Alt music scene in Phoenix (Scottsdale, Chandler: 2013, houses, college)

[variant]

I want this to be Phoenix-specific so:

Does anybody know the deal is with the alt/music scene out here? While I'd love to engage in my other hobbies: The car/motorsport culture isn't exactly a single-y mingle-y kind of place. And the design community is a bunch of sour grapes (I tried to contact the IDSA when I first came out here and the organizer said they stopped doing events in the most unkind way possible).

The go-to places used to be coffee houses (Willow House, Coffee Talk, Java Road), all of which closed up while I was off in the Portland area. I've hit up a few "rock" clubs on the east side here, but they're all crappy cover bands playing dad rock standards... and the crowd generally reflects that.

[Guitarmaan]

If you do find out eventually, let me know too

[ivotedale]

What kind of alternative style(s) are you a fan of? I'm not heavy into any classic rock or similar either; as far as the downtown music scene goes, the Crescent Ballroom is a stellar place to hang out, grab a bite/drink, or catch a show. Both local acts and national acts have played there- folks from LA tell me it's a lot like an industrial club vibe from their own city. Handfuls of genres jam there from rock/alternative/reggae/latin/hip hop/jazz/pop/electro/you name it. Different brackets of all-ages attend too.

Crowd and environment is cool as well- def. a differentiation from a standard dive bar/dirty scene kids/smoke and graffiti on the wall. Staff takes care of you, sound guys say hi.

I've been doing the club/music venue circuit this last year in an alt/country/southern rock/pop band I was in, and we've played a lot of the smaller venues around the east side. As far as PHX is concerned though, Crescent Ballroom and Hard Rock Cafe are cool places we've played and seen shows.

Rolling over to coffee, you might check out Jobot's coffee, Cartel Coffee Lab. I know some folks over there for sure, great vibes.

[variant]

Originally Posted by ivotedale

What kind of alternative style(s) are you a fan of?

I'm pretty open across the board, listening wise... but tend to be more on the edgy/darker/more-modern end of the spectrum. I guess I'd say I identify as a djentleman these days, myself. It's not my only influence, but the movement resonates with me. The last band I played in we just labeled 'progressive crossover' because all sorts of elements ended up in there.

The only stuff I'm completely on is the hipster/indie auditory Xanax™. I don't care if it's electronica or hip hop, but put the needles in the red. Rock that doesn't rock doesn't rock. /end_statement

I'll have to check out The Crescent Ballroom... sounds promising. I like the idea of venues that people go to OTHER than for specific shows. I'd like to meet new friends, girls, possible musico connections. I guess I'll have to learn to trek, though. I'm East Valley. The only places I've combed over here is Club Red (pretty good on the modern metal and underground hip hop circuits), and 910 Live. There's a couple of townie bars on this side and it's the usual 401k-collectors watching cover bands crapping out dad rock standards. Tragic.

The coffee shops too. Thanks! Not in the neck of my woods, but nothing over here seems very good. Good shops. No scene and/or or really clique-y regulars.

[LocoAZnative]

grab a copy of The New Times you will see all the music venues and find something you like.

[grmi66]

I thought the Crescent Ballroom was cool the few times I've been there. But I'm an old fart into dad rock who only ventures out to watch punk and alternative bands from the 80's and 90's. This past weekend was a good one, X on Friday and the Meat Puppets on Saturday.

[ivotedale]

@Variant- nice! I'm on the east side myself, and in fact, went to a CD release show for a friend's band at Club Red last week. They do tend to host heavier alternative rock I think; last week was more of a grungy Nirvana/Tool/Perfect Circle kinda vibe.

Back to coffee on the east side- Liberty Market is cool (a restaurant as well, though more of a family joint in downtown Gilbert. They have mean baristas and Italian roasting gear though).

Cartel Coffee has branched out to a few more locations like Tempe/Mill Ave, Scottsdale, etc. Here you'll find again the hipster/yuppie/college town vibe, but they know what they're doing w/ their coffee. Great place to connect and network if anything.

I hear great things about SoZo Coffee near Chandler, haven't been there myself though.

If you're on the FAR East side near Gold Canyon, go to my friend's shop MountainBrew Coffeehouse. They had bought roasting gear from Cartel and are friend's w/ them. Another great local start-up with great coffee.

Links:

-Cartel Coffee Lab
-Liberty Market
-SoZo Coffee
-MountainBrew Coffee

[SlowHeavyGroove]

Hey Variant, you might like the Yucca Taproom in Tempe...something going on every night of the week and almost always free(no cover). The bands are pretty diverse from metal, punk, stoner, rocka and psycho, indie....you name it. Pretty small and can fill up very quickly. I saw the stoner rock band Graveyard from Sweden there a year or so ago and it was nuts to butts, and saw Orange Goblin a few months back and it was comfortable. Sadly Hollywood Alley has closed as well as Stray Cat(but I dont think they were doing many shows near the end).

