The Rocky Horror Picture Show was always really important to us. I think every member of Tsunami Bomb had gone to multiple showings at The Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma. Dominic even assembled a local cast and directed performances at The Phoenix back in the day. Memories of the epic levels of crowd participation and rock ’n’ roll ridiculousness were absolutely built into Tsunami Bomb’s DNA from the very start, as it was such a huge part of the scene we grew up in.
Way back in 1999, we had an opportunity to be a part of a punk rock compilation that Eddie Migraine was putting together, where all the bands would be covering songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We came into the project somewhat late, so our dreams of performing “Time Warp,” “Sweet Transvestite,” or “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” were dashed immediately. There weren’t many songs left, but of the ones remaining, we chose “Planet Schmanet, Janet” because it seemed like the most fun of what was left.
We were told we needed to get the song done as fast as possible, so we raced to rearrange it so it would sound stronger as a standalone song, with a clearer build-up intro, and adjusted the talking parts into a bridge we could work around. Our version included “Hot Dog” as part of the song outro and that made sense to us.
After much discussion, we gave each member a role. Emily would be Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Oobliette would be Janet Weiss, Brian would be Brad Majors, Dominic would be Dr. Everett Scott, and our shyest member (when it came to a microphone), Gabe, would play The Narrator since he only had one line.
With the help of Gabe’s dad, Chris Lindeman, we recorded the track in record time. We were thrilled with the results! The song felt like pure camp! To us, it both felt like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Tsunami Bomb. The right mix of unhinged camp and unbridled stupidity. It was perfect.
We turned in the song JUST in time!
…and then nothing.
The comp didn’t come out. Nothing happened. We got caught up in recording “The Invasion From Within” EP, and things kept happening from there, but we were so disappointed when the compilation never dropped.
Until years later.
In 2003, Avi Ehrlich of Springman Records picked up the release and put out the record as a CD. While not all the bands who had originally sent in songs made the cut into this new version, we were thrilled that our track did.
The compilation was never released for streaming, and in the wake of the heartbreaking passing of the legendary Tim Curry, we felt that what better tribute could we offer than to finally release our little cover for all of you to enjoy. So for the first time in 23 years… you can now hear it everywhere officially (not just on a random post on YouTube).
Did this have two covers?
Thank you to Tim Curry for his incredible performances, Richard O’Brien for his incredible songs and his movie, Tom Gaffery for always making a home for us and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at his wonderful theater, Chris Lindeman for dropping everything and recording this silly idea, Eddie Migraine for thinking of this project and letting us be a part of it, Kevin Sur for telling us about it, and Avi Ehrlich for saving it.
Enjoy. 🖤
“Planet Schmanet, Janet“ is now streaming on all streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify!