Deftones

Five Covers of the Cure That Don't Suck

For this latest edition of "things that don't suck," we decided to look at one of the most talked-about and anticipated headliners of this year's Austin City Limits Festival: the Cure. The Cure's legacy in pop-culture history is inestimable. A generation of teenage goths owes their ethos to front ma ... More >>

Saturday Night: Deftones at Bayou Music Center

Deftones, Periphery Bayou Music Center March 30, 2013 After a decade, it's easy for bands to make the short trip from real band to nostalgia act. They might continue to record new music, pushing out singles that radio will ignore and doing interviews about how excited they are about how this is the ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Bill Carter, Chase Hamblin, Deftones, etc.

Bill Carter McGonigel's Mucky Duck, March 29 With wife/writing partner Ruth Ellsworth, Bill Carter co-wrote 1989's "Crossfire," one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's last big hits. That song went on to earn music publisher BMI's "Million Airs" award for more than 2 million radio spins; musically speaking, it ... More >>

How Deftones Survived and Evolved Past Their Nu-Metal Brethren

While other bands at the time may have had more fans, sold more albums, or spent more time on television, time has proven what many of us suspected at the time: Deftones were the best band to come out of the nu-metal scene of the late '90s. They may not have played arenas like Korn, sold a million ... More >>

Last Night: Muse at Toyota Center

Muse Toyota Center March 12, 2013 There are certain types of bands you expect to pack arenas: bands who have figured out the power of pop hooks (Maroon 5), bands who play the most populist modern rock imaginable (Nickelback), and the dinosaurs of classic rock (Fleetwood Mac). Muse could have been ... More >>

Coming Soon to Houston: Tons of 2012 Critical Favorites

"No good bands ever come to Houston, I swear." Welp, you're wrong buddy. In the next few weeks and months, plenty of critical darlings are coming to Houston venues, and it's not even festival season. They are coming because they are actually on tours and not taking pity on us. OK, Houston crow ... More >>

The 5 Worst Trends Started By the Class of '99

Chris Gray's write-up of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" show at the Arena Theatre a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. These days, the swing maestro seems to be comfortably settled into his own little niche in the music industry, playing swingin' Christmas carols to grown folks. Bu ... More >>

Deftones Hitting Bayou Music Center March 30

Uber-popular long-running rock act the Deftones are coming back to Houston after a two-year layoff from the Bayou City. They will be playing the Bayou Music Center on March 30, where they will be closing out this upcoming mini spring tour. Rewind: Last Night: Deftones At Verizon Wireless Theater ... More >>

Top 10 Heartbreaking Holiday Covers

Last week we took a look at some of the most holiday spirit-dampeningly awful songs ever recorded. We aren't quite done ruining your holiday spirit just yet however, as this week we have compiled ten of the saddest holiday cover songs ever recorded. Rewind: The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Vik Montemayor, Bang Bangz's Seamless Timekeeper

Who: Vik Montemayor handles the percussion in one of Houston's hottest bands, Bang Bangz. The group started off as an offshoot of Mario Rodriguez's Tax the Wolf, but with the addition of Elizabeth Salazar on lead vocals, BB has really made a name for itself as something special. The trio's debut sel ... More >>

Set It To Blow: 5 Musical Bombs to Promote Internet-Jukebox Anarchy

Recently my Twitter buddy John Seaborn Gray wrote a blog for Rocks Off in which he gave the world five simple suggestions for how to use Internet jukeboxes more effectively. He makes a lot of good points and if you're good people you'll read it, digest it and put his rules in to practice. I am not ... More >>

Ever Heard of a $427,500 Mix CD?

Back in the dark ages of Internet piracy, a Rhode Islander by the name of Joel Tenenbaum made the choice of illegally downloading/sharing music online and the mistake of getting caught. The record companies wanted to make an example out of him and nine years later, it looks like they're getting what ... More >>

30 Seconds With The Word Alive's Telle Smith

The Word Alive is in no way messing around. Their music hits you in the face like you're a kid with a smart mouth. It's a spine-shattering, vulgar, primitive, form of metal that will leave you bleeding in its wake. We fired off an email out of our email cannon to vocalist Telle Smith to see what we ... More >>

5 Non-Rap Acts We'd Like to See Chopped Not Slopped

Here's a confession: I've never really understood chopped and screwed music. Because of this I've never had an opinion on it and filed it away with Reggaeton and Texas Country in my "genres not for me" mental file folder. Then I heard OG Ron C's take on Girl Talk's All Day and I found myself really ... More >>

The Lotus Effect in Transition

Houston prog-rockers change course after losing their drummer.

Curated Festivals and the Changing Face of Summer Entertainment

While most Texans are spending their Friday counting down to ACL or speculating about the Fun Fun Fun Fest line up, I find myself thinking about a festival north of our fair state. We're halfway through June and that means that the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos infomercial should be dropping any da ... More >>

#1 Crushes: Our Favorite '90s Rock Vixens

Tonight House of Blues welcomes Garbage back to Houston after a seven-year hiatus. The group, lead by fearsome Scottish redhead Shirley Manson, has been sorely missed from the music scene. They are currently touring behind their upcoming album Not Your Kind of People, which hits stores May 14. Rock ... More >>

Readers Poll: The Best Third Albums Ever

This week in 1980, Van Halen released their third album Women And Children First, which contained the hits "And the Cradle Will Rock...," "Everybody Wants Some!! and fan favorite "Romeo Delight." It's not the best VH album ever, but it was, in fact, their third album. Most VH super-freaks I know an ... More >>

Last Night: O'Brother & Junius At Warehouse Live

O'Brother, Junius, The Tempest Warehouse Live March 11, 2012 Check out our slideshow from O'Brother and Junius last night. Maybe it was the gloomy, chilly weather and maybe it was the scads of cold medicines we'd been taking all day, but Rocks Off found ourselves in a weird headspace on Sunday nig ... More >>

Buzzfest XXVIII Coming April 21: Korn, Blue October, MuteMath, Cage The Elephant & More

"Which button do I push to make R's go backwards?" ​Yes, we are now on the twenty-eighth Buzzfest in Houston history, with the all-day show on April 21 boasting a lineup that includes Korn, The Dirty Heads, Blue October, Evans Blue, Evanescence and Cage The Elephant, plus undercards Foxy Shaza ... More >>

The End Is Near: 11 Great Second-To-Last Songs

I'm not a linguist but I'll confess that I'm fascinated by jargon. Ever heard the phrase the 11 O'Clock Number? It's theatrical shorthand for the big show stopping musical number late in act two. If your musical starts at 8:30 p.m. and you want the crowd awake for the finale then you better have a g ... More >>

Forever Young: Musicians Who Refuse To Age

The other day, looking around on YouTube for Pantera stuff -- did you know that this month Vulgar Display Of Power turns 20? -- I found a relatively recent clip of lead singer Phil Anselmo VH1 Classic's That Metal Show from late 2010. The current Down crooner and mouth from the south was guesting on ... More >>

Never Say Die!: Black Sabbath Reforming In 2012 For Tour & Album

​Today in Los Angeles, legendary, pioneering heavy metal group Black Sabbath convened in front of reporters at the Whiskey A Go Go to announce a 2012 reunion tour and album, set for a fall release. The event, hosted by Henry Rollins, was telegraphed by a countdown clock on the band's official ... More >>

Dead Rock Stars & Dia De Los Muertos Album Covers

Photo by Marco Torres​According to a recent Associated Press article picked up by everyone from The Huffington Post to Fox News, Day of the Dead celebrations are on the upswing, a trend attributed in part to the growing Latino population and Hispanic influence on the culture, as well as changi ... More >>

The Best & Worst Of All Possible Buzzfests

Photo by Marc BrubakerWe did it all for the nookie.​This weekend is Buzzfest XXVII in Houston, 94.5 The Buzz's bi-annual all-day throwdown at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Rocks Off has covered a few of the shows in the past few years, including the May 2010 edition where we took along ... More >>

Little Smoke

Texas post-rockers This Will Destroy You take a dark turn

The 25 Most Influential Bands Of The '90s

Trent Reznor, you know, before the Oscar and all the weightlifting. ​As a music writer, we are asked constantly to compare the new with the old, to decipher the periphery where modern bands' influences come from to understand where we are going and what we are seeing. We can hear everything Ke ... More >>

Last Night: Linkin Park At Toyota Center

Photos by Groovehouse​Linkin Park, Paper Tongues Toyota Center March 3, 2011 "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." Rock writers cannot change what we see, but we can change how we see them. We ... More >>

Last Night: Deftones At Verizon Wireless Theater

"Get away from the garbage can, bitch." Photos by Marc Brubaker​Deftones Verizon Wireless Theater October 20, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Not many bands have the longevity the Deftones do, and after 22 years and counting, they have their art down to a science ... More >>

Upcoming: Appleseed Cast, Deftones, Hold Steady, Usher, Etc.

​The Appleseed Cast, Ananlog Rebellion: Fri., Nov. 5. Fitzgerald's. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Os Mutantes: Sun., Nov. 7. Fitzgerald's. Barenaked Ladies: Wed., Nov. 3. Verizon Wireless Theater. "Best Of Houston Launch Party" With Robert Ellis & The Boys, The Zydeco Dots, Los Skarnales, ... More >>

A "National" Tour Is Not L.A. To San Francisco Or A Few Festival Dates

Pavement? Nope, not here.​Tuesday, Rocks Off was a busy beaver keeping up with all the concert announcements coming over the wire. Along with the Fitzgerald's news, it was hard to keep up with everything going on. Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots, Drake, and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros all ... More >>

Summer Swoon

Proudly independent, recent Grammy nominees Silversun Pickups aren't ready to hit the "Panic Switch."

Friday: The (Very Wet) Vans Warped Tour At Sam Houston Race Park

Photos by Marc BrubakerTyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects​Vans Warped Tour Sam Houston Race Park July 2, 2010 As they always have, teenagers get a bad rap these days. In our minds, any kid who was willing to brave the dirty side of Hurricane Alex on Friday afternoon to see their favorit ... More >>

Road Dogs

LP on the way, Houston's American Fangs stay sharp through constant touring.

Buzzfest Brings The Noise, And The Pain

Photos by Marc BrubakerBreak Stuff: The Bizkit is back!​ For many, many more shots of Sunday's bands, see our slideshow here. For the really fun stuff - crowd shots! - see our slideshow here. Sunday, Aftermath spent ten hours wading in Buzzfest XXIV's radio-rock and classic nu-metal at the Cynthia ... More >>

Why Is The Buzz Still So Popular?

​The only other concert in recent months to sell out at a Gaga-like pace has been the perennial Buzzfest, the semi-annual schlock-rock festival organized since 1995 by Houston's "new rock alternative," 94.5 The Buzz. The concert sells out almost every time - like it is Saturday, but you can probab ... More >>

Five Songs We Don't Want To Hear At Buzzfest

​This Sunday, Craig's Hlist embarks on one of the most dangerous adventures of his music-journalism career, covering BuzzFest XXIV out at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. It will be our first go-round at the bi-annual modern-rock radio festival. This year's line-up was the first one that made ... More >>

Houston's Rememberances of Warped Tours Past

For the past 15 years, the Vans Warped Tour has been barreling through city after city across the globe creating punk rockers out of boy scouts and riot grrls out of band geeks. The traveling punk, hardcore and emo road show has been coming to Houston since 1995. The first taste local punks got of f ... More >>

Top Ten Metal Albums of 2008

In a year worthy of your rage, metal delivered in spades. What with the economy circling the drain and Sarah Palin coming down from the tundra and then refusing to go back, 2008's been the kind of year that really makes you want to smash your head into walls or punch random strangers in the face. Go ... More >>

A compendium of Cure-related information

The Only One

Team Sleep

Deftones

Saturday Night Wrist

Family Values Tour

Sunday, August 6, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, 281-363-3300

Between the Cracks

Profiling local bands

Denali, with LaGuardia and Groceries

Thursday, March 4

Korn Shuckers

The Deftones' headphone records elevate them out of the nü-metal pack

Pony Tricks

The Deftones stick to aggressive rock and watch as the rest of the world plays catch-up

Kontroversy

Korn ignores critics of its heavy metal attitude

Children of the Korn