Subject: Kings of Leon

• A Faint Stench

  December 14, 2006

• Re: SXSW Audio. Now with Pictures!

  March 18, 2007

• Speaking of Umbrellas...It's Bumbershoot Time

  August 31, 2007

• Your Weekend, Planned

  November 9, 2007

• Drenched in Blog: Top Ten Albums of 2007

  December 21, 2007

• Weekend Music: Ka-Nives Out

  January 25, 2008

• SXSW Ephemera: Random Notes from the Field

  March 13, 2008

• XM Nation: Catching Up and Moving On

  September 8, 2008

• Aftermath: The Walkmen, Little Ones and Young Mammals at Walter's on Washington

  October 10, 2008

• Aftermath: Kings of Leon at Verizon Wireless Theater

  October 29, 2008

• Local Rotation: Gold Sounds' Gold Sounds EP

  The Gold Sounds' self-titled, debut EP is not an exercise in showoffery. There's no mind-bending guitar solos, no time signatures questioning standard musical notation and no quirky elements that smack of an effort to deny obvious influences. It's just four solid hard-rock tunes. True, it's easier to escape flaws when you're not trying for a higher degree of difficulty. And The Gold Sounds' tunes certainly wouldn't prove difficult in a Guitar Hero format - even on expert setting. But perhaps

  December 12, 2008

• Were These Really the Best Songs of 2008?

  The Gutter Twins Maybe Rocks Off spent a lot of 2008 with his head in the archives, but he was paying attention to new stuff too. Occasionally. It's as easy as satellite radio, channel 47's (Ethel/Alt Nation) weekly new-music hour Submission/Transmission. Monday night, S/T happened to be playing its picks for the past year. One thing is immediately apparent: the '90s are back, big time. The Black Keys' "Strange Times" is total Soundgarden, the Kills' "Tape Song" almost out-Breeders Kim Deal

  December 30, 2008

• Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 7

  Jay-Z, House of Blues, October 16: "Jay-Z and his dozen-man band tore through the Brooklyn rapper's phone-book-thick catalog -- topped by the thunderstruck, 'Back in Black'-­borrowing "99 Problems" -- as Bun B, several Houston Texans (and Texans Cheerleaders) and the rest of the sold-out house got their swerve on in high style." Butthole Surfers, Meridian, October 23: "I can't speak for the band, but frontman Gibby Haynes was either on something unknown to even Central American shamen or

  January 2, 2009

• This Just In: Kings Of Leon To Hit Toyota Center In October

  Mark C. AustinIn the course of five years, Kings of Leon has managed to go from playing a Camel-sponsored show at the Meridian to possibly selling out the Toyota Center. KOL was just in Houston this past fall for a sell-out at Verizon Wireless Theater, and we thought the show was middling to fair and safe at some parts. The Tennessee-based boys announced just yesterday a massive national arena tour which brings them here again on October 6. The band is used to playing even bigger venues in Euro

  June 2, 2009

• Oh, Christ: Original Limp Bizkit Lineup to Reunite

  Because things aren't already bad enough out there right now, the original lineup of crotch-rocking mooks Limp Bizkit annouced today they are reuniting. Here, according to a joint statement by the band's Fred Durst and Wes Borland, is their reasoning: "We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other."  Well, thanks for that, guys. Here's the catch: So far the band is only booked at festivals in Eastern Europe and the for

  February 12, 2009

• Austin City Limits Goes Grunge; Tickets On Sale Today

  Just in time for tickets to go on sale - as in now - leaks have conveniently begun to spring in C3 Entertainment's carefully under wraps lineup for this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival, scheduled for October 2-4 in Zilker Park. (Don't worry, Longhorn fans: Unlike last year, that's UT's open date.) So far the biggest name being thrown around is Pearl Jam, whose expanded and remastered landmark first album Ten was recently re-released. According to Austin Sound Check, citing an anony

  April 7, 2009

• Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. in Song

  January 15, 2009

• The Year in Albums

  December 25, 2008

• Good Luck Academy

  December 11, 2008

• Music's Ickiest of the Icky, Circa 2008

  Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

  October 30, 2008

• Barnstorming Georgia Trio The Whigs

  Complete Control

  October 2, 2008

• Who Stole the Roll?

