Peter Murphy

The Five Most Disappointing Goth Albums: Bauhaus, Go Away White

All this week we're going to look back over albums from undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. Thus far I've been focusing on endings, what with Siouxsie and the Banshees' last album and another that made Robert Smith seriously consider ending The Cure. Now I'd like to bring up somet ... More >>

Friday Night: Peter Murphy at Numbers

Peter Murphy Numbers April 25, 2013 Maybe Peter Murphy should get arrested more often. That may be a horrible thing to say, but if you had seen him at Numbers, you'd understand. This tour had been previously announced, but whether his March arrest in California for DUI and alleged drug possession ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Black Mountain, the Black Crowes, BRMC, etc.

Black Mountain Rudyard's, April 26 On their way to this weekend's Austin Psych Fest, Canadian drone-pop act Black Mountain are swinging by Houston for a spell at Rudyard's. The band's last release was 2012's soundtrack for the "post-apocalyptic" surfing flick Year Zero, which itself was partially a ... More >>

Better Know Your Muslim Music Genres

In 2010, writer and producer Javed Mohammed decided to get the ball rolling on World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film. The internationally recognized holiday annually celebrated on March 15 is meant to spotlight the peaceful contributions followers of Islam make to society, and to art ... More >>

5 Ways Bands Could Make Compilations Actually Interesting

Recently my colleague Nathan Smith cobbled together the Destiny Child's compilation Beyonce doesn't want you to see and it gave me an idea. Compilations are both the most necessary and aggravating albums in an artist's catalogue. One the one hand, it's always nice to have a good, definitive greatest ... More >>

The 5 Most Important Years In Goth Music: 1994

Over the course of the week Rocks Off will be looking at the biggest years for goth music and exactly what they meant for the genre. 1994 was a good year for a new kind of goth. Previously, for the most part the men had been sensitive artists, and even the ones who could be pretty brutal -- such as ... More >>

The 5 Most Important Years In Goth Music: 1986

Over the course of the week Rocks Off will be looking at the biggest years for goth music and exactly what they meant for the genre. Goth history does not have a lot of supergroups, unfortunately. Robert Smith briefly played guitar for Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Peter Murphy occasionally works ... More >>

The 5 Most Important Years In Goth Music: 1983

All this week, Rocks Off will be looking at the biggest years for goth music and exactly what they meant for the genre. Just as Bauhaus was breaking up, a place in England opened up whose gothic importance cannot be overstated. Beginning in 1982, the Batcave intended to bring about a revival of the ... More >>

The 5 Most Important Years In Goth Music: 1979

All this week, Rocks Off will be looking at the biggest years for goth music, and exactly what they meant for the genre. Like any good structure, goth is built on the foundations of other previous cultures. You can walk back through David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and all the way ... More >>

10 Songs That Will Pack Your Wedding Reception's Dance Floor

The 10 Best Songs That Were Never Released (So Far)

Not every song an artist writes sees the light of day, not officially at any rate. For one reason or another, a host of tunes by very talented individuals either don't make it onto albums or remain stubbornly available only in live formats while fans clamor for a studio track. Today we celebrate th ... More >>

Top 5 Rockers Who Overcame Stammering

Recently, I became somewhat concerned as my formerly flawlessly articulate three-year-old daughter began to stammer whenever she tried to talk. It was a very sudden onset that is still occurring, and I wondered if this was the first sign of a serious problem that she would have to work to overcome. ... More >>

The 20 Greatest Goth Albums: The Complete List

BY JEF WITH ONE F AND CHRIS GRAY 20. Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar (Interscope, 1996) So squalid and deeply unpleasant it's mesmerizing, Antichrist Superstar is such an intricate dissection of how to become a "rock star" it could have come from a biology lab. Then 24 or 25, Manson gets so fa ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Fiskadoro's Richard Kimball

Who: Richard Kimball plays guitar and sings in one of Houston's finest noise bands, Fiskadoro. Over the years they've released a series of free EPs that have only gotten better and better, including the very dance-worthy Dubai earlier this year. The album dealt with a dystopian future where oil comp ... More >>

