Well, folks, it’s gotten hot. After a June that felt more like an April, this summer’s finally stopped underachieving and is now hammering us with the unholy trinity of ridiculously high temperatures, soul-drenching humidity and alarmingly frequent ozone alerts. The gators have retired to their bayou-bank havens, and the blue jays are tumbling from the sky as the West Nile virus shreds their insides.
All of which augurs one thing: the arrival of the Houston Press Music Awards. This is our 15th year — or crystal anniversary, for those of you of a gift-giving persuasion — and it’s notable for a few reasons. One, there are more Latin and dance categories than ever on the ballot. Two, shows will be happening at a bunch of new venues — Clark’s, the Blu Torch and the Speakeasy weren’t around this time last year — and they’re closer to one another than they’ve ever been since we moved this sucker downtown. And three, for the first time ever, in Switchfoot we have a headline act that has a massive pop chart hit at the same time they’re playing our event.
But even given all that, the spirit of the event should remain the same. It’s a celebration of Houston music in all its varied glory, from the old-school blues and R&B of Grady Gaines and the Texas Upsetters to the techno/tech house of Henry Chow; from the Korean War-era country of Hilary Sloan & Aunt Erma’s Fillin’ Station to the Aztlan/Dirty South hip-hop of Chingo Bling. And, of course, there will be lots and lots of rock and roll, in Spanish and English, old-school and new-school, from cover bands and originators and those that mix the two.
Sure, it’s always hot as the devil’s ass and you have to do a bit of hiking, but you know what? There’s nothing else like this event. It’s Houston music’s Woodstock, Coachella and Burning Man all rolled into one, and you can catch 65 bands for a mere seven bucks.
Back at Strake Jesuit, the good fathers told me you couldn’t call yourself a Catholic if you skipped Mass on Easter Sunday. And I believe that you can’t say you “support the scene” if you miss Showcase Sunday. Be there, or go to purgatory.
(About the guide: In an effort to let the bands explain themselves as eloquently as possible, we sent out questionnaires to all of them. That’s why the band blurbs read like a Zagat guide — it’s the best possible format for letting everyone have their say. Unfortunately, not all of the bands could be reached, and some didn’t send in their questionnaires on time. In those cases, we relied on band bios and positive press coverage. This is one event where we suspend our critical faculties and let the bands say how great their music is without our butting in. We may trash ’em and slash ’em the other 51 weeks of the year, but not this week.)
All-Star Icehouse 508 Main, 713-227-1511
4 pm Drexl
5 pm Vatos Locos
6 pm JW Americana
7 pm Infinity’s Twin
8 pm The Handsomes
9 pm Carolyn Wonderland
Drexl Song of the Year (“Nectar”)
About two years
www.drexlis.com
“Recklessly blending elements of modern rock, funk, R&B and metal into a controlled
chaos that stretches the previously untamed waters of aggressive pop” is the
wordy stock-in-trade of this quartet, “a band that sees sound as elastic: ever
changing and ever stretching.” Hailing from “a barrio-slash-ghetto near you,”
Drexl hopes to “to save the world and outlaw cheese out of a can.”
Vatos Locos Best Punk
Six years
www.vlrock.com
This band considers itself “unique and aggressive” and says it comes from “deep
within one of the meanest inner-city barrios” in H-town to combine “rock and
roll, blues, metal, jazz and hardcore.” “She Loves Me for My Dickies,” off their
2003 album, Fortune and Fun, was filmed as a video by the blue-collar
clothier. People who come to Vatos Locos shows are treated to “a band with a
tremendous stage presence,” with “an energy that captivates the essence of entertainment,”
they say. An as-yet-untitled new CD will be coming out next month.
JW Americana Best Punk, Best Bassist (Doug Kosmo)
Two years
www.jwamericana.com
Bridling at the punk label, JW Americana claims they are more of a “a musical
skeleton key with the teeth being the roots of rock ‘n’ roll and soul.”
Or maybe they’re purveyors of “straight-forward, no-effects rock and roll,
whose lyrics resemble the ramblings of a brilliant eight-year-old kid” and deal
with “such fascinating things as hot dogs, M-80s, water and boudin.” “Anywhere
in front of wild gyrating women!” is their favorite place to play, and you can’t
accuse them of false modesty — or modesty of any kind, for that matter. Their
boast: “JW Americana is probably the best rock ‘n’ roll band to come
out of Houston in a long, long time, if not ever.”
Infinity’s Twin Best Alternative Rock
Two years and counting!
www.infinitystwin.com
These modern rockers worship at the altars of Live, A Perfect Circle, Stone
Temple Pilots and Incubus, though all of these musicians are mere demigods in
their pantheon when placed next to Grohl, the supreme being. Some of the praises
they sing: “So much talent and so little time! Bad-ass drummer and bad-ass guitarist!
The guy can sing, too!” The band describes music as “the canvas on which we
paint our picture of beauty” and adds that they “LOVE TO ROCK!” The band is
currently involved in the Meltdown to Cabo Contest for the Hard Rock Cafe, and
they hope to make it to the finals, where they could have “a chance to open
up for Sammy Hagar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!”
The Handsomes Best Pop/Rock, Best New Act
One year
www.thehandsomes.com
Party-hearty rockers the Handsomes offer good-time music tinged with funk,
pop and ska, a blend popular at the Lounge, where they pack in 300-plus a show.
“Music is our favorite thing to do in life,” they say, and since two members
are law students, the success of their band would ensure that there were two
fewer lawyers in the world. The band name causes them much grief; it started
as a joke, but the band “booked our first show with it, and it stuck.” Says
one member, “I used to be sort of embarrassed when people asked what the name
of the band was. I’ve gotten over it.” The band has yet to tour, so they
have no horror tales from the road. They do, however, have one from here in
town: “There were real ram skulls glued to the amps of one of the bands we played
with recently. Their crowd didn’t dig us too much.”
Carolyn Wonderland Best Guitarist
About 12 years
www.carolynwonderland.com
“That too few people know anyone outside of their circle” is the “grossly overgeneralized”
lament this rootsy rocker has about her hometown, a place she says “rubs off
on you whether you play blues, metal, zydeco, hip-hop, country, jazz or what
have you.” Though she now calls Austin home six nights a week, she still can
be found every Tuesday at the Last Concert Cafe alongside her “talented” band
of players “with big hearts.” “Doug Sahm, Albert Collins and Billy Joe Shaver”
are the first monikers she rattles off when asked to name her favorite artists,
but that list goes on to include 16 more people ranging from her mom to Bach.
Clearly, without music, this girl would be in a world of hurt, but she thinks
she could find some contentment penning “a lot of paranoid anti-government rants…but
with no guitar parts.”