Yucca Tap Room

[kytoaz]

Originally Posted by variant

I'm pretty open across the board, listening wise... but tend to be more on the edgy/darker/more-modern end of the spectrum. I guess I'd say I identify as a djentleman these days, myself. It's not my only influence, but the movement resonates with me. The last band I played in we just labeled 'progressive crossover' because all sorts of elements ended up in there.

The only stuff I'm completely on is the hipster/indie auditory Xanax™. I don't care if it's electronica or hip hop, but put the needles in the red. Rock that doesn't rock doesn't rock. /end_statement

I'll have to check out The Crescent Ballroom... sounds promising. I like the idea of venues that people go to OTHER than for specific shows. I'd like to meet new friends, girls, possible musico connections. I guess I'll have to learn to trek, though. I'm East Valley. The only places I've combed over here is Club Red (pretty good on the modern metal and underground hip hop circuits), and 910 Live. There's a couple of townie bars on this side and it's the usual 401k-collectors watching cover bands crapping out dad rock standards. Tragic.

The coffee shops too. Thanks! Not in the neck of my woods, but nothing over here seems very good. Good shops. No scene and/or or really clique-y regulars.

the crescent has a mix of shows, but mostly hipster/electronica stuff. I went to see x and the blasters there last weekend and the crowd was anything but hipster. all in all I would definitely get a schedule for them as they do have lots of nationals of different types of music and it is a very cool space.
I would also second yucca. love that place. mostly local punk and rockabilly stuff if that's what your into.

[variant]

grab a copy of The New Times you will see all the music venues and find something you like.

I did find an article on venues here: Top 10 Hard Rock Venues in Phoenix, but it's kind of removed from the point. The mods felt it necessary to split this thread off from the original one, which was more of an inquiry as a single guy... the sub-topic of which (me being a muso) was the music scene.

Bear with me here, I'm not trying to digress. The problem with "venues" is, unless there's a regular crowd on off-nights (assuming there are any off-nights to begin with), the attendees generally revolve around the the performers at hand, and the socialization value is greatly diminished (by both who the crowd might be given the performer, and the fact that said performer(s) tend to be the foci over any sort of social interaction). That said, I've met a few longtime friends at shows, though have never met a girl.

This is where the bar/venue/show split tends to happen. For instance: I've seen a lot of (generally more popular) bands that I love at The Maquree. The socialization value there is down near a one on a scale from one-to-ten. It's the kind of place that doesn't let anyone in until 'doors open', it has hours predicated only on shows, the hangout value and areas are weak at best, and everyone scatters like cockroaches after the shows end.

So, I'm much less interested in where bands I like might play (you're going go see them even if they play somewhere you hate), but more where the underground/alt/rock whathaveyou crowd closest to my ilk co-mingles. It used to be about specific coffee houses. The crowd was more about a general adherence to counter-culture, and less about a shared love of, say, something specific as the Deftones.

I'm on the east side myself, and in fact, went to a CD release show for a friend's band at Club Red last week. They do tend to host heavier alternative rock I think; last week was more of a grungy Nirvana/Tool/Perfect Circle kinda vibe.

Club Red, dare I say it, is a pretty good venue. I HATE that all rock clubs seem to have to be a requisite craphole so far as the finishing goes, but I've played a lot of worse places. The sound it good, it's quite roomy, and there's lots of places to rub elbows outside the pit and/or in aim of the speaker arrays. Patios are always important. You pal around on patios, end of story. But, then, it's got a pretty hard venue-vibe, which means you're in a endless swath of penii for a show... and I get the impression that the off-nights and/or the bar side are a lot of stories about knocking boots in conversion vans to Whitesnake cassettes. I may be getting up there in the years, but I'm more into firing up a Kemper than a Marshall. Time moves on...

Liberty Market is cool (a restaurant as well, though more of a family joint in downtown Gilbert. They have mean baristas and Italian roasting gear though).

Cartel Coffee has branched out to a few more locations like Tempe/Mill Ave, Scottsdale, etc. Here you'll find again the hipster/yuppie/college town vibe, but they know what they're doing w/ their coffee. Great place to connect and network if anything.

I hear great things about SoZo Coffee near Chandler, haven't been there myself though.

If you're on the FAR East side near Gold Canyon, go to my friend's shop MountainBrew Coffeehouse. They had bought roasting gear from Cartel and are friend's w/ them. Another great local start-up with great coffee.

I always wince a bit when I hear the word hipster. I lived in Portland, Oregon for half a decade after all. My opin on their general musical diet aside, I never quite felt like the heavy music crowd was anything but their sworn enemies. I dunno. I haven't had trouble mingling with most music crowds, but I'd be surprised to be welcomed into their fold. I'll give them all a run for their money anyway.

Since you're on the east side, hit me up on a PM if you'd like. I'd be down to hanging out as a fellow music lover. Share some knowledge.