Traditionally, a rock band will receive attention through their local press before receiving any recognition on a national or global level. Punk and indie rock artists always played by a slightly different set of rules due to a vast network of DIY fanzines.  On the punk rock side, the zine movement was led by Flipside in the late 70s. That movement's leadership was continued through the 21st Century by Maximum RocknRoll (MRR) which, along with the now-defunct Flipside, set a standard that allowed equal coverage in their record reviews section (mixing records released by established labels with those that were self-released or financed with a small indie without credible distribution). Both zines would also feature reader-submitted scene reports and interviews conducted by unseasoned freelance writers. From those standards, thousands of fanzines devoted to punk and underground music were built to showcase music not on the Rolling Stone or SPIN radar.

Today, there are tons of music blogs and hundreds of hometown publications with local music coverage that publish their archives on the web. However, I believe one thing should remain constant; any artists who is making waves on national or global level should be picked up on the local radar fairly quick. Especially here in Phoenix, AZ, whose local publications are notorious for their obsessive coverage of any local hero gone global - whether it be on a grand mainstream scale (Gin Blossoms, Jimmy Eat World) or those who barely scratched the surface nationally (The Format, Scary Kids Scaring Kids).

Back in October 2005, The Reatards were playing The Clubhouse in Tempe with their touring support act Tokyo Electron, who were locally based. In between sets I saw the head music editor for one of Phoenix's local entertainment papers at the bar. I immediately wondered, and hoped, that the editor was there to write a piece on Tokyo Electron or more specifically the band's leader/singer Ryan "Wong" Rousseau. And why wouldn't this person be there for Ryan? Tokyo Electron had just return to the States after a successful European tour supporting The Reatards, a band founded in Memphis by indie bad boy Jay Reatard and featuring Rousseau on drums. Both bands had their most recent full length albums released by Empty Records, a Seattle based label with a strong garage/punk roster and large enough distribution to justify both an American and European tour for the Reatards and Tokyo. Empty had also released the first album from Rousseau's synth-punk side project, Destruction Unit, and a second album was in the works. But all that was only "recent" history in 2005. There was a longer history in the fact that Ryan Rousseau had also co-founded a bratty garage punk band in his hometown of Yuma back in the mid-90s called The Wongs (first as drummer, then as one of the band's two guitarists once the band re-located to Tempe). The Wongs too would make an impact on the underground scene, releasing singles and an album on Rip Off Records while touring and making the occasionally festival appearance (Vegas Shakedown in summer of 2000 comes to mind). There is nothing incredibly hip or terribly groundbreaking with any of the bands Ryan Rousseau has been involved with. However, in 2005, there was no doubt that Rousseau was one of the most celebrated musicians from the state of Arizona, thus making him media-worthy on the local level.

The local press finally came after the show at The Clubhouse...six months later during Phoenix New Times annual review of Arizona based artists performing at SXSW. Since then bits and pieces about Rousseau's work as an artists have been published. However, yesterday the Phoenix New Times led their weekly music coverage with an article about Ryan Rousseau's new band Earthmen and Strangers. The article, written by Jason Woodbury, tells the same history as I just told - more or less - with almost the same introspect (minus any question towards the lack of local press previously) but with some deeper details that anyone who can name all of Rousseau's bands probably already knew. Still it's a tremendous tribute to a young musician whose back catalog and tour diaries double that of many seasoned artists considering retirement. And, yes, the article is timely as it was published a day before Earthmen and Strangers' record release party at The Yucca Tap Room (tonight, see flier below).

The article can be found on the Phoenix New Times Website. 

You can buy the new self titled Eathmen and Strangers LP direct from FDH Music. There is also a link to a free download for their song "Desert Snow"