Phoenix local music picks for April: Alice Cooper, Enparoxismo, Sugar Thieves, Las Calakas

April gets off to an excellent start for local music with two multiact festivals packed with Arizona talent – one at the Sedona airport, the other in an Ahwatukee shopping plaza.

Two weeks later, there's another local festival in the basement of Mesa's historic Nile Theater building.

April also brings release shows by Craig Mabbitt's side band the Dead Rabbitts, cumbia-rocking Las Calakas and Tempe rock scene veteran Stephen Ashbrook before ending on a star-filled note with Alice Cooper's Coopstock 2.

Here's a look at those and other highlights of the month in local music.

And don't forgot to check our April concert picks to see what touring acts are swinging through the Valley.

Vort-I-Fest

The Vort-i-Fest Music Festival returns to the Sedona Airport's Mesa Area One with live performances by Southwest artists decker., XIXA, the Stakes, Red Light Cameras, Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold, Sci-Fi Country, and Rivers Run Wild. The day-long outdoor event features more than 35 local artisans, independent businesses, and a variety of foods from local eateries set against the backdrop of the iconic red rocks.

Details: Noon, Saturday, April 2. Sedona Airport's Mesa Area One, 135 Shrine Road. GA: $44. VIP: $100. vortifest.ticketleap.com/vortifest2022.

International Pop Overthrow Phoenix

A touring festival named in honor of a classic power-pop album by Chicago's Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow returns to metro Phoenix for its 12th year in the Valley. Initially more of a power-pop festival, IPO has expanded its scope a bit since 1998, the year it launched with 100-some bands on assorted stages spread throughout Los Angeles. This year's lineup features the Rebel Set, Freezing Hands, the Exbats, Naked Chollas, Exploding Oranges, Brenyama, Randy Forte, Street Duo, the Joeys, School of Rock Sugar Skulls and FEED.

Details: 3 p.m. Saturday, April 2. Cactus Jack’s Ahwatukee Tavern, 4747 E. Elliot Road, Phoenix. $10. 480-753-4733, cactusjacksbar.co.

Stephen Ashbrook

Now based in Portland, Oregon, Ashbrook was part of the Tempe music scene that spawned Gin Blossoms, the Refreshments and Dead Hot Workshop in the '90s. The Satellite frontman returns to the Valley to the celebrate the release of "Olly Olly," a six-song EP of Americana songs that should feel right at home to anyone who spent the '90s on Mill Avenue.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April. 2. Last Exit Live, 717 S. Central Ave., Phoenix. $20. 602-271-7000, lastexitlive.com.

Rockabilly Saturday Night!

Pat Roberts has the perfect voice for rockabilly, effortlessly channeling the late great Elvis Presley while his bandmates swing with such total command of the genre, you’d almost swear you wear hearing a great lost acetate from Sam Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service. Highlights of their latest album, "Devil," range from "On My Way," an opener that rocks the hand-jive beat as well as anything this side of Presley's own "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" to the piano-driven swagger and "Peter Gunn" sax of "Got to Make Her Mine." They're joined by the Ramblers and Thee Still Nites.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 2. Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $10. 602-265-4842, rhythmroom.com.

Moonlight Magic

Phoenixotica is as perfect a word as Moonlight Magic could have hoped to dream up for the title of their first release. As guitarist Jaime Paul Lamb explains it, "Before there was world music, there was exotica, which was a catch-all for music from the rest of the world, from the perspective of the West." Going into the project, he says, "We wanted to be able to be both the ambient wallpaper band that sets the scene without making a huge demand of the audience's attention or, alternately, the more showcase-y, performance-oriented band that have enough going on to be entertaining."

Details: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2. Fuego Bistro at the Clarendon Hotel, 401 W. Clarendon Ave., Phoenix. 469-1730, fuegobistro.com.

The Dead Rabbitts release show

A metalcore side project led by Escape the Fate's throat-shredding singer Craig Mabbitt, the Dead Rabbitts are throwing a party to celebrate the release of their third album, "Rumination," a much-anticipated follow-up to 2017's "This Emptiness." In an interview with chorus.fm, Mabbit said, "The title, 'Rumination,' comes from my experience of COVID. I found sobriety right at the beginning. And I’m coming on two years sober now. So that tells you how long this (expletive) has been going on." They're joined by Smile on the Sinner, Then it Hit Me and Young Misery.

