Chris Martin

30 Seconds With IAmDynamite

Chris Martin and Chris Phillips as IAmDynamite is one of the great modern duo-bands that manages to make two guys sound like an army, easily putting them up there with acts like Chromeo and our own Morgue City. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Supermegafantastic f or the infectious rock an ... More >>

Liam Gallagher Is My Hero. Don't Judge Me.

Liam Gallagher is a literary genius. Yes, I said it. And I won't take it back. But wait. Don't start typing out your "Beady Eye sucks and their album tanked" rant just yet. I can explain. I say this based not on Liam's musical prowess but on his inane ability to drop pearls of bitchy wisdom aime ... More >>

The 5 Worst Disasters In Benefit Concert History

Benefit concerts are great. The practice of bands playing to raise money for a cause can be as local as helping a fellow unsigned musician pay for their son's hospital bills to as international as world hunger. Though we may pinch our noses at the perceived sanctimoniousness of people like Bono and ... More >>

Recreating the "Lost" Beatles Songs on YouTube

The Beatles is my favorite band. Not because of their albums, but because they are the greatest urban-legend generators in rock and roll. All around them, stories sprang up that sounded possible but were anything but. I even made a quiz out of it if you'd like to test your credibility-meter. My abs ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week

The Helio Sequence Walters, January 15 The Helio Sequence's indie cred was secured when affable hipster tastemaker Fred Armisen (SNL, Portlandia) recently named last year's Negotiations to his Top 10 list, alongside albums by Bob Mould, Guided by Voices and Dirty Projectors. Only the Portland duo's ... More >>

Keane

The Name Of That Paul McCartney/Nirvana Song Is "Cut Me Some Slack"

If you were watching the long, long, long Hurricane Sandy benefit on Wednesday night with The Who, Chris Martin, Kanye West, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Alicia Keys, then you more than likely stayed up late to see Paul McCartney play with the surviving members of Nirvana. ... More >>

A July 4 Playlist That Goes Boom!

July 4 is truly America's national holiday, because it combines two of the country's grandest traditions: Taking the day off work and blowing shit up. Because freedom isn't free, fireworks and other explosives are embedded in America's formative myths and our national character. Also, they're pretty ... More >>

Last Night: Coldplay at Toyota Center

Coldplay Toyota Center June 25, 2012 At the risk of obliterating the last remnants of my punk-rock cred, I guess I never really understood all the Coldplay hate. Chris Martin's Ernest Lee Sincere routine puts a lot of people off, sure, and some (like my neighbor) bailed on them when they started dr ... More >>

Coldplay

Flaming Lips And Their Fwends Set To Weird Up Record Store Day

In a few weeks on April 21, Record Store Day is yet again set to obliterate the wallets of record collectors around the country, and the Flaming Lips will have quite a release for fans on that day. What would you think if I said that they have been recording with none other than Ke$ha, Bon Iver, Nic ... More >>

The Space City Beat Battle & The Best H-Town Producers Ever

Despite a venue conflict, the championship edition of the Space City Beat Battle will go on Saturday evening at the Mercury Room. If you've never been to one it's almost like watching a ritualistic rite of passage where cocksure arrogance and chest pounding reign supreme. Sample based producers who ... More >>

Coldplay Adds Second Date To Houston Stop

British pop-rockers Coldplay have added a second date to their Houston stop, now playing two consecutive nights, on June 25 and June 26, as the first date quickly sold out. The band, currently touring behind last October's well-received Mylo Xyloto, has always been pretty popular in the Houston mark ... More >>

Early Warning: Coldplay Bringing Mylo Xyloto To Houston On June 25

Photo By Craig HlavatyColdplay's Chris Martin at the Woodlands in July 2009. ​Coldplay is bringing their Mylo Xyloto tour to Houston next summer on June 25 at the Toyota Center. The band was last in Houston on July 22, 2009 at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on the down-slope of the Viva La Vi ... More >>

ACL Last Night: Kanye West At Zilker Park

Marco Torres​By the end of the first night of this year's Austin City Limits, Kanye West had gone over his allotted set time by 15 minutes, turning in one of the most un-rap, rap shows, injecting a Bjork and Talking Heads stage-commanding sensibility into a collection of champion singles. It w ... More >>

ACL: Molly's Revenge & Other Encounters

Jim BrickerColdplay: Also with the pretty lights.​A Zilker field. As Friday's shadows lengthened, a young woman - tall, pale, boots - approached Rocks Off. "Are you going to Pretty Lights?" "I don't think so." "Why not?" "I don't know." "Do you know where I can get some Molly?" "Uhhh... ... More >>

