Perhaps you’ve heard the story about how Rocket From The Crypt famously pledged free admission to anyone willing to sacrifice burial in a Jewish cemetery by tattooing the band’s logo somewhere on their person? The Wall Street Journal’s Ryan Dezember reports that with RFTC’s reunion dates a hot/expensive ticket, the band cannot make good on this lifetime commitment.

37-year-old Graham Fahey of Brooklyn waited too long to buy tickets for a pair of sold-out New York concerts scheduled for April. He thought he had a trick up his sleeve to get in: a rocket tattoo on his left forearm. Alas, when he reached the band’s management to ask, he learned he would need a ticket—tattooed or not.

John Reis, Rocket from the Crypt’s lead singer and songwriter, says the band, which combines blaring horns with densely layered guitars, is both befuddled and flattered by the number of fans who have its tattoo. Though the band wasn’t pushing fans to get tattoos just to get into shows, “we kinda created this thing where we don’t want to renege on what people think the deal is,” he says.

“It got a little out of hand,” says Mike Stobbe, a San Diego tattoo artist who inked the band members. Mr. Stobbe estimates he has tattooed “a couple hundred” fans, and still fields the occasional request. “It’s hard to have a guest list of that magnitude,” he says.

As it prepared last year for its first shows in eight years, the band was preoccupied with other matters. Its saxophone player needed a saxophone, for instance. “We really didn’t think about it,” says Mr. Reis, 44. “We were more surprised that we were playing again.”