The Houston Press Music Awards – In Review

Now that the dust has seemingly settled off the month long serenade of the Houston Press Music Awards, which began innocently enough by emails and social media requests from every band in Houston to nominate them for the HPMA’s, followed by another rapid email blitz from bands to vote for them to win, culminating in a massive, mostly local, music festival along Washington and an awards ceremony last night at Warehouse Live, we would be remiss if we didn’t throw in our two cents.

To cut through all the bull, in my humble estimation, the Houston Press Music Awards, from start to finish was a massive success. The level of involvement that it garnered, the attention that it spotlighted to our local music scene, the debates and discussions it endeared, and the fact that it gave you two occasions to get out, get wasted and hear some great music (being the Awards Showcase and the Awards Ceremony), cemented the fact that Austin is going to have a major competitor on its hands in the way people look at Texas for music.

Houston Press Music Awards 2010

I was at the Awards Showcase, darting along Washington to catch performances from Fat Tony, Downfall 2012, The Manichean, Matt and Kim, A dream Asleep and more. And though I wasn’t at the Awards Ceremony because I was trapped in Denver, I watched from Twitter thanks to the manic graces of the Houston Press Rocks Off Twitter team. You can check out the full list of winners here. This was the first time in years for me that the Houston Press Awards seem to take on a greater importance in regards to giving our music scene a weigh of legitimacy. Now perhaps that’s just because my band Lotus Effect took home Best Rock, thank you for that by the way, but I feel that in the conjunction with Freepress Summerfest, Ghoulfest around the corner and the other great festivals we’ve had and are going to have, people are looking at Houston with a renewed sense that we have a lot of legitimate talent here, and it feels now that people are more likely to go out and see a show rather than stay at home and play beer pong. I can only hope that we continue to grow into the massive musical behemoth that we have every right to be until places like Austin, LA, and Nashville are musical afterthoughts compared to us.

Now that’s not to say that there were not bumps along the way. Some people complained about having the showcase spread so far out along Washington. There were a few gripes that wasn’t enough variety of bands from the showcase, ceremony, to the after party, but that doesn’t take away from what was accomplished. And it will long be debated about the process used for the nominations and awards. Should it be a pure vote system or should a judging system be utilized? There are pros and cons to both, but I do feel that in it’s current incarnation, the Houston Press Music Awards gets a lot of participation which is ultimately good for our scene. If you want music awards that are based more on judging maybe somebody should start one – and idea for us here at Space City Rock, perhaps?

That’s it for now. Our stalwart captain Jeremy Hart is still away on vacation. I wish him a swift return. We just aren’t the same without him.