Mike Ness

The Worst of Coachella, Weekend One

Ed. Note: Can't have a Best of Coachella without a worst, right? Thanks to our (tired) Southern California friends at West Coast Sound and Heard Mentality. The Daft Punk Fake-Out Friday and Saturday, all anyone could talk about was if Daft Punk was going to show up during Phoenix's set. Why? Becaus ... More >>

Friday Night: Social Distortion At House Of Blues

Social Distortion House of Blues May 4, 2012 "If it weren't for good black music, there wouldn't be any good white music," Social Distortion's Mike Ness told Friday's House of Blues crowd. "We'd all still be sitting on the porch, blowing over an empty jug and trying to make a decent sound." The bl ... More >>

Social Distortion

Bobby Fuller: Still No Answers 45 Years After His Death

​Forty-five years ago today, on July 18, 1966, rocker Bobby Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his car in Hollywood, covered in gasoline, with the liquid also found in his system. The cops said he died of gas inhalation, with the fumes doing him in, but couldn't conclude for sure if it ... More >>

Mikey Goes To Hollywood: Stinson Visits Country-Starved L.A.

Photos by Alan Downs​It's no secret that California has long since squandered away a stunning country-music heritage, but for those of us in Los Angeles who give a damn, Mike Stinson represented an almost mystic renewal of the Freddie Hart/Wynn Stewart transplanted-genius equation that damn n ... More >>

Shot In The Dark Photo Show Is Right On Target

Robert EasleyRocks Off photographer Marc Brubaker (left) discusses his work at Thursday night's Shot In the Dark exhibition.​For more photos from Thursday's show, see our slideshow. They always tell you, "Go ahead and try it - it just might work." So Rocks Off tried it, and it seems like it ... More >>

Rolling Blackouts Were Made For Baby-Making Music

​So the Chron says Texas' Arctic blast-enabled rolling power blackouts are over for now, although more might be on the way later this evening and tomorrow. Obviously, there are only three things to do with no electricity in sub-freezing temperatures: Shiver; Snuggle up; Knock boots. R ... More >>

The Adolescents: Still Punk Rock Kids From The Black Hole

"We were little pricks, but bored out of our minds..." The Adolescents on the 2007 Warped Tour​For 30 years, seminal Orange County punk band the Adolescents has unleashed anthemic teen angst, since mutated into wise adult aggravation, in intermittent bursts. Sure, members come and go at revol ... More >>

Friday Night: Social Distortion At House Of Blues

Photos by GroovehouseFor more photos of Social D and friends, see our slideshow here.​Social Distortion House of Blues November 19, 2010 In its 30-year lifespan, the impact Social Distortion has had on its audience is easy to tell. Friday night at a packed House of Blues (more on that later), ... More >>

Social Distortion: Story Of Their Life

​Friday night Houston will see its first Social Distortion concert since Warehouse Live in late 2006. Lead singer Mike Ness played a solo date at the Meridian in mid-2008, doing select Social D hits and his own country-tinged stuff. Houston's punk-rock and rockabilly contingent sold this sho ... More >>

True Blood: A Sam Merlotte Sad Bastard Mixtape

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​HBO likes to give us a little break the week before the fin ... More >>

Listology: The American Heist Soundtracks Their Funerals

​ ​Of all the bands to emerge out of the Houston music puppy mill this year, none has been as steadfastly working class and punk rock as the American Heist. Rocks Off first spied the band opening up for Florida's Fake Problems in May. At the time they were still called Born Anchor, but a Seattle ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs from the Year We Were Born That We Still Listen To, Part 2

​When He Said began researching the music that came out the year we were born, 1983, we were taken aback by how much of this music has warped, shaped and informed our life. Pretty much all of the albums and bands that were prevalent that year are still on our turntables and playlists. Why just thi ... More >>

A Few of Music's Biggest Tattoo Enthusiasts - Besides Rocks Off, Of Course

Don't act so surprised... As we can fatefully attest, rock and roll and tattoos go hand in hand. The first time Rocks Off saw a grizzled punk rocker walk by at Fitzgerald's back in the '90s with two sleeves full of tattoos and a chest full of nautical-themed art, we mentally pointed at him and said ... More >>

MTV VMA Celebrities Ask The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat

​Dear Full-Custom Gospel Sounds,I am a multiplatinum rap artist and producer who has won several Grammy awards. You'd think this would be enough to satisfy me, but I am unable to allow other people to enjoy their time in the spotlight - I have often interrupted acceptance speeches, ranted and rave ... 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 >>

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 rec ... More >>

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 3

Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys, Boondocks, April 28: "Reefer and friends can be a benign ensemble whose greatest sin (and virtue) is defibrillating the shade of Hank Williams Sr. for an audience whose appetite for debauchery is more in line with grandson Hank III." Mike Ness and Jesse D ... More >>

Aftermath: Robert Earl Keen at House of Blues; Dash Rip Rock at the Continental Club; Hayes Carll at Warehouse Live

Photos: Hayes Carll/ Craig Hlavaty; Dash Rip Rock, Robert Earl Keen/ Chris Gray On their 1996 self-titled debut LP, Hee Haw-loving Nashville ironists BR5-49 cut a song called "Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)." Anyone who has read either the paper or this site in the past few weeks wi ... More >>

Last Night: Mike Ness and Jesse Dayton at Meridian

Mike Ness, with Jesse Dayton

Tombstone Blues

The Nightfly

Against Me!

New Wave

Social Distortion

Social Distortion appears Sunday, November 5, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel. Call 713-225-5483 for more info.

Playbill

Ruffled Feathers

The Dixie Chicks and other musicians are fighting for their rights -- and a bigger check

Prodigal Sons

The Man in Black claims his Bastards

All Nessed Up

Rotation