Episode 75: Ratboys - The Window

The world is so huge you’re constantly stepping on new bands every week! When I heard the band name, Ratboys, I immediately thought it was an underground 70s punk band out of either New York or London that I’d never heard of. But with a touch of a smart phone generated icon, the track, Black Earth, WI, played through the car stereo, and that was all I needed. I proceeded to go back the next morning and listen to the Ratboys album, The Window in its entirety. To say I am in deep infatuation with this record, would be an understatement.

The band you’ve likely never heard of, Ratboys was formed in 2010 by lead singer and guitarist Julia Steiner along with lead guitarist Dave Sagan. Steiner and Sagan were attending Notre Dame University when they met. After the realization that they liked a lot of the same music, they formed a duo, playing together on acoustic guitars. After a few years writing and recording with an initial drummer and bass player, current bassist, Sean Neumann joined them in 2016. Marcus Nuccio joined them a year later in 2017 on drums. Originally, Steiner and Sagan named themselves Ratboy. The name originated from a nickname lead singer Julia Steiner was given in high school. To this day, she is not sure why or where the name came from. A group of her friends were giving each other nicknames, and Julia’s seemed to be the only one that stuck. 

In 2011, the band would change the name to Ratboys, plural, after stating they were getting strange, threatening emails from an artist in upstate New York, claiming to own the band name “Ratboy”. Rather than ignore or fight, they added the “s” and carried on. 

12 years after releasing their first piece of music as a two piece, an EP titled, Ratboy EP, the quartet released their fifth studio album, The Window on August 25th, 2023. The album was produced by Death Cab for Cutie band member, Chris Walla, in Seattle, Washington at Chris’ studio, Hall of Justice. This was the first album the group would record completely on analog tape, as opposed to digital…..the OLD SCHOOL WAY! 

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