Details: 8 p.m. Sunday, April 3. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $15. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.

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Sacred Reich with Sepultura

Initially scheduled for a 2020 run, this tour pairs with local thrash greats Sacred Reich Brazilian metal legends Sepultura, Crowbar and Art Of Shock. Revered for their hard-hitting mix of political lyrics and aggression, the Phoenix thrashers grabbed the spotlight with a full-length debut titled "Ignorance." As Hit Parader raved, "Intelligence and metal are two things not normally associated with each other, but in the case of Sacred Reich, they blend to form a powerful musical message." As for Sacred Reich, they're working on a follow-up to their first album in 23 years, 2019's excellent "Awakening."

Details: 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 5. The Nile, 105 W. Main St., Mesa. $25. 480-559-5859, ticketmaster.com.

Wednesday Wednesday

Jesse Teer of the Senators launched this weekly singer-songwriter showcase in December, inspired by Joel Eckel’s Monday Monday show at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, where Teer has been a guest performer. In a press release, Teer said, “This kind of songwriters showcase should have happened in Phoenix years ago. But, it probably couldn’t have. There just wasn’t enough of a coalesced scene then. There is now.” Teer hosts the series.

Details: 7 p.m. Wednesdays, April 7-28. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. Free. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

The Health & Rifle Club

This is the first in a series of shows the Health & Rifle Club is hosting called The Alt Gestalt. And they've done their best to capture the gestalt part of that title, rounding up the Lonesome Wilderness, Faun Flora and Louis on Tour. The goal, as they explain it, is "to highlight the really amazing alternative scene that's building in Phoenix."

Details: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $10. 602-265-4842, rhythmroom.com.

Jerry Donato

This saxophonist once released an album titled "It's a Cool Heat" with a cover image of a saxophone encased in a big block of ice in the desert. And you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better title for a tribute to the cool jazz of the post-war era by an Arizona saxophonist. Donato is a major talent who plays soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax as well as flute and clarinet. He's joined at Jazzbird Nights by Mark DeCozio on piano, Ben Hedquist on bass and Emerson Laffey on drums.

Details: 6 p.m. Thursday, April 8. The Ravenscroft, 8445 E. Hartford Drive, Scottsdale (in the Scottsdale Perimeter Complex). Free. 800-785-3318, theravenscroft.com.

Joy Oladokun

This singer-songwriter is touring in support of "In Defense of My Own Happiness," an album inspired in part by her experiences growing up a queer Black woman born to Nigerian parents in Casa Grande. The album made the rounds of year-end critics' lists, from American Songwriter to Billboard, which said, "With each song, the album feels like stepping one foot deeper into a lake to be baptized through Oladokun’s gospel, as her soothing voice, piano and frequent claps wash over the listener."

Details: 8 p.m. Sunday, April 10. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $20; $18 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

Haymarket Squares reunion show

The Haymarket Squares take the instrumentation of bluegrass and the attitude of punk and apply them both in equal measure to the issues of the day in satirical songs that are probably closer in spirit to Woody Guthrie than most punk or bluegrass. They're reuniting with original guitarist John Luther Norris for their first show with the classic lineup (Mark Sunman, Marc Oxborrow, Mark Allred and Norris) in nearly 5 years. The setlist will feature songs old and new, including a number of tunes that Norris sang back when he was a Square. They're joined by the Blood Feud Family Singers and the Pubes.

Details: 8 p.m. Sunday, April 10. Last Exit Live, 717 S. Central Ave., Phoenix. $12-$15. 602-271-7000, lastexitlive.com.

She/Hers/Ours

Beth Lederman's Jazz Con Alma join Holly Pyle of House of Stairs in celebrating the songs of female composers as acclaimed as Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Esperanza Spalding.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. $17-$28. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

Rock en Espanol

On 2017's "Nuevo Paraiso" album, experimental Latin rockers Enparoxismo topped their emotionally urgent alt-rock anthems with soaring guitar leads that occasionally drifted into something closer to jazz fusion (to brilliant effect). They're joined by Hijos de Nadie, Nacion and Almas Perdidas in a night of Rock en Espanol at the Rebel Lounge.

