Rocks Off reached out to the artists playing this year's Houston Press Music Awards showcase Sunday, August 5, and asked them to introduce themselves. Here's what they sent back.

Catch up with the other showcase nominees and see the rest of our HPMA coverage

Rocks Off: When and where was your first gig in Houston, and how did it go?

Grievous Angels: Technically, our first gig was two songs at the Firehouse Saloon for the Bastrop Wildfire Benefit. We formed about three days prior to that event. However, our first official gig as The Grievous Angels was cancelled by the venue the week before the show, so we had to scramble to find another place to play.

We ended up playing at Slick Willie's in Montrose, and from what people could hear above the crack of pool balls and macho grunts of the men wielding the pool cues, it was kind of awesome.

RO: What Houston-area venues do you play most often?

GA: We frequently play the Firehouse Saloon. Tom has given us the chance to both headline and to open for some of our heroes. We've played Natachee's a couple of times now and love love love it as a music venue (and a place to get fried pickles). Blanco's is another place that has always been really good to us. And another place to get great fried pickles. 

RO: How often do you play in the area?

GA: We play in Houston 2-3 times a month. We've recently been playing more shows outside of Houston and even outside of Texas, but Houston will always be our home.

RO: Describe your sound in eight words or less.

GA: Imagine Trio and Fleetwood Mac had a baby...

RO: How did you come up with your name?

GA: We derived our name from the Gram Parsons album, intending to covey a greater idea of who we are: Three women, raised up and taught to sing in a choir loft and then trhust into the real world where even angels weep. But angels also laugh, and the Grievous Angels laugh through tears and heal through songs of love and heartache.

RO: Where would you like yourself or your band to be in one year? Ten years? Forty?

GA: This time next year we'd like to have a full-length album completed and be on a year-long tour, both within the United States and overseas, to promote the album. Ten years from now we'd like to be established not just as artists, but as serious songwriters. It would be incredible to be able to write not just for ourselves, but for other (younger) artists who are looking for that next great song.

Forty years from now we'll be 70 years old. To quote James McMurtry, "All I want now is a comfortable chair." 

RO: What is one thing you'd like to do (as a musician) before you pack it in?

GA: I don't see packing it in as an option. Ever. Music is like oxygen to us. There's no way to stay alive without it. So, without conceding that we will one day pack it in, standing center stage at the Grand Ole Opry, playing the songs we've written....well, that would be about a billion different dreams come true for the Grievous Angels.

See more with the Grievous Angels on their Web site, Facebook, Twitter and as Rocks Off's "Artist of the Week" in February 2012.

The Grievous Angels play the HPMA showcase 8 p.m. Sunday, August 5 at the House of Blues Crossroads Stage (downstairs).