Blu Torch Lounge 809 Congress, 713-228-3409
5 pm Greg Wood
6 pm Slop Jar Jr.
7 pm Pilot Radio
8 pm Mango Punch
9 pm Los Skarnales
Greg Wood Songwriter of the Year
Two years with current lineup
Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, Bill Hicks, Beggar’s Banquet-era Rolling
Stones, Sam Kinison, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Penthouse “Forum” and John
Prine roil together in the soul of this immensely talented barroom bard, one
of the finest songwriters alive. What’s more, he can really sing, too;
a high lonesome Kentucky keen often creeps into his conversational baritone,
one that injects a full $40 on the hype-full of desperation into his tragicomic
songs about death, debauchery and desolation.
Slop Jar Jr. Best Funk/R&B/Soul
www.slopjarjunior.com
“A fun band” that mixes “funk, heavy rock and jazz” with “excitement, passion
and plain craziness” is how Slop Jar Jr.’s members describe themselves.
The band’s lineup is Chad Strader, formerly of Global Village, who fronts
a group consisting of every member of the defunct band Soular Slide that isn’t
named Shawn Pander. The band’s freewheeling live shows have drawn comparisons
to everything from This Is Spinal Tap to The Muppet Show to Jesus Christ Superstar.
Pilot Radio Best Alternative Rock
Four years
www.pilotradiomusic.com
“Sharing the stage with Hank Williams Jr., Sugar Ray, Dishwalla, Cowboy Mouth
and Bob Schneider” are prominent pages in the scrapbook of modern rockers Pilot
Radio, and they have a soft spot for “the bands, as well as people, that are
honestly trying to make a change in the local scene for the better.” The location
of live venues, however, is something they dislike about the scene.
Walter Suhr & Mango Punch Best Salsa/Merengue/Latin Pop
More than 13 years
www.mangopunch.com
Guatemalan-born salsero Walter Suhr and his merry band have had quite a year.
Not only did the group perform at the Super Bowl pregame show, where they got
to “stand side by side with Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, Aerosmith, Beyoncรฉ
and Josh Groban,” but they also played at Mayor Bill White’s inauguration.
The band’s album ยฟQuรฉ me pongo? has made it onto heavy
rotation on Spanish-language MTV, VH1 and HTV. Suhr’s composition “Nothing,
Nothing” will serve as the theme for the fall flick Love for Rent. Mango
Punch enjoys the “loyalty, word-of-mouth and great love and support from people”
in the Houston scene, but they say they dislike control of many clubs by a few
promoters, and what they see as “a big void in the coverage by local newspapers.”
Ouch!
Los Skarnales Best Rock en Espaรฑol
www.losskarnales.com
Ten or 11 years
Most people don’t think of the Village People when they hear the ska/punk/cumbia/rock/rockabilly/
Tejano music of Los Skarnales, but their day jobs beg the comparison — tattoo
artist, exterminator, janitor, construction worker, and the final member is
a UH student/Children’s Museum worker. The blue-collar band will have a
new CD, Pachuco Boogie Sound System, out by the end of this month. The
band says it loves H-town’s diversity of music, but dislikes the city’s
“close-minded people.” Little-known Skarnales factoid: “The guy who looks the
oldest in the band is actually the youngest…and he’s a virgin.”
Boaka Bar 1010 Prairie, 713-225-6372
5 pm Ceeplus
6 pm Wes Wallace
7 pm Henry Chow
8 pm Sean Carnahan
9 pm DJ Sun
Ceeplus Best Lounge DJ
About ten years
www.reprogrammusic.com
Man about town Ceeplus has his irons in a lot of fires. There’s the touring
shows he promotes, there’s Reprogram Radio, his Monday-afternoon
KPFT show, and there’s Dynamite Lounge, his Monday-night residency at the
Proletariat, where he spins “cool rock-n-roll, dance punk/electro funk, indie
pop/rock, trashy beats & grooves, retro/nรผ/no wave, misc. electronica and
dirty hip-hop & cheese pop.”
Wes Wallace Best Dance Club DJ
More than ten years
www.weswallace.com
If you loved the ’80s, you’ll love Wes Wallace, a DJ who reveres, relives,
reshapes and remixes the Greed Is Good Decade every week at Numbers. But we
ain’t talkin’ that overexposed Fixx and Don Henley crap you hear on the Point
— we’re talkin’ stuff like the Normal, Clash tunes other than “Should I Stay
or Should I Go” and “Rock the Casbah,” Ultravox and Revolting Cocks. He can
almost make you believe the unbelievable: that the Reagan years were livable
ones. Maybe that’s why his Friday-night “Classic Numbers” sets have long been
the best-attended ’80s night in town.
Henry Chow Best Lounge DJ
Six years
www.lockedgrooves.com
Despite his residencies here — “Metronome,” Tuesday nights at Licor Lounge
is the latest — techno/tech house spinner Chow finds his biggest successes
abroad. He just returned from a tour of Germany, where he played before 25,000
people in Bremen. Chow also spun at South By Southwest this year, but he digs
playing “wherever people are really up for the music.” Recorded “collaborations
with Zenit artist Tomie Nevada” are also in the works.
Sean Carnahan Best Dance Club DJ
More than ten years
www.djsean.com
“House music can save your soul,” says DJ Sean Carnahan, which should give
the more astute of you a hint about what he spins. He’s also a bit of a conspiracy
theorist: “There is and has only ever been one ยtechno’ track,” he avers.
“It has been mixed continuously round the clock by a team of nine committed
DJs for the last 12 years. Anytime you hear a supposed ยlive’ techno mix,
the DJ is in fact tapping into the live stream that is being transmitted from
a secret location in Detroit. This explains why all ยtechno’ tracks sound
the same to you who don’t know shit about it.” Carnahan — whom you might not
expect to be the rabid Stevie Ray Vaughan fan that he is — has been the mastermind
behind the Spundae shows the past few months, and he has still bigger plans
in the works: “I just opened a club at 2401 San Jacinto (formerly known as Rich’s),
which I plan with my partner Neil to develop into something that is very noteworthy.”
DJ Sun Best Lounge DJ
Ten years
www.soulargrooves.com
This multiple-award-winner thinks the “lounge DJ” label a bit of a misnomer.
“I like to move the crowd as well,” he notes. Jackie Mattoo, ATCQ, Massive Attack
and Bob Marley are among the favorite artists of this Suriname-born decknician,
who wants you to know that the South American nation of his birth “produces
the most world-class soccer players per capita” of any country in the world.
