Faith No More

Retro Active: 1987, Here We Come

Tonight: The Melvins and Big Business at Warehouse Live

Hiatt Regency

Spend a few stolen moments in the grand hotel of songwriters -- a perfectly good performer lives there too. Plus: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Houston Press 1997 Music Awards Preview

A guide to who's who in the Press Music Awards ballot. Plus, the where and when of the Press Music Awards Showcase!

Noise's Handy Holiday Local-Music Gift Guide

A guide to who's who in the Press Music Awards ballot. Plus, the where and when of the Press Music Awards Showcase!

Our Favorite Albums of 2007

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

Gold Metal

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

porterdavis

Q&A with Daniel Barrett

Dub Trio

Dub Trio performs Thursday, March 8, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483.

Brujeria

Sunday, August 6, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717

Bond in a Bikini

Sunday, August 6, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717

Rotation

Sunday, August 6, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717

Up from the Underworld

This year, blood-soaked extreme metal took its rightful place in the world of heavy music

Up from the Underworld

This year, blood-soaked extreme metal took its rightful place in the world of heavy music

Surgical Strike

Mike Patton's Fantômas exits the OR with a visceral disc

Billy Talent

Tuesday, February 17

Mushroomhead, and Dope

Thursday, February 5

Alphabet Soup

The Colour Clear knows exactly where it should be filed in the record store. But what about in real life?

Rock No More

Mike Patton chops through traditional song forms with a mighty Tomahawk

Mushroomhead

November 12

Rap Avengers

Dälek may destroy hip-hop in order to save it from commercialism

Late-Night Access

Packrat thinks Leno is after its stash

Dready Metal

Unlike their North American counterparts, Jamaican rappers are incorporating heavy metal into their material, with some amazing results

Rotation

Unlike their North American counterparts, Jamaican rappers are incorporating heavy metal into their material, with some amazing results

Rotation

Unlike their North American counterparts, Jamaican rappers are incorporating heavy metal into their material, with some amazing results

Doesn't It Make You Feel Better: Songs About Swine

[Update: Now with the Loco Gringos' "Nurture My Pig" and Houston's own Flying Fish Sailors' "Flu Pandemic."] April is almost over and we're coming into Sweeps Week, when commercial sponsors look at TV ratings to decide where they're going to advertise, and you know what that means: time for another ... More >>

Defending The Buzz: Does 94.5 FM Really Suck That Bad?

What with Creed reuniting, BuzzFest coming up in a couple of weeks and, hell, maybe even the swine-flu scare - As in: What's worse than coming down with swine flu? A Houston radio that only tunes in 94.5 FM - Rocks Off sure has been thinking a lot about The Buzz lately. Probably too much. I mean, it ... More >>

Touring with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Get on the bus, it's a family affair.

"MMMBro": Hanson And Other Rock And Roll Bands Of Brothers

Back in the summer of1997, one couldn't walk out of their house without hearing someone humming, blaring, or damning to Hell that juicy nugget of pop rock that was Hanson's "MMMBop". Depending on your age and gender, you either understood the hooky genius of the song or you were just in love with t ... More >>

Houston Musicians Recall Their Own Rock and Roll High School Days

​Tonight Rocks Off is hosting the first annual Texas High School Rock Off, with local bands from area schools fighting for a grand prize of $500 and bragging rights around town. This past week we have profiled the seven bands in the running: The Paperwaits, Useful Information, The Handshake, Livin ... More >>

Listology: Nava of The Last Place You Look's Favorite Vocalists

This weekend Thee Armada gets a proper send-off at the band's supposed final show ever at Warehouse Live Saturday night. Armada singer Josh Caddy is moving on to another band, and his bandmates are calling it a day. Some of Houston's best alt-rock bands are opening, including The Last Place You Loo ... More >>

Musicians Do More In Bed Than Just... Sleep

​Today is the anniversary of one of the most unusual events in a most unusual decade. On May 26, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their "Bed-In for Peace" at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. It was the second of such boudoir-bound protests (or, if you prefer, media stunts); the couple folded ... More >>

Anti-Scene: Marching-Band Nerds Turned Enlightened Metallers

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we're trying hard to decode Houston's oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning. ​"Scene" is a loaded word. To be part of one is to not be a part of another. Exclusion becomes the by-pr ... More >>

Top 10 Pop Songs With Children's Choruses

​On the way home from ACL this past Sunday night, Craig's Hlist had his Rdio account humming over the speakers playing one of his playlists (phlayhlist?), but not the sad-bastard mix we rocks whenever we are at work alone. It was the life-spanning one we have been making since we got on the mu ... 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 >>

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 >>

Life After Rock Stardom: 7 Artists' Post-Musical Careers

naylandhouse.comFuture ordained minister MC Hammer wasn't kidding on his 1990 hit single "Pray."​Let's face it. Not everyone is cut out for - or interested in - being a sixtysomething rock star. But what type of careers awaits a retired musician? Many rock stars stay in the music industry real ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

10 Things You May Not Know About G N' R's Use Your Illusion Albums

​For the past few weeks, the music world has been firmly entrenched in Nirvana nostalgia. Hell, even Rocks Off took a crack at it, looking up all the expensive memorabilia on eBay related to the band. But in September 1991, another album hit the store shelves that had a lot of impact too, for ... More >>

The Most Overused Expressions in Music Critics' Twitter Feeds: An Epic List

motifake.com​It is impossible to overlook this peculiar trend any longer: A few choice words and phrases seem to be dominating many of 2011's music critiques, particularly on Twitter. Seemingly forcibly wedged into friends' and journalists' 140-characters-or-less makeshift tweet reviews, the f ... More >>

Fa La La La La: Favorite Records Rocks Off Got for Christmas

​No matter what year it is or how old you are, if you love music, there is nothing like finding some new music tucked under the tree or crammed into your stocking. iTunes gift cards are easy. So are gift cards to Tiffany's, but we bet your girl would be a lot more receptive to the blue box. Th ... 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 >>

Gone But Never Forgotten: Happy 50th Birthday Cliff Burton

​Today would have marked the 50th birthday of a bass guitarist named Clifford Lee Burton who played for a band called Metallica. You may have heard of them. Unfortunately, Cliff passed away in 1986 in a bus crash shortly before he would have turned 25. Of course, if you've ever had even a pass ... More >>