It's arguable that early music television was built on California heavy rock and Los Angeles attitude: MTV veejays were looking for something showy and dramatic for their new channel, and bands from the Strip were happy to cooperate. Just like those legendary groups, Poets & Pornstars have a look and stage show that simply begs to be preserved on film. The clip for "Rock And Roll" captures the band in their element: onstage at the Roxy, in front of an adoring - and often ecstatic - audience. The stage is flooded with hot colored light, and the members of the L.A. quintet know how to catch the illumination with the headstocks of their six-strings. They charge to the brink of the performance area, stalk the floorboards, shake their formidable manes of hair, and command the microphones with the confidence of those who were born to kick out the jams.

The Point One sound has been honed by countless live performances on stages large and small throughout the nation. The quartet has toured the country with Sevendust and Diecast, and set heads banging from coast to coast. They've rocked festivals in Seattle with Godsmack, Buckcherry, Candlebox, BlackLight Burns, and others. Washington State radio listeners are well-familiar with their songs: Point One's singles have aired on mainstream and active rock stations. But although their chops are impeccable, the respect of their peers is secured, and their stage show is second to none, the band wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting as they are if it weren't for the omnivorous tastes of the members.

Few heavy bands cite Metallica and Radiohead as equal influences, and fewer still can integrate pop melodies and rhythms into their sound without sacrificing any wattage. Unlucky Stars is a testament to Point One's flexibility as well as its fury. Catchy riffs come first, of course - but as long as the thunder is in place, these musicians are more than willing to experiment. Several songs on Unlucky Stars incorporate elements from progressive metal and even melodic ballads; others, like singles "Oxygen" and "Monochrome Mistress", are straight-ahead take-no-prisoners hard rock, reminiscent of G'n'R and classic Crue.

That's not to suggest - even for a second - that they aren't cleverly-assembled. "Monochrome Mistress" charges ahead, powered by a catchy, grinding bass and drum groove - but it ebbs and flows, too, building from a deceptively-placid bridge to a thunderous climax. Charismatic frontman Len Hotrum howls about a dangerous woman who's made a noose of his heartstrings; but he's not complaining, hell, he loves her for it. Behind him, the responsive rhythm section of Darren Howard and Chase Culp ratchets up the intensity, and the singer punctuates the verses with screams. By the time Keith Wright contributes his scalding six-string solo, the mix is already at a boil.

A very rockin' band from Austin, Texas! In their own words: The Incredible Adam Tyner on the drums Ladies and Gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dig the Guitar Crimes! Mr. Randy Plants Thomas!!!!!! Ladies and Gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Bass Guitar.... Lookout Ladies! ...It's Loaded.... It's time to eat Crow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ladies and gentlemen, let the stadium know, it's time for the show, we bring you the FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO WANTS TO F$%# THE BAND!!!! C'MON!!!!!!

A very rockin' band from Austin, Texas! In their own words: The Incredible Adam Tyner on the drums Ladies and Gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dig the Guitar Crimes! Mr. Randy Plants Thomas!!!!!! Ladies and Gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Bass Guitar.... Lookout Ladies! ...It's Loaded.... It's time to eat Crow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ladies and gentlemen, let the stadium know, it's time for the show, we bring you the FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO WANTS TO F$%# THE BAND!!!! C'MON!!!!!!

We are here with a raucous new clip from one of the sturdiest names in hard rock: the irrepressible Sebastian Bach. The heavy metal renaissance-man has returned to the fray with Angel Down, his toughest, proudest, most uncompromising, and most infectious set of songs yet. And considering Sebastian Bach's track record, that's saying plenty. Real fans of heavy music will recall that although Skid Row shared bills and MTV airtime with the "hair metal" bands of the Eighties and early Nineties, they never fit into that category. When the rest of Bach's peers were going unplugged, he was leading his band through stompers like "Monkey Business", "Youth Gone Wild", and the unforgettable "18 And Life". Even "I Will Remember You", the quintessential power ballad, rocked harder than most bands' heaviest cuts. When Slave To The Grind became the first heavy metal album to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts, it was a victory not for the lite-metal movement, but for true headbangers. Skid Row's thunder reached a towering crescendo on Subhuman Race, one of the most vicious and uncompromising records cut in the Nineties. Throughout, Bach and the group backed up the records with a live show unrivaled in mainstream metal for its intensity and raw energy.

It's no exaggeration to call the Massachusetts metail quintet: Shadows Fall one of the most important and best loved acts in modern metal: one impressive enough that fans and journalists outside of the tight circle of metal culture can't help but notice and be impressed.

If you were there, you know it's true: SXSW '08 was bigger and better than the festival has ever been. And if you were in Austin this year, chances are, you've heard the name Sink to See. The Los Angeles quartet emerged from South by Southwest with the sort of buzz that any publicist would kill to manufacture for their clients. Their shows in Austin were a celebration: head-turning performances that felt like affirmations of the power of rock and roll. But although the members of Sink to See are young still carving out their place on the American musical landscape, theirs is no overnight success-story: they've been honing their sound for years, touring steadily, and opening shows for some of the biggest bands in the indie rock underground. They've shared bills with The Breeders, ImaRobot, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and other like-minded rockers, and have developed a stage set that is at once explosive, meditative, and inspiring.

The band's self-titled debut puts all of those qualities on bold display. The independently-released Sink to See, a collection of sharply-performed and bracing rock songs, has been compared by critics to Radiohead, The Killers, and Sugarcult. Frontman Jason Napier's voice roars out of the speakers like a thunderstorm; Donie West's guitar scalds, snarls and stings; drummer Tariq Mills and bassist Shawn Bathe are rock-solid, energetic, and poised. The licensing execs at MTV are already notable appreciators of the band's cinematic sound: they've placed songs from Sink to See in episodes of Newport Harbor and The Hills. Sink to See have become favorites of adventurous Cali radio deejays, too, winning heavy airtime on L.A.'s influential KROQ. And they've accomplished all of this on their own - they're true indies, handling everything from production to booking to merchandise on their own.

"Speakers", the lead single, is a statement of faith in the transcendent power of sound. "You feel the speakers pumping", sings Napier - and right on cue, a synthesizer riff rises, snake-like, from the mix to join the fuzzed-out guitar and pounding drums. The song promises an escape into the lush soundscape; its empathetic video does, too. Directed by Tanya "Lynx" Brown - another up-and-coming Los Angeles artist - the "Speakers" clip wraps a narrative of rock and roll initiation around footage of Sink To See in performance. The video opens with an establishing shot of a typical suburban house. Sounds of a domestic squabble are heard from inside; a mother is telling her grown son to get out of her home and to take his rock and roll records with him. But there's another son living here, too - a kid, maybe seven or eight years old. On his way out the door, the elder brother grabs a forbidden record, brings it to his younger sibling, and whispers "this will change your life". As soon as the mother has left the room, the little boy takes the record from its cache, slips it onto a turntable, and dons headphones. His eyes widen, the room turns from black and white to full color, and the picture of Sink to See hanging on the wall comes to vivid life, and begins to play. .