Back in the 1990s, I fronted an ahead-of-its time metal band called Rocketsled (I did not come up with the atrocious moniker, but I’ve nonetheless been forced to live with it ever since). Members of Rocketsled went on to play with Drowningman, Non Compos, (née Non Compos Mentis), Cancer Conspiracy, The Halogens, The Dakota and Township (I think those are the major ones).
The Burlington, VT group anticipated practically every heavy sound that was to become fashionable in the metal world in the next decade — from start-stop riffbombs to stoner sludge to atonal chaos. We evolved incredibly quickly, perhaps too quickly for our own good. There was label interest around our self-released 1995 CD, ‘71 Nova, but we never really had our shit together enough to make a go of anything (I was 21 years old, for fuck’s sake). Which is probably a good thing — looking back at my proclivities at the time, I could easily picture myself dead in a touring bus at Ozzfest in East Palookaville. Besides, my own tastes were much more varied than the aural assault I was tasked with helping to unleash. Or so I told myself, anyway.
My memories are a bit fuzzy, but I think Rocketsled ran from 1991 or 1992 to about 1996. We were very popular in our hometown, and also made a pretty decent mark regionally. Regrets, I have a few: namely, that we didn’t get to follow-up Nova with another disc that would’ve captured the band’s brief trance-metal phase. Instead we bickered and dickered, eventually demoing a handful of sludgecore tracks that I thought were beneath us.
And here’s a video of one of those lesser numbers, courtesy Jeff Howlett of Howlerman Productions. It’s from our 1998 reunion show at BTVT’s still-missed Club Toast. Wanna know what’s really weird? On Friday, I was riding the train and thinking for the first time in a decade about that reunion show. A sold-out, feel-good triumph it was. Anyway, I found myself wondering if anyone had taped the show (this was before the days of cellphone cameras and flip video). Lo and behold, this morning Howlett (who fronted an excellent ’90s “smartcore” band called 5 Seconds Expired) sends me the vid. How come the Universe doesn’t respond when I ask for gobs and gobs of money?
Thoughts on this video:
- Wow, I was fucking skinny
- The sound is atrocious
- All my dudes cut their hair
- Greg is a kickass drummer
- I hate this song and wish the clip was of one of our more melodic bone-crushers
Oh, and here’s something for you all: a free MP3 copy of Rockesled’s ‘71 Nova (complete with uncleared Darth Vader samples.) Enjoy?
March 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I’ll second that \m/
I remember hearing about this reunion gig… about five months after I left town for Boston.
I’ve got a bunch of old ’sled videos (along with a box of too many other b-town vids), if only I had the time to digitize them all. Someday.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
what a gig, i wish i knew how to run a video camera then, i have the whole show, this song kicked ass performace wise, i thought and i did not fumble the camera aimlessly on this tune. awesome show casey, ready now for another reunion, we tape with many cameras, ok now book that shezzt….
March 15th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
MP3 what!?! I still have my copy of the CD, man! I was 16 when that album dropped, wow.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Nice way-back-machine post!
Coincidentally, someone just asked me yesterday if I was in Rocketsled. Bizarre.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I give you permission to say yes. You played the cowbell, natch.
March 16th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Casey – I was cleaning out some stuff the other week and came across a casette labeled “Rocketsled on Homebrew.” No date on it. I’ll send it to ya if you want it…
March 16th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Not sure if I have that — send it along!
I’m a crappy archivist; I need to get in touch with Greg B. to see what he’s got in the broomcloset (everything, methinks).
Say, you don’t happen to have that great Halogens at Metronome show, do you? The one where I pissed off Jason for all of my extended Television-meets-JA soloing? (That narrows it down, huh?) MFK has promised to make a copy, but he’s a lazy, compromised twat with short-term memory loss.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Ha, yeah that narrows it down!
I actually don’t have any Halogens live recordings, but was that the show where you composed and sang “Slider’s Got A Bleeding Cock”? I still get teary-eyed over that…
March 17th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
If you are like me the only way you can stand your MP3 collection is if it has album art. After all it makes a silly toy seem like a record collection for a second. Also if you are like me it will take you 6 or 7 years to scan that art you just can’t find. Well I did rocketsled last month so use mine…
http://sleep-dream-die.com/nick/sledart/
March 17th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Sweet, thanks, Nick!
Looking at that cover brings back memories of putting it together at Rob R’s house on some early iteration of Photoshop while reading the Negativland U2 book. Man, it looks soooo cheesy.
I just read the lyrics, too. Totally my Nietzsche phase. I was the original Antichrist Superstar, motherfuckers!
Thanks for this. I’ll post more video if Jeff sends it along. I might even reach out to Greg to see what he’s got in the vault.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Oh man, I remember that summer – mostly. We listened to Negativland’s “A Big 10-8 Place” about a thousand times and drank an assload of ice tea from a powdered mix.
You should have had Gatti do the artwork. His 242 posters were always the bomb. And he became a graphic designer. I, um, did not.
Also, I’m having a little trouble believing the Sled reunion show was over a decade ago …
March 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Casey thanks for putting up the ‘71 Nova album in MP3! This is one of my favorite albums of all time. You had mailed me a copy of it years ago and my wife accidentally shattered it in the door of our car. Now that I’ve got the album back I don’t have to divorce her.
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
the band that could have….if greg beadle was such a spoiled little brat who had to have everything go his way or no way, something may have happened. good things did happen for all of us in the years to come after all and if our paths didnt cross then, our lives would be completely different.