Details: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 14. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $15; $12 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.

Spring Kickoff

Yes, we know spring kicked itself off weeks before this multiartist blowout at the Underground in Mesa. But the bill is packed with local talent so let's not get all hung up on technicalities. Arsenic Kitchen, Rad Stacey, State of Delusion, Zaftig Zephyr, Rejected Monsters, Vacendak, Ultraviolet Communication, Better Than I, Virathas, Ring Finger No Pinky, Fixed Reaction and the Sintrics are all slated to perform.

Details: 6 p.m. Friday, April 15. The Nile, 105 W. Main St., Mesa. $12. 480-559-5859, theniletheater.com.

Sugar Thieves

Together since 2006, these Arizona roots revivalists recently released a six-song EP titled "Good Ole Time Tonight." The title track welcomes you into their world with a glam-rocking swagger through the blues that ventures closer to the kind of vibe the Black Keys have been chasing than previous Sugar Thieves efforts. As always, the vocal spotlight is shared by Mikel Lander and Meridith Moore, who sounds amazing on the moody blues of the Dylanesque "Fast Train."

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 15. Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $12. 602-265-4842, rhythmroom.com.

Hank Topless

When Topless won Best Country Act in Tucson Weekly, he was hailed as the very “personification of country music in Pima County.” And there can be no overstating the extent to which the songs on “Thank Your Dirty Stars” personify the best of country. You can hear it in the twang of those guitars on “Everybody’s Goin’ Down,” a gritty opener that hangs its hat on the bluesier side of the honky tonk, and the conversational phrasing of “Hard Time Blues,” where he sounds like he’s channeling Johnny Cash, especially on words like “fel-oh-ny.” As Topless himself suggests on Bandcamp, “Blame it all on Conway Twitty.” But he doesn’t let his abiding respect for the country traditions prevent him from throwing a talk box solo in the mix on darkly comic “Cut My Head Off.” He's joined at the Chopper John's Honky Tonk Beatdown by the very talented Katie Mae.

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 15. Chopper John’s, 2547 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. 602-955-0881, facebook.com/ChopperJohns.

Las Calakas release show

If you haven't heard the self-titled EP these guys released in 2018, you're missing out. It really captures the joyful energy that makes their brand of cumbia fusion so exhilarating. They're following through with "Hechizo," a full-length debut they'll release at Crescent Ballroom with La Sucursal de la Cumbia, Baracutanga and DJ Mayra E. All attendees are required to provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event for entry.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $30; $25 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

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Scattered Guts

These longtime veterans of the local metal scene describe their sound as Arizona stoner thrash. And they definitely nailed the thrash part on 2019's "The Wake," a headbanging triumph of pure aggression, technical precision, killer riffs and heroic shredding. There's even a song with a shoutalong chorus of "Bloody knuckles and broken bones." They're joined by Noisecult, Deathbloom and Mosara.

Details: 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 20. Yucca Tap Room, 29 W. Southern Ave., Tempe. Free. 480-967-4777, yuccatap.com.

Ben Hedquist

The jazz bassist returns to the Nash with a new quintet comprised of several of the most sought-after player on the Valley jazz scene — Eric Rasmussen and Keith Kelly on reeds, Alex Oliverio on guitar and Connor Sample on drums. The set will feature mostly new Hedquist originals as well as highlights from his album, 2019's masterful “The Mists of Uncertainty.”

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 22. 110 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix. $39-$49. 602-795-0464, thenash.org.

King Summer

Had I been asked to imagine what these guys were all about based strictly on that band name, I'd have guessed they sounded something like the more inspired moments of "Under the Weather" and "Cheers!" Their sound is breezy indie-rock awash in reverb with lyrics that range from self-aware to self-effacing. Consider the opening line of "To the Punch," the first song on "Under the Weather": "I said you don't follow your dreams, but who needs dreams anyways when you can buy things?" But like Weezer before them, they frequently manage to be unabashedly quirky and utterly sincere in the same contagious breath. They're joined by Oil D Remembers, Anjali Rose and Glue Sticks.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 23. Trunk Space, 1124 N. Third St., Phoenix. $5. thetrunkspace.com.

