“We are a band that doesn’t believe in the idiom of leave them wanting more, in fact, we want to leave you wanting no more, maybe even never wanting to hear live music ever again”. So, says Rocket From The Crypt main man John ‘Speedo’ (don’t forget the hard emphasis on the ess he pleads) Reis just before the band unleashes a blistering 4-song encore that is so amazing, he almost has me believing he might be onto something.

I’m getting ahead of myself here though, as RFTC playing a one-off UK show was always going to be an emotional and, if Reis is also to be believed, horny event, even if the band’s own horn section goes AWOL in the mix until about four songs into the show.

I’ve never seen a band that commands such fan dedication, and that’s why if you wanted a copy of the band’s tour exclusive ‘Scream Frankenstein Scream’ LP (which features the long-lost tapes of the band playing many of the songs that went on to make up the ‘Scream Dracula Scream’ album live in the studio during ‘The State Of Art Is On Fire’ sessions) or an uber cool black scorpion T-shirt tonight there is a 90-minuten (well if Speedo can slip into German every now and then so can I) queue.

It’s from said queue that I get to watch the one-off return from the best band to ever come out of Exeter, The Computers. It’s not ideal as I loved the band back in the day and would like to be down the front as I still give their LPs a regular once around the block, but I can think of no better soundtrack with which to snake my way slowly around the Electric Ballroom dancefloor as the likes of ‘Bring Me The Head Of A Hipster’, ‘Mr Saturday Night’ and ‘Disco Sucks’ make frontman Alex Kershaw and his one-time heavyweight champions of rock ‘n’ roll feel 32 once again (his joke, not mine). 

I’ve seriously never seen anything like this merch queue before, and as The Computers finish their short but very sweet set I’m thankfully just a few feet away from securing my LP and T-shirt combo, quickly taking up a space on the dancefloor about halfway back next to the tallest man, not just in the venue but possibly in the world, as I settle in with my shopping bag full of merch safe in the knowledge there’s going to at least be some breathing space around us.

Not for long, though, as soon as RFTC unleash the opening salvo of ‘Middle’, ‘Born In 69’ and ‘On A Rope’ any available air is sucked out of the room and the temperature soars with Speedo and gang sounding every bit as amazing as they were back in the day when their major label debut was bothering the UK hit parade. Albeit, as I mentioned earlier, initially without the horns they sound more like the MC5 than a punk rock Sly & The Family Stone, that is until those brass section faders are brought up in the mix for an awesome ‘Drop Out’ and finally everything truly slots into place.

Largely concentrating on the tunes from the ‘Dracula/Frankenstein’ album whilst slotting in some stonkers from ‘Group Sounds’ like ‘Heart Of A Rat’ (the band in full Dictators mode here according to Speedo) and an insanely fast ‘I’m Not Invisible’ from ‘Live At Camp X Ray’, it’s the trio of tunes from the band’s highly underrated ‘RFTC’ album (‘I Know’, ‘Panic Scam’ and ‘Made For You) that take me back to the start of this review and Speedo’s bold claim to leave us wanting no more. That’s because if there is one thing I would love to hear, it’s that album re-recorded without the glossy Kevin Shirley production. Perhaps that could be the next tour? Although if it is…no merch queues, eh.

We need a band like Rocket From The Crypt in our lives right now (and The Computers too), so everything crossed this short series of reunion shows for the headliners (and the one-off show for the support) makes them feel exactly the same way about wanting us in theirs.

A truly stunning night of live music.

Author: Johnny Hayward