The legendary Rocket From The Tombs, born in 1974, flamed out in 1975, have finally recorded a studio album, delivering Barfly (Fire Records), and closing the circle on an incredible journey.
The received wisdom (on the other side of the pond at least) goes that punk rock was invented in New York by the Ramones, who reconfigured Midwestern hard groove rock and 60s garage singles, into a formula that defined punk: short, fast, catchy, and unstoppable. But in some weird parallel universe, punk might have traced its roots to Rocket From The Tombs, a Cleveland band that lasted less than eight months, and never made a studio recording; until now.
Three things went wrong for Rocket From The Tombs: a level of drug and alcohol abuse to worry even Keith Richard; a band volatility that rivaled that of The Troggs; and a turnover of drummers that would’ve flummoxed Spinal Tap.
One thing went right: in those eight months they wrote songs that would become punk anthems: Ain’t It Fun, Sonic Reducer, Final Solution, So Cold, What Love Is, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Amphetamine. And they played them like there was no tomorrow. There was no tomorrow. They’d used up tomorrow. The band blew apart in July 1975, after an apocalyptic soundcheck that scared the bejeebers out of headliners Television. One faction went on to create the avant-garage rock group Pere Ubu, the other, punk stalwarts The Dead Boys.
An album of live and rehearsal tapes, The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs (2002), led to a nervous reunion in 2003. The core of the band – David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome and Craig Bell – remained from the old days. They were joined by Television’s Richard Lloyd, who replaced Peter Laughner (died 1977). Pere Ubu’s drummer Steve Mehlman was drafted.
The fire still burned. For good and bad. Two tours produced extreme, brutal concerts, but also plenty of late night dust-ups in the parking lots of cheap roadside motels.
Taking that attitude in to the studio produced Barfly, an unreconstructed, unapologetic, re-affirmation of the power and glory of guitar rock: guitar solos traded between two masters of the craft, an inventive rhythm section devoted to Midwestern groove mania, and a singer who learned all there is to learn from channeling Rob Tyner and Don Van Vliet. “I will amblify you,” Thomas growls in the middle of the album’s fierce opening track I Sell Soul. And whatever that might mean… he means it.
These men are ugly, old, and have not mellowed in any conceivable way. They’ve devoted their lives to raging against the boundaries, and they have been willing to pay the price. Barfly dismisses the last 37 years as a waste of time. Cuts it away without a second thought. That, in itself, makes it worth the wait.
Buy the album from Amazon here.
Download Rocket From The Tombs – I Sell Soul mp3 (from Barfly)
Download Rocket From The Tombs – Birth Day mp3 (from Barfly)
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