Rocket From The Tombs – Black Record (2015)
- steveburnhamuk
- Apr 27
- 2 min read
David Thomas, main man in avant-garage band Pere Ubu died this week, after a long illness. I saw Pere Ubu several times, but did once see Thomas head up Rocket From The Tombs, a revival of his pre-Ubu band, about the time of this album in a small venue in North London. Even at this time his health was failing, having to be assisted walking to the stage by drummer Steve Mehlman. They played most of this album, but did manage to squeeze in renditions of 30 Seconds Over Tokyo and Final Solution.
This album is a back to basics, return to roots collection of small songs, but it's not all 1977 dumb thrashes. There's enough Ubu darkness to satisfy the devotees of Crocus Behemoth. Waiting For the Snow is a mysterious song with a melodic chorus, a great opening number, followed the faster, darker Welcome To The New Dark Age, short and to the point. There are a couple of 'punk' covers - a fine version of The Sonics' Strychnine, and a welcome outing for the Dead Boys' Sonic Reducer, which Thomas wrote with Cheetah Chrome in the early RFTT days. The high energy continues with I Keep A File On You, frantic and raw.
Nugefinger has a dirtier feel to it, while Spooky has the unsettling feel you'd expect from a Pere Ubu song. Coopy gets us back to the solid garage rock sound, as does Hawk Full Of Soul, but it's not until bassist Craig Bell's Read It And Weep that the excitement and urgency returns. Final track is the fantastic, if uncharacteristically bouncy, Parking Lot At The Rainbow's End, bringing an enjoyable, fun half hour's music to a conclusion.
The performance when we saw RFTT wasn't the best, but this album, despite deliberately rudimentary production by Thomas, captures the feel of the band reborn in the 2010s.
David Thomas leaves behind a myriad of projects still to explore, and he'll be sadly missed. He wished me good evening on the way in, the last time I saw Pere Ubu in 2022, and I'll treasure that tiny interaction. Thank you, David.
4* - a fine representation of RFTT reborn.
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