Barfly

VINYL FORMAT. Comes with a digital download card! The received wisdom (at least in America) goes that punk rock was invented in New York by the Ramones, who reconfigured mid-western hard groove rock and 60s garage singles, into a formula that defined punk: short, fast, catchy, and unstoppable. But in some weird parallel universe, punk might have traced its roots to Rocket From The Tombs, a Cleveland band that lasted less than eight months (1974-75), and never made a studio recording. In those eight months they wrote songs that would become punk anthems: "Ain't It Fun," "Sonic Reducer," "Final Solution," "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," "Amphetamine." And they played them like there was no tomorrow. The band blew apart in July 1975. One faction went on to create the avant-garage rock group Pere Ubu, the other, punk stalwarts The Dead Boys. Now, after 37 years they have finally recorded a studio album with Barfly, delivering a sound that's not dated, or restricted to any passing fad or marketing infatuation, these men are ugly, old, and have not mellowed in any conceivable way. They've devoted their lives to raging against the boundaries, and they have been willing to pay the price.