Monday, October 14, 2013

The Rock-Afire Explosion



Can animatronic musicians give you chills? ... Yep!
The Rock-afire Explosion was an 80's hair band that played most often in Showbiz Pizza Place establishments. The band was fronted completely by animatronic musicians, including bears, a wolf and drunken bird.

Aaron Fechter was the creator of The Rock-afire band, but his first idea to change the world was a gas-saving car! He literally built a car from the ground up... and while it worked, money was an issue holding back production of the vehicle. Fechter toiled with inventions and ideas, before being commissioned to create something new - robotic animals.

Soon enough, Showbiz Pizza and The Rock-afire Explosion were a match made in heaven. Pizza and robots?! What else could one ask for out of a restaurant?

Showbiz built a great reputation among families, and kids were drawn by not only "tokens for good grades", but most importantly, the multi-instrumental band that played for patrons, while still having time to crack jokes with one another. Inevitably,...

A Triumphant Return for The Rock-afire Explsion...and Legitimacy for the Fans That Love Them
As a child of the 80's I grew up being introduced to many wonderous creations that children now take for granted. Compact Disks (CD's) were not around when I was born, nor was computer animation that is in just about every Hollywood film that comes down the pike these days. It was a more simple time, with more simple pleasures. In the early 80's, Showbiz Pizza Place was one of those simple pleasures.

The pizza was decent, the place was fun, but the most memorable part of any visit to Showbiz was the animatronic band that played in the showroom. They were known as The Rock-afire Explosion. Being in the showroom as a kid was great! Keep in mind this was long before the technologies that we appreciate today, and moving, talking robot animals that were a few feet away was a really cool thing. Kids loved it! I was one of them.

I wasn't there that many times as a kid - I'm sure I could count the visits on both hands and not use all the fingers - but the...

A Must Have for anyone with fond memories of Showbiz Pizza Place
This is a very well-done documentary on the Showbiz Pizza Place animatronic house band, The Rock-afire Explosion. I had been wondering what had happened to Showbiz Pizza Place and The Rock-afire Explosion band. I grew up in San Antonio, Texas and I do recall that shortly after Showbiz Pizza Place restuarants began to disappear that the Rock-afire Explosion band appeared at a few Pistol Pete's Pizza locations and being a child I was confused by it mainly because I could tell that Pistol Pete's Pizza did not maintain and take pride in having the Rock-afire Explosion band there. This documentary does a wonderful job explaining and filling-in the gaps of what happened in both an informative and fun way. You will not regret this purchase - Enjoy!

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