Rocket From The Tombs, legendary members of Cleveland’s proto-punk scene, have announced a new album, Black Record, just the second official studio recording in their career. Originally active between 1974 and 1975, the band did not released any recorded music during such tenure, finally compiling their long-bootlegged material to re-record it in 2004, after a 30-year-long hiatus. The result of that reunion was Rocket Redux, which was followed by the band’s first album with new material, 2011’s Barfly. Their forthcoming album stands in the middle of both efforts, combining eight new songs with reworkings of old tracks, as well as a cover of seminal garage-rock deviants The Sonics. The same applies to the band’s lineup, mixing founding members Crocus Behemoth (Pere Ubu’s David Thomas) and Craig Bell with musicians who joined the group’s reunion and several members of This Moment In Black History.
Best known as the band whose demise led onto the formation of the equally mythical Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys, Rocket From The Tombs were an early dynamo of underground rock in Cleveland. Artists as distinguished as Peter Laughner, David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, and Johnny Blitz (all early members), or Richard Lloyd and Steve Mehlman (in the 2000s reunion), have passed through the Rocket ranks, reassuring their place as a foundational art-punk unit. Sharing a timeline with fellow Clevelanders Mirrors and electric eels, Rocket From The Tombs’ sound was a trailblazing mixture that, with some hindsight, one can describe as art-damaged garage rock. Anyhow, their short original run saw them play alongside Television and open for Iron Butterfly, with an equally chameleonic influence following their breakup, having been cited as an influence by groups as diverse as Guns N’ Roses and Deerhunter.
Black Record is out November 13 via Fire Records. Check them out on tour:
12.01.15 - ChicagoIL - Empty Bottle
12.02.15 - PontiacMI - The Pike Room at The Crofoot
12.03.15 - ClevelandOH - Beachland Ballroom
12.05.15 - Jersey CityNJ - Monty Hall
12.06.15 - BrooklynNY - Baby’s All Right
12.07.15 - WashingtonDC - Rock and Roll Hotel
12.08.15 - AllstonMA - Brighton Music Hall
12.12.15 - LondonUK - The Brewhouse at London Fields Brewery
12.13.15 - LeedsUK - Brudenell Social Club
• Rocket From The Tombs: http://www.ubuprojex.com/rftt.html
• Fire Records: http://www.firerecords.com
More about: Pere Ubu, Rocket from the Tombs
