AZPX hosted a demo at the Goodyear Arizona skatepark recently. I got this shot a Rayce Davis busting a frontside air in the faces of three photographers on the deck. Rayce will be in his 3rd PHX AM contest in April.
Photo: Michael Cornelius
My band The Father Figures have been playing around Arizona for the last year and a half. In January we released a 13 song CD titled lesson Number One on AZPX Records. It’s a mix of angular post-punk and old-school skaterock with hints of surf guitar. If you like skaterock then you will like this CD! You can listen for yourself at The Father Figures web site or on Facebook.
Tara Locker, the matriarch of Familia AZPX is fighting breast cancer. Besides all of our thoughts and prayers she also needs a little financial support to help pay for all of the medical expenses and lifestyle disruptions. Kids that Rip in conjunction with Grind for Life are hosting a skate session on February 27th from 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM to benefit Tara . The session will be $10.
On February 12th I went to see the final show of The Other 49 at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Phoenix. It’s too bad they couldn’t go the distance because I think they had a really good sound and some solid momentum. You can still download all of their songs from their web site and they are planning to complete an EP that was in the works when they broke up. They had a solid line-up at their show starting with Factories, an indie electronic trio playing keyboards and guitars, Tugboat and Source Victoria.
I thought the standout band of the night was Tugboat. They use a lot of odd time changes and breaks but still manage to keep a solid drive going. The singer was really solid and played intricate guitar lines while singing. They have been around for over a year but this was the first time I had a chance to see them. You can download all of the tracks from their 3 EP’s on their web site. Here is the song “Party” to give you a taste of what they are like.
On February 1st Tommy Guerrero launched his latest CD “Lifeboats and Follies” on Galaxia. Tommy has been cranking out smooth funky jams with latin and jazz flavor for years now. His mostly instrumental grooves are perfect soundtracks for mellow drives and chilling out. Being a former member of the Bones Brigade and a San Francisco street skate progenitor, Tommy is a true skaterock super star. He was busting ollie kickflips before boards had upturned noses and concave. He had memorable parts in the Future Primitive and Real videos and musical exploits go back to the budding days of skaterock when he played in Free Beer in San Francisco.
His latest album continues his past work with no surprises and no disappointments. To my ear it sounds a bit more improvised and loose than some of the earlier work. If you have not latched on to Tommy’s work yet you should definitely check it out.