Queens of the Stone Age

Confessions of a Classic Rock Whore, or One Man’s Journey

Drenched In Blog: Goin’ Out West for ACL Fest

Last Night: Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys at Verizon Wireless Theater

Give Us a Hand

Drenched In Blog: Drenched in MySpace

Drenched in Blog: Queens of the Stone Age in a Salt Mine

Weekend Music: Get Your Free On

Drenched in Blog: Listing 2007

Drenched in Blog: Top Ten Albums of 2007

Flannel File: Screaming Trees, Dust

Is there any file more flannel-y than that of Screaming Trees - a hard-rock band with long hair from Seattle, influenced by the sounds of the '70s and '80s, whose career began to take off in the early '90s but was brought down by substance abuse and infighting? Tom Moon, in his very cool book 10 ... More >>

The Shredder

One Show, One Sentence

Eagles of Death Metal

One Show, One Sentence

Who Stole the Roll?

One Show, One Sentence

Our Favorite Albums of 2007

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

Shock Treatment

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III, Old 97's

ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III and Old 97's perform Saturday, July 14, at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, 281-363-3300.

Overlooked in '05

Ten great discs that were underserved by the media but are more than worthy

For Those About to Rock

Guitar Hero cranks rhythm-gaming up to 11

Alive and Kicking

For colored girls is a tale for everyone

Baring Fangs

Heavily hyped L.A. punks the Distillers jump to the majors with a highly guarded new album

Moddening Crowds

DJ Mod Scott brings '60s pop to Helios

All His Life

The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl is always between rock and a hard place

God Awful

The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl is always between rock and a hard place

When the Moon Becomes Round: Songs for the Summer Solstice

Frederic Vincent/ Wikipedia In Houston, June 21 comes and goes with very little fanfare. While technically it's the first day of summer, anyone can tell you summer around here started about two months ago. Nonetheless, it seems like a shame to leave all the celebrating to the pagans; why, they don't ... More >>

Who Wants To Be A Contestant On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The producers of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire are coming to town Friday today to audition contestants for the show. Our Craig Hlavaty has already gone down this road before; here's his tale and some tips on how to get picked.Back in the summer of 2005, when I was slinging dough for Domino's and stu ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs for Getting It On, Part 2

[Ed. Note: Here's Web Editor Katharine Shilcutt's top 10 picks for baby-makin' music. Now it's the boys' turn.] 1. Ryan Adams, "Come Pick Me Up": This has to work, because it shows vulnerability and warmth. It tells her you are the kind of guy who will be the one to get out of bed to get the Wet On ... More >>

Aftermath: Passengers' Robotic Drug-Rock Drone at the Mink

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Seeing that Aftermath is childless (we hope), it's a rare occasion for us to see something be birthed before our very eyes. Sure, we have probably unwittingly been around for some conceptions, but never a full-on screaming mama genesis like we saw and heard Friday night at ... More >>

Arctic Monkeys

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Seeing that Aftermath is childless (we hope), it's a rare occasion for us to see something be birthed before our very eyes. Sure, we have probably unwittingly been around for some conceptions, but never a full-on screaming mama genesis like we saw and heard Friday night at ... More >>

Aftermath: Them Crooked Vultures at Stubb's in Austin

Photos By Craig Hlavaty​Just a few short hours ago Aftermath saw the rock world's newest supergroup in action as Queens of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, ex-Nirvana drummer/current Foo Fighters helmer Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones took the stage at Stubb's in Austin for a warm- ... More >>

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 ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Arctic Monkeys Are All Growns Up

Photos by Groovehouse​Just weeks after the release of their new Humbug, the Arctic Monkeys hit the AMD stage at mid-afternoon with a newly grungy sound reminiscent of Primal Scream and somehow, hairy period Kinks.

Aftermath: Alice Cooper's "Theatre of Death" at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Craig Hlavaty/ Click here for a slideshow​ Who needs to go to an Alice Cooper show more: the 34-year-old satisfying his curiosity or the 61-year-old onstage for whom the gate receipts will buy many, many rounds at Pebble Beach? The 44-year-old whose eyes are blacked out like Alice's or t ... More >>

Does Anyone Care About Super Tuesdays Anymore? Besides Us?

​Time was that Tuesdays used to be the best day of the week for your average recorded-music consumer. Since Rocks Off was just a wee music nerd, Tuesdays were his favorite days of the week because it was always the universal day for all new releases to hit the stores. It started with begging our p ... More >>

He Said She Said: Albums From the Past Decade of Our Lives

​When this decade began, He Said was but 15 years old, bored, jobless and chubby. It ends with him 26, overworked, overstimulated and chasing away his self-imposed demons with too much of everything and too little of most things. But the one constant has been the power of music to lead him out of ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs That Make Us Feel Like a Man, Baby!

