"Rocket from the Tombs." Craig who has been in some of the most infamous bands in
punk rock history, and is one of the original members of Rocket From The Tombs.
From left to right; Gary Siperko - guitar, Craig Bell - bass, Steve Mehlman - drums,
David Thomas - singer, Cheetah Chrome - guitar
Rocket from the Tombs was only around for a short time. Little more than a year. From the
summer of 1974 to the summer of 1975. Even though they were only seen by maybe a
thousand people in the brief life, their impact was massive on the music scene
in both their sound and the bands that flowed out of this. From the Rocket website,
"One of those few was Television guitarist Richard Lloyd. "Rocket opened for us in
Cleveland," he said. "We were walking around after soundcheck saying, 'That's one scary
group!' And I was saying to myself, 'I want to be in that band.'"
This underlines, the fact that "Punk" was born in Cleveland and one could point out in Lakewood.
While many bands were capturing the "warehouse sound" a few of those bands most from
Lakewood or with Lakewood Roots, scared the shit out of those bands. As they were truly
punks, not faux punks. Those bands would be, Electric Eels(100% Lakewood, and some
consider the scariest band of all time), Rocket From The Tombs (Craig), Mirrors(100%
Lakewood and with Craig on Bass), Dead Boys (At one time all worked in Lakewood, and
many lived in the first apartment off Giel and Detroit), Polystrene Jass Band(70%
Lakewoodites) to name a few. These would be covering the years from 1971-1979. Many
of bands had a very short life, for example the Electric Eels only played 3 shows, I believe.
But the impact was huge and continues to this day.
Gary Siperko
Craig Bell, grew up on West Clifton, attended McKinley, Horace Mann, LHS
David Thomas
Cheetah Chrome, the punk guitarist all punks want to be like. He is also the punk rocker feared most.
Rocket From The Tombs broke in half for many reasons but one of the big ones was that
Steve Bator(Stiv Bator) had arrived on the stage with Cheetah Chrome(Gene O'Connor)
and the energy from those two was so big and bright, it even scared Rocket Members who
went off to form Pere Ubu under the leadership of Peter Laughner and David Thomas.
Meanwhile The Dead Boys, very real punks. Cheetah grew up in the projects off of W 25th
north of Detroit Ave. in Cleveland. And as a very pale redhead, was in fights nearly hourly
just to to get to school and back. Stiv was the typical picked on kid in school, and had also
put together a persona where nearly anything was possible. When combined with Cheetah
it took on insane proportions. It is hard to forget the night the New York Dolls played the
Picadelli Lounge, a bar I was now redesigning, and we all went down to Twiggys for a late
drink. David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain took the stage, and seconds into their
impromptu show, Cheetah and Stiv had pulled them off the stage onto the floor where a
proper dust up took place. In the end, faux punks, cannot defend themselves from real
punks, ugly would be an understatement.
The band was as tight as I ever remember and very good. It is truly amazing to hear a
good band, what alone good punk band live. The music was sharp and very intense. And considering
the band had decided not to practice together, they were really tight and spot on.
More photos at:http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/jim-obryan/lakewood-punk-blows-through
Videos at: http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8886
Another look at Craig Bell by Bob Ignazio
An Interview with Craig Bell of Mirrors and Rocket From the Tombs at:
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/read/news/arts/7
or
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/read/2006/03/08/an-interview-with-craig-bell-of
.