This Friday, House of Blues hosts the first (and perhaps only) Texas High School Rock Off, co-sponsored by Fuse, Sonicbids and Rocks Off our own damn selves. See here for information on tickets, which start at the allowance-friendly price of $8. The winner receives $500, a trophy and an opening slot for a national artist at HOB. We’re going to save the critiquing until Friday, but today, Wednesday and Thursday, Rocks Off will help you get better acquainted with our seven contestants.
Band: Useful Information
Hometown: Houston
MySpace URL: www.myspace.com/usefulinformation
MySpace Headline: “hotties with no talent”
Listed Genre: Spanish Pop/Reggaeton
Actual Sound: Rainer Maria minus mixed-gender vocals; late-’90s/early-’00s emo in general
Other Information: Claim to have recorded three-song demo of “You Should’ve Just Left,” “Where Are You” and “What Do You Want Anyways” in one day. And that they sound like “love.”
Band: The Paperwaits
Hometown: Houston (Heights)
MySpace URL: www.myspace.com/thepaperwaits
Facebook URL: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Paperwaits/171484096234
MySpace Headline: “We need money to pay noise complaint tickets”
Listed Genre: none on MySpace, but list Pavement, Built to Spill, Bruce Springsteen, the Kinks and Deer Tick among their influences. Call themselves “Indie/Folk-Rock/Americana” on Facebook.
Actual Sound: That pretty much sums it up.
Other Information: Bassist has a surly neighbor who “enjoys calling the cops on us,” perhaps explaining that MySpace headline. Also say they’re “a chick band, so if you’re a dude you should come to our shows because there will be women there.”
This article appears in Dec 31, 2009 – Jan 6, 2010.
