Surfer Blood - new single 'Demon Dance', LP forthcoming

I saw Surfer Blood a few years ago when they toured Phoenix, and the first encore was Guided by Voices' 'Game of Pricks'. And the singer-guitarist John Paul Pitts did a great version of it. So I ended up liking them more than the average indie-rock-pop band.

International Pop Overthrow: Phoenix Show, March 15-16

This weekend, the Phoenix-Tempe area plays hosts to the traveling rock 'n roll circus known as the International Pop Overthrow.

It's a weekend-long event, showcasing local music in cities where the IPO (as it's known) plays throughout the year. This is the 5th year in greater Phoenix area.

International Pop Overthrow started 14 years ago in Los Angeles. David Bash is the founder and CEO of IPO and has spent the last 14 years building up the enterprise to include more and more cities in its yearly itinerary. For 2013, Bash and Co will bring his emceeing and organizational talents to the following cities:
Phoenix - March 15-16
Detroit - April 4-6
Nashville April 11-14
Chicago April 18-27
New York April 30-May 5
Liverpool May 14-21
London May 24-26
Los Angeles July 26 -Aug. 4
San Francisco August 7-10
Portland August 14-17
Seattle August 22-24
Vancouver August 27-31
Austin Sept 19-22
New York Nov 12-17
Boston Nov. 20-23
Toronto Nov. 27-30

Here's the Phoenix weekend flyer above. My band Dfactor is happy to again play on the IPO stage. We'll be rockin' our set on Friday night, with a set full of cool originals and swell pop covers. Powerpop lovers who dig cool, catchy chords and great melodies should catch this weekend's set! This weekend's shows are to be held at Sail Inn in Tempe, AZ. Hope to see you come on out!

Follow the IPO festival on its Facebook page.

'This is My Jam' looking for New Avenues

One of my favorite fun music curation-discovery-sharing thingamajigs on the Internet is This is My Jam. It's a easy-to-use site to let you find music via URL or download and post it as your weekly fave track.

Here's my Dfactor Jam page.

When you share a 'jam' online with friends, everyone gets to see a cool new or old track. And with YouTube's music vaults as expansive as anything, anyone can link a URL to This is My Jam to share with friends. Now, according to GigaOm tech news site, This is my Jam founders are looking at how to grow the service from an inside pet project into a bigger independent entity.

GigaOm's Bobbie Johnson wrote:
"The site is one of my favorite services to have launched in the last year or two, and it’s one I’ve found myself going back to more often than I expected. Posting your favorite tracks and browsing the tracks of others turns the site into a curious mixture of status update and radio station. It’s a great tool for telling people about the music you like — lots of people use it to showcase their mood, for example. But it’s also a treasure trove of music, allowing you to dig around in the tastes of others. Because it’s almost exclusively focused on what people are listening to now, it has a real-time quality to it… yet the conscious decision that goes into making your choice means that the end result is more personal than Pandora but way more curated than Spotify’s frictionless sharing."

I agree. It's fun and interesting to curate a new songs for friends every weekk or so. You can get all historical archive with it and dig out that late great rare Wilco song from inside Jeff Tweedy's cabinet drawers, or just go with the current flow and pick out an up-n-comer playing at SXSW next week. It's the randomness of it all that keeps people's picks interesting to me.

And now the This is My Jam creators are thinking ahead. They are looking to tinker with new ways for users to browse the site, according to the GigaOm article. "Explore categories will include “Breaking” (songs that have been jammed for the first time recently, and subsequently shared), “Rare” (songs that have been jammed only once), and another one that lists just the first jams of newly-registered users. Although it could act as a way for users to introduce themselves to the service, the first jams could also become a sort of Greatest Hits package."

Stick with The Jam. And stick with This is My Jam.

Warner Brothers SXSW showcase with Surfer Blood, Blondfire, The Wild Feathers and others

Warner Music is hosting a three-day live music residency March 12-14 at South By Southwest (location is The Belmont Austin). It's the "The Warner Sound Captured by Nikon" showcase. Surfer Blood, Blondfire and The Wild Feathers are all on the bill and will also be playing a handful of other shows and events throughout the week. See below for more info and full schedules.

Surfer Blood
West Palm Beach rock band Surfer Blood are gearing up for the June 11th release of its Warner Bros. Records debut, Pythons. Pythons is the follow-up to Surfer Blood's critically-acclaimed debut album Astro Coast, which earned spots on "best of" lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Filter, Paste, NME and the BBC. NPR's Bob Boilen called Astro Coast his "favorite album of 2010" and declared Surfer Blood to be "America's best new pop band."

Monday, March 11th
10 p.m. - Transmission Entertainment Showcase @ The Mohawk
Wednesday, March 13th
5 p.m. - Under The Radar Showcase @ Flamingo Cantina
Thursday, March 14th
6 p.m. - Filter Showcase @ Bar 96
8:30 p.m. - Warner Sound Showcase @ The Belmont
Friday, March 15th
1 a.m. - Fat Cat / Kanine Showcase
4 p.m. - Noise Pop Showcase @ Red Eye Lounge
Saturday, March 17th
12:30 p.m. - Rolling Stone Showcase @ La Zona Rosa
5 p.m. - KCRW + Filter Mag @ Cedar Street

Blondfire
Fronted by singer Erica Driscoll's soft, breathy vocals and rounded out by a catchy, danceable beat, LA band Blondfire is releasing their Warner Bros. Records debut, Young Heart, this year. The single "Where The Kids Are" became a Sirius XM Alt. Nation #1 late last year and is currently featured in the new Honda Civic campaign. Catch them on tour now with AWOLNATION and later this spring with Foals and Surfer Blood.

