DumpJack Wrote:
I don't remember anyone talking about these bands, or Rocket from the Tombs, around here. Any fans? I've only heard a few clips and have liked what I've heard. I think I'd like to check out some more. Any suggestions?
Rocket From The Tombs were one of those bands that were hugely important to a scene (Cleveland, in this case) but didn't get anything recorded to preserve their moment. The only original artifact (to my knowledge) is a live album that was recorded in a barn (and sounds like it).
RFTT's best-known members were Peter Laughner, Cheetah Chrome, and David Thomas. When the band broke up, Chrome joined Stiv Bators to form Frankenstein and Thomas formed Pere Ubu. Laughner tried to join Television, got turned down, then recorded a handful of barely-produced demos (that you can hear on
Take The Guitar Player For A Ride), and then tragically died.
Pere Ubu came out of the gate with a classic
The Modern Dance, which featured a few RFTT holdovers (most notably "30 Seconds Over Tokyo"). Right from the start, however, Pere Ubu weren't very interested in conventional song structures.
Modern Dance is probably the best place to start, and the second album
Dub Housing is pretty awesome - but it's got very little to do with what one would normally call rock music, or even punk. Their later stuff stayed fairly firmly in the strange as well.
In the meantime, Frankenstein noticed the up and coming punk explosion, cut their hair, and moved to NYC just in time for the Sire Records signing frenzy. They rechristened themselves the more punk-approved Dead Boys - and their first album
Young, Loud, & Snotty was produced by hardass rock chick Genya Ravan (whose '78 album
Urban Desire is worth searching for). There's a more raw version of the debut floating around called
Younger, Louder, & Snottier. The 2nd, more polished album was
We Have Come For Your Children. It's worth noting that the two best Dead Boys songs are easily "Sonic Reducer" and "Ain't It Fun", and both songs were RFTT leftovers. Personally, I've always found the Dead Boys to be pretty substandard punk, but if you like 'em there's a live album called
Night of the Living Dead Boys that the faithful swear by.
And last year (or the year before), the surviving members of RFTT reconvened for
Rocket Redux, on which they brought Television's Richard Lloyd along and finally recorded all the old RFTT tracks. It's surprisingly good, considering that 30 years had elapsed since the songs were written. And it sounds a lot like a throwback to the '70s, with every song featuring a guitar solo (or two).
I think that's all I can tell you. I'm probably not the best person for the task, though - seeing as I'm not much of a Dead Boys fan.