Rocket From The Crypt

In a perfect world, one where the bands that are at the vanguard of a musical movement — those with the right ideas and the excellence of execution — rise to the top and receive their due, Rocket From the Crypt would be multi-millionaires selling oodles of records and selling out tour after tour. But the world is not perfect and the San Diego-based thrash and bashers are criminally under-appreciated. Yet somehow that's never deterred them. One witnessing of the RFTC live show is proof of that. Touring in support of their spectacularly raunchy Live from Camp X-Ray disc, the sextet blazed through a 75-minute set that touched on material almost exclusively from their Scream Dracula Scream disc onwards. Sure, it would have been great to hear some of the old classics from Paint as a Fragrance or Circa: Now, but with a catalogue as chock full of amazing material as theirs, none of the older songs were missed. Vocalist John Reis, who is looking more and more like latter-day Elvis, and his band of garage punk/'50s rock worshipping merry men were on fire this night. Having to play on a smallish stage and dispensing with the usual matching duds, it's a sign of true strength that they were able to come out and just rock without the "showiness." There was a time during their ill-conceived major label years when they felt compelled to put on something resembling a "show," but no more. These days, Rocket From the Crypt are one of those tireless, overlooked purveyors of pure musical fury that remind us all what rock and roll is supposed to look, sound and feel like. So while the Vines, the Strokes, the Hives, et al. try poorly to pass themselves off as the saviours of rock, we should all give thanks to the real deal.