SPECIAL “SHOW US YOUR TMR TATTOO” GIVEAWAY CONTEST

Rocket from the Crypt

“Tattoo”

Perfect Sound

scum stats: no idea how many are pressed. some with names written in Sharpie on them, some left blank, one side with music, other side with silk-screen image

I feel like Rocket from the Crypt didn’t click with me until long after they had broken up. I had numerous run-ins with them over the years…saw them open for Soundgarden at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 1996 on the Down on the Upside tour and remember happily grabbing a fan club mail order form xerox from the arena merch table and thinking that was badass, even as a 14-year-old. The White Stripes crashed as John Reis’ house in San Diego back in 2000 on their first West Coast tour. I feel like I even got my own bed that night. Very nice. Sympathy Records drop shipped a box of CDs to Detroit in June 2001 and I hand-delivered them the goods before the show. The Dirtbombs played a festival or two with them in Europe in 2002. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

All the time, I never disliked anything I’d heard from them. I just never got around to buying any of their records either.

But after their retirement in 2005, things just kept on clicking for me. I became friendly with Dan Sartain, a hardcore fan of theirs to the nth degree. I’d gotten into John Reis’ new band the Night Marchers. I finally bought an LP copy of their classic LP “Scream Dracula, Scream” and legit hardcore enjoyed it. The band started playing shows again in 2013, did a gig with the Dirtbombs in Long Beach that year and a both bands did a festival in Belgium in July of this year.

After that Belgian trip I delved deep into the collector corner of their catalog and started spending. Snagged a copy of their “Rocket Pack” single, (limited to 105 copies and by no means cheap) a Pushead designed and executed masterpiece. That’s seemingly the Holy Grail for RFTC fans, but I found something that spoke to me way more.

The “Tattoo” single was only made available to people who had the RFTC logo tattooed on their body. Said tattoo also used to grant its owner free entry into RFTC shows back in the day…a offer that I think is one of the more impressive commitments to a fanbase. The instrumental song is a jam in a classic surf rock sort of way, complete with the buzz of a tattoo gun humming along throughout. I can’t tell if anyone outside of the band knows how many copies were made and I like it that way. Hell, that’s how we run the Vault. Further more, with most copies coming hand-written personalized, these are filed DEEP into collections. Folks do not let go of this record.

(I love records you could never just go out and buy brand new. They speak to me)

But with a little bit of negotiations and cajoling I was able to pry one out (thank you Marco, wherever you are). I may not have any tattoos, but I find myself falling deeper and deeper into the RFCT world and I like it.

In the spirit of a competition…SHOW ME YOUR THIRD MAN TATTOOS! My instagram handle is official_ben_blackwell so lemme see your ink. I guess it doesn’t HAVE to be TMR/TWS/JW related, but that’ll probably help. Whichever tattoo I like best (completely arbitrary, I know) will receive a free test pressing from the Third Man archives. Maybe you’ll even get to request which test pressing you get? No limit to how many times you enter, tell your friends, let’s have some fun.

And no, I will not follow you on Instagram and will not let you follow me. I don’t post any photos any way. Stop trying to creep into my real life.

Side note: this song doesn’t seem to be available anywhere online, whether legitimately or illegally. I kinda like it that way.