Circle Jerks

Battle of the Black Flags: Which One Is Better?

This past week the Internet was abuzz with the news that two different versions of the 1980s hardcore-punk pioneers Black Flag are reuniting. Since Black Flag is so iconic to almost any punk fan, this is big news indeed. But there's a catch: neither of the two versions is the complete, real version ... More >>

Friday Night: Public Image Ltd. at Scout Bar

Public Image Ltd. Scout Bar November 2, 2012 Not many shows remind you that sound has actual, physical mass, but Public Image Ltd. sure did Friday. Mass, as in something tangible and discernible, with density and volume. Especially volume. But don't count out density. Yes, I'm talking about some ... More >>

Last Night: OFF! & Negative Approach at Warehouse Live

OFF!, Negative Approach, Power Trip Warehouse Live September 20, 2012 Thursday night, East Downtown was hoppin.' The streets were filled with orange-clad soccer fans ready to watch the Dynamo whip up on El Salvador's C.D. FAS, and the bars on St. Emmanuel St. were doing brisk business. Rewind: Ke ... More >>

ZZ Top Sucks. There, I Said It.

Keith Morris Talks OFF!, Politics & Touring In 2012

Next Thursday night, punk legend Keith Morris comes to Warehouse Live for his second Houston visit in a year with his group OFF!. The band is made up of Morris, Steven McDonald of Redd Kross, drummer Mario Rubalcaba, and guitarist Dimitri Coats, also front man of Burning Brides. OFF! was birthed o ... More >>

Our Friends Puscifer Playing Bayou Music Center June 27

One of the most memorable shows I've seen in Houston thus far was Puscifer, the band that does for lascivious alternative electro-rock what Maynard James Keenan's other band Tool does for progressive metal. When Puscifer played Jones Hall in November 2009, I was expecting something like the grind-y ... More >>

Hear Them Roar

Houston's legendary punks the Latch Key Kids release a new EP after years of silence.

Still Thirsty And Still Miserable: Black Flag's Damaged Turns 30 Years Old

Photo By Edward CulverCheck out this great Q&A with Damaged photographer Edward Culver​Every modern punker has a story relating to Black Flag's Damaged, which turns 30 years old today. Some hate it, some love it, some blame it for the everything good or bad that happened in their lives since t ... More >>

Our Top Ten Picks For Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011

Photo By Marc BrubakerBest Coast at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010​This weekend the Rocks Off team will cover their third Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, at the festival's new home Auditorium Shores. Each year this fest seems to get bigger and better, without losing it's grimy luster. Is it the Austin City ... More >>

Huh-Huh-Huh: 20 Bands Beavis and Butt-Head Turned Us Onto

​Next Monday, Beavis and Butt-Head returns to MTV with original episodes for the first time in 14 years. The final episode of the show's original run aired on November 28, 1997, and marked the closing of a chapter of our lives. Not only were they instrumental in forming our vocabulary - fartkn ... More >>

Friday Night: OFF! At Warehouse Live

Photos by David Ensminger​OFF!, Cerebral Ballzy Warehouse Live October 14, 2011 Some bands drag on for years, featuring only one original member, desperate to remain potent and pitched forward. Making potboiler punk, they endure the glare of the social-media era and endless new generations of ... More >>

OFF!

Keith Morris Sounds OFF! About His Dark Punk Party

Rocks Off: You desire a gig in Mississippi or Alabama. Why? I can barely remember the last time any of my other bands played in either of those states. Now, the excuse I keep getting is that they are very depressed states and maybe they are not doing very well financially, or just a whole list of t ... More >>

Piss Off: The Top 10 Punk Rock Movies Of All Time

"Can we have your brother's autograph?"​Tonight the Alamo Drafthouse at West Oaks Mall turns punk rock as the theater shows the 1984 Alex Cox cult classic Repo Man, with a set from Houston punk laureates the Hates to start the evening at 9 p.m. The film, starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean ... More >>

Forrest Gump & Other "Generation-Defining" Soundtracks

​The Forrest Gump soundtrack debuted on June 28, 1994, a week ahead of the film itself, which would go on to smash box-office records, win numerous awards and become one of the most beloved movies of the past 20 years. It is still endlessly quotable, emotional, and entertaining, and the soundt ... More >>

Our All-Time Fantasy Vans Warped Tour Lineup

Photos by Marc BrubakerWarped Tour 2010​Since 1996, the Vans Warped Tour has been a staple of punk and youth culture all over the world, uniting kids of all stripes under the violent heat of the sun one day out of the year in cities across the map. The traveling festival is responisble for bre ... More >>

Straight-To-DVD Music Sequels Soon To Come

​If you're a struggling writer, musician or filmmaker trying to work up the nerve to kill yourself, have we ever got good news for you! Your morale may have been damaged or even crippled by seeing bad music, bad movies and bad stories dominating the upper echelons of their respective fields, b ... More >>

