It feels fitting that Rocket are undertaking their first UK tour this week as support to The Smashing Pumpkins. In addition to sharing their name with the third track on the Pumpkins' finest album, 1993's Siamese Dream, it's not unfair to say the Los Angeles quartet draw more than a little influence from Billy Corgan's superior songwriting. But Rocket's first UK club show - originally scheduled for June, but rearranged following the tragic passing of vocalist/bassist Alithea Tuttle's father Sean - is glorious proof that the young Angelenos have no need to stand on the shoulders of the giants as a launch pad for their own upcoming interstellar adventures.
They say you don't get a second chance to make a first impression, and opening up your first London headline show with the very best single of 2025, the ridiculously excellent Take Your Aim, is a superb statement of intent from the quartet, completed by Desi Scaglione (guitar), Baron Rinzler (guitar) and drummer Cooper Ladomade. But in a sweatbox so packed that it takes this writer a full 10 minutes to be able to visually verify that there are actual humans on stage, it very quickly becomes evident that there are no weak links in Rocket's armoury. The Windmill has patiently incubated a host of British indie bands in recent years - Shame, The Last Dinner Party, and Dry Cleaning among them- but Rocket are already good to go.
Wide Awake, the first of three singles released in 2025 to preview the band's forthcoming Transgressive Records debut, R is for Rocket, is so instantly addictive that Louder's companion asks if it's a cover version, while the deliciously dynamic One In A Million sounds like My Bloody Valentine at their most accessible, and Crossing Fingers calls to mind 90s LA alt. rockers Dig, a cult band who deserved much more. Digging deeper into their formative years, the likes of Sugarcoated, from 2023 EP Versions of You, and Portrait Show, which evokes warm memories of the very finest Kim Gordon-fronted Sonic Youth songs, indicate that Rocket had their shit together frighteningly early in their career.
Charmingly, at this stage, Rocket appear totally ego-free, with Tuttle seemingly genuinely delighted that 150 fans have paid to share what she calls "a special night" for the group. There's zero chance that they'll be playing 150-capacity rooms next time around though, for when R is for Rocket drops on October 3, the world is going to wake up to what an excellent band this is. In a toxic world on fire, alongside emerging stars Die Spitz, Hello Mary, Florence Road and Wisp, Rocket offer hope for a brighter tomorrow.
