—————————————————— Signing Off from the HPMA Awards Ceremony | Rocks Off | Houston | Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

Concerts

Signing Off from the HPMA Awards Ceremony

Ed note: The full list of winners will be published on Rocks Off within the next half hour, so please be sure to check back.

Rocks Off had been using our Flip cam since before 6 p.m., so by the time Tax The Wolf took the stage at 10:10, the device was dead, and a lot of the interviews we conducted with it were lost... at least for now.

Lee Alexander, who won the award for best male vocals, deserved the honor -- he did win, after all -- but told us that "if Arthur Yoria and John Evans were still in Houston, there's no way in hell I would have won this."

Modesty is becoming of local musicians, especially when they show love to their peers and predecessors.

Nick Gaitan, Local Musician of the YearThe Wild Moccasins ended up walking away with the best indie rock award, and Andrew Lee told us that, with the award, he hopes the bands gains enough recognition, both locally and elsewhere, to make a living off performing.

"Maybe soon, we can live off our music and not work other jobs," Lee said.

Currently, the entire band tours and they all have jobs, some of them full-time. Two of the group's members weren't in attendance because of that fact.

By 10:02 p.m., right after Nick Gaitan won the best local musician of the year ward, Warehouse Live looked empty, and Rocks Off found ourselves worried about the (supposed) afterparty.

Come on, Houston. We know it's a Wednesday and all, but it's not even midnight. Where did you go?

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Matt is a regular contributor to the Houston Press’ music section. He graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in print journalism and global business. Matt first began writing for the Press as an intern, having accidentally sent his resume to the publication's music editor instead of the news chief. After half a decade of attending concerts and interviewing musicians, he has credited this fortuitous mistake to divine intervention.
Contact: Matthew Keever