Sun, who takes his DJ name from his Chinese grandfather, has two recent mix
CDs of note (Soular Grooves 4, Nine Before Ten) and is at work
on an original production, an untitled collaboration with Mark Sound, Nappy
G, Jai Jordan and Tim Ruiz. Sun says that music is “the most enjoyable” career
he could imagine, though he finds the Houston scene “a bit small for the size
of the metro area we are.”
Clark’s 314 Main, 713-237-8220
5 pm David Brake & That Damn Band
6 pm Drop Trio
7 pm The Lonestar Bluegrass Band
8 pm goneblind
9 pm Norma Zenteno
ย
David Brake & That Damn Band Best New Act
Almost a year
www.davidbrake.com
“I have always believed that country, rock and roll, and blues are just a beat
apart.” So said Waylon Jennings, as quoted by David Brake, another guy who also
subscribes to that credo. Brake spends most weeknights performing requests,
but on weekends he unleashes his own material; “once people warm up to you,
they really seem to enjoy original music,” he says. He only wishes more club
owners would do the same. “Some of the more established clubs in town really
need talent scouts,” he says. Still, other scouts have found Brake — his 2003
release Lean Mean Texas Machine “made the top 13 independent releases
for 2003 in Texas Monthly.”
Drop Trio Best Funk/R&B/Soul, Best Keyboardist (Ian Varley), Best Jazz, Album
of the Year (Big Dipper)
One and a half years
www.droptrio.com
The instrumental jazz funksters in Drop Trio have it all planned out should
their promising music career go suddenly south: “We play a mean game of blackjack.”
The band hates it that “hype isn’t always backed up with hard work” in
this town, but they love how the local musicians “are really supportive of each
other.” For example, “If not for musicians, most of our gigs would be pretty
empty. Well, okay, they’re often empty anyway, but…we can still feel
the love.” One song off Album of the Year nominee Big Dipper was recently
included on the Johnson Family Vacation soundtrack, with vocals by Beyoncรฉ’s
little sis Solange Knowles, and a hip-hop version of another will soon be released
by rapper LRJ.
The Lonestar Bluegrass Band Best Bluegrass
More than 22 years
www.lonestarbluegrassband.com
“Representing Houston in the Festival of Cities in Chiba, Japan” was one of
this local institution’s recent thrills. Bandleader Chris Hirsch restores
antique guns by day and picks banjo by night, though he stresses the fact that
his is not a trad bluegrass band: “We throw other styles in the mix and play
songs that were never intended to be bluegrass, [but] with bluegrass instruments
in a bluegrass style.” Hirsch believes “fun” and “friendship” are the twin engines
of his band’s longevity and success. “All the members of the band are in
this because we honestly love it and we are friends. We have fun on stage, and
I believe that is why the audience has so much fun.”
goneblind Best Alternative Rock
Six years
www.goneblindmusic.com
“Aside from breathing and dying, music is the one element that connects us
all, a common ground,” said goneblind lead vocalist-rhythm guitarist John Curry,
back in the heady days when his band was signed to Roadrunner Records. The band
has been pretty inactive recently, but four years ago their “aggressive and
melodic” “AM rock” was all the rage in Houston and on the road.
Norma Zenteno Best Salsa/Merengue/Latin Pop, Best Female Vocalist
More than 25 years
www.zenteno.com
The daughter of prominent Latin bandleader Roberto Zenteno, Norma can swing
anything, from Latin salsa, merengue, cumbia and cha-cha to blues, rock and
Top 40. Since getting a guitar from her father at age 11, Norma has been a performer.
Today, “She’s jazz, she’s Latin, she’s funked-up fusion, she’s
rock and roll, she is an original!” She’s also something of a local celeb:
In addition to being a staple on the big-time festival circuit, like former
Astros hurler Josรฉ Lima, she has starred in a Casa Olรฉ ad campaign.
Dean’s Credit Clothing 316 Main, 713-227-3326
5 pm Dr. Jeff & the Painkillers
6 pm The El Orbits
7 pm Guy Schwartz & the New Jack Hippies
8 pm Southern Backtones
9 pm Liviya Compean
ย
Dr. Jeff & the Painkillers Best Cover Band
Four years
www.drjeffandthepainkillers.com
This “Beatles, blues and oldies and originals” band recently played the infamous
Balinese Room in Galveston. Dr. Jeff chafes under the “cover band” description.
“We also do some originals,” he says. “There should be a category next year
for best fun band or best party band!” By day Dr. Jeff is a first-call recording
engineer, and he loves Houston’s “wide-open, unlimited possibilities,” but he
decries the scene’s “lack of camaraderie.” On a cryptic note, Dr. Jeff said
that a previous band of his “used to feed the motel television late at night
due to boredom.”
The El Orbits Best Cover Band
Seven years
These suit-wearing, lounge-adelic covermeisters shake up musical martinis comprising
equal parts “pop radio swing standards from the ’50s and ’60s, country hits
from your grandfather’s AM car radio, and nearly forgotten Gulf Coast R&B favorites.”
For some, being an El Orbit is “as much of a lifestyle as a musical endeavor.”
The band has been hosting a Monday-night bingo party every week for the past
few years, and can often be spotted around Texas in one of their flotilla of
vintage Suburbans, often towing their custom-built yellow RC Cola trailer.
Guy Schwartz & the New Jack Hippies Best Blues
www.hippies.tv www.newjackhippies.com
Roger & Guy for 33 years; this band for eight years Cagey music veteran Schwartz
touts Houston’s “humans and music” but slams the city’s “mosquitoes and humidity.”
He also has choice words for “all the venues who shorted the musicians bucks
or treated musicians like shit,” but he won’t name any names. “I won’t allow
any of those venue-owning assholes who burned us to feel better about themselves
’cause someone else was even worse.” Schwartz wants it known that his is not
exclusively a blues band — “we’re songwriters with a band,” he says. His love
for Elvis Costello, Frank Zappa, Robbie Robertson and Willie Dixon should give
the uninitiated some idea of the band’s breadth. Schwartz says enigmatically
that his funniest gig was “the night that Heath got laid!” and wants it known
that “George Bush isn’t as smart as he looks.”
Southern Backtones Best Roots Rock/Rockabilly
Seven years
www.southernbacktones.com
Southern Backtone Hank Schyma likes band names that roll past like freight
trains: “the Homeless Drunks Who Wake Up in Strange Beds” and “the Bridge Burners
Who Shit Where They Eat” are two that he says “would have probably been more
fitting” in description of his hard-to-describe band. Schyma damns the local
scene with faint praise, to put it mildly — “I do like that it is very unsaturated,
very dismal,” though he adds that the trio of “Houston, Austin and Dallas together
make a great scene.” As for his dislikes, among them are this paper’s annual
misappraisal of his band — “I scratch my head after every subtle mentioning,”
he says, sounding very much like a philosophical Parisian on his fourth espresso
as he reels off a litany of wrongs that includes our branding them a rockabilly
band with an upright bass that occasionally lapses into German oom-pah. (For
the record, they aren’t, don’t have one, and don’t.)