Strap On Halo Resurrected

Band brings its classic goth sound to Houston

Orgy

Gothic Council Sings Your Kids to Sleep

We hate you, Peter Murphy. Well, OK. Not really. Murphy is a good guy who is a joy to interview and who still puts out amazing music. That being said, we are getting thoroughly sick of his trademark voice. Our two-year-old daughter requests his song "The Line Between the Devil's Teeth (And That Wh ... More >>

10 Evil Songs Now Warping Our Toddler's Mind

Velia AlmazanPlaying drums is OK. Dating a drummer gets you grounded for a week.​When you have a kid, certain things are slow to change. For instance, in general you don't immediately throw away your death-metal albums and restock with Barney, because why would you? They don't know what they'r ... More >>

10 Bands We'd Rather See in 3D Than Metallica

Kreepin Deth​Metallica recently announced that they would be releasing a film in 3D. Whether or not we're talking a concert film, something more along the lines of Some Kind of Monster, or a different approach entirely they haven't confirmed. Still, it seems most likely that they will follow i ... More >>

Our Top 10 Music Videos of 2011

​Our obsession with the medium of music videos remains as strong as its ever been, and we've done our best to bring as many of the best of the newest releases to you in the digital pages of Rocks Off over the course of the year. We're pleased to round up the cream of the crop as we did this ti ... More >>

Nurses: "Fever Dream" is a Minor Madness

​Here we go with the latest bit of musical and cinematic awesomeness from our buddy Mick Cullen over at Subterranean Radio. When he says, "You've got to see this video" then we know that we'll be discovering something amazing. This is Nurses and the official video for their song "Fever Dream. ... More >>

Rocks Off Lists Our Favorite Downloads of 2011

It's getting to be that time of year, when the temperature drops and the lists start rolling in. Read any blog, magazine or newspaper and you're bound to run across at least a handfull of year-end lists, particularly when it comes to music. We all like to talk about the stuff we like. It's just what ... More >>

A Very Goth Council Thanksgiving

​The great feast is almost upon us, America, and as usual we're looking forward to a lot of home cooking and a carbohydrate overdose induced coma in the papasan chair while old Bela Lugosi flicks play on the TV... or maybe it's Texas Tech football. It's getting hard to tell the difference betw ... More >>

Last Night: Peter Murphy At House Of Blues

Photos by James Bricker​Aftermath first became familiar with Peter Murphy long after his musical heyday. By the time we began listening to him, Bauhaus had already disbanded, and it was only by chance that we came across his music. While looking up Nine Inch Nails videos on YouTube, we happen ... More >>

Mike Kelley Leaves Numbers

Photo by Jef With One FPeter Murphy at Numbers, March 21, 2011​Eight months ago Rocks Off ran a profile of promoter Mike Kelley, whose OnStage Events company seemed to be bringing about a renaissance for Numbers night club that we could not contain our excitement over. Kelley was behind the lo ... More >>

Which Goth Heroes Deserve Their Own Action Figures?

​Gothtopia has been spending some time working a few shifts at Houston's most excellent new comic shop, 8th Dimension Comics. Mostly it's a way to fund our crippling Magic: The Gathering addiction. As we basked in the glory of geekdom and capitalism on a recent shift, we noticed that the shop ... More >>

Peter Murphy Talks Octopi and Roses As New Album Debuts

​One of 2011's high points for Rocks Off has been the opportunity to get close to the legendary Godfather of Goth himself, Peter Murphy, as he prepared for the release of his new studio album Ninth. Murphy's performance at Numbers earlier this year was an amazing journey into the process of an ... More >>

Out Today: Arctic Monkeys Suck It And See, Black Lips Get Cosmic, Joe Ely Satisfied At Last

​This week of new releases brings a Mark Ronson-produced Black Lips album, the country debut of psychobilly idol Nick 13, an inventive career-spanning set from Randy Travis, and another Arctic Monkeys album, continuing their interesting progression from Brit garage brats into muscular rockers ... More >>

Gothic Council Debates Possible Sandman TV Series

​Now that we've finally seen something as difficult as Alan Moore's Watchmen turned into a decent, if not groundbreaking, film, the question on many comic fans' minds is whether or not the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman may finally happen. The past month has been a slew of c ... More >>

