2006 Houston Press Music Awards Supplement

8 p.m.

Name: The Mighty Orq

Nominated in: Best Blues/Zydeco; Best Roots Rock/Rockabilly

Web site: www.myspace.com/themightyorq

Personnel: The Mighty Orq (vocals, guitars), Matt Johnson (drums), Westside Johnny (keyboards, vocals)

After cutting his teeth in Tony Vega's bluesy rock band, Orq has continued to evolve into a melodic, blues-steeped Southern rocker in the Arc Angels mode, or, as they put it, "brilliantly combining elements of Gulf Coast blues, R&B, rock and pop with gospel undertones that are as unique as they are powerful." This is shaping up to be the Year of the Orq -- he's got an upcoming album that is said to be a career-definer, and he's got steady gigs both here and in Austin lined up through the end of the year.

9 p.m.

Name: Fatal Flying Guilloteens

Nominated in: Best Punk

Web site: www.fatalflyingguilloteens.com

Personnel: Roy Guilloteen (rumble, boom), Shawn Guilloteen (yelps, buzz), John Guilloteen (scrapes, explosions), Brian Guilloteen (twang, roar), Mike Guilloteen (howls, crashes)

Controlled chaos is a bit of a clichéd concept but it definitely applies to the Guilloteens. Always seemingly on the brink of a great unraveling, the band is nevertheless tightly wound around guitarist (and former Press Nightfly correspondent) Brian McManus's taut guitar riffs and the thundering rhythm section of Roy Mata and one of the band's two alternating drummers. Another Houston act on a national label (in this case, Frenchkiss Records), the Guilloteens put on shows that are even more ferocious than their recordings. Expect costumes and perhaps even honest-to-God mayhem. Arrests are not unheard of.

GRASSHOPPER

4 p.m.

Name: Plump

Nominated in: Best Funk

Web site: www.plumpsounds.com

Personnel: Doug Payne (drums), Al Bear (guitar), Jason Jackson (saxophone), Josh Matranga (bass), James Yarbrough (vocals, percussion)

This Heights-based band has already produced two studio albums of their "foot-stomping, knee-slapping, head-bobbing, finger-lickin', slap-your-mama-in-the-face funk." That finger-lickin' part might be a little off-base, but then again, this is a band that says what they want most in life is to be Super Bowl MVP. Somebody might want to explain to them that the Super Bowl MVP is one guy who can play football really, really well, and Plump is a bunch of guys who play funk. Admittedly, they play funk really, really well, but that won't help them any when a 300-pound linebacker with no neck and a serious case of 'roid rage is charging at them.

5 p.m.

Name: Kemo for Emo

Nominated in: Best Punk

Web site: www.myspace.com/kemoforemo

Personnel: Larry Sanders (vocals, guitar), Brian Gibbs (bass guitar, backing vocals), Jake (lead guitar), Mix Master Matt Martinez (drums)

Larry Sanders and Brian Gibbs stared Kemo for Emo in 2003. The pair worked on their "catchy, rhythmic and energetic tunes" for a year by playing local venues like Fitzgerald's and Numbers. The next year, they added drummer Matthew Martinez. The new mix of members led to a refined repertoire and a tour of the southern United States. In 2005, they went into the studios and recorded their debut CD, I'd Rather Have a Broken Neck, releasing it in July that year. They signed a deal with indie label Montrose Records and are putting out a new CD this summer.

6 p.m.

Name: Gritboys

Nominated in: Best Underground Rap/Hip-Hop

Web site: www.myspace.com/gritboys

Personnel: Pretty Todd, Poppy, Scooby, Unique

The G is for ghetto, the R is for reality, the I is for in, and the T is for Texas, just like Jimmie Rodgers said way back when. Southside natives who met at Worthing High, Pretty Todd, Poppy, Scooby and Unique craft tales that aren't quite gangsta but sure ain't soft. While they say that they're "not on some radio shit," they definitely "have the ability to come up with catchy hooks." "We represent the dudes that be at the house," Scooby explains, "that's scrapin' up some change to get a cigar. Going in the penny jar to get a cigar. People that gotta wake up and cut the yard."

7 p.m.

Name: Free Radicals

Nominated in: Best Jazz

Web site: www.freerads.com

Personnel: Theo Bijarro, Pete Sullivan, Jason Jackson, Nick Cooper, Chris

Howard, Steve Balthaswer and others

It's unclear if the Free Radicals' music can actually "stop the war, stop the wall [and] stop the WTO," but they're trying. Their "funk, jazz, ska, reggae, dub" music has a definite Afro-Cuban base. And even if so far ska hasn't done much about the wall along the U.S./Mexico border that political conservatives are promoting, the Free Radicals are giving it a shot. Band member Jason Jackson played "The Star Spangled Banner" for 30 minutes during a recent immigration march. That's as close as the group has come to their dream gig of playing "on a float alongside people pouring into the streets in protest." Coltrane, Mingus and Dizzy, the main influences on the Free Radicals, each of them pretty radical themselves, would be proud.

8 p.m.

Name: Satin Hooks

Nominated in: Best Experimental

Web site: www.myspace.com/satinhooks

Personnel: Kerry Melonson (vocals, guitar, electronics, keys, turntable), Lucas Gorham (bass, vocals, percussion, drum machines, electronics), David Gomez (drums, percussion)