Liviya Compean Best Female Vocalist
About eight years
PJ Harvey, Prince, Gato Barbieri, Tool, Linkin Park and Rush all mingle in
the sound of Liviya Compean’s well-traveled band, which has opened for Jose
Feliciano, Leon Russell, Consolidated and Saliva. Compean, the product of a
multigenerational music family, says she basks in “the undying support of our
fans, who continue to come see us play show after show and have been patiently
waiting for the release of our new record.” But she’s irked by the “misconception
that we are a female, acoustic/folk act instead of a heavy, alternative rock
band.” Compean isn’t “just the singer, but also the songwriter and performs
all of the guitar work, both live and in the studio.” As for the previously
mentioned album, it will be called Hormonal Injustice, and it’s to be
released in August or September.
Hard Rock Cafe 502 Texas, 713-227-1392
4 pm Mark Towns
5 pm Bojones
6 pm Dune*TX
7 pm Grady Gaines & the Texas Upsetters
8 pm Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys
9 pm D.R.U.M.
Mark Towns Best Jazz
Five years under own name
www.marktowns.com
“I jam, therefore I am” is the motto of this dexterous guitarist. Towns has
two CDs coming soon, one of “very mellow” guitar, the other of “hot, upbeat”
Latin jazz. Towns also has a record out now — Passion, with jazz legend
Hubert Laws, and he has performed live with Kirk Whalum. Towns enjoys playing
outdoor festivals and large events best, and adds that “nothing” particularly
bothers him about the local music scene. Towns believes the music of Jimi Hendrix,
Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis can help as you “seek that which is good: peace,
love and enlightenment through music.”
Bojones Best New Act
About a year
That there is a piano in this young group leads to the greatest misconception
about them, according to Nick, the redheaded guy who plays it. “People think
we’re soft,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re not hard-core, but people see
the piano and think we’re another Ben Folds or Coldplay, but we’re not.” Still
a very young man, the Vines, Mars Volta and Bright Eyes fan also says that he
has the medical history of a 75-year-old, including having been “clinically
dead three times,” but he feels very much alive when he plays music. “It’s what
makes me happy,” he says. “Everything else feels like work; this feels like
play.”
Dune*TX Best Bassist (Rusty Guess)
Nine years
www.dunetx.com
“Hanging out with Fountains of Wayne” was a recent red-letter day in the near-ten-year
career of rockers Dune*TX. They do say “having a 70-year-old lady tell us we
suck” and “using our merch as blankets since we didn’t realize we were going
to be sleeping in the van and it was going to be 25 degrees” came in at the
other end of the satisfaction spectrum. Though stylistically different, the
power pop/garage rockers have much in common with Mark Towns: They prefer outdoor
festival shows, cite Hendrix as a top influence and share his optimistic outlook.
Asked to name their worst gig ever, they say there’s “no such thing — it’s
rock and roll…Have fun!” Trends here do bug them, but they even find a silver
lining in the cloud of frequent band breakups on the scene: They like that “you
can get good deals on gear since people don’t stay in bands too long.” And in
case you forgot, they say “Billy Gibbons is a cool mofo.”
Grady Gaines & the Texas Upsetters Best Horn/Horn Section
Roughly 50 years
www.gradygaines.com
Harlem’s Apollo Theatre is cited by “living legend” Grady Gaines as his favorite
place to play, and he has seen many rooms in the saxman’s five full decades
of entertaining. Gaines says he can’t quite decide who is his favorite all-time
musician — so he calls it a tie between Sam Cooke and Little Richard, both
of whom he has toured with. Gaines’s grandfather played music, so he says the
art is in his “blood and soul,” as are his favorite records ever: “Caldonia”
by Louis Jordan and “Honky Tonk” by Bill Doggett.
Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys Best New Act, Best C&W
One year
www.resinvalleyboys.com
You’d expect there to be more than one stoner in a band that goes by the name
Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys, but according to drummer Neal LaCroix,
that’s not the case. “Only one of us actually gets high,” he says, “and at least
one of us has a college degree.” The drummer for the hard-core country traditionalists
also surprises with what he listens to in his leisure time: U2, Jane’s Addiction,
the Smiths and Zeppelin. Poor promotion on the part of some club owners irks
this band, as does a certain lack of selectiveness on the part of fans — “They
will be happy and clap for any drunk yahoo who gets on stage,” LaCroix grouses.
But he loves the HPMA Showcase, which he says “has to continue for years to
come. It is one of the few things that culminates all of Houston’s diverse acts
into one setting and allows all of the cliques to experience something out of
their own world.”
D.R.U.M. Best Reggae/Dancehall
14 years
www.drumusic.com
By now, Elvis Costello’s “dancing about architecture” dig at the music critic’s profession is so famous as to be clichรฉd. But D.R.U.M.’s Alafia Gaidi knows a fresher, if likely older, way to say the same thing: “Do not allow your eyes to be made from the lips of another,” he says, citing an African proverb. In D.R.U.M.’s case, the axiom is most apt; many people think erroneously that the band “plays only reggae or only drums.” In fact, you’ll hear echoes of many of their favorite artists, a list that includes Bob Marley, sure, but also “Coltrane, Fela, the men and women of Motown, Baba Olatunji, Parliament/ Funkadelic, Duke Ellington, Tito Puente, Nina Simone, Baaba Maal, Antonio Carlos Jobim — don’t get us started.” D.R.U.M. has a new live CD coming soon, but in the meantime you can go see them “anyplace there’s enough room to play, enough money to pay and enough people to sway.”
Mercury Room 1008 Prairie, 713-225-MERC
5 pm Mando Saenz
6 pm Chango Jackson
7 pm Clouseaux
8 pm Tony Vega Band
9 pm John Evans Band
Mando Saenz Best C&W
Three years
www.mandosaenz.com
For Mando Saenz, Houston’s “bad listeners” are balanced out by the city’s “good
musicians.” Though he has a record and publishing deal with a Nashville company
— Carnival Music — he bridles when you call his twangy, tasteful, rustic rock
“country.” Saenz’s recent feats include co-writing with Kim Richey and gigging
with Buddy Miller and Leanne Womack at Stubb’s in Austin. Though those are indeed
worthy deeds, he still believes all musicians “are fucked in the head.” His
2002 album, Watertown, is scheduled for rerelease in September.