  August 28, 2008

• Kings of Leon

  With a No. 1 album in the UK, the Kings of Leon are all but exiled from Main Street, USA

  May 10, 2007

• Kings of Leon

  Because of the Times

  March 29, 2007

• Various Artists

  Bonnaroo 2004

  June 16, 2005

• Playbill

  March 10, 2005

• Tennessee Tornadoes

  Preachers' kids Kings of Leon want none of the sounds-like name game

  November 6, 2003

• The South's Done It Again

  Southern rock comes in for another revival

  September 11, 2003

• Kings of Leon

  Holy Roller Novocaine (RCA Records)

  May 15, 2003

• 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's a radio station, which in an age when people stream Pandora on their iPhones - to say nothing of car stereos with iPod plug-in ports - makes it almost as big a media dinosaur as the printed page. T

  April 29, 2009

• Aftermath: Fake Problems and Born Anchor at Walter's on Washington

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty On a Monday night, all you can really look forward to is a decent evening of lackluster television and maybe some leftover barbecue from the weekend's flame-kissed debauchery. But last night at Walter's was the exact anecdote for a "case of da Mondays" in so many ways. In recent years, it sounds as if punk kids have started to crawl deeper into their family record collections. Early Springsteen, Thin Lizzy, all manner of grimy/twangy beard-rock, and even U2 circa The Josh

  May 12, 2009

• Girl Star, Grown Up

  June 11, 2009

• Single-Album Sets We'd Like to See, Part 1: Bob Dylan, George Strait, The Pogues and More

  Initiated by indie-rockers like Sonic Youth, Slint and Built to Spill at mid-2000s festivals - UK/U.S. hopover All Tomorrow's Parties and its various tie-ins being the most prominent - playing a beloved LP front to back in concert is now the hottest thing going on the classic-rock circuit. Within the next month, Houstonians can see Aerosmith revisit 1976's Toys In the Attic (The Woodlands, July 17), Judas Priest do 1980's British Steel (Verizon, July 24) and Motley Crue gas up 1989's Dr. Feelgoo

  July 7, 2009

• The Katy Perry Experiment

  July 30, 2009

• Aftermath: We Were Wolves and Satin Hooks, Born to Be Wild at the Mink

  Photos by Chris Gray​ It's been false-starting for a couple of years, but that grunge revival may be right around the corner - if it ever went anywhere in the first place. Beaumont's We Were Wolves plugged into the Mudhoney machine at the Mink Tuesday night, crafting sludgy sheets of guitar noise to contend with screamed and howled vocals over sledgehammer bass and drums. Then they won us over forever with a completely unironic and totally groovy cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild." It's

  August 19, 2009

• Turning the Screw: New Trae and G.R.I.T. Boys, R.I.P. DJ AM, Kings of Leon Remixed, Jay Z vs. Rush Limbaugh, Uncut Pimp C, etc.

  Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: Trae, "Letter to tha King" Wire To Wire The G.R.I.T. Boys finally put out some new music. Make sure you download it. It's free. You know, when we first heard "Forever," the Drake/Eminem/Weezy/Kanye collaboration, we were pretty underwhelmed. But the more we listen to it, the more we like it. Sorry, you

  August 31, 2009

• Aftermath: Collective Soul and Black Stone Cherry at House of Blues

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Something strange happened during the '90s. Southern Rock as we once knew it all but disappeared. Charmed by grunge, drowned in amplification, bands began shedding the elements of blues and country that threaded that noble line from Lynyrd Skynyrd through the Georgia Satellites and the Black Crowes. Just as importantly, they abandoned lyrics that carried on the rich Southern storytelling tradition in favor of cheap radio platitudes and MTV-pandering nonsense. In that p

  September 2, 2009

• White Lies

  October 1, 2009

• Songs By ACL Artists That Should Be Covered By Other ACL Artists

  Isn't it fun to imagine all your favorite bands are best friends? And that when they spend time together, as so many of them are doing right this second at the Austin City Limits festival, they would inevitably learn each others' songs? Here are some songs by ACL bands which we'd like to see covered by other ACL bands. We think they've got time to make it happen. Song: Sleepyhead Original Artist: Passion Pit Who Should Cover It: The Dirty Projectors "Sleepyhead" is the weirdest song that Roc

  October 2, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Coheed & Cambria Prog Out With Their Fro's Out

  Photo By Groovehouse​Mid-afternoon on Friday, prog-metallers Coheed & Cambria hit the stage for an hour of guitar histrionics and lead singer Claudio Sanchez's trademark Geddy Lee-style banshee's wail. With a signature sound that usuals coats the walls of any indoor venue the band plays, C&C's clamor was lost somewhere out in the massive confines of Zilker Park.

