Just over a week later on February 18th, RFTT would tape nine originals along with one Rolling Stones and two Stooges covers at the group’s loft rehearsal space for broadcast on the WMMS-FM program "Local Color" on February 23rd, 1975. Many of these recordings would later appear officially on the Smog Veil Records release The Day The Earth Met Rocket From The Tombs.
RFTT played three more shows before Madansky quit, and was subbed for by Pictures drummer Don Evans at their next show at the Agora on May 5th.
After 18-year-old Wayne Strick, an acquaintance of Bell's, became the group's drummer, what would become the final RFTT line-up did four shows in one week in July, playing the Viking on the 20th (with Mirrors) and 27th (with Tin Huey) and at the Piccadilly Penthouse on the 24th and 25th with a New York band Laughner had grown quite fond of: Television. Significantly, these were Television’s first shows outside of New York.
After the breakup of RFTT at the end of July 1975, two new groups emerged from the split:
Chrome and Madansky (now calling himself Johnny Blitz) formed Frankenstein with Jimmy Zero, Jeff Magnum, and former Mother Goose vocalist Stiv Bators (born Steven John Bator) who was considered at one point to replace Thomas as lead vocalist of RFTT (although this did not come to fruition). Frankenstein made their debut at the Piccadilly Penthouse on October 31, 1975.
Thomas and Laughner formed Pere Ubu with sometime RFTT soundman Tim Wright on bass and guitar, Tom Herman on guitar and bass, former Hy Maya synthesizer player Allen Ravenstine, and ex-Cinderella Backstreet/Fins/Hy Maya drummer Scott Krauss. Ubu would release their debut single in December of 1975 which included RFTT's "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" as its "A" side. Ubu made their debut on a joint bill with Frankenstein at the Viking Saloon on December 31, 1975.
Not long after this show, Frankenstein would change their name to Dead Boys (after a line in the RFTT song "Down In Flames" which they were now playing) and move to New York where they found considerable success. They continued to do "Down In Flames" along with other former RFTT songs including "Ain't It Fun", "Never Gonna Kill Myself Again" (re-written as "Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth"), "Sonic Reducer", and "What Love Is". Stiv Bators died in Paris, France on June 4, 1990, aged 40, due to injuries sustained after being hit by a car.
Pere Ubu would release the former RFTT song "Final Solution" as interpreted by Pere Ubu and become the "A" side of their second single, self-released in April of 1976, and would also perform a version of Laughner's "Life Stinks", first done by RFTT. Laughner was fired from Pere Ubu in May of 1976 and died from pancreatitis on June 22, 1977, aged 24.
Craig Bell would move to Connecticut in the fall of 1976 where he would lead several bands, including Saucers, The Bell System, and The Plan. After moving to Indiana in the 2000s, Bell would lead The Down-Fi as well as playing solo shows. Bell has also served as bassist with The Gizmos, Simply Saucer, and X__X.
Nick Blakey |