Chango Jackson Best Rock en Espaรฑol
15 years
www.changojackson.com
We have the basic truth that “average doesn’t cut it in porn” to thank for
the fact that the members of Chango Jackson chose musical careers, and they
claim that without music they would be nothing but “pinche borrachos.”
“Los Beatles, Hendrix, Doors, Bowie, Rush, etc…” are all pureed in the CJ
blender, along with Spanish lyrics and flying hazards at their shows — “We
would like to apologize if you have or will be hit by a tamale at our show.”
A long-waited release of a four-year-old CD could be looming for the group.
They claim that by day, they “are the Chuck E. Cheese band!” The greatest
misconception about Chango Jackson? “That we actually have a shot.”
Clouseaux Best Horn Section, Best Drummer and Local Musician of the Year (Claudio
De Pujadas)
152 weeks
www.clouseaux.com
Clouseaux singer Tomas Escalante considers it a noteworthy recent feat that
they “actually played a show with all the members in attendance.” And it’s no
small one when you understand that this “tiki-lounge-exotica” outfit boasts
a dozen members. On August 2, Lagoon!, their second full-length album,
will drop, though that day is something of a sad one for the band, since the
CD release party will be drummer Claudio De Pujadas’s last with them. (He’s
moving to Philadelphia to pursue jazz drumming.) “Michael Haaga” is Escalante’s
favorite thing about the Houston scene. Among his worries: that “Main Street
is destined to become the Richmond Strip rather than a live music haven” and
that too many people erroneously believe that Clouseaux plays “ska and funk…good
job, Houston Chronicle! Really doing your homework.”
Tony Vega Band Best Blues
Seven years
www.tonyvegaband.com
Why play music? “I suck at everything else!” says Tony Vega, who chafes under
the blues label. Although he admits his band has “a blues-based backbone,” he
says he “never asked to be nominated for Best Blues alongside men like Texas
Johnny Brown and Joe ยGuitar’ Hughes.” His favorite artist is Lyle Lovett;
his favorite albums are NWA’s Straight Outta Compton and The Neighborhood by Los Lobos. Vega’s band is big overseas; his favorite places to play are “the
Hide-out club in Munich and anywhere in Switzerland.” Closer to home, Vega digs
the fact that H-town has “an indigenous sound, a Gulf coast sound, if you will.”
But he wishes that every local bar would charge a cover. “It would make things
easier on everyone involved,” he believes.
John Evans Band Best C&W, Best Roots Rock/Rockabilly, Best Male Vocalist, Local Musician
of the Year
13 years
www.johnevansband.net
“Real music. Real different.” That’s the motto of the John Evans Band,
and by that he means a rootsy blend of styles — including country, Texas swing
and rockabilly — presented with the balls-out energy and drive of a hard rock
band. And evidently Houstonians think he’s “real cool” — over the last
three years, the six-foot-six singer-guitarist-Luby’s pitchman has won
a total of seven awards, including Local Musician of the Year two years running.
Red Cat Jazz Cafรฉ 924 Congress, 713-226-7870
4 pm Lisa Novak and Melinda Mones
5 pm UME
6 pm Hilary Sloan & Aunt Erma’s Fillin’ Station
7 pm Kyle Turner
8 pm Free Radicals with Harry Sheppard
9 pm Zwee
Lisa Novak and Melinda Mones Best Folk/Acoustic
A couple of years together
www.lisanovak.com and www.melindamones.com
Novak says if anyone wants to “hear good songs with great harmonies, they should
come out” to see her and Mones, or check out their individual bands. By day
Novak is a hairstylist and owner of All Decked Out, a hair salon with a musician-heavy
clientele — “I am responsible for creating nice-looking musicians!” She notes
that cutting heads has given her “set hours to play music as well as the funds
to record the CDs.” Lucinda Williams, the Wallflowers, Luna and Teenage Fan
Club are some of her national faves, while Chris Sacco, Tody Castillo, Mando
Saenz, Mark Zeus and Clay Farmer are among her favorite locals. Though she enjoys
performing, she says, “Writing is my passion…I’d like to get a song recorded
by a big artist!”
UME Best Indie Rock
Two years
www.umemusic.com
An indie rock band, some of whose members are Houstonians who go to college
in Pennsylvania, UME makes up for lost time by gigging as often as possible
while home on school breaks. My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Sleater-Kinney
with a bass are decent comparisons. Petite singer Lauren Larson caterwauls like
a she-devil who’s missed a few meals. Beware.
Hilary Sloan & Aunt Erma’s Fillin’ Station Best C&W, Best Bluegrass
Two years
www.hilarysloan.com
Gruene Hall and the Broken Spoke are two of Hilary Sloan’s fave places
to play, and even if you don’t catch her at one of those legendary Texas
dance halls, her music will take you there. The singer-fiddler says that “music
was never a choice I made — just what I’ve always been,” and adds that
without it she would have only “ever-increasing insanity” or “incarceration.”
Sloan is proud of the fact that she is often mistaken for a classic country
cover band — “People that I’ve talked to are surprised to hear that most
of the songs are mine.” Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley are two of her favorites,
which is no shocker, but so is “Me’Shell NdegรฉOcello,” which may surprise
some. For final wisdom, Sloan turns to the Book of Tom T. Hall: “Joe, don’t
let your music kill you — nobody cares.”
Kyle Turner Best Jazz
About 15 years
www.kyleturneronline.com
Former Kirk Whalum protรฉgรฉ Kyle Turner has been called a “rising
saxist with the sexy sound,” and his repertoire includes “straight-ahead jazz,
fusion, R&B, gospel, blues and smooth jazz.” After he spent stints in Austin
and Los Angeles, the new millennium found Turner back in Houston, where he was
born and raised. “Kyle Turner’s soul is exposed in every note he plays,”
says Whalum of his onetime apprentice. “And that’s the way music was intended
to be!”
Free Radicals with Harry Sheppard Best Jazz
Eight years
freerads.com
Free Rads drummer Nick Cooper answered our questionnaire from Chiapas, Mexico,
where he was chilling “in an indigenous Zapatista community.” The band’s
new CD, Aerial Bombardment, was recorded with 50 musicians. Cooper likes
to say that his ska/reggae/jazz/funk/rock/etc. orchestra features some “members
too young to drink, and others with great-grandchildren.” He lists “Helios,
Super Happy Fun Land and the Brooklyn Academy of Music” as top gig spots for
this band, which was almost named Zeno’s Paradox.
