Mike Hammer talks about life with the Rubber City Rebels
In the late ’70s the Rubber City Rebels were a jagged young punk band, living amidst the Ohio punk scene spread-out over Cleveland and Akron. It was the scene that birthed Devo, the Dead Boys, the Pagans and Pere Ubu. But the Rebels never quite made it to the iconic level of these other acts, thus for decades their legacy remained something of a punk rock secret.
With the original line-up of Rod Firestone (vocals), Buzz Clic (guitar), Donny Damage (bass), Stix Pelton (drums) and Pete Sake (keyboards) still in-place, the group made its first notable performance in ‘77 opening for the Dead Boys at CBGBs.
A year later the Rebels relocated to LA and picked up a new drummer named of Mike Hammer.
After bumpy relationships with Sire and Capitol Records, and a few personnel changes, in 1988 the group dissipated.
Years later, the Rebels reformed for a few one-off shows and some reissues that turned into a full-blown resurgence. The group’s song “Pierce My Brain” appeared on the videogame soundtrack to Tony Hawk’s Underground, and XM radio holds a particular reverence for the Rebels’ songs.
These days Hammer lives in Atlanta, East Point to be exact. On Thursday, he took a break from siphoning water out of his basement after a particularly rainy day to talk about the Rubber City Rebels and their show at The Star Bar this weekend as part of the second annual Fringe Binge.
Chad Radford: You guys are spread out all over the country, does that make it hard to play shows?
Mike Hammer: Whenever we get the chance to play we just sort of meet in an airport somewhere and go. That’s how it’s been since we got back together back in ‘99 or 2000. Big chunks of time went by because we were spread so far apart, but we did the reunion show in Akron for the hell of it, and then a show in Cleveland. Then we played out in California and then recorded a few songs. Then a bunch more time went by Rod got a hold of me from his home in North Carolina and said ‘there’s this guy out in Reno, NV who has this thing for Ohio bands and he says he’ll pay for us to record and album!’ So I said count me in. I hadn’t heard what they were writing and I went and did the drum parts and then months later I got my copy of the songs, which I hadn’t heard, and thought ‘hey, this is alright…. That “Pierce My Brain” song is pretty catchy…’