Rocket from the Crypt
Rocket From the Crypt at Alex’s Bar, Long Beach, CA, January 31st, 2015
Feb 04, 2015
Rocket from the Crypt
Many moons ago a boy, not yet twenty-one, would sneak into venues in order to get a glimpse of a rare band called Rocket From the Crypt. This boy, Alex, eventually grew older and owned a venue of his own, Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California. He opened fifteen years ago, five years before Rocket’s final show in San Diego, where they closed the crypt for good. However, the tomb has cracked open again giving hope to all who love real rock n’ roll. This hope was served up hot with ball lightning on January 31 for the fifteenth anniversary of Alex’s Bar. Simply put, they were electric.
When John Reis came to the stage with the rest of the band, dressed as rock n’ roll mariachis, he asked the question, “Is it red?” Which the crowd, to their delight, replied “Yes!” Why were they delighted you ask? Because the song “Dick on a Dog” was about to rip through the anticipating ears of the sold out crowd. The next hour and a half was a foot stomping, heart pounding, hot rod screeching of a time that, quite frankly, has been too long for me.
As I walked to my car satisfied, the cool Long Beach air hit my sweat-drenched body, and I wondered, how would I describe a band like this? I have come to the conclusion, whether you agree with me or not, that Little Richard is the heart of American Rock n’ roll. I hear that heart beating strong in RFTC, but that’s just the beginning. Take that bloody, violently beating heart and put it into the body of a behemoth tiger that was born out of the San Diego post-hardcore scene, and then you would be getting close. I say close because you shouldn’t let that tiger with its rippling muscles, and death teeth showing, fool you. This band is not and has never been a post-hardcore band. They are pure unadulterated American rock n’ roll.
Someday there will be a man or a woman that will come to me and ask me, “Where has the real American Rock n’ Roll gone to?” And that’s when I will lean into them, make their eyes meet mine, and say, “It hasn’t gone anywhere. You’re just looking in the wrong place. You see, there is this band that still holds the torch. Its flame still burns bright.” And then I will lean in still closer and, with a steady quiet voice, I will say, “This band’s name is Rocket from the Crypt. Go, listen, and be filled.”
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February 4th 2015
8:42pm
Long live the Kings
February 4th 2015
11:32pm
where is the review? A set list of Dick on a dog surely does not tell the unfortunates who could not attend any of the show?