Zwee Best Funk/R&B/Soul
Current lineup since 2002; Zwee since 1997; Zwee & the Graveberries
since 1994
www.zweemusic.com
By day, Zwee’s Frank Zweback is a teacher, and he offers this lesson:
“Better to get off your ass, do something and be marginally successful than
to complain about what you can’t do. It’s only life, so live it.”
His band has done just that, by taking home the Best R&B/Funk trophy last year,
and “headlining at Griff’s St. Pat’s Day fest, playing at the Super
Bash, and the 40 Ounce party on Super Bowl weekend,” the last of which he says
“was our best show ever, maybe.” Zwee loves “the good people” that are in the
Houston music scene, only he wishes there were more of them: “People just don’t
go out to see music that much.” Among Zwee’s pantheon of greats: “Curtis
Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, James Brown, Pharoah Sanders
and A Tribe Called Quest.”
Rehab 709 Franklin, 713-22-REHAB
5 pm Lise Liddell
6 pm Studemont Project
7 pm The Buddhacrush
8 pm DeSangre
9 pm [Band to be announced]
Lise Liddell Best Folk/Acoustic, Songwriter of the Year
Since childhood
www.liseliddell.com and www.wheeloffire.com
Hearing “Puff the Magic Dragon” on the radio in carpool on the way home from
kindergarten was a watershed moment in Lise Liddell’s life. She recalls that
she “bawled her head off” when she found out that “twit” Jackie Paper left Puff
alone by the sea. “Music has always charged me emotionally like nothing else
ever could,” she says. A third CD is slated to join the 1997 release, White
Heart, and 2002’s Lovers’ Moon later this fall. Barbra Streisand,
k.d. lang, Nanci Griffith and Elton John are the progenitors of her favorite
albums, and she doesn’t care what you think about that. “I’m not lying about
[that question] and I’m not embarrassed, either!”
Studemont Project Best Hip-hop
A little over two and a half years
www.studemontproject.com
MC Caption says the greatest misconception about his underground hip-hop group,
Studemont Project, is that it takes itself too seriously. “We do take creating
music seriously, but we are not conservative, stone-faced individuals,” he says,
adding that they “throw crazy movie quotes off the dome frequently, get amped
for three-on-three basketball, and participated in an underground kickball league.”
The defending champs in the Best Hip-hop/Rap category dig listening to the Mars
Volta, Diverse, Cursive the Doors and Miles Davis, performing at the Proletariat
and checking out the “many talented undiscovered artists” on the local scene.
But the cliquishness of the same scene annoys them.
The Buddhacrush
Best Male Vocalist (Tim McGlashen)
Four years
www.buddhacrush.com
“A truly synergistic pop/jazz/funk melting pot” is what the Buddhacrush say
they cook up, a stew enlivened by “spicy rhythms, imaginative wordplay and a
sincerity of sound crafted on real instruments.” They strive “to be both hip
and overwhelmingly honest” in delivering “challenging pop music.” The sextet
hopes to keep it downright fun, while also being thought-provoking but not pretentious.
DeSangre Best Rock en Espaรฑol
Eight years
www.desangre.tk
DeSangre’s manager, Raul “DJ Woo,” answered for these rockeros, reporting
that their most noteworthy feat is for the band to “stay together.” Though most
of the fans of these metal merchants are Hispanic, Woo says the majority of
their CDs are sold to gringos. The band wishes there were more community in
the music scene here. According to Woo, “Houston is a cultural pit” where people
prefer to stay at home. He believes local commercial radio stations contribute
to this malaise: “They don’t play the better music that exists; instead we our
crushed to death with the one or two songs the corporate bands put out per month.”
St. Pete’s Dancing Marlin 300 Main, 713-227-1511
4 pm Rapture
5 pm Skyblue 72
6 pm Dubtex
7 pm Molly & the Ringwalds
8 pm Deep Ella
9 pm Silverleaf
ย
Rapture Best Salsa/Merengue/Latin Pop
About three years
A five-piece Latin variety band with a decidedly non-Hispanic lineup, Rapture
has been around for three years. Somehow, group leader Henry Banrevi, an ethnic
East European gypsy, landed in Venezuela and fell in love with Latin music.
A few years later, he stopped off in Monterrey, Mexico, and fell in love again,
this time with a singer named Norma who eventually became Mrs. Banrevi. The
two later moved to Houston, where Henry joined Mango Punch. Banrevi eventually
split to form his own Latin band, Caribe, with Norma taking lead vocals. When
audiences kept asking for American pop tunes between the cumbias and merengues,
Banrevi changed the group’s name to Rapture and added some Pink Floyd and Gloria
Gaynor to his book of Paulina Rubio and Gloria Estefan songs. The group, which
also includes Paolo Castagnoli and Eric Brown, is working on its first CD, a
collection of Latin originals. — Olivia Flores Alvarez
Jessica Zweback Best Female Vocalist (singer for Zwee, singer-drummer for Skyblue 72)
One year for Skyblue 72
www.skyblue72.com, www.zweemusic.com
Zweback, who “sweats for a living” as a Bikram yoga teacher, also sings and
pounds drums. Of her new band Skyblue 72, Zweback says Stevie Wonder serves
as the chief inspiration, alongside the Police, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell and
Miles Davis. Zweback adds that she’d “go insane without music,” and says that
the largest crowd she has ever played for was “probably the millions of imaginary
faces in my bedroom. Those shadows are spooky!” Not to worry, though, for she
also adds, “My therapist says I’m progressing nicely.” The band’s only recording
so far is a three-song EP produced by Robbie Parrish, a man the band “hearts.”
Dubtex Best Reggae/Dancehall
About three years
www.dubtex.com
“Urban reggae from Space City” is Dubtex’s pithy way of describing themselves,
and “Selena’s Dead” and “O.J. Did It” are two band names they rejected. Favorites
of the band include U2, Burning Spear, Sizzla, Public Enemy and Bad Brains,
so don’t go expecting a bunch of overly familiar reggae tunes — these guys
are creators, not dilettantes. “Just ’cause you’re screaming all the titles
from the Legend collection at us” doesn’t mean you’ll get to hear “Jammin'”
or “Satisfy My Soul.” They list “realness and diversity” as their favorite things
about Houston; “people who call themselves ยpromoters’ and do nothing of
the sort” get what rappers Third Bass used to call “the gas face.” And they
claim that they are “honestly quite possibly the freshest sound you’ve heard
in at least ten years.”
Molly & the Ringwalds Best Cover Band
About four years
www.theringwalds.com
“Moody synths, loud guitar solos and hot girls with big hair” help this ’80s-only
cover band conjure the Decade of Greed. The Ringwalds don’t shy from “playing
the Go-Gos, Van Halen and Young MC back to back, with a little Madonna and Gary
Numan thrown in for good measure.” Equal parts “wacky banter” and “musicianship,”
Ringwalds shows are “events” full of “bacchanal pleasures” such as “free nachos.”
