CAKE (Band)

Five Bands Who Could Replace The Roots On Late Night

This past Sunday, NBC announced that Seth Meyers will officially take over as the host of Late Night, when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in early 2014. But with Meyers set to inherit a show with a tradition of turning talk-show hosts into late-night greats (David Letterm ... More >>

5 Bands That Should Break Up Immediately

Music fans are selfish. We might act like we only want what's best for our favorite bands, but the truth is that we really just want what will give us the most gratification. A lot of ink, both real and digital, has been used this year to talk about reunions. And while writers might dissect the mot ... More >>

20 Modest Fan Suggestions for Jim Crane

The word from on-high came earlier this week when the Houston Astros announced that Jim Crane had heard the voice of the fans and thus would not be changing the team's name. It's nice that Crane paid some attention to the people who buy tickets (though it does seem strange to see how many people co ... More >>

The Ghost of Cliff Burton Rattles its Chains on Debut Album

Editor's Note: The Ghost of Cliff Burton's Jef With One F is a regular contributor for Rocks Off and the Houston Press. When the oddball experimentalists in the Black Math Experiment went on hiatus four years ago, Houston lost a strange and unique musical voice that's been missed by many. Thankfu ... More >>

Langhorne Slim

A Band to Save Me

The first Best of Houston® BestFest makes itself at home in Midtown.

Last Night: Cake At Best Of Houston BestFest

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Cake Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest Midtown Superblock September 25, 2011 We're not sure if Cake lead singer John McCrea is genuinely a cantankerous prick, or if he simply pretends to be one onstage because he finds it amusing to do so. The end result is larg ... More >>

BestFest: Buxton Incite Swoons, Deer Tick Get A Little Goofy

Photos by Marc BrubakerBuxton​Maybe I've just never seen Buxton at a venue as large as this one before, but I've seen them play some pretty big places, and so far this is the biggest they've ever sounded. It was just confirmed for me that those guys can thrive equally well in either a modest, ... More >>

BestFest: Hayes Carll Strikes Up The Band, Cake Shut It Down

Photos by Marc BrubakerAll the way from Beaumont: Hayes Carll​By now Hayes Carll has to be the musical poet laureate of Southeast Texas, or the "scruffy redneck rocker" division, anyway. (Bun B holds the rapper crown in perpetuity.) Carll's songs are as stuffed with detail as a roadmap, the Pi ... More >>

Countdown to BestFest: It All Starts Tomorrow

​The 23rd annual Houston Press Best of Houston® issue is coming out on Thursday, September 29. But you don't have to wait until next week to celebrate: Come join us as we celebrate the issue's release at this weekend's BestFest block party. Headlining bands the Toadies and Cake will play on ... More >>

Midtown Throwdown

Your guide to our very first Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest.

Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest: Five Best (Get It?) Reasons To Go

Monica FuentesIt's a-comin'​The Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest is this weekend, and it promises to be great. Here are just five reasons, out of many, why you should be there: 5. To see what they've done to the "superblock" They -- and by "they" we mean Metro and property owners anx ... More >>

Sweet On Cake & 20 Other Dessert-Centric Bands

Cake: California Fashion Nuggets​One of the biggest headliners, and they are all headliners, of this weekend's Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest is Cake, the quirky Sacramento pop-rock act responsible for radio favorites like "The Distance," "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" and "Never There," ... More >>

BestFest Adds Los Skarnales, The Last Place You Look, Umbrella Man & Honky Tonk Blood Trio

Half-price GA passes = today's "Deal of the Day" GroovehousePachuco Boogie: Los Skarnales' Nestor Serrano (left) and Felipe Galvan at the 2011 Houston International Festival​The first Best of Houston® BestFest is shaping up nicely. Today it gives Rocks Off great pleasure to announce four mo ... More >>

BestFest Tickets are Half Off, Today Only: Get Yours Now

​If you haven't already heard, the Houston Press is hosting a massive, Texas-size block party to celebrate our 23rd Best of Houston® issue, which comes out on September 29. BestFest, held on September 24 and 25 in Midtown, will feature past and present Best of Houston® winners performing for ... More >>

Lord of the Hipsters

Whatever mashup-pioneering DJ Diplo decides to spin, it's a guaranteed party.