Mad Men's Christina Hendricks makes us feel like a man in the best possible way...​He Said's view of manhood wasn't built on sweat and labor the way most guys would probably say. Early on in our musical journey, we always equated music to being sleazy and slithery, or just dancing. It makes sense ... More >>

Back to the Future: The Musical Lineage of the Sword

Craig HlavatyThe Sword at Free Press Summerfest 2009​This Sunday night, Austin's The Sword pulls into Warehouse Live to lay waste to our city's collective eardrums. The band was in town last August for Summerfest and was shit-hot, coming right off of an opening slot for Metallica over in Europe. T ... More >>

A Guide To Record Store Day 2010 In Houston, Cage Dancing And All

www.recordstoreday.com​ Vinyl fetishists, are you ready to be separated from your mortgage or rent money? Record Store Day is tomorrow, and indie record stores across the whole city will be sticking you up all day Saturday. Rocks Off gets paid today, so you will more than likely see us browsing sw ... More >>

Musical Moms That Make Us Melt

​ With Mother's Day fast approaching, we can't help but recognize all the hot rocker mamas out there making music and babies. It can't be easy to write the next great pop song and have a tiny human being inside you sucking nutrients from your body, in the process girding their loins for making you ... More >>

Acts We Think - OK, Hope - Are Playing ACL Fest This Year

​By this time Tuesday, we will all know who is playing the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October. Damn, it seems like we have speculating about the line-up since, well, we got the last of the "Dillo Dirt" out the middle of our toes after last year's muddy and rainy ACL weekend. Tuesday brig ... More >>

Groundhall Now Open, Not Changing Name Anymore (We Think)

Groundhall on FacebookThe patio at Groundhall, the former... well, the former lot of things.​Over the last couple of months, it's been kind of fun - and kind of frustrating - to try to keep up with what's been going on over at the old Engine Room at 1515 Pease, up to and including what the dam ... More >>

Rocks Off Explains Austin City Limits' "Survival Guide"

Mark C. AustinOne day Austin City Limits will live down last year's "Dillo Dirt" debacle. That day is not today.​This year marks the fourth year that Craig's Hlist will be covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival for the Houston Press and Rocks Off. Each year we get more acclimated to th ... More >>

ACL Fest Recap, Day 2: LCD Soundsytem And Bachelorette Cops

Photos by Marco Torres​ For more LCD photos and lots more besides, see our slideshow here. LCD Soundsystem is not a band. It's a six-headed snake, that glides and slithers. It's as if when they perform live they are all mentally tethered into a computer. Saturday night's Budweiser stage show ... More >>

Rocks Off's Must-See Music Picks For SXSW '11

​As you may have heard, there's a teeny-tiny little music festival going on in Austin later this week. Some of the early birds on team Rocks Off are either already there or well on their way, as a matter of fact. With more than 2,000 artists playing the official part of SXSW alone, trying to ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: Queens Of The Stone Age At La Zona Rosa

Craig Hlavaty​Rolling Stone magazine surely knows how to throw a showcase, bringing forth Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis, Mini Mansions, and Black Angels to open for a reinvigorated Queens Of The Stone Age on Wednesday night. Every band on the bill coalesced with each other beautifully and succinctl ... More >>

SXSW: Jack White's Mobile Third Man Record Store

Craig Hlavaty​If you felt like booking it to the parking lot next to Frank at 4th and Colorado on Wednesday afternoon, you would have been treated to a quick acoustic set from Jack White and the Texas debut of his Third Man Rolling Record Store.

SXSW: The 10 Best Of The Fest This Year

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​

Out Today: Danger Mouse In Rome, Nick Cave & Queen Reissued

​It's back to the usual grind for Rocks Off after last night's late-night Austin City Limits Festival lineup announcement. Sadly, we will not be seeing the Foo Fighters play songs from Wasting Light in Austin come September. And yes, still playing it, along with a steady diet of Guns N' Roses. ... More >>

Arctic Monkeys & The Rock N' Pop Class Of 2006

Arctic Monkeys, Version 2011​This past decade, 2006 was one of the better years in music, with a ton of debuts, great albums and catchy singles. It was also the year this member of Rocks Off started putting his musical critiques into a computer, joining the great circus known as the music indu ... More >>

Kyuss Lives!, The Sword

Arctic Monkeys, Version 2011​This past decade, 2006 was one of the better years in music, with a ton of debuts, great albums and catchy singles. It was also the year this member of Rocks Off started putting his musical critiques into a computer, joining the great circus known as the music indu ... More >>

Mosquitoes: A Tiny, Highly Annoying Musical History

​The Texans are in first place (for now), the Texas Rangers may become the Lone Star State's first-ever World Series champions tomorrow (ouch), and early voting for the November 8 mayoral/City Council election started Monday. The Houston Press Music Awards showcase is less than three weeks awa ... More >>