Ratcat certainly had a rockin’ good 1991. They scooped three awards at the inaugural Australian Music Awards and, more importantly, they managed to come second (behind Melissa) in our Smash Hits Readers Poll Best Australian Act category.

How do you feel when one of your favourite bands are in town and you can’t see them because you’re under-18? Don’t worry, Simon and Amr from Ratat know exactly how you feel. Not only do they make a point of playing at under-18 shows, it turns out they used to be forced to sneak into venues when they were younger. “We’d get in any way we could,” says Amr. “I’d go in and see bands like Echo and The Bunnymen when I was 15,” says Simon. Like their friends The Hard-Ons, Ratcat always try to organise all-age concerts - when they’re not busy organising their fan mail that is.

”People send in drawings and stuff to us all the time,” says Simon. “They draw their interpretations of Ratcat. One drawing of a cat I saw had a really sad expression on its face because it had rats comng out of its head!” Another Ratcat fan, it seems, actually saw a ratcat. “One guy said he saw one walking down the road from his place,” says Simon. “He told me that it went squeow!” Ratcat’s plans for 1992? A new album is on the way (but Simon won’t be drawing the cover this time) and in the new video, Amr jokes that they’ll be using helicopters (and flying them!)