Deep Ella Best Alternative Rock
About four years
www.deepella.com
“Postmodern U2” and “Live with a hint of English rock sensibilities” are two
descriptions of these alt-rockers, whose album Last Year’s New Thing is, they claim, “a diverse collection of power-pop songs showcasing big hooks
and catchy melodies.” In concert, the band claims to “move effortlessly from
heavy, guitar-driven tunes to eloquent, compelling ballads.” In short, “a Deep
Ella show leaves an indelible impression on each listener, which can only be
overshadowed by their next Deep Ella experience.”
Silverleaf Best Alternative Rock, Album of the Year (The Show)
Almost two years
www.silverleafband.com
“Anywhere that people want to rock and get rocked” is where Silverleaf likes
to play, and recently 700 of those people showed up at Numbers for the release
of their new CD, The Show. The fact that “real jobs suck” is their impetus
to pursue music; another thing that sucks in their view is the fact that “Houston
is soooo spread out. There’s not really one central spot for good local music
like Sixth Street or Deep Ellum.” And the third thing that they think sucks?
This misconception: “A lot of people think we are fairly light and poppy.” Au
contraire, says the band. “Especially our live shows. They are very intense
and energetic.” Which is what you would expect from a band that cites Live and
Pearl Jam as faves, though not from one that cites James Taylor, who they say
is a “brilliant” songwriter.
The Speakeasy 110 Main, 713-547-0566
5 pm Lady D & the Zydeco Tornadoes
6 pm Mark Zeus
7 pm Opie Hendrix & the Texas Tallboys
8 pm Arthur Yoria
9 pm Mark May
Lady D & the Zydeco Tornadoes Best Zydeco
Nine and a half years
Lady D had come a long way when she won last year’s Best Zydeco award. After
all, eight years previously she’d made her debut “at 6 a.m. on the shores of
Clear Lake. I played ยHappy Birthday,’ and it went from 25 ducks to two
ducks. I said, ยIf I can get y’all to listen, I can get anybody to listen.'”
Now, she often plays on a different body of water — Galveston Bay — for a
different creature, namely humans, who, um, flock to see her shows on the Kemah
party boat Sensation. The Opelousas, Louisiana, native works two full-time
jobs but lives for her weekend gigs — “zydeco makes people happy,” she says,
“whether you’re old, young, handicapped, black or white.” Alone among zydeco
musicians, Beau Jocque encouraged her — “ยDon’t give up Lady D, it’ll
pay off,’ he would tell me” — and thus ranks as tops with her within her genre.
But her favorite tune is one by another Louisiana native: “My favorite song
right now is ยToxic’ by Britney Spears.”
Mark Zeus Mark Zeus/Thunderboltz
Four years
www.markzeus.com
Last year’s River Oaks Redneck Musician of the Year has a solo album slated
for release later this year. The bluesy, folksy Cubs fan touts “Dan Electro’s
and JP Hops House” as his favorite local gigs — though he says he has plans
of his own — “I’m thinking about opening a restaurant/club in the future.”
Zeus loves the “diversity, mix of style and mostly the songwriting” in H-town
but loathes the “lack of recognition for the amazing acoustic songwriter community
here.” The former instructor — “I coached football and taught English at the
high school level” — says local Ken Gaines is his favorite artist “right now,”
and he touts Bruce Cockburn’s Burning Light and Traffic’s Low Spark
of High-Heeled Boys as desert island discs.
Opie Hendrix & the Texas Tallboys Best Roots Rock/Rockabilly
13 years
www.opiehendrix.net
“Roots-rocking alt-country, spiced by a pinch of rockabilly” is the forte of
this flame-haired outlaw, the defending champ in the Roots Rock/Rockabilly category.
The son of an Elvis-loving mother who named him Stephan Buchanan, Opie earned
his moniker at the late, lamented Boat Yard, where the hard-bitten regulars
took a shine to both his hair and his six-string dexterity. Since then, Opie
has assembled a “premier backing band,” including steel guitar legend Susan
Alcorn, and they always “play from the heart, not a set list.”
Arthur Yoria Songwriter of the Year
Three years
www.arthuryoria.com
Landing songs on TV (Felicity soundtrack, MTV’s Camp Jim)
and films (Breaking Dawn), and playing a show in Liverpool’s Cavern
Club are among the recently installed feathers in this sophisticated modern
popster’s cap. Yoria claims to “enjoy working very hard and making very
little money,” which rather puts the lie to his claim that if he weren’t
a musician, he’d be a “sleep research volunteer.” The Colombian-American
Cubs fan cites Piero’s self-titled record and Charlie Rich’s Behind
Closed Doors as his favorite albums ever, though he looks beyond his field
for his fave artist: Richard Pryor.
Mark May Best Blues
Over 20 years
www.markmay.com
Two years ago, somebody not from around these parts called 1999’s Local Musician
of the Year “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of, and arguably the most
versatile talent working the blues today,” but we’ve obviously known all that
for a long time. The same goes for Dickey Betts, who says he was “blown away”
by May and took him on the road with him for two years. Dollmaker, May’s
long-awaited follow-up to 1997’s Telephone Road, came out this year,
and this paper called it “a great party record,” as much a necessity for your
next outdoor soiree as “beer, insect repellent and meat for the grill.”
Twelve Spot 218 Travis, 713-222-1962
5 pm Beetle
6 pm Ezra Charles & the Works
7 pm Hayes Carll
8 pm Fondue Monks
9 pm Zydeco Dots
ย
Beetle Best Cover Band
About three years
These privates in Sgt. Pepper’s platoon lean heavily on the band’s early and
middle period — say, up to Help! and Rubber Soul. Paul Beebe
serves as John and Paul rolled into one, while guitarist Jim Henkel impersonates
George Harrison. Last year, we cited the band’s “authenticity,” saying it extends
“right down to the collarless suit coats, mod hairdos and even John Lennon’s
jangly Rickenbacker guitars.” A regular at the Continental Club, this fab combo
conjures mania wherever it perches.
