David Fricke

Top 20 Things We Need to See at SXSW Next Week

Next week the Rocks Off Action Team goes to Austin for Ess Ex Ess Dubya for another four days of fun, sun, eavesdropping, and live music. And swag, of the free kind, not the kind that Justin Bieber is still trying to make happen. This year at SXSW we're looking forward to many, many things, includ ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Wednesday 3/14/2012

​If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving musi ... More >>

Billy Gibbons Interviewed: New ZZ Top Album Sounds Like Tequila

With ZZ Top ready to rock RodeoHouston Thursday, Rocks Off began to ponder whatever happened to the band's long awaited new-album. Last summer, guitarist Billy Gibbons told Rocks Off that the band's first collection of new material since 2003's Mescalero would arrive in stores this winter. So far ... More >>

Street Soul

Alejandro Escovedo puts strings on ice for the penetrating rock of his past two albums.

SXSW Last Night: Queens Of The Stone Age At La Zona Rosa

Craig Hlavaty​Rolling Stone magazine surely knows how to throw a showcase, bringing forth Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis, Mini Mansions, and Black Angels to open for a reinvigorated Queens Of The Stone Age on Wednesday night. Every band on the bill coalesced with each other beautifully and succinctl ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Deer Tick's Front Man Goes for That Chased-by-Alligators Sound

Providence, R.I., band Deer Tick may hail from "Up North" but their sound is purely steeped in grungey folk and rockabilly yelp. They, in fact, hear this description so much that the band has started to rebel against it by in fact upping the dosage on their new More Fuel For The Fire EP, which just ... More >>

Bob Dylan Gives Houston Some Love on Surprise New Album

www.bobdylan.comThat wily Bob Dylan has a new album in the can and all set for an April release, and even better, there's a song about Houston on it. The still-untitled album's sudden appearance came as a surprise even to those close to Dylan, Rolling Stone reports. "The disc has the live-in- ... More >>

Dylan's Singing `Bout Houston On His New Album

www.bobdylan.comThat wily Bob Dylan has a new album in the can and all set for an April release, and even better, there's a song about Houston on it.The still-untitled album's sudden appearance came as a surprise even to those close to Dylan, Rolling Stone reports. "The disc has the live-in- ... More >>

Aftermath: Slipknot and Coheed and Cambria at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Mark C. AustinCorey Taylor never told his fans that everything would be OK. Not on an album, not in the press and most definitely not at a live show. The lead singer of Slipknot, the Iowa noise-metal band that set up shop at Verizon Wireless Theater Wednesday and tonight, instead alw ... More >>

Words Right Out of My Mouth

Robb Walsh, On Being A Plagiaree

Drenched In Blog: Gold at the End of Radiohead’s Rainbows?

Rallying Round Al

Houston pitches in to help an ailing Austinite; also: Dennis Kucinich hits the hip-hop hustings

Rocket Redux

Cleveland legends come roaring full-throttle out of the tombs

Hip to Be Square

Quality, not fashion, drives the legacy of Simon and Garfunkel

Dub and Dumber