Rocket from the Tombs

Infobox musical artist
Name = Rocket From the Tombs
Img_capt = Clockwise from upper left: Cheetah Chrome, Peter Laughner, Johnny Blitz, Craig Bell, Crocus Behemoth
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Background = group_or_band
Birth_name =
Alias = RFTT
Born =
Died =
Origin = Cleveland, OH, USA
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Occupation =
Years_active = 1974–1975
2003–present
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Associated_acts = Dead Boys
Pere Ubu
URL =
Current_members = Crocus Behemoth
Peter Laughner
Craig Bell
Cheetah Chrome
John Madansky
Past_members = Chris Cuda, Pete Laughner, and Glen "Thunderhand' Hach sharing guitar duties, Charlie Weiner on bass and other implements,and Tom Foolery (né Clements) on drums.
Notable_instruments =

Rocket From the Tombs (or RFTT) was an American rock music band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Heralded as an important protopunk group, they were little known during their lifetime, though various members later achieved renown in Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. Billy Bob Hargus wrote, however, that "The sound of the Rockets is much more ferocious than Ubu or the Dead Boys." [http://www.furious.com/perfect/rockets.html]

Band history

In 1974 the original line-up included Chris Cuda, along with Pete Laughner, and Glen "Thunderhand' Hach sharing guitar duties, Charlie Weiner on bass and other implements,and Tom Foolery (né Clements) on drums. There was some fluctuation of the group's personnel, but the classic lineup was David Thomas (then known as "Crocus Behemoth" - vocals, sax), Peter Laughner (guitar, vocals), Craig Bell (bass, vocals), Gene O'Connor (a.k.a. Cheetah Chrome, guitar, vocals), and Johnny Madansky (presently known as "Johnny Blitz," drums).

When RFTT disbanded, the personnel formed two different musical groups:
*O'Connor and Madansky joined with singer Stiv Bators (who made a guest appearance on-stage at the last RFTT show) to form Frankenstein, which later morphed into the Dead Boys, a more straightforward punk rock group.
*Laughner and Thomas went on to form the more experimental Pere Ubu with bassist Tim Wright (RFTT's soundman).

Both groups used songs first written or performed by Rocket From The Tombs as parts of their repertoires: the Dead Boys were known for "Ain't It Fun," "What Love Is," "Down in Flames," "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth" ("I'm Never Gonna Kill Myself Again" as done by RFTT) and "Sonic Reducer"; Pere Ubu went on to reinterpret "Final Solution," "Life Stinks" and "30 Seconds Over Tokyo".

Rocket From The Tombs never recorded an album in their lifetime, but various live recordings and demos circulated occasionally as bootlegs. Most of these were collected on a single CD by Smog Veil records, and titled "The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from the Tombs" (2002).

Reunion

The Smog Veil CD rekindled interest in Rocket From The Tombs, and they reformed in 2003 with original members Thomas, Chrome, and Bell, joined by Richard Lloyd (guitar), and Steve Mehlman (drums). Decades earlier, when Lloyd briefly quit the New York-based band Television, Laughner was seriously considered as his replacement.

On June 10, 2003 they played their first-ever live radio concert on Brian Turner's program on WFMU [http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/7843] . In (2004), Smog Veil and Morphius released "Rocket Redux", consisting of Rocket From The Tombs originals performed in studio by the 2003 lineup. It received mostly positive reviews; Joe Tangari declares that "Redux" "never sounds like a complacent reunion record, and in a way, I suppose it's not really a reunion record in the first place so much as it's a debut album, played with all the hunger and fire of a band eager to make their mark on the world." [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21381/Rocket_from_the_Tombs_Rocket_Redux]

In 2006, Thomas announced that the band had again reunited, this time to work on a new material. The band toured the US in the summer of 2006.

External links

* [http://www.furious.com/perfect/rockets.html Ain't It Fun: Rocket From The Tombs, by Billy Bob Hargus]
* [http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=5050 Review of "The Day the Earth Met the... Rocket From the Tombs/Rocket Redux"] , "Crawdaddy!", January 16, 2008.

References

*Clinton Heylin, "From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World" (1993), Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-017970-4