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Eddie Vedder Bangs Along With Kings Of Leon

  Rocks Off was making the death march out to his hotel and missed this piece of ACL history. This is Kings Of Leon being augmented by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder on "Slow Nights, So Long". We should have a more detailed review of the boys' set in the morning time. Like in seven hours. Jesus, we need sleep. Kicking ourselves repeatedly for leaving the show early to hit up Whataburger is exhausting.

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Video Killed the Radio Star

  Although audio-visual equipment isn't technically allowed inside the festival, that doesn't prevent kids armed with iPhones and Flip cams from capturing their favorite shows from the crowd. Below are some of our favorite crowd-captured videos from ACL so far. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Kings Of Leon Rage Against The Fame

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​Funny thing happened last night. It was the same thing that happened to U2 in 1987 in the wake of The Joshua Tree, and the same thing that killed Kurt Cobain in 1994. Fame has finally overtaken Kings Of Leon, leaving their core boots 'n flannel crowd in the proverbial pop culture dust. The even funnier thing is that KOL seems to see and are raging against it. It's not a bad thing when a band gets huge and finds themselves surrounded by new fans. Those are the things t

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Phoenix, Robyn Hitchcock and Them Crooked Vultures

  Photo by Matthew Taplinger​The quality of the grass at ACL on Charles Attal's apparent birthday blow out (if projections for "Feliz Cumpleanos" were to be believed) was nothing to sniff at. The great lawn of Zilker Park was emerald and ready to absorb the dance steps of a sold-out crowd with happy feet. The air was redolent with killing kindness, which raised the question of just how family friendly Austin's premiere outdoor music fest really is. Phoenix showed the crowd that there's mor

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009: Best Tweets Of The Weekend

  Armed with our sort-of handy cellphone we were able to Tweet from ground level at the festival, with sometimes hilarious and vulgar results. Mostly the latter, because we are foul people. Over time, our Twitter updates devolved into angry rants, as you will see below.@hprocksoff sez:Oh god they really did fix the grass out on Zilker. I wanna take acid and lay on it for years.Beatles Rock Band is set up in a tent by Xbox360. Thanks for copping our hustle, you dicks.Some of these cats at Coheed co

  October 4, 2009

• ACL Day Two: Deadheads Rejoice!

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​An unexpected guest showed up yesterday afternoon at the Austin Ventures Stage with Austin-by-way-of-Louisiana slide guitar hotshot Papa Mali. The Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzman was backing up the dreadlocked Mali on drums.

  October 4, 2009

• Rocks Off Is Going to Become a Kings of Leon Fan Today If It Kills Us

  ​Rocks Off has always been a little puzzled we're not more of a Kings of Leon fan. It definitely puts us in the minority when it comes to our social circle, because everyone from cranky music critics and their musician sons to, well, pretty much every female friend or acquaintance we've got is in the tank for these Tennessee studs.Once upon a time, so were we. Rocks Off thoroughly enjoyed the Kings' 2003 debut Youth and Young Manhood, particularly opener "Red Morning Light," "Molly's Chambers"

  October 6, 2009

• Kings of Leon Update: OK, Maybe Only By the Night Is a Pretty Decent Record

  ​Rocks Off is back with one final update on our continuing quest to understand/appreciate/give a damn about Kings of Leon before the Tennessee family quartet - sort of like the Statler Brothers with more Penicillin prescriptions - takes the stage at Toyota Center tonight. Doors are at 7, and don't miss opener White Lies. We just finished listening to their latest two albums, and totally stand by what we thought about Because of the Times the first (and only) time we heard it when it showed up

  October 6, 2009

• Aftermath: Kings of Leon, and Their "Fans," Trying Our Patience at Toyota Center

  Photos by Groovehouse/ Click here for a slideshow​ Aftermath has seen almost every single step on the road to fame Kings of Leon have taken since their debut album Youth and Young Manhood in 2003. We heard a track off that album in mid-2003, "California Waiting," on a radio show while living in San Diego that year and the band stuck with us ever since. The first time we saw them live was at Meridian in 2006 at a free Camel cigarettes show. The entire band was still hirsute and on fire, coming

  October 7, 2009

• Aftermath: Lucero's Iron-Plated Soul and Douchebag Fisticuffs at Meridian

  Photos by Eric Sauseda​ As we enter the second-to-last month of what was been an alternately amazing and confounding year for music, Aftermath has been thinking a lot about recurring themes we have encountered over the past twelve months. Seeing a rock and roll show every other night isn't always some sort magical boozical tour, because the sad part of it is that you start getting complacent - or worse, you become super-hard to impress. You also pick up vibes from crowd to crowd that most folk

  November 10, 2009