Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Photos courtesy of Giant Battle Monster

Who? Giant Battle Monster, we're fairly certain, is the first Rocks Off 100 inductee to have recruited someone to deliver aborted chicken meat from under his dress live onstage. Delightfully weird, a little disturbing, GMB's aggressive math-rock veers from raunchy death-metal to trippy prog-rock to outre sci-fi sountrack stuff in the course of the group's most recent album, February's Giant Battle Monster Vs. the Subterranean Antler Man.

The four-piece Houston band is the brainchild of possible evil genius Chris Gerhardt, who founded GBM at age 19. "I prefer not to sit still, focus on a single thing or sleep, really," he says.

Gerhart has a music degree and has also trained as an electrical engineer, and says today he works with small radio transmitters ("and pretty soon I'm gonna quit"). With GBM, he's recorded two albums he didn't have to pay for and once covered 25 percent of the country on a 32-date tour with local instro-metal group Cavernous and the now-defunct Barkus, Sly and the Golden Egg.

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Photo by Mary Bruton Keating/ Courtesy of New West Records

Glen Clark (left) and Delbert McClinton

At 72, Delbert McClinton has been about everywhere and done about everything you can do: hung out with the Beatles; worked as a sideman for Bruce Channel where he played harmonica on a national hit, "Hey, Baby;" wrote a No. 1 hit for Emmylou Harris, "Two More Bottles of Wine"; dropped four albums that made it to No. 1 on the blues charts; had hits in both country, pop, and blues charts; and operates the highly successful annual Sandy Beaches blues cruises.

But when you get him on the phone, he's still that Lubbock-raised, Fort Worth-seasoned good old boy he's always been. Here's more of our conversation with him about his career and (drum roll) Houston women.

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Photo by Austin Miller

Godsmack's Sully Erna

It's 2:45 in the morning and you're stumbling to the bar. You've had a few to drink, and you just got your face rocked off by your favorite rock band in the universe. It's time to have one for the road and then get on home (responsibly, in a cab or on a bus, of course).

You look up to order and think, "What do I even want? There's too much to choose from." Suddenly, Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack, walks up to you. He says, "friend, never feel like you have to stand alone again. Here, try my tequila."

This is a fictional story, but it could happen to you this Friday night. From 6 to 8 p.m., Sully Erna, who also happens to be the President and CEO of the 8:15 Pura Vida Shot Club, will be appearing at the downtown location of Spec's (2410 Smith) to sign bottles of Pura Vida Tequila, a tequila that truly stands alone in taste.

In the spirit (ugh) of the occasion, here's five musicians who have dipped their toes (hopefully not literally) into the business of alcoholic drinks.

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Maybe the band should have expected strange things to happen when they headed out on tour with Hollywood Undead. Considering their own name, American Fangs, this couldn't have come as a complete shock. Because it sounds more like something that would happen in an episode of HBO's True Blood.

Last week the Houston alt-rockers were winding their way through the upper Midwest with masked L.A. men Hollywood Undead when several members of their five-piece band were involved in an altercation with a fan outside the La Crosse Center in western Wisconsin. According to the La Crosse Tribune, a 23-year-old man assaulted a guitarist for Hollywood Undead after throwing a barricade through the window of that band's tour bus. Fangs guitarist Nik Slimp was roughed up in the ensuing scuffle, and wound up chipping a tooth.

Oh, and one more thing. The alleged assailant, one Scott Mehtala, reportedly told police he was a vampire and asked to see one sympathetic-looking officer's tattoo. Perhaps more pertinently, Mehtala told police he was high on heroin and had a blood-alcohol content of .12, the Tribune said.

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Graphic by Monica Fuentes

Rocks Off is not going to make this long, because we don't have much to say. But it's important.

If you haven't filled in your choices for this year's Houston Press Music Awards, you don't have much time. The nominations are still open at our handy little HPMA poll page, but it closes at midnight. So if you go there at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, as in tomorrow, you'll be too late. Remember one nomination ballot per person, please.

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Splash's cast, season one

As often as I've been complemented on my taste in music, I've been ridiculed for the horrible television programs I sometimes watch. Case in point: my DVR's arteries were recently clogged with episodes of the ABC celebrity competition, Splash.

For those who may have missed it, Splash was a taped and televised diving contest between B-listers like Nickelodeon child star Drake Bell and Baywatch actress Nicole Eggert. In all, ten people were invited to dive weekly (11 counting Brandi Chastain, the U.S. Women's Soccer player who replaced Chelsea Lately's Chuy Bravo after he was injured before the competition ever started).

Two diving experts scored their efforts, which ranged from "not bad" to "ohmygod, did he or she survive that?" True to the format of these shows, every week one person would be eliminated until a champion was crowned. The season ended with extreme sports-personality Rory Bushfield winning the title.

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Photos courtesy of New West Records

It's noon, and 72-year-old Delbert McClinton sounds like he's just woken up and maybe had the first cigarette of the day. But he's a pro and is ready to talk about his career, his forthcoming New West Records album with old running buddy Glen Clark, Blind, Crippled & Crazy, and his experiences in Houston.

Rocks Off: You've been at this a long time now. Has there ever been a moment when you thought you'd just hang it up, try something else?

Delbert McClinton: Nah, not even once. I was lucky enough to get a little taste of success early on, and I just kept showing up. It's a cliché, but I really wouldn't trade what I do for anything.

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Photo by Nathan Smith

Converge

I don't know about most people, but my favorite thing about seeing a band live is the energy. I just can't get enough of the frenetic intensity that pervades shows and runs back and forth between the manic audience and the performer, even if the actual playing is off because of it.

When a performer is bored or listless, even if they get all the notes right, it kills me. I guess that's why I like seeing punk rock bands more than folk artists.

Sometimes it can be hard to find that ultimate bit of pure magic, though. There's plenty of bands that bring the right vibe to the table, but it's a lot harder to find the kind of band I like the most: a group that are like cracked out acrobats playing heavy, fast music. I have, fortunately, found a few that I follow devotedly every time they play in Texas, and here are five who do that best.

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Art by Marissa Paternoster

When they hit the stage and do what they do, it's easy to forget that our musical heroes are basically just talented, driven and very lucky human beings. They're flesh, blood, bone and the right type of grey matter, all formed into a singular unit designed to delight us all with their extraordinary gifts.

Because they're sculpted from basically the same Play-Doh as you and me, they too are prone to illness. Like chronic disease sufferers everywhere, these people beat back their ailments daily to continue pursuing their passions.

It's not a new phenomenon. Since Beethoven began noticing his own hearing loss (and even before that), musicians have set aside their own maladies to continue entertaining us. The list is long and includes superstars like Elvis Presley (back pain/migraines), Pete Townshend (tinnitus) and Patti LaBelle (type 2 diabetes).

Following are ten artists who are presently active and actively battling chronic diseases. Some are just beginning their careers and must endure symptoms as they tour and try to win new fans. Others are better known and are using their celebrity to bring attention and advocacy to their illnesses.

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All kinds of things are happening this weekend when the annual Comicpalooza convention rolls around, but one thing you may not know is that you can see some truly exceptional concerts there as well.

As part of our coverage leading up to the fun, here are some of the bands you will want to mark down to see appear.

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