Bands You Should Be Listening To: RFTC

Rocket From The Crypt, or the best band in the universe [called so by fans due to their amazing live shows], was a 6-piece band of totally awesome dudes hailing from San Diego, California that formed in 1990 along with Drive Like Jehu after frontman John Reis's previous band Pitchfork disbanded.

For the most of its life, Rocket From The Crypt consisted of: John Reis aka Speedo on guitar and lead vocals, Andy Stamets aka ND on guitar and backing vocals, Pete Reichert aka Petey X on bass and backing vocals, Paul O'Beirne aka Apollo 9 on saxophone and backing vocals, Jason Crane aka JC 2000 on trumpet and backing vocals, and Adam Willard aka Atom on drums. This was the line-up from 1990-2000, when Atom left the band due to disagreements over the band's direction and was replaced by Mario Rubalcaba aka Ruby Mars, who played with them until their demise.

Often labeled a punk band, but far from true, Rocket From The Crypt plays classic rock and roll infused with punk attitude and backed by an intense ska-free horns section. To date, Rocket From The Crypt have 7 studio albums ["Paint as a Fragrance", "Circa: Now!", "Hot Charity", "Scream, Dracula, Scream!", "RFTC", "Group Sounds", and "Live From Camp X-Ray"], 2 EPs ["The State of Art Is On Fire" and "Cut Carefully and Play Loud"], 1 Live CD/DVD of the band's final show [aptly titled "R.I.P."], 3 Compilation Albums ["All Systems Go" Vol. 1-3], and about 22 vinyl singles [most of which were collected on the "All Systems Go" compilations].

Rocket From The Crypt's songs are very catchy due in part to the fairly simple, yet awesome, lyrics coupled with the vocal delivery [call and response/chanting/whoas/whatnot] and sonic onslaught of the music. Some awesome examples of Speedo's lyrics include: "Say hello to my little friend, a broken spleen and a heart of gold. Has a face that the world adores, yeah, but lives a life that belongs in hell, no.", "School ain't shit, I read it in a book.", and "My hands were just untied, so I'm using my fist to buy me time. The run-around runs around and goes to the past. Maude, let the young livers pass. We're so strong and we're so feared. They're gonna look back and never knew we're here."

Eventually, after being a band for 15 years, the members of the band started to focus on other projects and RFTC just kind of fell by the wayside. In 2005, after breaking up Hot Snakes [another band John Reis was a member of during his time in Rocket From The Crypt], Speedo announced that RFTC was also breaking up and would be playing their final show on Halloween in San Diego that year. The show was filmed and subsequently released with an album of said show, titled "R.I.P."

Here are a few videos to help demonstrate the awesomeness that is Rocket From The Crypt.

On A Rope



Sturdy Wrists



I'm Not Invisible


S.O.S.