Tonight: Celebrate the Houston Press Music Awards (Well, the Afterparty, Anyway)

As we mentioned a short while back, this year’s Houston Press Music Awards are upon us. While I’m sure there was some whining and griping, as always, especially about the new, more free-form, less rigid categories — no more bland “Best Singer,” “Best Guitarist,” “Best Metal,” etc., but instead now “Band for Drinking,” “Band for Dancing,” “Weird Act,” etc. — it looks like it’s gone pretty smoothly, overall.

And now, it’s time to celebrate. Tonight — Thursday, December 8th — the winners of the HPMAs will gather over at the 8th Wonder Brewery to hang out, party, and take home sweet trophies, and while peons like you & me can’t go see the actual ceremony, we can go to the afterparty, which will feature H-town icon {Slim Thug} “& Friends,” at the same location. The awards are at 7PM, and the free afterparty happens immediately afterwards, obviously.

Before that all happens, though, SCR wants to offer up hearty congrats to the folks who won this year; they’re all damn fine, deserving people who work their asses off, and if anybody says otherwise, they can get fucked. (In a friendly way, mind you, because we’re nice people, right?)

{The Suffers} brought home a bunch of wins, and appropriately so, with the band itself taking “Live Act,” frontwoman Kam Franklin taking “Singer” (out of a bunch of very talented singers, by the by; that one was a tough call), and conga player Jose “Chapy” Luna taking “Player” (which, yes, I keep reading the other way, but hell, that entertains me, too).

Then there’s personal faves {We Were Wolves}, who got the nod for “Heavy/Angry Band,” awesomely strange, alluring {Say Girl Say}, who won “Weird Act,” Latino ska legends {Los Skarnales}, who won “Stalwart,” cool indie-rock guys {Catch Fever}, who won “Band for Dancing,” mesmerizing electronicist -Us., who beat a whole field of talented folks for “Sexytime Music,” and {B L A C K I E}, who won “Mad Genius” because of course he freaking did.

That’s only a handful of the ones I know better myself; some on the list, like {Genesis Blu} and {Ashley Toman} (“Rapper” and “Newcomer,” respectively), I seriously need to check out, and soon.

Plus, I was psyched to see behind-the-scenes booking dude Bassman Pep get the nod for “Booking,” because he works so hard booking shows and festivals around this town that I’m not convinced he ever sleeps. And I wholeheartedly applaud Paige Balinski winning “Fan”; I never got to know her, but she sounds like an amazing person and somebody truly dedicated to the scene here in Houston.

Now, I’ve got the full list below, just because I’m an OCD weirdo, but you really should head over to the HP and read their write-ups of all of ’em. (Seriously, go do that. Right now. I’ll wait here.)

LIVE ACT: {The Suffers}

READER’S CHOICE AWARD: Blaze X Black

BAND FOR DRINKING: {Poor Dumb Bastards}

BAND FOR DANCING: {Catch Fever}

HEAVY/ANGRY BAND: {We Were Wolves}

SEXYTIME MUSIC: -Us.

WOKE ACT: Dirty & Nasty

WEIRD ACT: {Say Girl Say}

MORE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT…: Space Villains*

STALWART: {Los Skarnales}

NEWCOMER: {Ashley Toman}

MAD GENIUS: {B L A C K I E}

LYRICS: {Lyric Michelle}

SINGER: Kam Franklin

RAPPER: {Genesis Blu}

DJ: Gracie Chavez

PLAYER: Jose “Chapy” Luna

THEME NIGHT: A Fistful of Soul

FESTIVAL: Day for Night

VENUE SOUND: The Nightingale Room

BOOKING: Bassman Pep

ARTWORK: Miguel Flaco

FAN: Paige Balinski
 

Alright, y’all — go, party, celebrate, and then come back for next year’s HPMAs…