It was perfect, really. There among the sound of motorcycle engines gunning and the smell of diesel and T-shirts with sayings like “If you can read this, the bastard won’t let me drive,” Jennifer Herrema, often imitated, never duplicated, and RTX stumbled onstage Friday night at Emo’s. With white fox tails draped around her neck, a sweatshirt over her ratty blond hair, and a lit cigarette constantly in hand, she looked like the pied piper of gutter metal. That’s perfect, too, because RTX’s latest, Western Xterminator, is straight road hog from the Sunset Strip circa 1989, and they did not disappoint.
Herrema sat on the drum kit, fell to her knees, and two-stepped around in her snake-skin boots. Her voice is a little clearer than in her Royal Trux days, and the band fogged up the place via big-hair riffs. Sadly, their cover of Fang’s (Fang! Does anyone remember Fang?) “The Money Will Roll Right In” wasn’t on the set list, but the crowning moment came toward the end of the night, when Herrema finally dropped the bag she’d had strapped across her chest, pulled out a lovely and elusive powder-blue fox tail, and dropped it on the ground. Just like that. Poof.
This article appears in June 1 • 2007.