One hot morning in August of 1997, my little brother and I hopped on MARTA (Mom wouldn't let me use the car) and moseyed on down to the Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta for the third-ever Warped Tour. Should the writer of a column about experimental music be ashamed of having gone to the Warped Tour as a kid? Yes, clearly he should have burst from the womb reading Henry Miller and listening to Mission of Burma (oh wait, that was my brother). But in my defense, sample the lineups from some of thes
Photo by Andreas BondingEvery time us Yanks think we've got the market cornered on strangeness, along come those darn Europeans to show us how much we still have to learn. It's most entertaining when they do it by re-interpreting classic American concepts such as gangsters, country music and punk rock as interpreted by '80s Southern California bands like Bad Religion and Social Distortion.
That's what Denmark's Volbeat, a Copenhagen four-piece formed in 2001, does on third album Guitar Gangsters
For the past 15 years, the Vans Warped Tour has been barreling through city after city across the globe creating punk rockers out of boy scouts and riot grrls out of band geeks.
The traveling punk, hardcore and emo road show has been coming to Houston since 1995. The first taste local punks got of founder Kevin Lyman's tour was at the AstroArena, starring such future luminaries as No Doubt, Sublime and the Deftones, along with members of the old guard like Sick Of It All and L7.
Everyone who is
Photos by Craig Hlavaty
Aiden stirred up the moshers on a sizzling afternoon.
For anyone out there thinking that kids don't care about music anymore, or that all they want out of it is illegal downloads and faux guitars connected to gaming consoles, Rocks Off would like to kindly direct you to the 15th installment of the Vans Warped Tour.
Nearing a decade over the age of the average attendant, Rocks Off can tell you it's not easy covering a show of this magnitude. Somewhere walking into t
What it do, Rancid? What's crackin', formerly crusty-punk rude boys? Been a long time since we last hang, bros. When Dan Zeller lent me Let's Go during senior year of high school, I knew y'all were onto something special: three-billy-goats-gruff sung scrabbling punk anthems and routs with just a hint of ska. ...And Out Come The Wolves was what really sold me, though, as you found a slightly more commercial sound that brought MTV rotation (for "Time Bomb"), plus a platinum plaque.
Our interest be
Photos by Rachelle Mendez and Matthew Juarez​Saturday night, one of the most polarizing bands of the past 20 years rolls into town. Since its 1994 mainstream breakthrough, Dookie, Green Day has been dividing fans and critics alike. Some damned the trio for leaving their punk-rock roots behind at 924 Gilman for the glamour of MTV videos and catered backstages. Others championed them for bringing a youthful sense of humor to the dour grunge-saturated rock scene of mid-'90s.
The success of Dookie
