Biography
Rocket from the Tombs, a mid-1970s Cleveland un-punk group unrelated to the San Diego alt-rock band Rocket from the Crypt, gained recognition chiefly as the short-lived unit whose breakup produced the more prominent Cleveland punk outfits Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. A reporter for the weekly Cleveland entertainment paper The Scene who performed under the name Crocus Behemoth assembled the band. The portly performer, known for his mound of wild hair, earned a reputation for completely unpredictable stage antics that included wrapping his considerable girth in aluminum foil, applying Kiss-style makeup, and spray-painting his hair. After numerous musicians rotated through the lineup, Behemoth encountered guitarist and songwriter Peter Laughner, who had performed at many of the same venues while playing in Cinderella Backstreet, the now-infamous Cleveland band that briefly included future Pretender Chrissie Hynde. Laughner became an admirer of Rocket from the Tombs and sat in occasionally. Before long the two men formed a partnership, and with the addition of guitarist Gene O'Connor, bassist Craig Bell, and drummer Johnny "Madman" Madansky the group stabilized.
Drawing on high-energy rock shaped by the Stooges and Lou Reed, Laughner's hero, Rocket from the Tombs established itself on the Cleveland club circuit while also opening for touring acts such as Iron Butterfly. Its material delivered a sharp, acerbic perspective on a decaying industrial city, capturing the boredom, anomie, and restlessness of Cleveland's pre-punk scene; tracks such as "Life Stinks" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," later recorded by Pere Ubu, exemplified that outlook. Internally fractious and prone to constant conflict, the band struggled with irreconcilable tastes. No member except Laughner could tolerate Behemoth's singing, and the arty leanings shared by Laughner and Behemoth repeatedly clashed with the hard-rock and heavy-metal preferences of the remaining players. In 1975 an Iggy-worshipping teenager from Youngstown named Stiv Bators auditioned as lead singer but departed quickly. Meanwhile Laughner had sent a demo tape to influential critic Lester Bangs, who reviewed it favorably in Creem; the two became friends, Laughner began contributing to the magazine, and he traveled to New York to witness the emerging punk scene at CBGB. Impressed by Patti Smith and especially Television, he returned to find the band's musical disagreements had become irreparable, and within weeks Rocket from the Tombs dissolved.
Laughner and Behemoth, now using his birth name David Thomas, launched Pere Ubu, while O'Connor, soon known as Cheetah Chrome, and Madansky, soon known as Johnny Blitz, contacted Bators and formed the Dead Boys. Laughner's tenure with Pere Ubu proved brief; by 1976 he was leading new projects including Friction, the Finns, and Peter & the Wolves. Despite ongoing work for Creem, his escalating substance abuse led to death from liver failure in 1977 at age twenty-five. Both Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys achieved respectable careers, though Ubu enjoyed greater longevity. More than twenty-five years after the original breakup, surviving members Thomas, Chrome, and Bell, augmented by Television guitarist Richard Lloyd and Pere Ubu drummer Steve Mehlman substituting for Madansky, reunited for a June 2003 tour captured on Rocket Redux. The same lineup reconvened in Cleveland for 2010 sessions that produced the 2011 release Barfly.
Tensions resurfaced around the time of Barfly's appearance, echoing Thomas's earlier remark to journalists that audiences should catch the reunion lineup quickly because it was unlikely to endure. Richard Lloyd exited shortly after the album's release, and Cheetah Chrome departed abruptly following the final date of a December 2011 tour. Cleveland guitarist Gary Siperko, previously with the Mofos and the Whiskey Daredevils, assumed the Laughner and Lloyd chair, while Buddy Akita of This Moment in Black History replaced Chrome. The revised Rocket from the Tombs performed across Europe in 2012 and mounted an international tour in 2015 to promote the album Black Record.
Drawing on high-energy rock shaped by the Stooges and Lou Reed, Laughner's hero, Rocket from the Tombs established itself on the Cleveland club circuit while also opening for touring acts such as Iron Butterfly. Its material delivered a sharp, acerbic perspective on a decaying industrial city, capturing the boredom, anomie, and restlessness of Cleveland's pre-punk scene; tracks such as "Life Stinks" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," later recorded by Pere Ubu, exemplified that outlook. Internally fractious and prone to constant conflict, the band struggled with irreconcilable tastes. No member except Laughner could tolerate Behemoth's singing, and the arty leanings shared by Laughner and Behemoth repeatedly clashed with the hard-rock and heavy-metal preferences of the remaining players. In 1975 an Iggy-worshipping teenager from Youngstown named Stiv Bators auditioned as lead singer but departed quickly. Meanwhile Laughner had sent a demo tape to influential critic Lester Bangs, who reviewed it favorably in Creem; the two became friends, Laughner began contributing to the magazine, and he traveled to New York to witness the emerging punk scene at CBGB. Impressed by Patti Smith and especially Television, he returned to find the band's musical disagreements had become irreparable, and within weeks Rocket from the Tombs dissolved.
Laughner and Behemoth, now using his birth name David Thomas, launched Pere Ubu, while O'Connor, soon known as Cheetah Chrome, and Madansky, soon known as Johnny Blitz, contacted Bators and formed the Dead Boys. Laughner's tenure with Pere Ubu proved brief; by 1976 he was leading new projects including Friction, the Finns, and Peter & the Wolves. Despite ongoing work for Creem, his escalating substance abuse led to death from liver failure in 1977 at age twenty-five. Both Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys achieved respectable careers, though Ubu enjoyed greater longevity. More than twenty-five years after the original breakup, surviving members Thomas, Chrome, and Bell, augmented by Television guitarist Richard Lloyd and Pere Ubu drummer Steve Mehlman substituting for Madansky, reunited for a June 2003 tour captured on Rocket Redux. The same lineup reconvened in Cleveland for 2010 sessions that produced the 2011 release Barfly.
Tensions resurfaced around the time of Barfly's appearance, echoing Thomas's earlier remark to journalists that audiences should catch the reunion lineup quickly because it was unlikely to endure. Richard Lloyd exited shortly after the album's release, and Cheetah Chrome departed abruptly following the final date of a December 2011 tour. Cleveland guitarist Gary Siperko, previously with the Mofos and the Whiskey Daredevils, assumed the Laughner and Lloyd chair, while Buddy Akita of This Moment in Black History replaced Chrome. The revised Rocket from the Tombs performed across Europe in 2012 and mounted an international tour in 2015 to promote the album Black Record.
Albums
Singles
Live
