They’re the hottest band in the land, and they’re about to take their brand of mayhem to Britain. Will they pull it off? Has success started to dissolve their brain cells? Michael Dalla Fontana spoke to them when they were in Hobart for two shows.

They had been waiting a long time. A long time for a band to arrive that could turn a normally quiet city into a frenzy. A band called Ratcat did that to Hobart. Ratcat are, of course, the hottest band in the country at the moment. They did that by topping the LP charts (Blind Love which went gold from advance orders came into the charts at No. 1 - the first time for a debut LP by an Australian act) in the same week that “Don’t Go Now” topped the singles charts. The darlings of the indie scene, they’ve managed to make a big splash on the Top 40 while still holding their inner city status. The original fans who bought their first LP on Waterfront, This Nightamare (to be released on CD) also bought their new one.

To their credit, Ratcat see themselves as part of a New Invasion Of Young Bands. They refuse to bitch about the other new acts and, in interviews, speak enthusiastically about how their close friends The Hummingbirds could well be the next hot act, and cite other new acts like Killing Time, Clouds and Fallling Joys.

Yes, they say, they’re dazed by their massive success and put it down to a combination of timing, luck and the fact that young fans looking for new heroes think they have a “new sound” (a sound that in the future could see them add a fourth member, possibly on keyboards, to trigger the sampling they use on stage).

It was to this multi-aged audience that Ratcat came to play to, at the Hobart City Hall - an underaged show at 2pm and a licensed one at 730pm. The set comprised of their tracks from This Nightmare through to Tingles and Blind Love. I myself was interested at how they’d progressed from the last time I saw them, supporting the Buzzcocks in 1989 at the Melbourne Palais. Judging from the audience reaction, it was obvious that the young crowd was as much into the early “Independent” stuff as the newer “Top 40” stuff - making mockery of the lines that exist in some circles between independent music and major label music.

The young audience were behind Ratcat from the word go. When they were asked to all countdown from 10 to 0 for “Getting Away (From This World)”, they did so with genuine enthusiasm. The stage backdrop was interesting. Splashes of vibrant colours splattered in an unmistakeable style associated with the bands image. They returned for one encore only, and left the audience chanting for more - leaving them on a high they would not forget while the band heads off overseas next month to break the lucrative European and American markets.

Ratcat actually started out six years ago under the name “Dangermouse” didn’t it?

Andrew : “Yeah, that’s correct. It started with the original bass player Victor Levi, who actually plyed on the first mini-LP, Simon, and a drum machine. That line-up lasted for about a year, played about three or four shows which were high school dances. It was very noisy! Basically noise with a drum machine.”

How come you called the band Ratcat?

Andrew : “Ratcat was just the name of one of the songs when it (the band) was called Dangermouse. The name stuck and we went with it.”

Did you expect Tingles to sell so well?

Andrew : No, I didn’t. We basically went ahead with the view of just creating some sort of bridge between the independent and the major markets. We obviously had more money and a producer to be able to work with us, so it was basically to do that. I honestly expected to sell probably about 6000 copies. Now its gone 90 000, it’s totally blown us away.”

How long did it take to put the tracks down on Tingles?

Andrew : “Well, the tracks on Tingles and Blind Love were all recorded in the same session. We were going to release them on an album. But when we finished the tracks and had them ready to go, it was getting close to Christmas. So rooArt, rather than have us caught up in the Christmas rush of LPs by major artists and Best Ofs decided they’d release it early in the New Year. We said ‘listen, we need something to keep our name out there to make people aware that we’re still around’, which is rally an integral part of musical tactics in this country, because people do forget. So we released, Tingles, and then did a couple of new tracks for Blind Love.”

Do you think that the lower price of Tingles helped sales along, or do you reckon Ratcat fans will pay any price for a pressing of what you do?

Andrew : “A certain amount of diehard fans would, but no doubt it helped it along a lot.”

Why did you include some songs on Blind Love that were already on Tingles then?

Andrew : “What was going to occur was that we were going to completely delete Tingles and just release the album overseas, because we wanted to keep known to the Australian public during the break while the album was going to be released. Then the record company saw that Tingles went in at No. 50 on the charts and hovered around there for a couple of weeks. The record company wanted ‘That Ain’t Bad’ basically because it was the only track they were going to release overseas. Then it went to No. 1. and they sent copies over to England and America and they (the record companies there) loved it, and now want to release it. So that was the reasoning behind that.”

Blind Love was released on May 20. Have you any idea of its success so far?