Upcoming Events: Support Local, Eat Bacon

Coming up next weekend: Gird your pork-loving loins.​At Georgia's Farm to Market, SLGT doesn't just mean "Support Local, Grow Together." It also means "Saturday Local Get Together," when the market hosts its weekly Local Life Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This Saturday, chow down on Georgi ... More >>

Chamillionaire Comes Aboard BestFest Lineup

Marco TorresChamillionaire at House of Blues, April 2010​Remember that announcement Rocks Off promised you about another addition to next month's Best of Houston® BestFest lineup lo those many years months days hours ago? Like, yesterday? Here it is: Chamillionaire. Sorry it took so long, ... More >>

I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing: 5 Songs About Coca-Cola

​It's hot outside, folks. We're starting to think the Aztecs were onto something, and if we could find a virgin and a sharp knife we might see if a little human sacrifice would appease the hateful sun god. Until then, we'll have to settle for staying indoors and drinking many tall glasses of f ... More >>

Tontons Added To BestFest; Tickets On Sale Now

Mark C. Austin​ Rocks Off is thrilled to announce that Houston's The Tontons will be joining Bun B (with the band, above), Cake, Buxton and Deer Tick at the very first Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest at the Midtown "superblock" September 24 and 25. We will have a review up shortly of ... More >>

Ian Moore: When Good Record Deals Go Bad

The Ian Moore Band today (L-R): Ian Moore, Chris White, Bukka Allen, Michael Villegas​Ian Moore had both the good fortune and misfortune to be a young, good-looking Austin guitar hero who came to prominence shortly after Stevie Ray Vaughan's death created an opening for the position. Joe Ely d ... More >>

Bun B, Deer Tick Come Aboard BestFest Lineup

Jason WolterDeer Tick at HOB's Bronze Peacock Room, October 2010​Rhode Island rockers Deer Tick do so wish they were from Houston. They have a deep-seated ZZ Top fetish that manifested itself in a cover of "Cheap Sunglasses" at SXSW a couple of years back, nearly causing a couple of members of ... More >>

Cake, Buxton Confirmed For First-Ever BestFest

​Saucy rockers Cake and Houston's own alt-country insurgents Buxton are the first two acts confirmed for the inaugural Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest, or "BestFest," the two-day festival scheduled for September 24 and 25 at the Midtown "superblock" between McGowen, Main, Travis and A ... More >>

Promoter Mike Kelley: "Numbers Is Houston's CBGB"

Marco TorresWu-Tang Clan's GZA and Ghostface Killah at Numbers, December 2010​Numbers' credentials as a concert venue are undeniable - everyone from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Green Day to Type O Negative has played there. It's hard to argue, though, that the past decade hasn't been a rough ... More >>

Beethoven Rocks Harder Than Ever

Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of "Comment of the Day," choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We're glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about ... More >>

Aftermath: The Fiery Furnaces' Indie-Rock Orobouros Is Nearly Too Meta for Walter's

[Ed. Note: An orobouros is the mythological image of a snake eating its own tail. Look it up.] Photos by Jody Perry​ The narrative arc of the meta - yes, the meta has a narrative arc; wanna fight? - has officially been fucked with, and the audience it once had is now like; seriously, what's going ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, April: Springsteen, Jandek, Morrissey, The Faint, iFest, Cake... and Nickelback

Harley C. Pitts​ Kevin and Dustin Welch, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, April 2: "Dustin (son of Kevin) Welch stunned the sparse crowd at the Duck last night from the first note of "One False Move," the brilliant opener to his new album, Whisky Priest. While the graying crowd had mostly come to hear the ... More >>

Dancing With the Stars: Nearing the Finish Line

​Do you smell that? That potent mixture of stardust, flop sweat, and desperation? It's like burnt cinnamon and broken dreams. And it can mean only one thing: The final week of Dancing With the Stars. The show's whole pointlessness was driven home in Tom Bergeron's opening narration, when he ... More >>

Walter's on Washington Leaves Its Namesake Avenue Behind.

Moving on up!

He Said She Said: Songs Guaranteed to Offend the Opposite Sex, Part 2

It's been 25 years since Tipper Gore and the ladies of the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) self-righteously rode the the rescue of delicate ears across America, claiming that rock music was "infecting the youth of the world with messages they cannot handle." It was the 1950s all over again. Th ... More >>

Aftermath: Goodnight and Good Morning, Roman Candles, Timber!, Stove Blow and Scuba Steve at Super Happy Fun Land

Photos by Andrew BarcusTimber! (right) and Scuba Steve join forces. Going to a show at Super Happy Fun Land is always an out-of-this-world experience. The multicolored walls tell a story, one of a man capable of eating his own leg, another of just random tagging, although it is fairly new. These wal ... More >>

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