Eight Halfway Decent Songs With Godawful Titles

​So, we listened to Coldplay's new single, "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" for the first time and, try as we might, we just can't hate it. Now, it's not great. One could argue that it only barely crosses the line into "good" territory. It sounds like Chris Martin locked himself in a room and l ... More >>

25 Famous Bands' Less Famous Previous Names

​As promised, here are the answers to Rocks Off's "Original Band Name" quiz from Tuesday. John St. Lee, if you'd care to email us, we'll see what we can do about getting you a prize. Do you like Devo? 1. Chicago: At about 25 or 6 to 4, the Windy City jazz-rockers realized The Big Thing sucked ... More >>

Last Night: Thrice At Warehouse Live

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Thrice, Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band Warehouse Live July 6, 2010 Walking up to Warehouse Live for Thrice Tuesday night, Aftermath witnessed one of the most interesting spectacles we've ever seen outside of a venue. As we got there, we heard a gentleman - and we use ... More >>

Most Downloaded "Hope For Haiti" Texan? Although She Killed, Not Beyonce

Between fighting crime, reducing global warming, mending our socks and, you know, everything else Rocks Off does when we're away from the office, we caught a good bit of Friday evening's "Hope for Haiti" telethon. We didn't have much choice, because the George Clooney-organized, celebrity-packed fu ... More >>

Piss Up a Rope: Songs R. Kelly Probably Won't Sing In Concert Friday, but Should

​Get out your towels: R. Kelly is coming to town. The singer would be best known as "that guy who sang that song in the Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny movie" if not for the allegations in 2002 that he engaged in sex with an underage girl. Kelly was found not guilty of child porn charges last year, but ... More >>

Four Possible Reasons Jay-Z Is Skipping Houston on His Blueprint 3 Tour

​Self-proclaimed king-of-rap Jay-Z unveiled his autumn tour schedule last week. The 26-date jaunt - which began Monday night in Chi-town and winds down just in time for Thanksgiving - will take Hovito all around the world, from New York to London to Kentucky to noise-rock haven Providence, R.I., t ... More >>

Aftermath: Coldplay at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Craig Hlavaty Coldplay carries with them almost every major defect available to make it possible for someone like Aftermath to hate them. Bandleader Chris Martin prances on the stage like a marionette detached from his strings for one, his gee-whiz smile notwithstanding. Just like the its ... More >>

Single-Album Sets We'd Like to See, Part 1: Bob Dylan, George Strait, The Pogues and More

Initiated by indie-rockers like Sonic Youth, Slint and Built to Spill at mid-2000s festivals - UK/U.S. hopover All Tomorrow's Parties and its various tie-ins being the most prominent - playing a beloved LP front to back in concert is now the hottest thing going on the classic-rock circuit. Within th ... More >>

Summer Sounds

Enough shows to keep concertgoers busy all season long

Aftermath: Coldplay at Toyota Center

Photos by Mark C. Austin The problem with Chris Martin isn’t the fact that the Coldplay frontman writes lyrics that resemble something that might come from the diary of a seventh grader who sniffs magic markers (snow, it turns out, is white after all). No, it’s the fact that he almost forces p ... More >>

Celebrity Wedding Present

Who has the upper hand in various musician-celebrity marriages?

Turning the Screw: K-Otix, T-Pain, Bun B & Face?, Jay-Z & Coldplay, Master P, The Game, The Kanye, MF Doom and More

Get Lit: 501 Movie Stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow

Drenched In Blog: Kanye vs. Fiddy vs. Black Lips

The Hero Factor

The Hero Factor performs Sunday, May 13, at the Mink, 3718 Main, 713-522-9985.

Double Vision

Jess and Lisa Origliasso give teen pop a harmonic jolt as the Veronicas

Droning On

Billy Joel and Goldfish Sandwiches

Four artists share their guilty, and not-so-guilty, pleasures

Into the Frey

If you thought A Million Little Pieces was a pack of lies, wait till you check out the Mötley Crüe biography

Road Trip

How a mid-list band spent six weeks in an RV, fueled by chili

Coldplay

X&Y

switchfoot

No matter what you call 'em, they're headlining the Music Awards

Hilary Duff

Metamorphosis (Buena Vista/Hollywood)

Cold Relief

Radio wild card Coldplay struts in from the UK with plenty of attitude

Coldplay

Parachutes
(Parlophone)