Andrew : “It debuted at No. 1 on the Australian charts which is the first time an Australian band has ever done that apparently. It’s sold in the vicinity of 60 000 copies…which is just bizarre!”

Do you reckon that the INXS Factor tour helped you gain a lot of mainstream popularity?

Andrew : “Ahhh, definitely. Tingles was No. 30 at that time, and the INXS tour got us amazing exposure, and at the very end we hit No. 1. So I think it did a lot of good.”

You’ve toured with some pretty big international names like The Buzzcocks, Jesus Jones and Pop Will Eat Itself. What’s been the most memorable one?

Andrew : “Well, the INXS tour was great. But the Buzzcocks tour was definitely the best one. They were just friendly people. We grew up with their music, and I personally know all their stuff, and Simon does as well. So we watched every concert from start to finish. They were just wild! It was unreal!”

What’s the formula, why have Ratcat become so popular?

Andrew : “I think it has to do with simplicity, repetition, ‘up’-ness and the contents of the songs. It does have its darker moments, though. Yeah, its just ‘up’ and it’s fun. Although there are a lot of influences that obviously come out in Ratcat’s music, I can’t really cite anyone that’s like us.”

There have been some calls of “sell out”. What do you think “sell out” means?

Andrew : “Sell Out? I think that means when you’ve got no more of a certain item in a shop.”

Why are you starting your national tour in Hobart? Very few bands of your calibre do this sort of thing.

Andrew : “We’ve always wanted to come and play here. We like the place…and we just want to play as many places as we can. Hobart seemed like a good place to start. It’s school holidays down here now, you can get lots of people along…and you’ve got good lobster down here!” (laughs)

It’s great to see you’re playing underage shows. Why are you doing this? Would it have anything to do with the recession?

Andrew : “It’s got nothing to do with the recession, as I see it. Basically, a lot of young kids who’re into Ratcat can’t get into the pubs to see us. We’re trying to do an underage show in every State, at least. They’re some of the most enthusiastic crowds you can have. It’s just great. There’s a lot of energy there, and why not?”

All the artwork on your record sleeves - is that all of Simon’s work or does he collaborate with other people?

Andrew : “No, he’s basically done all the artwork. He was an art major at the Sydney College of the Arts.”

[Enter Simon Day]

Simon, you’ve upset a few people with your artwork on the Blind Love cover. Can you understand why?

Simon : “What are their criticisms and then I’ll answer the question.”

Well Stephanie Lewis from Racket didn’t like the nurse.

Simon : “So she thought it was sexist, then?”

Possibly. Can you understand why she thought that?

Simon : “Sure, but I can’t understand why she didn’t pick out the violent aspects of it, you know what I mean? Basically it was done as black humour. The thing that surprises me though, is that most people pick out the sexiest bits of it but not the part of her actually ripping somebody’s heart out. You know, the guy’s got blood all over him! I dunno, it’s up to people to think what they want. It doesn’t fuss me, I didn’t get upset by it. But (the nurse) is still clothed, I think she has strength, she’s got the doctor, you know what I mean?”

Have you got a guitar hero?

Simon : Not really. I just like noisy guitarists.”

Do you think you’ve become a guitar hero for a lot of kids out there now?

Simon : “I wouldn’t like to think of it that way (laughter), I wouldn’t think so…I don’t know…it’s been too quick.”

On your first album you covered a Darling Buds song, “If I Said”. Do you like them a lot?

Simon : “Yeah, and we liked the song as well. It was like the first song they ever released on Independent with drum machine, really fuzzy guitar, really noisy guitar with good melodies.”

Have you got a local band that you really like at this point in time?

Andrew : “There’s plenty of bands I like at the moment. I like Swirl, Massappeal, Killing Time and Box of Jesuits. There’s a lot of good bands around.
Simon : “I like The Clouds, The Hummingbirds and Toys Went Berserk. They are more or less my favourites.”

Are Ratcat looking for world domination?

Simon : “We’re flying to England in July. We’re starting the seeds, we’re planting the seeds in July” (laughter
Andrew : Tingles will be released in late June in England and Europe, and will be released in America in September.”

Simon, will we see your artwork around the country in the future?

Simon : Ahh, an art tour. I’d like to do that actually.”
Andrew : “In the future we’d like to have an exhibition ‘cos we’ve all dabbled in the creative fields. It’d be great!”

How about an exhibition as part of a concert? Or before one

Simon : Yeah, that’s a fantastic idea. We’ve talked about that already, as an interest point to just try to expand out of that whole rock and roll cliché. That kinda bugs us, so those sort of ideas are really good.”