Wednesday, October 19, 2022

“I Sell Soul”, Rocket from the Tombs

This way: I Sell Soul

Rocket from the Tombs (or RFTT) is an American rock band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The band was reconstituted several times with various line-ups starting in 2003. 

Heralded as an important protopunk group, they were little known during the band's original lifetime, though various members later achieved renown in Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. Billy Bob Hargus wrote, however, that "The sound of the Rockets is much more ferocious than Ubu or the Dead Boys."

The band played their first show June 16, 1974 at the Viking Saloon in downtown Cleveland. The original line-up was David Thomas (then known as "Crocus Behemoth" (vocals, bass), Kim Zonneville (bass, vocals), Glenn "Thunderhand" Hach (guitar, vocals) and Tom "Foolery" Clements (drums).

There was some fluctuation of the group's personnel, but what's come to be known as the "classic" lineup included, Thomas, Peter Laughner,[3] Craig Willis Bell (a.k.a. Darwin Layne), Gene O'Connor (a.k.a. Cheetah Chrome), and Johnny Madansky (a.k.a. "Johnny Blitz").

When RFTT disbanded, the personnel split and formed three different musical groups:

O'Connor and Madansky joined with singer Stiv Bators (who made a guest appearance on-stage at the last RFTT show) to form Frankenstein, which later morphed into the Dead Boys, a more straightforward punk rock group. Laughner and Thomas went on to form the more experimental Pere Ubu with bassist Tim Wright (RFTT's soundman). Laughner died in 1977, of acute pancreatitis brought on by years of drinking and drug use. Bell moved to Connecticut and started a band called Saucers

[Spotify] I Sell Soul

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