Rocket From The Crypt Band Feature

From The Pit. Laughed when I read the first line. I put in a lot of time at RFTC shows after this piece!


I’ve only seen Rocket From the Crypt live one time. I’ve TRIED to see them many other times, but they are always sold out. The time I saw them was 5 or 6 years ago on Halloween at some hotel in San Diego, with a few other bands. I remember not being too impressed with Rocket. I thought they were sloppy and too loud. Funny, that’s why I like them so much now. They’re sloppy and loud but they rock like Hell.
Rocket are Speedo, Atom, J.C. 2000, Petey X, N.D., and Apollo 9. The band first started playing together in 1989 after frontman Speedo’s original band Pitchfork broke up.

Rocket quickly became a staple of the San Diego alternative scene, typifying the San Diego garage punk sound, in addition to distinguishing it from the grunge of the Seattle scene. They built a sturdy fan base and helped to draw national attention to the San Diego music scene.

It was about three years ago when MTV, Rolling Stone, and Spin were touting San Diego as the "next Seattle". Record companies turned to San Diego for the new Nirvana. The result was a proliferation of bands and an exploding musical scene. Some of those bands are still around today, some disintegrated. Rocket survived it all. They’re still the biggest and baddest of the San Diego scene, hands down.

"Paint as a Fragrance", Rocket’s first full length album, was released on Headhunter/Cargo Records in 1991. The opening of the album features a trip up and down the radio dial, settling on a DJ droning "and here’s the new one from..." "Rocket From the Crypt!" screams Speedo and the album kicks into full swing. "French Guy", the first track, preaches "School aint shit/I read it in a book". Words to live by, of course. on "Basturds" Speedo intones "I say bad words cuz I’m a punk rocker!" Many Rocket fans hail "Paint" as the band’s best album to date.

The second Headhunter album, "Circa, Now!", really got the band some attention. The video for "Hippy Dippy Doo" got a lot of airplay on MTV’s 120 Minutes. It was without a doubt the strength of "Circa" that helped Rocket get signed to Interscope.
"Circa" has some great stuff on it. The opening number, "Short Lip Fuser", is typical Rocket fare. "Sturdy Wrists" whacks out more power chords, after the reverbed snare pop that brings on "Hippy...". The album ends with "Glazed", a locomotive ride that is Beatlesque in it’s "Everybody smoke pot" chant.

Next up was the noise infested pseudo compilation "All Systems Go". The sound on this one is a little less mainstream than the other albums. It still has that Rocket crunch though. It contains an Adam Ant cover, as well as an MC5 cover, among others. This is a pretty distortion leaden trip, not too much on the easy listening side for Grandma.

Rocket’s next full length and major label debut was "Scream Dracula Scream," on Interscope. This album has gained Rocket more critical appraise and another MTV video, this one for "Born in 69". The whole band even co-hosted 120 Minutes when the album came out. "Scream..." is a little more mainstream than usual for Rocket, but is still a strong album. The first three tracks are nearly worth the price of admission if you play them loud enough.

Just before "Scream..." Rocket put out a vinyl only album called "Hot Charity". This is, once again typical Rocket. It rocks, there’s no doubt about that. You should get it to keep your turntable on it’s toes. If you don’t have a turntable, buy one. That way it’s easier to keep up with the many Rocket From the Crypt 7"singles. You need to keep your collection up to date, if you can keep up with the Rocket that is!