Ratcat - they’re ear-piercingly loud and outrageously cute! Talented frontman Simon Day managed to tear himself away from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to chat with Kerryn Ramsey about life, the universe and everything.

If you had to name one of Australia’s noisiest bands, you’d probably pick AC/DC. If you had to pick the cutest you might pick Indecent Obsession (what the?…- epod). But if you’re looking for a band that combines both, you can’t go past Ratcat.

With the release of their second album, and three top 10 singles under their black leather belts, Ratcat have hit the big time. Their combination of thrashy guitar songs and sexy looks has sent the album Blind Love screaming up the charts. And on their recent tour as support band for INXS, they almost upstaged the main act.

So, who are Ratcat, and what’s so special about them? Well, Ratcat is made up of bass player Amr Zaid, drummer Andrew Polin, and lead guitarist and singer Simon Day. After working their way up through the Sydney independent band scene, this sudden mega-success is as much a surprise to Simon as anyone. “We’re still kind of in shock that our songs have done so well on the charts,” he admits. “A lot of radio stations said they wouldn’t play them until they started to get on the charts.”

The first single “That Ain’t Bad” was accompanied by a rather low-key video where the only special effect was lots of sidelong looks from Simon. That one was followed up by the huge “Don’t Go Now” and the latest single, “Baby Baby” is still climbing the charts.

According to Simon, “Baby Baby” is about losing someone that you love. “It’s about being lonely and being sad. People will relate to it if they’re down in the dumps.” He says it doesn’t have to be about a boyfriend or girlfriend - the song could be about losing your cat! “I love cats,” he admits. “They just walk around and sleep all day. They’ve got the best lives. I’ve had cats in the past and I’m looking to get a new one - a little kitten.”

Apart from cats, what else appeals to Simon? “I like a lot of David Lynch movies (such as Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart) and I’m addicted to Twin Peaks. I also like Elvis, and I think Nicolas Cage is a good actor. I like Johnny Depp in a B-grade way. Michelle Pfeiffer is my favourite actress , and I couldn’t go through my favourites without mentioning Elvira and…”

At this point the interview stops for a second as Simon gets up to turn on the TV. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are on now,” he explains. Simon loves comics and cartoons, although he says he just likes them for the artwork. He loves Batman in the Dark Night series of comics “because it really shows up his psychological problems.” He’s also managed to catch a couple of episodes of The Simpsons, and can relate to Bart’s brattiness. “The whole band are brats,” he admits. So what’s the brattiest thing Simon’s ever done? “I put cereal in our bass player’s suitcase once!”

Being on the road for long tours is something most bands get sick of fast. But for Simon, being on stage makes all the hard work worthwhile. “We all have fun on stage,” he says. “It’s a great release being able to sing out load. And it’s good seeing everyone in the audience singing. Sometimes they get so loud I can’t even hear myself.” And it’s usually not just singing that deafens Ratcat. There’s often a load of girls down the front engaged in primal scream therapy. “That happens a lot at under-18s shows,” Simon admits. “The girls are a lot more excitable at these shows. They scream more than the normal pub crowd.”

Ratcat shows are never dull, and have been known to inspire the urge for mass stage-diving - climbing onto the stage and then launching yourself into the audience. It’s almost a religious experience because of the amount of faith it requires - if the audience don’t catch you can end up face first on the ground. “The stage-divers are good,” says Simon, “as long as they keep away from us. They can do it as long as they don’t knock over the mics or the amps. But I don’t like it when they interfere with the performance.” And how does Simon cope when things get out of hand? “I kind of let ‘em know not to do it again,” he says, in a very polite rock-star way.

When Simon’s not playing with the band, he’s usually writing songs for them. “I work pretty hard at the songwriting part of it, and I end up putting a lot of songs on the backburner. For every song that Ratcat plays, I’ve usually written two or three that weren’t quite right.” And when he’s not writing songs, he’s doing artwork for the band. As a qualified graphic artist, he does all the designs for the album and single covers, tour posters, and exclusive T-shirts. The band keeps releasing more and more T-shirt designs, which they usually sell at concerts, and they’re fast being snapped up as collectors items.

So, when he’s not writing, playing, singing, or designing, what does Simon Day do with his spare time? “I don’t get much. I spend it sleeping, making dinner, washing my clothes…” But not at four o’clock, no doubt, because that’s time for the turtles!

Obscure Ratcat fact #1

Next time you go to the movies, watch the ads before the film starts. You might catch Simon in one of those groovy Philips ads - you know, the ones where you haven’t got a clue what they’re advertising until the very end. Seems he was asked if he’d like to provide a song for the ad, and he wasn’t so sure. “I checked out the script just to make sure it wasn’t dicky, like a jeans ad or something. And it was a weird, weird script so I liked it. I asked them who was being cast in the lead role, and they said I could try out. So I went along to the casting with 30 or 40 other guys and got the part.” Next stop, Hollywood!

Obscure Ratcat fact #2

Bass player Amr is the baby of the band, being 21 this year. Andrew the drummer is 27, and Simon is 25. Spookily enough, his birthday is 6/6/66, which is very similar to 666, the number of the beast! So that explains his pre-occupation with horror stories…