Avalon Calling: The Arthurian Myth In Pop, Goth And Metal

​Rocks Off got a press release the other day extolling the upcoming sixth studio album by metal band Anaal Nathrakh. We had no idea what the hell it was, and thought it was one of those weirdly-spelled porn spams we seem to get so much. Luckily, our editor knew that "Anaal Nathrakh" was the f ... More >>

Saturday Night: Peter Murphy At Numbers

Photos by Jef With One F​Peter Murphy Numbers March 19, 2011 The way the main man of a solo act walks out onto the stage says a lot about the kind of show you're going to get. Some beg for accolades, some are utterly indifferent. The word that came to mind as Murphy took center stage, flanke ... More >>

How Much Damage Has Twilight Done To Goth?

evilpoppy.org.uk​In our last meeting, Gothic Council member Paul Fredric of Asmodeus X said the following... As a gothic union or lobby we'd definitely have a large stake in all things vampiric. How about a class-action lawsuit again the Twilight movies and novels for trying to misrepresent v ... More >>

The Cold One

Godfather of goth Peter Murphy helps Underworld celebrate 12 years.

Vertigo Blue Continues His Evolution

Vertigo Blue on FacebookVertigo Blue live at Numbers, where the Houston-area DJ will open for Peter Murphy Saturday night.​Truth be told, Rocks Off just didn't care much for Area 51, the last album by Mike Naus, better known as Vertigo Blue. Frankly, the fault must lie with us, since he was re ... More >>

Promoter Mike Kelley: "Numbers Is Houston's CBGB"

Marco TorresWu-Tang Clan's GZA and Ghostface Killah at Numbers, December 2010​Numbers' credentials as a concert venue are undeniable - everyone from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Green Day to Type O Negative has played there. It's hard to argue, though, that the past decade hasn't been a rough ... More >>

Gothic Council Debates Peter Murphy's March 19 Show

Chris GrayPeter Murphy at Meridian, July 2008 - we have waited a long time to get a better picture.​It was announced recently that the Godfather of Goth himself, Peter Murphy, will be making a special trip down to Houston. The former Bauhaus front man and composer of super-hits like "Cuts You ... More >>

The Seven Ages Of Goth

​This is not meant as a complete history of goth, as that would be a huge book. Instead, we're aiming to give a simple overview of the musicians, songs and albums that have most defined the genre. Many deserving artists have been left out, and some that we're sure some people feel are not wor ... More >>

Meridian: A Retrospective Of Better Days

Mark C. AustinKings of Leon at Meridian, 2006​The Meridian Saga seems to have ended, after close to a year of weirdness and shady business dealings. In the past twelve months it went through overhauls, new management, lockouts, changes in image, mild scandals, and even a name change. Remember ... More >>

Five Musicians Who'd Make Better Vampires than Those Sparkly Twilight Douchebags

​New Moon, the second movie in the Twilight series, hits theaters this week, and even though the trailers alone have us ready to put it on our "Worst of 2009" lists ("Jake! NOOOO!"), there's no denying the movie is going to make more money than an underaged prostitute at a Promise Keepers conventi ... More >>

Twice-Told Tales

How Houston's Justice Records came to release a spooky, sexy Love & Rockets tribute album.

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

Noise goes whistling through the scenester artery's music venue graveyard.

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 4

Tom Waits, Jones Hall, June 22: "Us Rain Dogs fans had to make do with a spastic "Cemetery Polka" that was a fair representation of Waits' cross-pollination of beatnik jazz and guttural blues; whether or not he's your cup of bourbon, the man does have a unique sound." Peter Murphy, Meridian, Jul ... More >>

Aftermath: Peter Murphy at Meridian

Tonight: UFO at Scout Bar

Peeking Inside the Shadowy Crypt of Houston's Goth Community

Retro Active: 1987, Here We Come

Bauhaus

Bauhaus appears with Nine Inch Nails and TV on the Radio on Sunday, June 4, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, 281-363-3300

Peter Murphy

Thursday, May 30

Reunion Rigor Mortis

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