tucson, az

[genocide roach]

ok, a friend/co-worker is trying to get me to take a job in tucson. is there a decent metal scene there? anyone lived there?

i cant decide what i want to do

pros:
cool flying job (chics dig the flight suit too hehehe)
make extra cash
possibility of a relationship with a certain chic who is stationed there as well
get away from typical office bullshit
regular short deployments (as opposed to randomly getting snagged for a year long deployment)

cons:
colorado fucking rules (decent scene, great skiing and backpacking)
its hot
its close to the mexican border
i get paid to do basically nothing in colorado
i'd be flying in a c-130 (it sucks, but may not be so bad if i'm working)
i'm not totally sure i'd enjoy the aircrew lifestyle (i keep to myself most of the time)
i dont think ive really gotten a chance to settle down and live a normal life in CO yet

ok, opinions please
~gR~

 

[unknown]

hmmm that's a tough call. I don't know. by the sounds of it, I would stay in Colorado and wait for something else to come along

 

[cookiecutter]

I thought Colorado Springs sucked when I visited there, but I've never been to Tuscon.

Have you heard of Execration? They are a band from Colorado Springs that just got signed to Comatose.

 

[genocide roach]

execration? dont think so. i'll have to check em out. what do they play? i know there are a shit ton of BM bands in the springs, but they only play once a year, and the big BM event on pikes peak,
~gR~

 

[cookiecutter]

They play Brutal Death.

BM fest on Pike's Peak? That sounds really cool. Lightheadedness for Satan

 

[genocide roach]

yeah, its a big "invite only" event. bands play for however long they want. rumor is alot of silly shit goes on. booz, drugs, animal sacrifices, lots of fire arms, big nsbm crowd.

maybe i'll get a chance to go next year.
~gR~

 

[AchrisK]

I live in Tucson. Maybe if you come here you can come to church with me

Just kidding man. Don't get mad.

I am not big time into the local scene but I go to some concerts. We have a couple of pretty good clubs that metal bands play at. We are smaller than Phoenix, so it is common for bands to go to Phoenix and not come here. It's about 120 miles to Phoenix, so not too far to go to see some bands. Anyway we get do get some metal shows here. Some shows I've seen: the Summer Slaughter tour (Necrophagist etc), Sacred Reich (they only played in Tucson and Phoenix), Suffocation on the Sould to Deny tour, In Flames (I only mention this because Nevermore was with them). I am sure I have missed some because I don't really hang out with any metalheads, so I don't always hear about upcoming shows. Looks like Daath, Naglfar and Dark Funeral will be here in Oct, as well as Heaven and Hell (Sabbath). And Immolation in Nov.

Here are the myspaces of a couple of local bands:

http://www.myspace.com/headtrip666

http://www.myspace.com/doomsdaydisciple

Both bands were pretty good in concert, especially Headtripp. There are probably more but that's all I know for sure.

You should know what kind of heat tolerance you have before coming here. The heat is our local "natural disaster" (cali has earthquakes, some places have tornados, hurricanes, flooding...we have heat). It's probably from +/- 95-115 +/- from about May to about the end of August. To me it's not unbearable, even with no AC in the truck. But to some people it is too oppressive. When it's dry it's really not that bad, but we have about 2 months of what they call the monsoon season. July and August are usually hot and rainy, thus very humid. Not as oppressive as I have heard that Texas and other places are, but still pretty bad. If you end up living at a place with AC it's not bad. But many people have "swamp coolers" (evaporative coolers) which cool the air by sucking the air through damp pads. It work well when it's dry, but during the monsoon season it makes it humid indoors, and doesn't cool as well as. Other than that the weather here is amazing. It hits freezing a few times during the winter. It snows maybe once every 5 years. Spring and Fall are perfect. I guess we get something like 360+ days of at least some sunshine, and mostly a lot.

 

[genocide roach]

thanks ack. lol, i wont get mad... dirty christian hehe

anyways, i can deal with heat (shit, after the summer in qatar, i can do anything!), i just dont want to.

i dont know how old you are, so you may not know the answer to this, but what is rent like out there?
~gR~

 

[Mr. Nekrophetamine]

Ack probably knows better than me, at least for the Tuscon area...

But up in the Phoenix area and other cities? Shamefully cheap. You can get a nice 3 bed-room condo for $600-$800, smaller places seem to be about half that.

