Rocks Off been so far removed from mall culture that we had almost forgot that Hot Topic existed. Not that we ever meditated on where on 14-year old girls get their "Twilight" shirts and metal gauntlets from or anything...
Apparently local Hot Topic locations have been hosting acoustic shows by local artists, aiming to cultivate a grassroots scene away from those bands with shirts on their trendy brick walls. We got wind of a Ladyheat gig coming up soon at Katy Mills, plus a few scattered o
Photos by Craig Hlavaty
"These aren't the droids we're looking for."Friday, Aftermath ran over to Baybrook Mall after work to catch the guerilla acoustic show in front of the Hot Topic, pitting Friendswood's own "Christian death metal" band Hematidrosis and scum-punkers 10th Grade Cutie.
Nothing was set afire. No guitars were wielded as axes in some sort of teenage gladiator session in front the venerable counterculture outfitter.
In fact, 10th Grade Cutie didn't get to play its cove
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.Courtesy 10th Grade CutieSmoke Gets In Your Eyes: Rex and Blaine in Super Happy Fun Land's parking lot
We started listening to Friendswood punk rockers 10th Grade Cutie on a semi-regular basis about four weeks ago after someone
William Michael SmithLance Smith (left) and Mike Stinson
LOM grew up in the oil patch, made a good living in it, saw the world because of it. So it made sense to want our son, Lance, to grow up to be a petroleum engineer. Alas, it was not to be.
Now he's a guitar player.
Two years into the petroleum engineering program at University of Houston, LOM and the wife pulled the plug on Lance's financing. The logic? Exxon doesn't hire engineers with C averages who majored in frat party and skirt-cha
In this episode of Houston Music Fight Club, we yet again pit some of Houston's skuzziest and rocking local musicians and personalities together for a fight to the death. Or at least to the sore hand, bloody lip, and maybe a few tears. Some dudes fight when they cry; we've seen it firsthand. We don't know what causes it, because we have never seen those UFC cats blubber when they simulate homoerotic foreplay every few weeks. What gives?
We once saw two burly hosses scrapping outside some tool
It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we're trying hard to decode Houston's oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning.
We mean this with affection and sincerity: 10th Gräde Cütie destroys everything they touch and should be booked only with the utmost caution. They've been banned from Super Happy Fun Land (recently lifted), Dan Electro's Guitar Bar and especially White Swan for a legendary physical altercation with the staff.
This weekend's Westheimer Block Party is already going through some minor scheduling changes, just less than twenty-hours away from the time Bryan Jackson cracks open his first Modelo on Taft. Facebook and MySpace (yeah, we know) have been awash the past two days with changes to the lineup and set times. A recent Facebook status update from WBP sponsor Free Press Houston said this: "I don't know when your band is playing. Bands keep on trading slots like trading cards. It is what it is."
FPH
Marc Brubaker
Saturday's Westheimer Block Party began on a wobbly note, as most music festivals do with fans and staff still trying to find their bearings, aided by alcohol or otherwise. The scene on the ground seemed chaotic just an hour into the first day of the event. Organizer and Free Press Houston editor Omar Afra walked from venue making sure everything was going off without a proverbial hitch.
The first thing we saw on Saturday was renaissance rapper Nosaprise on the Helios outdoor st
