Rocket Jocks

Remember when ESPN extreme sports was often backed by American pop punk. This Gisborne soap box derby clip utilizes the same idea with Gisborne band The Rocket Jocks song "Man VS Robot".

Rocket Jocks - Return to Planet X EP

Gisborne two piece, The Rocket Jocks are back with their heavily Ramones influenced pop-punk. The band once again cover the same lyrical ground of love, lost love and science fiction set on their “Next Stop; Moon” EP. It’s not all about The Ramones as there is a heavy fifties influence on “Lt Uhuru”(although at times the singing reminds me of a few song off ALL’s TonyALL album) and it’s not difficult to imagine Elvis singing “King of Hearts” . “Letterman Jacket” is the catchiest song here and both the fifties and Ramones influence are combined into a tight catchy upbeat pop song. The more upbeat “Internet” contains nerdy humour and most dial-up users should be able to relate “Waiting for the page to load. Estimate 10 minutes, that’s when we’ll begin the show”.

The band’s emphasis on melody and hooks shine through and provide a great counter to those who focus more on their aggressive tough guy stance. I didn’t hear a song that I took to immmediately unlike their previous EP’s “Invasion of The Giant Ants” but that may be due to the fact that I haven’t heard these tunes in a live setting yet. Anyway there are eight songs on this EP, which would be enough for some bands to call their release an album. Arguments about release differences aside, Return to Planet X is a fun listen.

3/5

http://www.myspace.com/therocketjocks

Return To Planet X!

The Rocket Jocks- Next Stop; Moon

You might or might not have thought to yourself “How much fun can a live band with just two members and a drum machine really be?” In a live setting Gisborne duo THE ROCKET JOCKS are a helluva lot of fun with giant ants, lolly scrambles, synchronised facial expressions and dance moves with catchy RAMONES inspired pop punk. The band’s press kit is even great to read and displays a self-deprecating sense of humour. It states “If someone was into THE RAMONES or THE QUEERS or “The Lord of The Rings” or something like that, there’s actually a faint chance they could actually like them. If someone didn’t like that stuff though you can bet 10gp and your Sword of Smiting +2 that they’d pretty much hate them. Easy Money.” Fair enough.

The ROCKET JOCKS recorded E.P. “Next Stop; Moon” captures this band very well. It’s captivating super hooky pop punk from the C-R-A-Z-Y-4- U cheerleading chant that opens the recording through to the finishing lovesick dedication to Judy Jetson. Although the influences are obvious, it would be a huge mistake to write this band off as merely derivative due to the strength of their songwriting.“Invasion of the Giant Ants” is a live favourite and perhaps the poppiest condensed version of H.G. Wells’ short story. Its catchiness ensures singing along and a chorus that’ll stay inside heads for a long time.

“Why My Baby Won’t Go To The Movies With Me” and “Pen 2 Paper” are poppy upbeat songs that cover girl problems. “Nobody Else” is reminiscent of THE DESCENDENTS pop sensibilities of “I Don’t Want To Grow Up”. “Nazgul Hop” is pure RAMONES worship. Album closer “Judy Jetson, I Love You” wears a white T-shirt under a leather jacket with slicked back “Grease” hair. Wella wella.

Given the evidence presented, it is somewhat puzzling that THE ROCKET JOCKS seem to be eternal openers. The sixteen tunes on “Next Stop; Moon” are all short, sweet and great pop punk pleasure.

Band website

Return To Planet X!

Rocket Jocks video

Gisborne pop punk two piece, The Rocket Jocks made a music video for their song "What can I do" which has been aired on Alt Tv's Punk Songs Till Midnight show.

Black Market, Rocket Jocks and The Offbeats at Valve September 21st

This one was a good one. Just the right number of bands for an old fart like me. Two bands I hadn't seen before and one I'd seen a number of times. The Offbeats were the first band up and they played ska and got a crowd dancing. I don't know much about Ska outside of Madness, The Specials and Operation Ivy so I can't compare to them to anybody as they didn't sound like any of these bands. In fact, I've forgotten what they did sound like because I walked out halfway through their set in order to buy batteries.

Came back and caught the rocket jocks - who I've seen a few times now and they always put on a good show with their Ramones inspired pop-punk. I finally got a half-decent recording of them playing "Invasion of The Giant Ants" which is a personal favourite.
See video below.



Next up and headlining this show were The Black Market. The band obviously, from their name, are very influenced by The Clash and maybe Rancid(who I've always consider a Clash knock-off band rather than a band with any true talent).

The Black Market started with their song Walls which is my fave from their Myspace site Walls is below.



Then they got thrashier with Toowomba riot



My complaint would be they compared VB to Lion Red saying they both tasted like piss. VB is great beer and used to be cheap to buy. Why is it so expensive these days? Lion red is not great beer but used to be cheap to buy. (I haven't drank Lion Red for years and maybe, just maybe, it is now a great beer. I doubt it, though).

I've added a couple of links. I haven't got it totally sorted as kiwiblog is a political blog and lastdaysofmanonearth is a new wave/punk mp3 blog and both are listed as music blogs(I'm no techie). I recommend checking both blogs out.

Return To Planet X!