You know one thing that is great about Houston right now is the explosion of local labels; AG82, Artstorm, Cutthroat, Ditchwater, Esotype, Mia Kat, Phonographic Arts, Psycho Wolf, Team Science and so on. It’s part of the local indie boom that’s been happening for the last few year. Well, while waiting for Shane Lauder to arrive and do sound at Rudz, I spoke with Jaime of Giant Princess and he mentioned in passing that he and some others were starting a label. I, of course, had to prod him about it – the more, the merrier I say. So here ... Read More »

This Week’s spotlight is onHardcore Birthday Party – One Dolla‘ Joey of El Desmadre and Eric of Humanicide‘s birthday!Featuring PLF, Dissent, El Desmadre, Battle Rifle, Last Rosary@ The White SwanOne Dollar? How often do you to have your ass whooped for a dollar? Well here is your chance as some of Houston’s most bone-crushing, heavy, and furious bands come together for…well a birthday party. Yeah yeah I know a birthday party doesn’t sound very brain meltingly Hardcore but trust me, if these bands had an inflated Hello Kitty trampoline and my little pony balloons, it would still crush anything else ... Read More »

Yeah, as you can tell by the picture above, I wasn’t feeln’ too well Saturday. Likely I was ill from running around all day and not eating properly. I’d actually planned on running down to the White Swan early and catching some of the metal showcase but thought better of it given my state. Nevertheless, I did run by Rudz to catch a last minute show. You know those shows where for some inexplicable reason there is an open date on a bar and a few bands jump on the opportunity to play outside the rehearsal space. They’re always dodgy ... Read More »

[Warning this is being put together during our next issue's deadline so this is pretty bare bones. My apologies if I miss anything or if my descriptions are brief.] This Week’s spotlight is on Thanksgiving InsanityWednesday, November 26Born Liars, Guitars, Lazy Horse@ Rudyard’sOK what are we thankful for? Well if it’s broken bottles and girl fights then the Born Liars’ pre-Thanksgiving show at Rudz last year’s must have made you think that maybe there is a God and God orders whiskey straight. I’d be lying if I were to say I wasn’t hoping that this year proves just as insane, ... Read More »

by April 5k Festival promoter Liz Molina returns to Houston with a scaled back version of last year’s successful Noise & Smoke festival, this time around joining forces with local magic makers Rosa Guerrero and Anna Garza. Paring down to one evening at two adjoining spaces the efficiency of pure face-rockage has been brought to levels unseen in the slowly-awakening giant that is Houston’s music scene. not pictured Liz Molina, pictured Chris Ryan So, to start things off, let’s meet our DJ’s. On deck at Dean’s we’ve got local standby CeePlus and self-proclaimed catlover PRKL8R spinning dance jams. Over at ... Read More »

Contrary to what some people think, the punk revolution wasn’t just in London, New York, and LA but it was something that spread everywhere at the time, including Houston. One of those bands, The Mydolls (Dianna Ray, Trish Herrera, Linda Younger, and George Reyes), are reuniting to perform at Noise and Smoke this Saturday at Notsuoh and, lucky us, we got Dianna, Trish, and Linda to play five questions with us. They were all super nice but we must admit that we were starting to worry about them, a Houston band, being the first band to fail the ZZ Top ... Read More »

This Week’s Spotlight is on…Noise and Smoke II! Saturday, November 15Noise and Smoke Festival 2025, featuringTeenage Kicks, B L A C K I E, Cop Warmth, The Takes, Patsy, Vincent Trails, El Desmadre, Mydolls, Balaclavas, Homopolice, & The Born Liars@ Notsuoh/Dean’s Credit ClothingWow this is hand down this week’s big show. A while back Noise and Smoke #1 was just incredible and a hella lot of fun. The thing was that two nights left everyone pretty beat so this time around the folks putting this together put it all in one night by booking it at Dean’s and Notsuoh. Hey ... Read More »

If you were on the fence on seeing Noise and Smoke Saturday, I suggest you get off it right now as Notsuoh posted a blog on their myspace today where they announced they will be selling the building. It may not be touted by the city tourist bureau, but to many of us Notsuoh is/was/has been a vital part of this city’s culture and this city will lose a great deal with the loss. Our best to Jim Pertle and his family who have done such a great service to this city over the years by running this downtown cultural ... Read More »

Could you imagine the Jimi Hendrix Experience without Mitch Mitchell? I sure as hell can’t. His distinctive flourishes and his playful style were the perfect compliment to Jimi Hendrix’s unparalleled guitar work. Sadly, Mitch passed away this week. I know that’s not new news and I’m certain that his contributions are covered in better and in great detail elsewhere but for this morning I say let’s just enjoy Jimi, Mitch, and Noel on the Lulu show. (I’ve always dug the Lulu performance because of the sloppy jump into Sunshine of Your Love. It may not be the band’s most professional ... Read More »

By Omar Afra Photo by S. Theriot B L A C K I E has taken to the local music scene with a vengeance in recent months. His self-release of Wilderness of North America has been getting quite a bit of attention, and for good reason. We had the chance to ask him a few questions and his responses were as enigmatic as his music and character. He, thus far, is the only person I have interviewed that has responded in ‘flow’. (See #5) Ultimately, copy-editing the responses was doomed to be an exercise in futility. So, here is the ... Read More »