Ezra Charles & the Works Best Roots Rock/Rockabilly, Best Keyboardist
About 20 years
www.ezracharles.com
As much an institution of the city’s music scene as Felix Mexican Restaurant
is on the culinary, swamp-boogie piano man Ezra Charles got his start in Beaumont
in the late 1950s in a band called Johnny and the Jammers, which featured, in
his words, “Johnny and Edgar Winter on guitars, me on piano and David Holliday
on drums.” “I am the last protรฉgรฉ of Professor Longhair,” Charles
notes, and his favorite artist ever is his ” ยuncle,’ Ray Charles.” Ezra
is also an inventor — a piano pickup he dreamed up is now standard gear (“I
sold my first to Elton John in 1972″), but he claims the local media is an even
greater inventor — or make that fabricator. “Local reporting on my career has
never examined my music; instead it has always focused on what is perceived
to be my personality. Fortunately, the public has never bought into the egomaniac
propaganda, preferring instead just to buy 15,000 of my CDs because (they tell
me) they love the music, as do I.”
Hayes Carll Best Folk/Acoustic, Songwriter of the Year
About five years
www.hayescarll.com
“Retirement homes and cheerleading camps” are Hayes Carll’s favorite venues,
and what he likes best about the Houston music scene is “all the free drugs.”
The Bob Dylan acolyte and multiple past winner of HP music awards also
cites albums by Ray Wylie Hubbard, Todd Snider and Bobby Bare Jr. as touchstones.
The follow-up to his 2002 release, Flowers and Liquor, should be on shelves
soon, at least in geological time; expect it to drop in “June 2009.” Meanwhile,
Carll will continue gigging and toiling at his day job: “dating affluent women.”
And he also continues to be proud of and amazed by the fact that he has “hung
out with John Evans for three years” and is “still standing.”
Fondue Monks Best Bassist (Rozz Zamorano)
13 years
ZZ Top is one of the few bands that has been together with the same original
members longer than the Monks, who have featured the same lineup since March
1991, according to Rozz Zamorano. “Jaco Pastorius” is the bassist’s favorite,
and he’s perhaps the closest thing we’ve got to that late master on the local
scene today; after all, he’s been “nominated over five times for best bassist”
in these awards, and he has “opened as a solo bass artist for Stanley Jordan,
Eric Johnson and Johnny Winter.” Of music, Zamorano says he was “born into it,
I love to play, I play in my sleep”; if there were no such thing, though, he
would settle for continuing his career as a high school running back. “Emmitt
Smith stole my life, so I turned to music,” he says. Zamorano loves the fact
that there are “lots of great musicians to learn from” here, but hates the absence
of “outside help for musicians to get to the next level.”
Zydeco Dots Best Zydeco
17 years
www.zydecodots.com
The Z-Dots have “won the HPMA more than any other band,” though that streak
was broken last year by the Lady D. According to guitarist Tom Potter, here’s
what they love about the Houston scene: “It pays.” Here’s what they dislike:
“It doesn’t pay enough.” Still, don’t expect them to throw in the towel anytime
soon: “Our mamas would switch us if we didn’t play.” Potter resents the fact
that zydeco is somewhat ghettoized as music for crawfish boils and nothing more.
“We play at weddings, private parties, festivals, New Year’s Eve. You name it,
we’ve done it — not just crawfish boils.”
Verizon Wireless Theater 520 Texas, 713-230-1600
5 pm Caliente
6 pm Paris Green
7 pm Chingo Bling with special guest
8 pm Faceplant
9 pm The Hunger
ย
Caliente Best Salsa/Merengue/Latin Pop
Five Years
www.diazmusicinstitute.org
Last year’s winners in the Best Latin category, the youth orchestra Caliente
recently performed with — note, that’s not the same as “shared the stage with”
— Jon Faddis and Pete Escovedo at a local showcase, where they blazed through
a whopping 32 songs. “They’re only kids,” says Caliente executive director Susana
Robles, “but they can play!” Last year, the grande band played before
a crowd of more than 5,000 at Miller Outdoor Theatre, a venue that Robles says
has an ambience that’s “beyond compare.” The band’s artistic director, Jose
Antonio Diaz, who was featured on the cover of Band and Orchestra magazine,
has played with such legends as Eddie Palmieri and Wynton Marsalis and has an
open-door policy for Caliente. “There is NO audition process,” says Robles.
It is a desire and dedication to want to play or perform.”
Paris Green Best Alternative Rock
Seven years
www.parisgreen.com
Northside alt-rockers Paris Green take their name from a “poison/insecticide,”
but their “aggressive R&B” is the opposite of deadly. On the contrary, people
seem to thrive on it — as the Press‘s Bob Ruggiero put it, “their extremely
marketable and infectious blend of metal, punk, rap and scratching” has the
potential to “make them yet another in a line of bands ยsure to break’
out of Houston.” The band has a couple of CDs, but they’re best caught live,
where, says Ruggiero, singer Matt Patin shows his “patented onstage thrashing
vocal exorcisms that find his eyes rolling toward the back of his head while
the band builds a cacophonic sonic wall behind him.”
Chingo Bling Best New Act, Local Musician of the Year, Best Latin Rap
Been in the game for 25 years, but not old enough to drink
www.chingobling.com
UGK, Los Tigres del Norte, Punjabi MC, Ramon Ayala and Bill Gates are among
the diverse influences cited by this unique rapper, who adds, “Pinche Bill owes me $3.” “Walk Like Cleto,” the new video from the Tamale Kingpin,
debuted on Mun2 this month, thus bringing this Ghetto Vaquero one step closer
to his ultimate dream: “my own shoe endorsement.” Meanwhile, his record label
— Big Chile Enterprises — has gotten in the philanthropy game; it recently
awarded college scholarships to two Chavez High School grads. “Stay in school
and help outsmart la migra!” the rapper advises.
Faceplant Best Metal/Industrial, Song of the Year (‘Here I Am’)
Going on eight years
www.faceplantmusic.com
Charlie Carlisle, drummer for Faceplant, reports that his band would be lost
without music, but that perhaps an adequate replacement would be careers in
“porn?” Not that they should be stocking up on the tubes of Sta-Hard anytime
soon; the group says Song of the Year nominee “Here I Am” has moved more than
50,000 units. People “who care about their music,” fans and others “in the business
somehow that put up the effort to make the scene better” put a grin on Faceplant.
They report that “bands that bitch and complain while they sit on their lazy
asses and don’t do anything” make them scowl, as does the misconception that
the members of Faceplant “are rock stars.'”
The Hunger Best Keyboardist (Thomas Wilson)
13 years
www.thehungeronline.com
“Album No. 6” is almost in the can for this band, which owns a club by day:
the Scout Bar in Kemah. The industrial music pioneers — 311 and Deftones fans,
and a full-blown local institution — love the diversity of the Houston scene
but view with dismay the fact that “the bands don’t help each other.” “Support
the local music scene,” they urge. “When another band is successful, don’t hate,
appreciate! It helps us all when another local artist breaks out.”
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2004.
