Rocket From The Tombs

Rocket From The Tombs existed for less than a year, played fewer than a dozen shows and was probably never seen by more than a few hundred people but it has over the decades since 1975, due to a frenetic trafficking in bootlegs, acquired an international status out of all proportion to its popularity.

When the band split in 1975, David Thomas and Peter Laughner went on to form Pere Ubu, taking along rock classics such as 'Final Solution, 'Life Stinks,' and '30 Seconds Over Tokyo.' Cheetah Chrome and John Madansky formed the Dead Boys, taking 'Sonic Reducer,' 'Ain't It Fun,' 'Down In Flames,' and several others.

In February 2003, for the first time in 27 years, the band played together at the Disastodrome Festival at UCLA, Los Angeles CA. Richard Lloyd from Television stepped in to complete the original two guitar attack. 'An explosive, revelatory set,' reported the Los Angeles Times.
In June 2003 Rocket toured 6 cities to huge acclaim.

David Fricke, editor of Rolling Stone, wrote, 'No on else in American rock, underground or over, in 1974 and '75, was writing and playing songs this hard and graphic about being f**ked over and fighting mad. No one else is doing it now.'

Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune wrote, 'Rocket From the Tombs is not just the great lost proto-punk band of the '70s. It's one of the best bands of the 21st Century too.'

'We like playing together,' David Thomas says. 'But this is no reunion. The whole thing may blow apart at any moment so don't pretend you can see it next year. We will not last long but during that time we will burn VERY brightly. It is the spectacle of that burning that you pay to see.'

A cd of original source demo tapes and live material, The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs (Smog Veil Records) was released in 2002.

The Wire said, 'Blazing amazing trails, they deserve to be celebrated, not consigned to a historical footnote.'

'Les Inrockuptibles said, 'A record of great historical importance, envisaging the Punk-Rock revolution..... Furious songs full of tension and of a surprising modernity that deserve being regarded alongside the best songs of the MC5, Patti Smith, The Stooges or VU on the list of the seminal non-mainstream rock bands.'

Billboard said, 'It's flabbergasting stuff'

The Village Voice said, 'The darkest, most desperately unforgiving sound.'

In the wake of such effusive press a second US tour, Rocket Redux 2, was organized for November-December 2003 and an album of live in the studio versions of the set called Rocket Redux was released on Smog Veil Records on Feb 24 2004, in the USA, and on Glitterhouse in Europe and on Bomba, Jan 25 2004, in Japan.