Safe As Milk

click here to download the Nice 6 #4 ALL RFTC zip

Rocket From the Crypt is, without hesitation, one of my top 3 all-time favorite bands. It’s the band that got me excited about going to concerts and for that I will always be thankful. They played their final concert last Halloween so this Nice 6 is dedicated to them. I didn’t make it to the show but I found a decent mp3 of it online and I’m eagerly awaiting the DVD of the show that (I think) comes out this Summer. They also gave me my #2 best concert moment:

I had read (in Spin of all places) about a band, Rocket From the Crypt, from San Diego that was supposed to be hot shit in concert. Almost coincidentally, RFTC was scheduled to play at Twisters (now the Nanci Raygun) like 2 weeks later. So my buddy Chris and I went down to check them out. At the time, Twisters used to play the absolute worst music ever between bands. It was all bad nu-metal before there was nu-metal. Just loud crap. So we’re standing there in the club and it’s starting to get full but we had staked out pretty good spots in the middle of the floor in front of the stage and we’re suffering through whatever the hell was blaring over the pa.

All of a sudden my personal space gets invaded by these guys that look like some kind of greaser car club (matching coats, slicked back hair, excellent sideburns) who rolled into town to see the band. Almost at the same time the music changes from the ususal dreck to James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’. The car club dudes start dancing with girls in the crowd like they’re at a sock hop. I had no idea what was happening. Then the guy who looked like he was King Greaser started pouring beer on the floor so he could get a good James Brown-style shoe slide going. After another minute the whole crowd was into it, 200 people dancing and moving to classic 60’s funk at a punk rock show. It officially crossed over into ’surreal’.

Then the car club boss throws his hands in the air and yells, “You Ready!” and of course we all yelled “yeah!”. He asked again, and we got louder, and then louder again. And the he goes, “Okay! Let’s Play!” and he and the rest of the car club toss off their jackets and jump on the stage.

And that was how I met Speedo and the rest of Rocket From the Crypt.

1) Middle - from Scream Dracula Scream
2) Don’t Darlene - from Circa: Now
3) Straight American Slave - from Group Sounds
4) Boychucker - from All Systems Go
5) Jumper K. Balls- from All Systems Go
6) I’m Not Invisible - from Live From Camp X-Ray

6 songs. Twelve minutes and fourteen seconds. Hold onto your hats.