by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

As rock music accelerates the process of eating itself and serving its shit up as "the new sound," only a handful of bands have the integrity, intensity and flair to counter the encroaching entropy. Boldest among them is San Diego, CA's Rocket From the Crypt who, for over a decade, have been fusing metallic precision, frat-rock crunch and apocalyptic punk howl into a sound both quintessentially rock 'n' roll and exclusively their own. Frontman John "Speedo" Reis gave the Mirror a report from the front lines.

Mirror: One thing I particularly dug about your latest, Live From Camp X-Ray, was the inclusion of strings. Strings! That shit's big with the pasty, pastoral folk-pop types but rock 'n' rollers rarely touch 'em. So why and wherefor the strings?

Speedo: I have been a junior conductor with the San Diego Symphony since 18, so it's something I enjoy doing and appreciate the sound of. On the song "Can You Hear It?" we were going for a big sound with a touch of camp, somewhere along the lines of a hybrid of Lee Hazelwood colliding with the Saints. When we started a lot of fuckers bummed on the fact that we were supposedly a punk band but had a saxophone and later a trumpet as well. These just aren't "punk" instruments. I was, and still am, first concerned with making a big sound. Building a wall and then toppling it over on people's heads. Different instruments can help achieve the desired density. I am not concerned with being punk or rock 'n' roll or whatever. I just try and relay the sounds that I hear in my head to the others and we go from there. Strings clashing with electric guitars and my frog-like vocal skronk creates a dichotomy that is appealing to me - Neil Diamond playing with the Pagans, ELO jamming with the Gories, that sort of thing.

Blast from the past

M: Tell me a bit about this cat Sonny Vincent who's touring with you. His bio reads like a who's-who of American punk - he's rubbed shoulders with Stooges, Cramps, Richard Hell, Dead Boys, Replacements, the lot of 'em. How'd he hook up with you guys?

S: Sonny formed a band called the Testors in New York City, 1975, the epicentre for the initial punk rock blast that was heard around the world. The Testors were on the fringe of the Max's Kansas City and CBGBs scenes. They were too loud, wild and out of control for most. They wrote amazingly great songs that sound as good today as when they started. When [drummer] Ruby Mars joined RFTC three years ago, one of the many bands he turned me onto was the Testors. Their sound immediately spun my head. Although it's true, his lineage is mighty impressive, nothing compares to the most impressive element, which is this guy has relentlessly stayed true to his artistic vision for 27 years and continues to make music that is vibrant and alive.

M: Which kind of leads to my real concern - can rock 'n' roll, particularly at this fearsome junction in history, still grab hold of hearts, minds and nutsacks, or is it merely for "sweating to the oldies" now? I notice hip hop stepping up to the plate with intensely politicized and subversive, if not always well-constructed, ideas. Can rock ever again generate the poorly-constructed yet subversive caterwaul for which I once fell in love with it?

S: Yeah, if the delivery and sentiments are done creatively and sincerely, it has the same power as any other music to enlighten and change. Most - okay, I'm being a little too positive here... most as in all - punk and rock 'n' roll music being played today excites me very little. Rehash is one thing, but I sense an unaware self-mockery that truly is undermining the importance of bands like the MC5, the Clash, Patti Smith and on and on. Substance has been replaced by ego, appropriation, parody and clichéd stylization. This is not to say rock 'n' roll music cannot be about fun… duh! First and foremost, it is about fun and freedom, but the next time some asshole asks me to testify, it will be mandatory for me to place my boot up their chute. So yes, I agree with you. We live in some serious watered-down times, but the salvation lies in other forms of music as well as sounds from today and yesterday that might be unknown to you now. I don't think I would have dug like an archeologist for a band like the Testors if I was satisfied with the current status of this dying artform. :

With Sonny Vincent and the Sexareenos at Cabaret on Tuesday, March 25, 9pm, $16.50

>> Music Listings