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Despite not having released an album of all-new music in more than two decades – or not being an active band for nearly as long – San Diego punk legends Rocket from the Crypt have for years put on an annual Halloween concert in their hometown.
But this year’s event will be a rarity, because it’s associated with original, if not quite new, music. The band’s releasing a vinyl-only album of outtakes and rarities that only will be available for purchase at the show.
Actually, make that shows. The Oct. 24 concert at the House of Blues is one of five the band is playing in support of the new album, which is called “Scream, Frankenstein, Scream!”
The title comes from the fact that the material on it was recorded during the same sessions that resulted in the band’s fourth album, 1995’s “Scream, Dracula, Scream!” which produced the single “On a Rope,” a top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, where the band was and still is, highly popular.
“These recordings capture the band’s first crack at many of the songs that would later become part of ‘Scream Dracula Scream,’” the band’s eccentric frontman, singer-guitarist-producer John “Speedo” Reis, explained in a late July social media post. “Hear RFTC before they learned to use fork and spoon.”
The story behind the album’s release is, in typical RFTC fashion, a wild, twisty and turn-y ride.
A boost from friends and fans
In January, the band learned that a set of its 16-track, two-inch master tapes from 1995 were put up for sale on a small digital marketplace out of Orange County. Apparently, the tapes had been legally acquired through liquidation auctions.
Friends and fans who found out about the box of tapes bought them and turned them over to the band. With the reels in hand, the group matched them to a handwritten track list on a coffee-stained sheet of lined paper that had been slipped inside the box.
After the tapes were back in the hands of their original owners, they underwent a months-long restoration. The process removed background hiss and other noises and enhanced the vocals and music.
Eventually, the band was able to complete enough quality material to release as a full album. Like the movie monster that it’s named after, the group’s latest compilation was pieced together from spare parts.
“More than 35 years after these performances were captured, the tapes have been painstakingly restored and brought back to life as ‘Scream Frankenstein Scream!'” the band said in a late July statement formally announcing the project.
The album has been referred to as “a time capsule” that showcases the band at its musical peak.
“These songs have never sounded as urgent or accurate,” the band said.
But rather than give the album a conventional release, RFTC decided to limit it to a vinyl-only LP, available exclusively at the band’s upcoming fall shows.
“Rocket from the Crypt will be abandoning the safety of their cave and launching friendly fire at a handful of select (concert) destinations,” Reis, who’s also known by the stage names Swami and Slasher, said. “This is the maiden voyage of those songs in their original, feral form.”
However, the band only has a handful of performances currently scheduled to promote and sell the record.
Along with Oct. 24’s San Diego show, the band is performing in three cities. In New York City, they stop in Brooklyn on Oct. 15 at the Warsaw, then Irving Plaza in Manhattan on Oct. 16, followed by a Chicago show on Oct. 17 at Metro Chicago. After San Diego, they head across the pond for a Nov. 7 show at Electric Ballroom in London.
The House of Blues San Diego show features opening acts Ceremony, a Northern California hardcore punk band; and Zeus Apollo, an Austin, Texas-based rock group that’s influenced by Drive Like Jehu. That’s the San Diego post-punk outfit that Reis co-founded in the early 1990s while simultaneously still a member of RFTC.
Reis said that despite the long stretch of time that has passed since they were recorded, Rocket from the Crypt intends to focus heavily on songs from the new release during its upcoming shows.
“These songs are pushing four decades,” he said. “Some of these songs I wrote when I was 14; I’m 61 now. It’s a big ask, but I’m broke and I gotta do what I can to get by.”
Rocket From the Crypt, “Scream, Frankenstein, Scream! Tour 2026” concert and annual Halloween show, 7:30 pm, Oct. 24 at House of Blues San Diego; tickets $86.