Wyves

If "Spoils of War" positioned Wyves as the locals most likely to resonate with Rolling Stones enthusiasts, "R U OK?" is where they proved that what they captured on that first release was no fluke, backing up that classic-rocking swagger with the extra punch required. Highlights range from the title track, on which the music stops just long enough for Corey Gloden to make the most of "Look at me, I went and caused a scene," to the psychedelic harmonies and McCartneyesque bass of "Mar-a-Lago." They're joined by Murder Me and Celebration Guns.

Details: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 23. Last Exit Live, 717 S. Central Ave., Phoenix. $12-$15. 602-271-7000, lastexitlive.com.

Pop Icons

You won't mistake these Phoenix punks for Britney Spears or Justin Bieber. Their sound recalls the raw emotional intensity and strong melodic sensibilities of early Hüsker Dü in the more inspired moment of their first release, a five-song portrait in reckless abandon titled "Prelude." You can tell they never even thought of letting up on the accelerator as the highlights fly by at a breakneck pace, from "Prelude to a Broken Heart" to "I am gonna break your heart" to a final track that wonders "Are you living vicariously through the things you see on your TV?" And it's pretty that they don't see that as a good thing.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $15. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.

Bob Ravenscroft

The local jazz piano great takes the stage at the venue he had built for a performance he calls Music of the Moment. The Ravenscroft website promises "a one-of-a-kind musical experience" exploring "the depths of artistry by venturing into unknown realms of musical expression." Ravenscroft will utilize various idioms of artwork and spoken word for inspiration in a show where "freely improvisational landscapes converge within a traditional jazz format."

Details: 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 27. The Ravenscroft, 8445 E. Hartford Drive, Scottsdale (in the Scottsdale Perimeter Complex). Free. 800-785-3318, theravenscroft.com.

Bob Log III

This Tucson blues-punk legend is a wildly entertaining one-man band whose slide-guitar alone would command your attention for the length of any live performance but he's too much of showman to rest on his musical laurels, singing his songs through a telephone receiver glued inside a motorcycle helmet while playing the drums with his feet. A former member of Doo Rag, he's shared the stage with R. L. Burnside, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ani Difranco and Ween. All attendees are required to provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event for entry.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $12. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

Surf Through Death release show

These stoner-rock revivalists are celebrating the release of "II," the much-anticipated follow-up to the psychedelic splendor of the self-titled debut they released in 2020. And judging from the videos they've shared so far, this new one could be even heavier and more hypnotic. They're joined by the Darts, Dead Canyon and Garnak.

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 29. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $12. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.

Alice Cooper's Coopstock 2

Alice Cooper and a handful of his famous friends will take the stage at a rock 'n' roll fundraising bash at a golf club in Mesa. This year's guests include Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Ed Roland of Collective Soul, Scott Stapp of Creed, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Danny Seraphine of Chicago, Adrian Young of No Doubt, Larry the Cable Guy, Gary Mule Deer, SIXWIRE and Chuck Garric, who plays in Cooper's touring band and Beasto Blanco with the Coopers' daughter Calico.

Details: 6 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Las Sendas Golf Club, 7555 E. Eagle Crest Drive, Mesa. $99-$400. 602-522-9200, alicecoopersolidrock.com.

Dani's 50th Birthday Bash

For the past 15 years, Dani Cutler has served as a voice for the arts, entertainment and small business community in metro Phoenix as an on-air personality at KWSS-FM, an independent nonprofit that's carved out a niche for itself to the left of the dial at 93.9.

She's also turning 50 with a handful of her favorite local artists dropping by to help her blow those candles out — Fire By Night, Turn Zero, the Woodworks and Let Alone.

As Cutler says, "I’m using turning 50 as an excuse to have a show and support some bands."

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Last Exit Live, 717 S. Central Ave., Phoenix. $12-$15. 602-271-7000, lastexitlive.com.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix local music picks for April: Alice Cooper, Las Calakas, more