Deep Purple

Turtle Soup: More With One of the Wildest Bands of the '60s

Today, when the 65-year-old Howard Kaylan looks back on the '60s, it's still hard to imagine the kind of commercial and chart success he had with the Turtles, and how by age 22, it was all over. "They say that wisdom comes with age, and at that time, I had absolutely none of it!" he laughs. "I mean ... More >>

Last Night: The Black Crowes at House of Blues

The Black Crowes House of Blues April 26, 2013 Over the past nearly quarter-century, Chris Robinson's lyrics have shown no lack of religious imagery. Angels and devils exist side by side in the lines of his notebook, and various jubilees among congregations go off with fiery fervor. Not surprising, ... More >>

This Day In History: A Jack Ruby Playlist

On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was shot down by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being driven through the streets of Dallas. Two days later, Oswald himself was killed at the hands of nightclub operator Jack Ruby as he was being transferred to a county jail. There have been dozens of reas ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Beau Beasley, Organist For the End of Time

Who? For this edition of the Rocks Off 100, we reached out to Beau Beasley, of Houston grind legends Insect Warfare, The Homopolice, NO TALK, Born Liars, Reason Of Insanity, Knuckle Scraper, Machine Gun Romantics, Race Against Time, KG Beasley And the Leather Violence, and a host of other bands that ... More >>

Those Are People Who Died, Died: Musical Passings of 2012

Rocks Off put it off as long as we could, because December has been a pretty rough month. It always is for music. (Hollywood, too.) But it's time to call the roll of people who played or sang their last note in 2012, plus a few who were just as instrumental offstage. Precious few corners of the mus ... More >>

Venomous Maximus Readies Beg Upon the Light For Wide Release

This Saturday night at Fitzgerald's, Houston's Venomous Maximus releases what is the best metal album to come out of Texas in a long, long time. Maybe too long. Beg Upon the Light has already begun to wash upon the metal music press in the past few weeks. This is the band's first full-length LP, c ... More >>

Understanding the Rock Hall's 2013 Nominees: Chic? Kraftwerk? Butterfield?

Wednesday night The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced their 2013 nominees for induction next year. These names will be voted on by a committee of guys in bad weaves, rich people who know the right people, and tenured music writers with axes to grind. The names are as follows: The Pa ... More >>

RIP Joe South: "Games People Play" Singer Passes Away at 70

Joe South, the singer whose gospel-lite anthem "Games People Play" reached No. 12 in 1969 and won a Grammy for Song of the Year, passed away Wednesday after being in "failing health," the country-music Web site musicrow.com reported. He was 70. For a brief time, the Atlanta native (born Joseph Sou ... More >>

New Featherface LP Conjures Some Actual Magic

It's been more than two years since Houston's Featherface has released a new record, though that doesn't mean that they were short on actively contributing to the local scene. Since the release of their last EP It Comes Electric, they've performed many shows and have been steadily growing in popu ... More >>

Readers Poll: The Most Underrated Rock Albums Of The '90s

For this week's readers poll, I asked our Facebook and Twitter chums their choices for the most underrated and unsung albums of the '90s. We all agree on things like Nevermind, Harvest Moon, Mezzanine, The Soft Bulletin, Odelay and OK Computer, but what about albums that fall through the cracks of ... More >>

The Warning: The 10 Heaviest Albums Before Black Sabbath

Forty-two years ago today, on Friday the 13th, the gates of hell opened up and belched forth Black Sabbath. Upon its release, the Birmingham band's eponymous debut album instantly became the heaviest, scariest, most evil record of all time, and it still ranks right up there. Calling this record "in ... More >>

Lord Lordy, Look Who's Forty: The Best Albums Of 1972

Last week I told you about the best debut albums of 1992, making a lot of us feel old in the process. Hell, I was only nine when those came out and I felt feeble making the list. This week we look at the best albums of 1972, now four decades in the hole, but no less fulfilling and influential. Wha ... More >>

GET LIT - Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography

In the '70s and '80s, during stints with Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and solo/duo efforts, Glenn Hughes proved a triple threat musically as a singer, songwriter, and bassist. Plus, he had fucking rock star hair. The problem was, he also did three times the amount of drugs -- cocaine in par ... More >>

Dax Riggs

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... More >>

5 Bands Your Musician Friends Love...But You Don't

austinpost.comYep. Robert Plant "copped everything" from this guy.​In a 2005 interview with Esquire, Johnny Depp discusses the unwavering authenticity of Hunter S. Thompson, and likens his late friend to another great, often-troubled mind, saying: "...like Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elev ... More >>

Peter Frampton's Bassist "Comes Alive" Again

Stanley Sheldon​Classic Rock Corner was emailing recently with Andy Sharp (aka "Buffalo Speedway"), guitarist for the Austin-based Thin Lizzy tribute band Think Lizzy. He told us a story about talking music with his actual physician -- also a guitar nut -- who asked Sharp if he'd ever heard a ... More >>

30 Seconds With Retox

We let the members of Retox scream at us as we huddled in a quivering ball for 30 seconds, and here's what we learned... Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Retox: "When the Boat Comes In" by Skrewdriver. No explanation needed. RO: What is the best lyric in the world? Retox: N/A (A ... More >>

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

Deep Purple Rises, Repeatedly, From Its Own Hard-Rock Ashes

​Deep Purple Phoenix Rising Eagle Vision, $14.98 DVD, $19.98 DVD/CD, 142 mins. Deep Purple has been through so many different lineups that fans and hard-rock historians often measure then in "marks," abbreviated "Mk." While Purple's Mk II incarnation is the one casual fans remember most and h ... More >>

Top 10 Texas Movie Soundtracks

​This weekend, as the rest of the world catches Harry Potter mania for (perhaps) the final time, Houston gets a serious dose of Urban Cowboy nostalgia. Theater Under the Stars' production of the Tony-nominated 2003 musical - which The New York Times called "a conclusive demonstration that it's ... More >>

Ghosts of SXSWs Past: Justice, Glasvegas, Monotonix...