The Adolescents: Still Punk Rock Kids From The Black Hole

"We were little pricks, but bored out of our minds..." The Adolescents on the 2007 Warped Tour​For 30 years, seminal Orange County punk band the Adolescents has unleashed anthemic teen angst, since mutated into wise adult aggravation, in intermittent bursts. Sure, members come and go at revol ... More >>

Still Fun Fun Fun, Festival Is On The Cusp Of Change

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Miss the bands in Austin this weekend? See as many as we could squeeze into our handy slideshow. Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin is on the cusp of change. A renovation to its home base, Waterloo Park, is due within the next year, so come next November the festival more than ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest: A Pocket Guide To Rocks Off's Picks

All photos courtesy funfunfunfest.comCall us crazy, but we think we may not be seeing Craig after this weekend.​Tonight Rocks Off heads to Austin to cover our third festival this year in the capitol city, Fun Fun Fun Fest. This is also our second trip to the festival in Waterloo Park. Think AC ... More >>

Teflon Don

Rick Ross writes rhymes for gangsta lifestyle

Five Other Bands Calvin College Won't Invite Anytime Soon

​Calvin College, the "distinctly Christian, academically excellent liberal arts college" in Grand Rapids, Mich., doesn't want you to associate the school with pornography. That means no New Pornographers show: Regrettably, Calvin College has decided to rescind its invitation to the band, The ... More >>

The Decline of Western Civilization

This early L.A. Punk documentary

Will The Real Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup Please Stand Up?

Marc BrubakerMetallagher at Fun Fun Fest 2009​Lots of late-night intrigue in the Twitterverse, as anticipation for the announcement of the lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 builds to a boil. Late Wednesday, Austin blog Party Ends published a list including Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance, Ga ... More >>

13 Bands You're Better Off NOT Searching On Google Images

​ ESPECIALLY with SafeSearch off. You're just going to have to take our word for this one, because Rocks Off is more than happy to fall on that grenade for you - you're more than welcome to tell your boss you really were searching for that Circle Jerks album cover, but come on, we both know what's ... More >>

Back To The Future: The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles That Meet In D.R.I.

metal-archives.comA hometown D.R.I. gig, 1982​Tonight at Wired Live, formerly the Meridian - or still the Meridian, just not for much longer; we don't even know at this point - you can watch part of punk and hardcore history duke it out with some of the new wave. Legendary crossover thrash band an ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

Aftermath: Puscifer at Jones Hall, the First Show We've Walked Out On In Years

Photos by Groovehouse​Aftermath considers himself a reasonably tolerant sort of fellow - you pretty much have to be to do this job. And we know for a fact we have a sense of humor, and a pretty off-color sense of humor at that, because it's gotten us in hot water more than once. ​Which is why ... More >>

Thursday Is World Toilet Day; We Celebrate Without Using An Expletive In The Headline

​Hair Balls would like to take the time to discuss a very serious matter: pooping. Specifically, pooping in a toilet. More specifically, not having a toilet in which to poop. It's a serious situation that affects 2.5 billion people in developing nations, according to the World Toilet Organization ... More >>

Westheimer Block Party Listology: Paris Falls' Favorite, and Least Favorite, Musical Moments In the Movies

All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. It's not too late for your band to be up here, either; just email chris.gray@houstonpress.com by noon Thursday if ... More >>

Aftermath: Vans Warped Tour at Sam Houston Race Park

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 t ... More >>

Pay for Play

Superstar session drummer and Dadaist marketing genius Josh Freese (Devo, A Perfect Circle, the Vandals) sells himself, his famous friends and all-you-can-eat shrimp at Sizzler to promote his new album.

Rocks Off Checks Out Corpus Christi

Photos by Craig Hlavaty This past weekend, Rocks Off took a respite from sweltering H-Town to visit family in our equallly sweltering, ball-sweat-inducing neighbor to the south. Corpus Christi is rather small compared the teeming ant farm we have here, topping just over a quarter of a million beachi ... More >>

Butthole Surfers Pt. 1: Ex-Manager Tom Bunch on BHS' First Houston Show, "Gibby Used to Drop His Pants a Lot," His Punk Rock Video Archives, Explaining the Music Business and More

Aftermath: Matt and Kim, the Death Set and Team Robespierre at Walter's on Washington

American Idols Live

Which megatour is really more punk rock?

Circle Jerks

Circle Jerks perform Monday, December 3, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483.

I Scream, You Scream

Inside the world of death metal's premier vocal coach

Playbill

Pop-Punk Penance

A cool kid seeks heavenly redemption

Fear, and the Toasters

Friday, January 30

Pennywisdom

"The kids" benefit from Pennywise's punkish golden rules

Rotation

Looking for Billy Zoom

X was the West's great punk hope. But now they're finding more fun in their new worlds.

Buff Boys

Critic's Choice

The Hard Way