Michael Haaga

The Biggest Surprises From the Texas 30 Ballots

Perusing the final ballots for the Texas 30 with a few highlighters this past week was a blessed odyssey into the past three decades of all things Texas music. For as many no-brainers as there were, there were plenty of head-scratchin' exclusions. Rewind: The 30 Best Texas Albums (cover story) Sl ... More >>

The 10 Best Metal & Punk Albums Too Rough for the Texas 30

So, the Texas 30 has been revealed at last. And it's a good list, too: Well-considered, fair and complete. Even if a lot of the records that got picked tend to be a little... well, pussy, I guess is the word I'm looking for here. Rewind: The Texas 30 (cover story) Slideshow: The Texas 30 album co ... More >>

The Texas 30: The Second Runners-Up, Albums 50-41

On our computer, Rocks Off has been looking at that damn Texas 30 spreadsheet so long our eyes are frosting over. Monday we said about 400 different albums were spread across the ballots we received from almost 25 music-media wags across Texas. We looked at the sheet again after that and it was actu ... More >>

deadhorse Gallops Back To Life At Warehouse Live

Videos by Fuglymaniacs A wish many Houston music fans barely even dared to think to themselves, let alone utter out loud, came to pass when deadhorse returned from oblivion to face a nearly sold-out, wildly enthusiastic Warehouse Live crowd Saturday night. From what Rocks Off could tell, about ... More >>

deadhorse

Yes, deadhorse Is Playing Warehouse Live Saturday

​Ahh, the Internet - better than a game of Telephone. About an hour ago, the quiet of Rocks Off's peaceful Thursday afternoon (not really) was shattered by a phone call from Houston thrash-metal legends' deadhorse's manager. Evidently there is a rumor going around that Saturday's show at Ware ... More >>

Original deadhorse Not Playing Warehouse Live After All

​Well, damn. Rocks Off should have known that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. And so, unlike what we reported Monday, the original lineup of Houston thrash-metal gods deadhorse will not be playing at Warehouse Live on October 22. The lineup that released the group's ... More >>

deadhorse (Or Dead Horse) Reuniting In October

​This is pretty exciting stuff. The original lineup of legendary Houston tongue-in-cheek thrash-metal band deadhorse has confirmed a reunion show at Warehouse Live on Saturday, October 22. You may also refer to them as Dead Horse - Rocks Off found the band's name spelled both ways numerous ti ... More >>

2011 South By Southwest Supplement

Buxton takes its bump to the roots-rock big leagues in stride.

Bluefinger: The Music

Bluefinger

Catastrophic Theatre stages a rock opera redemption.

Cover Story: Jason Nodler Discusses Bluefinger, His New Rock Opera About One Debauched Dutchman

Herman Brood, Black Francis and Jason Nodler coming together​"I am only ever interested in art/work/plays/music about how weird and fucked up it is to be a human animal on the planet earth, aware of and in necessary denial of our mortality, of the fact that each of us will die and go off the p ... More >>

Showcase Showdown

Great moments in HPMA history

dead horse Lives... After a Fashion

dead horse Live? Only Creepy Eyes Guy Knows for Sure

HouTube: Building My Own MTV

This Week's MuxTape

Meet Paul Ford, the 763 mp3 Guy: He Covered the Waterfront like No Other, from Over 1,000 Miles Away

Chris King Update: Three Chords and the Truth

The Axiom

Remembering the Axiom, 20 years later

Pop Numerology: How High Can You Go?

Drenched In Blog: Beating Dead Horse

Louis XIV T-Shirts for Sale. Cheap.

Explain Your Most Played

Houston Rock Scene Woes, Continued

A tri-ologue with three scene vets about selling out, not being true to yourself and rocking too hard

Rogue Waves

A new report cuts through the static on the radio industry

A Blighted Slough of Smells, Steel and Chemicals

Touring bands sound off on Houston

Michael Haaga

Leaving the Wolfe Pack

It's Johnny Falstaff's time to "Shine"

Hope Springs Eternal

A northern suburb tops our third installment of rating greater Houston's taste in music

The Bards of Baytown

Scattered Pages' urban art-country music is as pretty as its hometown is ugly

Houston Band Cartography

The launch of our blog brings forth a quixotic attempt toward a local music atlas

Letters to the Editor

Band Suicide

Why so many Houston music groups self-destruct right on the brink of having it made

Farewell to the Twenty Nickel

Looking back on the '05 and dreaming in the '06

Low Ride, Take It Easy

A trip to the Los Magnificos Car Show sets us to pondering why there can’t be a local rock equivalent

Surls's World

A seminal local arts icon and teacher shows his work at Blaffer Gallery

Houston's Gone Gaaga for Haaga

A former king of the Texas metal world unites Houston's warring rock tribes and wins a passel of Music Awards

Downtown H-town Throwdown

Tearing it up at the Music Awards Showcase

Christmas in July

Six dozen of Houston's finest bands for a mere $7

Play It Pretty for Cabaret Voltaire

A Rice grad stakes his claim as the inventor of the ironic "Freebird" request; also: there's a Lanky new kid on H-town's burgeoning pop-rock scene

The Sick Old Man of the Festival Circuit

An open letter to the organizers and music bookers of the Houston International Festival

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey! Bands, Bands, Bands!

A South By Southwest diary

Todymania!

Houston's scene sees the release of its second great pop-rock CD in six months; also: March Music Madness hits town on the touring front

White By Whitebread No More

This year's South By Southwest makes room for plenty of local rap. Why can't our rockers get with the program?

Rogue Bosoms, Bouncing Booties and Pac-Man Raps

Looking back on the '04

Yin and Yang

The killing of Dimebag Darrell rains on Michael Haaga's Continental Club Plus and Minus Show parade

Static

Dismounting dead horse

Michael Haaga splits from Pasadena's premier practitioners of metal

Hot Sounds in the City

The 5th Annual Houston Press Music Awards