Craig Hlavaty​This year marks the fourth year Craig's Hlist has covered SXSW in Austin for the Houston Press, from the days when we had to shoot all of our own shows, had neither Facebook nor Twitter, and slogged through the day mostly drunk. It's a far cry from now, when we are glued to our p ... More >>

Start Wearing Purple: No Bullies Allowed

​Bullies suck. Growing up, Craig's Hlist watched a lot of kids in school getting the brunt of the, quote-unquote, "cooler" people giving them hell for being big, gay, handicapped or just smart. They would start fights, make up songs or stories about them, or find ways to embarrass them in fr ... More >>

Dax Riggs Says Goodnight To The World, Hello To Houston

myspace.com/daxriggs​Tonight Dax Riggs debuts his brand-new LP, Say Goodnight to the World, for Houston ears at Walter's On Washington. The record is his first full-length release since 2007's We Sing of Only Blood or Love and more than worthy follow-up, tempering Love's death rattles with sof ... More >>

Dax Riggs

Afermath: The Sword Puts Some Thin Lizzy Boogie In Its Mystical Metal

Photos by Marc Brubaker / Click here for a slideshow​While Aftermath was watching The Sword at Warehouse Live Sunday night, our mind went forward, H.I. McDunnough-style, into our own future. We imagined ourselves waking up on some less-than-velvet morning 20 years hence, cracking open a cold ... More >>

Back to the Future: The Musical Lineage of the Sword

Craig HlavatyThe Sword at Free Press Summerfest 2009​This Sunday night, Austin's The Sword pulls into Warehouse Live to lay waste to our city's collective eardrums. The band was in town last August for Summerfest and was shit-hot, coming right off of an opening slot for Metallica over in Europe. T ... More >>

KISS Off

The makeup-clad rockers may be hilarious, but they're hardly metal.

Eyeballin': Deep Purple: History, Hits and Highlights 1968-76

[Ed. Note: Throughout the holiday season, Rocks Off will be bringing you our picks for recent DVDs, CDs and other musical wares that might be just the ticket to help fill out that pesky shopping list. Enjoy.] ​Though they never achieved the popularity of Zeppelin or Sabbath, and are still not in t ... More >>

Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we ... More >>

Lost Tuneage: Nazareth

Who Dat? Formed at the end of 1968 out of the ashes of a group called the Shadettes, Nazareth - taking its name from the first line of the Band's "The Weight" - included Dan McCafferty (vocals), Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass) and Darrell Sweet (drums). As the group was from provincial D ... More >>

Classic Rock Corner: Ian Gillan's Deeper Shade of Purple

www.gillan.comThough best known as the talented tonsils behind British hard-rock legends Deep Purple, Ian Gillan has also found the chance to log in some serious studio and road time both fronting his own bands and as a solo artist. Gillan's new CD, One Eye to Morocco (Eagle Records) finds th ... More >>

Aftermath: SXSW

SXSW: Kurt Vile and Keys N Krates at the Music Gym

Photos by Craig HlavatyKurt VileWe once again crossed the big ol' road to hit up the Music Gym to see Kurt Vile and Keys N Krates. Since we hit town, we have found the most satisfaction out of this venue, with it's relaxed and wholly chaotic feel. During regular hours it's a rehearsal space for band ... More >>

Dollyrockers, Hellbound Hoedown

www.myspace.com/dollyrockershouston

Metalocalypse: Baroness and the Southern Metal Renaissance

Baroness, "Wanderlust," 2007 In the same way that Houston rarely inspires photos of snow flurries, people tend not to associate heavy metal with the South. But, if you look hard enough, you'll find a rich history of hard music with roots planted firmly in Southern soil. In the '80s and early '9 ... More >>

Black Sabbath: The Rules of Hell Box Set Reviewed

MySpaced Out: A MySpace Mixtape

Get Lit: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Joel McIver

Monotonix

The Tel Aviv trio performs its raw rock

Paul Rodgers: All Right Now

Deep Öyster Dilemma

A heavy-metal coin flip

Can

Future Days, Soon Over Babaluma, Landed and Unlimited Edition

Playbill

Rock and Roll Never Forgets

Classic rock finds a new generation of fans and keeps on keepin' on into the new millennium

Bons Temps, Island-Style

Mardi Gras Galveston holds spectacular charms with hard-rock edge

Drop Trio

Big Dipper, Self-Released

Letters, November 15

Fishy Business, Bad Taste, Band Aid

Party On, Dude

The Me Generation hasn't stopped believin' in its own soundtrack