Warped Tour

Top 10 Spitters In Music History (w/VIDEO)

Spitting. It's a symbolic form of communication that means nothing good in any language or culture -- a sign of disrespect that garners admiration or adoration from no one. Well, except for fans. Stars and celebrities themselves get mighty pissed off if you spit on them, but if they spit on you, you ... More >>

Almost Famous: 5 Millennial Bands Who Should Have Been More Successful

I recommend that once a year you dig out your old CD collection (or MP3 archive if that's how you roll) and give a spin to the music you haven't listened to in forever. Everyone should take a nostalgic listen down memory lane now and then; not only is it good to reconnect with old songs, but you als ... More >>

For Crimes Against the Dancefloor, 5 DJs Enter EDM Kangaroo Court

Like any style of music with more than 15 fans, EDM has its artists that people love to hate. You don't get to a million followers on Twitter without gathering a few haters along the way, and no matter how many fans you have, it seems like the minority is always more vocal. That's not to say these ... More >>

10 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: November 2-4

UPDATED (9:30 a.m.): Per @FitzLiveMusic, Rakim has canceled due to Sandy-related travel difficulties. :( Indian Jewelry Walters, November 2 Houston is a better place for Indian Jewelry still being here. They could have moved somewhere hipper long ago and been welcomed with open arms, but Tex Kersc ... More >>

Saturday: Identity Festival at The Woodlands

ID Fest: The Crowd (daytime) ID Fest: The Crowd (nighttime) Identity Festival feat. Eric Prydz, Nero, Porter Robinson, Le Castle Vania, Eva Simons & Adrian Lux Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 11, 2012 With dance music's increasing popularity stateside it comes as no surprise that someone w ... More >>

Follow This: 5 Brutally Honest Reviews For 5 Bands Who Did

Up until recently I've remained fairly indifferent to the number of followers I have on Twitter. After all, if my ego was dependent on the number of people following me I would just drop the $5 necessary to buy a few thousand and call it a night. Ever since I started writing here at Rocks Off I've ... More >>

Last Night: The Cult & Against Me! at House of Blues

The Cult, Against Me!, The Icarus Line House of Blues June 19, 2012 Before I begin this review, I must let you all know that someone took a dump on the floor of House of Blues' balcony Tuesday night. That's not really pertinent to the action onstage itself (Failed vision quest? Babysitter canceled? ... More >>

Summer Fest Round Table: What About Next Year?

Assuming we all survive this weekend, and then the supposed Mayan apocalypse, Free Press Summer Fest will return to Eleanor Tinsley Park in June 2013. Pegstar's Jagi Katial and Jason Petzold told the Houston Press this week that they'll start booking next year's acts in about a month, so Rocks Off p ... More >>

iFest: Top 5 Argentine-American Musicians

The Houston International Festival enters its second weekend tomorrow, with featured musical acts WAR, Joe Louis Walker, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Texas Tornados, Del Castillo, Steel Pulse and lots more. Although iFest's performers come from all over the world, all around the main stages will be the sig ... More >>

Boy Bands Are Back In Fashion, But Did They Ever Go Away?

One Direction, the newest UK pop import to make it to colonial shores, announced a full-scale summer tour Tuesday, including a Houston date on June 24 up at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Pretty big venue for a group that is just now breaking in America, and the Brit-Irish boy band just sold ... More >>

Upcoming: Basshunter, Escape The Fate, Gipsy Kings, High On Fire, Jesus & Mary Chain

7horse: Mon., April 9. Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Allen Toussaint: Fri., March 9. Dosey Doe Coffee Company, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. The Wheeler Brothers, The Asteroid Shop, Antonio Estevan Huerta: Sat., April 7. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Basshunter: Fri., Feb. 24. Rich ... More >>

Fat Tony's 10 Favorite Food Songs

Marco TorresTony does some pre-awards shopping.​Earlier this afternoon, online of course, the Houston Press revealed the winners of our very first ever Houston Web Awards. The awards will be handed out in the flesh tomorrow night at Momentum Audi on Richmond, because it's still very hard to em ... More >>

Fat Tony's 10 Favorite Food Songs

Marco TorresTony does some pre-awards shopping.​You can work up quite an appetite pointing, clicking and surfing all day long. Earlier this afternoon, online of course, the Houston Press revealed the winners of our very first ever Houston Web Awards. The awards will be handed out in the flesh ... More >>

Your Favorite Bands: How To Correctly Pronounce Their Names

​Back in December 1998, when Eminem was just hitting MTV and rap radio, we remember people pronouncing his name as "Eee-mine-im," and not the candy-inflected way it actually was. We even made the mistake during our first viewing of "My Name Is" late at night on the video channel and calling a ... More >>

Face to Face

More Local Music News Than Record Store Day Exclusives

Welcome once again to another installment of our smash hit series, Magnolia City Mixtape. This week is just like all the rest, with a bumper crop of local music news for your eyes and ears. ​We'll start off with our soundtrack, which happens to be an EP from local rock outfit Rivers, entitled ... More >>

Otenki Makes the Finals of Billboard's Battle of the Bands

​Otenki is the best Houston band you've never heard of, according to guitarist Enoma Asowata. This could be true; we had heard the name thrown around but had never seen them live or knew much about their music. Despite this fact, they've used social media and large-scale festivals like Warped ... More >>

The Pretty Reckless

Katy Perry? For Album Of The Year? Seriously?

