurston, who I’ve followed…
Read MoreMetaphors are a fun way to open up some piece of writing. I could go into the symbolism of a Phoenix for James or the lineup tonight for Down by Law being from the punkrockacademyfightsong album, their third and arguably most known album. No matter how I introduce it, the night was an awesome mix of punk rock with two more from out of town, Guilty By Associate from Vegas and Undefined from Prescott. Everyone brought the energy for this Tuesday night show. Energy is probably the thing that James…
Read MoreI spoke of never going to a show blind just a couple days ago, meanwhile, tonight I did it. With a invite from my friend Danielle and only watching a link to a Demon in Me song, I went in to see what great offerings there were to be found at 51 West. What started and ended acoustic, turned into a great mix of alternative and acoustic sounds ending on Demon In Me. Up first was a gentleman who goes under the name Midway Heights. While he mentioned that his…
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