I pretty much echo Ack's thoughts on the metal scene here, and in fact I'll definitely be coming back to Tuscon to see Dark Funeral and Naglfar. Tuscon tends to get "ohshit" shows every once in a while that has the rest of us considering a trip down there...

 

[AchrisK]

I am old enough to know, but I have been a homeowner for 16+ years, so I don't know a lot about rent prices. You can look up prices, and I can tell you that central, east, and north are the more desirable areas in Tucson. North and north-west are almost starting to be considered a different town, to some degree. Far north is actually a different county. South and southwest has more poor areas, though they are building some homes down there because there are a lot of technology companies in the area. I think 3 bd 2 ba homes are mostly over $1,000 in the regular areas.

Here is a zipcode map:

http://www.asmta.org/images/tucson.jpg

Other things:

Elevation about 2500-2700 ft

We have a nice mountain about 9000 ft. with a little skiing and other places for camping and hanging out and even a lake for fishing.

This summer Phoenix had either 20+ or 30+ days of temperatures in excess of 110 F! Phoenix is at a lower elevation and is a lot bigger.

 

[Cythraul]

is there a decent metal scene there?

I really don't know. I haven't heard of any noteworthy bands that play here. We get a lot of good national touring acts that come through here (Immolation and Suffocation in November, for instance). But I haven't really bothered to look into the scene over here very much. There probably aren't any good bands here. Oh and by the way, I don't think there are any stores here that cater to metal needs (unlike Phoenix which has Metal Devastation).

anyone lived there?

Yes, I live here.

its hot

Yup, it's hotter than Satan's balls over here. Be prepared for unbearable summers. But fall, winter, and spring over here are great.

its close to the mexican border

And this is bad because???

 

[cookiecutter]

Mexicans are smelly

 

[genocide roach]

I am old enough to know, but I have been a homeowner for 16+ years, so I don't know a lot about rent prices.

its so hard to tell how old people are here. so many "kids"!

thanks all.
~gR~

 

[AchrisK]

I really don't know. I haven't heard of any noteworthy bands that play here. We get a lot of good national touring acts that come through here (Immolation and Suffocation in November, for instance). But I haven't really bothered to look into the scene over here very much. There probably aren't any good bands here. Oh and by the way, I don't think there are any stores here that cater to metal needs (unlike Phoenix which has Metal Devastation).

We do have Zia which has new and used CDs, and has a whole metal section, and it's not just full of nu-metal, harcore or metalcore. It's mostly real metal and the newer metalcore popular stuff (AiLD et all). But they don't have a lot of the more underground label stuff.

 

[genocide roach]

hey ack, do you play anything? if i move down there, i'll need a band hehehehe
~gR~

 

[AchrisK]

Nope. I have always kinda wanted to, but apparently not enough to actually do it.

 

[genocide roach]

buy a drum set and start learning hahaha
~gR~

 

[AchrisK]

Well I actually have a nice little spare room that is a separate structure from my house that would be perfect for a pool table and a small practice setup. My wife and son (13) want to get a small kit, so that may actually happen. My wife's brother just got out of prison and he plays drums. He's good for rock and light metal, but I guess he doesn't have teh speed.

 

[genocide roach]

prison eh?

well, anyone can play doom!
~gR~

 

[Jean-Pierre]

I really don't know. I haven't heard of any noteworthy bands that play here. We get a lot of good national touring acts that come through here (Immolation and Suffocation in November, for instance). But I haven't really bothered to look into the scene over here very much. There probably aren't any good bands here. Oh and by the way, I don't think there are any stores here that cater to metal needs (unlike Phoenix which has Metal Devastation).

I lived in Tucson for two separate times, four years total, and I don't know if you like punk, but around the university campus in town the best punk store in the entire country is there. You'll find anything and everything, and they have some metal at times. They had Venom and Bathory LP's once when I went there.

And for Genocide Roach, there's not much to do in Tucson unless you're an avid outdoors kind of guy. Personally, I would hike in Sabino Canyon all the time, and loved it. They've been building on Tuscon a lot lately, and I don't know if I would like it there now since progress has turned it into basically everywhere else, but there's probably more "fun stuff" to do. Also, as Chris touched upon, real estate: It's a top market in Tuscon. You'll be able to build so much value, so you should go in on it NOW if you're sure.