​Don't get Craig's Hlist wrong, we think that Katy Perry is extremely attractive. In fact, if we think about her long enough, it makes us want to cry and punch a wall. She's a buxom, bubbly, raven-haired pop star who dresses like she's expensive grandma candy. We even interviewed her last ye ... More >>

Tea Party: At The Race Track With George Washington

Photos by Craig HlavatyNo treading allowed​On Saturday afternoon I visited the North Houston Tea Party's "I Will Vote" rally, held at the Sam Houston Race Park. This was my second Tea Party rally in six months, following on the heels of the one in April at Discovery Green where my photographer was ... More >>

Springsteen 2.0: Can Baby Bosses Cruise The Backstreets?

Daniel Kramer​This fall, Houstonians salivating for another touring run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to search to hard to find bands heavily influenced by the man's sound and work ethic. Even though Springsteen and his merry band of musicians may be cooling their road ... More >>

Last Night: Silversun Pickups And Against Me! At Warehouse Live

Photos by Faith SilvaAgainst Me!​Silversun Pickups, Against Me! Warehouse Live July 20, 2010 Against Me! opening up for Silversun Pickups would be like the Replacements opening up for My Bloody Valentine in 1991. Except that Against Me! isn't on the wane of their career and Silversun has way ... More >>

Warped Tour Extra: Houston Fans Sure Love To Throw Things

Marc Brubaker/ Click here for a slideshow​Kids these days must like throwing shit. Judging by what we saw at the Vans Warped Tour Friday afternoon, it seems to be second or third to smoking dope and being sexually active. Don't worry about that, though; Trojan Condoms was out in force giving u ... More >>

Top 10 Pop-Star Bobbleheads We'd Like To See

​The good people over at Aggronautix have done it again. The toy company has been releasing bobbleheads of punk-rock luminaries such as GG Allin and the Descendents' Milo Aukerman for the past year. Rocks Off has been lucky enough to snag a few. Sitting a few feet from us right now are the t ... More >>

Five '90s Musical Fads We Remember Well, But Don't Really Miss

​A little over a decade ago, swing music made a strange comeback. You may remember seeing people all over dressing like '40s hipsters, jumping and jiving in Gap commercials and most every club or bar was offering swing lessons. It started with the release of the film Swingers, which still mi ... More >>

Buzzfest Brings The Noise, And The Pain

Photos by Marc BrubakerBreak Stuff: The Bizkit is back!​ For many, many more shots of Sunday's bands, see our slideshow here. For the really fun stuff - crowd shots! - see our slideshow here. Sunday, Aftermath spent ten hours wading in Buzzfest XXIV's radio-rock and classic nu-metal at the Cynthia ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Pop Princess Katy Perry

Mike Ruiz​They say man can't exist on indie-rock and metal alone, or something like that. Rocks Off firmly agrees, so when we hear good mainstream pop we ride that horse for all it's worth. That's why a little over a year ago, when Katy Perry hit with her single "Ur So Gay," we were enamored with ... More >>

The Distillery: Rancid's Let the Dominoes Fall

What it do, Rancid? What's crackin', formerly crusty-punk rude boys? Been a long time since we last hang, bros. When Dan Zeller lent me Let's Go during senior year of high school, I knew y'all were onto something special: three-billy-goats-gruff sung scrabbling punk anthems and routs with just a hin ... More >>

Flannel File: Quicksand

Speaking of the early days of the Warped Tour, let's talk about Quicksand. Along with Helmet, Quicksand developed and popularized a particular type of post-hardcore that took the metal-influenced hardcore punk of 1980s New York, cut the tempo in half and filled up the resulting space with melody and ... More >>

Summer Sounds

Enough shows to keep concertgoers busy all season long

Album of the Week: Shooter Jennings & the .357s' Bad Magick

Shooter Jennings & the .357s Bad Magick www.shooterjennings.com "I don't wanna be a legend/ I just wanna be a man," Shooter Jennings sings on "Living Proof," a Hank Williams Jr. cover and one of two previously unreleased songs on Bad Magick, which otherwise rounds up the best of Jennings ... More >>

Ludo

Last Night: NOFX at Warehouse Live

The Meridian

Pit etiquette and Black Flag tats at the Meridian

Rain and the Parade, But Not Necessarily Both at the Same Time

Various Artists

Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly

Scared Straight

Alkaline Trio gets clean on its pristine new LP

Singing from the Gut

You never know what'll be spewed at a Heist at Hand show

Can't Touch the MMMBop

A new boxed set excavates the '90s

Various Artists

Bonnaroo 2004

Method Rocking

Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis have started bands. Come on, you know you're curious.

Rock and Roll Dream Team

Forget the office-football draft, dude. Here's a far cooler way to waste your time and your employer's money.

Playbill

Boys Night Out, Moneen and Senses Fail, with the Beautiful Mistake and For the Time Being

Friday, February 6

Free-Falling

H-town skydiving options

Alkaline Trio, with Pretty Girls Make Graves and Pitch Black

Tuesday, June 3

Pitfall Punks

Swinging over the crocodile ponds with the Ataris

Racket

Pinpointing when Texas music jumped the shark

Pennywisdom

"The kids" benefit from Pennywise's punkish golden rules