Monday, March 11th
8 p.m. - Will Call Showcase @ Javelina
Tuesday, March 12th
4 p.m. - Mood Party @ Clive Bar
9 p.m. - Warner Sound @ The Belmont
Wednesday, March 13th
12:30 a.m. - Blah Blah Blah Science Party
3 p.m. - Filter Party @ Clive Bar
4 p.m. - Crave Party

Wild Feathers
The Wild Feathers take inspiration from across the musical spectrum - country, blues, folk and rock - and spin it into a roaring web of warm, cosmic melodies with vintage roots and modern tones. The band is gearing up to release their self-titled debut album this summer, which was produced by Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, the Wallflowers, Emmylou Harris). They are currently on a Southern residency tour until SXSW.

Wednesday, March 13th
2 p.m. - Macbeth Showcase @ Lustre Pearl
8:50 p.m. - ASCAP Showcase @ Red Eyed Fly
Thursday, March 14th
12 p.m. - Warner Sound Showcase @ The Belmont
Friday, March 15th
11:35 a.m. - Whole Foods Showcase
3:30 p.m. - Hype Music Showcase @ Rusty's
Saturday, March 16th
3:00 p.m. - Baeble Music Presents: The Launch Pad @ The Knuckle Rumbler Lounge

New Dfactor single 'Yes & No Girl', upcoming shows

Singer-songwriter Dfactor announces the release of a new pop song 'Yes & No Girl' and two upcoming live appearances.

The Phoenix-based guitarist-rocker has released a bubblegum rocker called 'Yes & No Girl' about the politics of indecision and the quality of relationships. You can stream 'Yes & No Girl' at the Dfactor Soundcloud page or below.



"I am stoked to share 'Yes & No Girl' with my friends and fans," said Dfactor. "As with many of my songs, this title came about in a conversation where the phrase was dropped. It sounded good to my ears, and the song practically write itself."

In lieu of a current rock trio, Dfactor will perform two upcoming shows in solo mode, with a mix of acoustic and electric material, drawn from new songs and old fan favorites.

On Friday, March 8th, Dfactor will perform at famed rock biker bar Chopper Johns, appearing with local garage rock favorites Scorpion vs. Tarantula and The Breakup Society.

On Friday, March 15, Dfactor will perform at the Phoenix tour stop for the International Pop Overthrow, to be held at the great Sail Inn rock club in Tempe, AZ.

You can follow this talented singer-songwriter at the Dfactor Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.

The Hives and Pink - Tour Dates 2013

So excited that The Hives are opening up Pink's 2013 arena rock tour. Here are the majority of the dates, as seen from The Hives website. See all the dates below and get your tickets now!



The first show of the Pink-The Hives tour is in Phoenix on Feb 13th!

FEBRUARY 2013
01 February 2013 - Kalmar, Sweden Palace
02 February 2013 - Örebro, Sweden Club 700
07 February 2013 - Malmö, Sweden KB
08 February 2013 - Karlstad, Sweden Nöjesfabriken
09 February 2013 - Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene
13 February 2013 - Phoenix, AZ U.S. Airways Center
15 February 2013 - Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Events Center
16 February 2013 - Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center
18 February 2013 - San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose
20 February 2013 - Austin, TX- HEADLINE SHOW Emo's East
**Presale begins 10am Thurs Dec 20 with code: hivesatx**
21 February 2013 - Houston, TX Toyota Center
22 February 2013 - Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
24 February 2013 - Orlando, FL Amway Center
25 February 2013 - Fort Lauderdale, FL BB&T Center
27 February 2013 - Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Times Forum

MARCH 2013
01 March 2013 - Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
02 March 2013 - Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
05 March 2013 - Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
06 March 2013 - Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
08 March 2013 - Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
09 March 2013 - Chicago, IL United Center
11 March 2013 - Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
12 March 2013 - Montreal, QC Bell Centre
14 March 2013 - Washington DC Verizon Center
22 March 2013 - New York, NY Madison Square Garden
23 March 2013 - East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
25 March 2013 - Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
27 March 2013 - Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
28 March 2013 - Boston, MA TD Garden

Rolling Stones 'Paint It Black' Live (Dec 8, 2012)

The Rolling Stones are doing shows on the East Coast all week - a couple in Brooklyn last weekend, then the 12-12-12 appearance Wednesday night, then two shows in New Jersey tonight and Friday. Nice work if you can get it.

The New York Times wrote:
What is a Stones show? Musically, now that they’re in their 50th year and a long time before now, it doesn’t seem to be so much about the performances you’re actually hearing in real time. It’s an oldies show that can become a flickering re-enactment ritual: momentarily you hear a sound that’s both well-worn and alive, with a huge amount of meaning attached to it — it’s almost always a guitar riff or a drum fill — and then it’s gone, pulled under into a more functional or starchier or sometimes sloppier passage. And visually it’s about Mick Jagger’s stamina. Saturday’s show was the start of the American part of the Stones’ “50 and Counting” tour; as long as he was on stage, during the show’s two and a quarter hours, he never stopped."

The brilliant rock and roll muckrakers at Brooklyn Vegan has loads of info on this week's shows. They wrote:
"We already knew that Bruce Springsteen, The Black Keys, and Lady Gaga will be showing up at The Rolling Stones second of two Prudential Center shows (12/13 and 12/15), and we're now excited to find out that former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, who played with the band from '69 to '74 and showed up at their London shows but not their Brooklyn show will be joining them at both Prudential Center shows."

Gotta hand it to Mick for rallying the guys to do a few shows in honor of the 50th anniversary as a band. It had to take a lot of encouragement to get those guys back in form, even if they are a half-step slower than last seen.

Here's Paint It Black from last Saturday's show: