Dream Theater

Saturday Night: The xx at House of Blues

The xx, Austra House of Blues February 9, 2013 For a band that revels in bringing icy silence to post-punk, it could be relatively easy for The xx to lose all of that so-called "negative space" when playing to a cavernous venue packed to the gills with Houston concertgoers who love to talk. The ve ... More >>

Terminal Confusion: Why Are These the UK's Most Popular Funeral Songs?

Recently, a survey conducted in the UK revealed the most popular songs played at funerals. The big news everyone seems to be talking about is that Adele's "Someone Like You -- a song all about how replaceable a person is -- made it to No. 22. But we here at Rocks Off find the Top 5 equally confoundi ... More >>

Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids

This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year old son. The child didn't know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. "When the Beatles record ... More >>

Drops In the Bucket List: 5 Venues To See a Show In Before You Die

I'm not much of a traveler. Outside of a few trips to Vegas, I've never been on a real grownup-type vacation. Every year it's a struggle to think of something to do with my vacation days, one that eventually leads to a few four-day weeks and a couple of midweek shows. Now that I'm getting older, I' ... More >>

Readers Poll: Who Is the Most Overrated Artist in Rock History?

The concept of "overrated" and "underrated" has always confused me. There are groups that are critically lauded, yet got little commercial love, like The Band. And then there are groups that were almost universally reviled by critics, like Journey, who consistently managed to sell out shows, sell mi ... 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 >>

In Prog We Trust: Five Progressive Rock Bands You Hate, But Shouldn't

There are some forms of music that struggle to find critical acclaim while others are loved by critics but universally dismissed by the public. Then, there is another group that, despite a loyal and sometimes massive cult following, are disliked by critics and everyday music fans alike. Meet prog-r ... More >>

We Tell You Who Will Win Grammys So You Don't Have To Watch Them

SPOILER ALERT​The best thing about the annual Grammy nominations and awards shows is the clamor of anger that rises up when the mere mention of the event even comes up. Immediately people begin calling it a travesty, trotting out all the people who have been snubbed -- Jethro Tull beats Metall ... More >>

Drum Kit From Hell: With Bill Ward Out, 5 Replacement Drummers For Black Sabbath

Drummer Bill Ward, furthest right, has left the band.​Black Sabbath's big reunion plans seem to be cursed. First, guitarist and the only consistent member of the band Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma. Then they had to drop out of playing Coachella due to Iommi's diagnosis. The latest spe ... More >>

Scale the Summit

Upcoming: Black Angels, Dolly Parton, J. Cole, Mates Of State, Etc.

​Aaron Neville: Sun., Dec. 11. House of Blues. Carbon Leaf, Alpha Rev: Wed., Oct. 26. Fitzgerald's. Between The Buried And Me, Animals As Leaders: Thu., Nov. 17. House of Blues. Gunslinger, Black Queen Speaks, Sheila Swift, Tyburn Jig, Tyranny Of Bella: VIP ROOM., Sat., Sept. 10. Verizon W ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Alternative Songs for the 2012 Candidates

Please god, no.​Poor Michele Bachmann, first the John Wayne/John Wayne Gacy thing, now Tom Petty's piling on as well: The inaugural music-related strike of the 2012 presidential race comes from Tom Petty, who issued a cease and desist letter to Michele Bachmann's campaign to get her to stop ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Songs In The Key Of [Presidential] Fail

Please god, no.​Poor Michele Bachmann, first the John Wayne/John Wayne Gacy thing, now Tom Petty's piling on as well: The inaugural music-related strike of the 2012 presidential race comes from Tom Petty, who issued a cease and desist letter to Michele Bachmann's campaign to get her to stop ... More >>

Ally ASL, "Mad Drummer" Discuss Internet Stardom

​Rocks Off has been lucky enough to be the first to report on two people whose viral videos propelled them into that strangest of 21st century clubs; that of internet star. The term is still used with some derision today. After all, for every Ask a Ninja there's an Afro Ninja, but we'd argue t ... More >>

Buxton, Wild Moccasins Join New West Records

Here at Rocks Off, we try our best to cover all the local music news, both large and small. Where else are you going to read that you can play Slim Thug on Words With Friends? It is reasons such as these that we trudge the war zones of RSS feeds, seeking out crucial tidbits of information. Buxton o ... More >>

Bands Named After Movies, Characters & Other Film Stuff

​Ever wonder which of your favorite bands are named after movies? So have we. So we went out and did a little bit of research. BANDS NAMED AFTER ACTUAL MOVIES My Bloody Valentine: The seminal shoegaze act took their name from a low-budget 1981 horror movie about a guy who really, really hat ... More >>

Seven Modern Bands We'd Like To See At The Symphony

​This evening at Jones Hall, the Houston Symphony will be playing the music of Queen. Pretty fitting, considering the grand, orchestra-friendly nature of many Queen songs. However, there are a slew of other bands whose oeuvres Rocks Off would like to see interpreted by a symphony, and they're ... More >>

Fails Of The Week: BBC 6 Listeners, Whitney Houston, Rolling Stone And MGMT

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Solid State: Houston's SXSW Class of '10

Houston's SXSW Class of '10 is as diverse as the Bayou City.

Aftermath: We Do Not Choke Other People, Even at a Dethklok/ Mastodon/ Converge/ High on Fire Metalocalypse

Photos by Marc BrubakerDethklok​ If you were to tell any random music fan on the street that a tour with the four bands on the "Adult Swim Presents" would be happening, they would say "Oh sure, fuck it. Why not? It's all loud." But that's sort of where the tour planners alternately went wrong and ... More >>

How Classic Is Classic Rock?

Road Trip

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

Local Rotation

Demigods