Hot Snakes began as a side project, but you could just as easily frame the band as John Reis getting back on his bullshit. Reis, a punk-rock lifer from San Diego, had experienced the greatest success of his career fronting the soulful, brass-blasted rock ‘n’ roll band Rocket From The Crypt throughout the ’90s. RFTC were relatively accessible as punk bands go; they weren’t poppy to a Green Day extent, but thanks to their loose, playful take on garage rock — and maybe especially thanks to that horn section — they were primed to blow up in a way none of this guy’s other bands ever have, especially once punk, ska, and swing went mainstream midway through the decade. At my middle school they were “opened for Foo Fighters” famous.