Ratboys Celebrate New Album ‘The Window’ With 2 Hometown Shows
LAKEVIEW — On Ratboys’ amped-up new single “Crossed That Line,” the band captures the thrill of blowing off a week’s stress at a crowded gig.
Singer/songwriter Julia Steiner sings “Had to go / to the basement show / to have some fun” over frantic strums of fast-changing power chords.
The Chicago quartet started in dorm rooms and basements, but later this month Ratboys will set out on their first headlining tour in support of their fourth album “The Window,” including two hometown dates.
“The last time we played Chicago was almost a year and a half ago, so it’s been a while,” Steiner says. “We’re excited to play in front of our loved ones but also our beloved city.”
Ratboys headlines a sold-out show on Aug. 25 at Schubas, 3157 N. Southport Ave., with support from Hollow Bastion. The band also announced an album-listening party at Logan Square’s Big Kids, 2545 N. Kedzie Blvd., on Aug. 23 with karaoke and food and drink specials. After touring the U.S. this fall, the band will play on Dec. 22, at Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St., supported by DISQ.
Ratboys began in 2010 with Steiner and guitarist Dave Sagan writing songs and performing at the University of Notre Dame and surrounding South Bend, Ind. Both musicians relocated to Chicago after graduation and cycled through a number of collaborators until solidifying their lineup with drummer Marcus Nuccio and bassist Sean Neumann, connections made through a thriving DIY rock scene in the south suburbs.
The band’s blend of classic rock and alt-country drew increasingly large crowds, including a sold-out show at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., in February 2020 and a performance opening for a Bernie Sanders primary campaign speech that earned an onstage thanks from the Senator.
Unable to tour at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, the band continued down new avenues: “virtual tour” live stream performances, Bandcamp exclusive releases, community discussions on Patreon and Discord. Now back on the road, they’re meeting fans at the merch table and matching faces to online avatars.
“We all come from a DIY background and have played many shows to no one, so it’s truly so exciting when people come to see us play,” Steiner said. “None of us take it for granted.”
Ratboys’ new album “The Window” presents Steiner’s earnest first-person verses draped in folk, country and noise. The four musicians recorded in Seattle with producer Chris Walla in February 2022, thrilled to work with the same producer as bands like Foxing and Death Cab For Cutie. He was a welcoming and collaborative colleague and a valuable sounding board as the band refined their arrangements. “One of the phrases Chris used sometimes is, ‘This song needs a haircut,’” Sagan said.
It’s the group’s most adventurous album yet, while retaining the stable core of four people playing in a room together.
“We’re just trying to continue the language of rock’n’roll,” Nuccio says.
“Black Earth, WI” is a nearly nine-minute epic featuring a Sagan solo that growls and bares its teeth before the vocals release the tension with a “na na” chorus. The band cut the song in one performance, the second take of the session and named it after a real town spotted on tour.
On “I Want You (Fall 2010),” Nuccio and Neumann lock into a rhythm pulsing with the nervous energy of a new love to match Steiner’s recollections of dorm room romance.
“I wanted to write a love song that’s 100 percent love, not focusing on any hard times, the very beginning of a relationship when you have a crush on someone and they can do no wrong,” Steiner said.
“The Window” uses Steiner’s grandparents’ relationship and grandmother’s passing to reflect on the fleeting nature of love, arranged for arena rock scale.
“It is about loss and grief and so it’s inherently sad, but I think of it more as a tribute,” Steiner said. “I find myself needing to play that song actually.”
The song has struck a chord with fans who’ve approached her after shows with their own stories of loss. She recently played the song for her family members back home in Kentucky, and her grandfather loved it.
Ratboys has been working on the songs from “The Window” since 2020, so they’re eager to perform them for an audience and hear them take on new forms.
“Sometimes people will react to a part in the song that I’m not expecting them to, you feel a certain surge of energy and it changes how you play,” Steiner said. “I’m excited to give these songs a new stage of life in a room with people.”
Originally published on Block Club Chicago.