{"title":"Ratboys","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRatboys is an indie rock band hailing from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 2010 by Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan, the duo has since expanded to include additional members. With their unique blend of folk and punk influences, Ratboys have gained a loyal following for their heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKnown for their energetic live performances, Ratboys have toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, sharing the stage with notable acts such as Pinegrove and The Front Bottoms. Their music has been praised for its introspective storytelling and relatable themes of love, loss, and self-discovery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith several critically acclaimed albums under their belt, including \"GN\" and \"Printer's Devil,\" Ratboys continue to push boundaries with their evolving sound. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to their music, Ratboys' discography offers something for everyone looking for authentic indie rock that speaks to the heart.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-window-2","title":"The Window","description":"\u003cp\u003eRatboys have been recording and releasing music for over a decade, but their newest album, The Window, marks the first time they'd ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to make a record, journeying to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla.     The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band's style of soft-hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys' most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on \"Crossed That Line\" and \"It's Alive!\" to a warm country twang on \"Morning Zoo\" to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard--expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender--the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - White","offer_id":50389651554635,"sku":"2046691","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50389651620171,"sku":"2050593","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_2e8e3b6d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726367391"},{"product_id":"gn","title":"GN","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGN\u003c\/i\u003e offers a bevy of tales, laments, and triumphs, which recount near tragedies by the train tracks, crippling episodes of loneliness, remembrances of a deceased family pet with freezer burn, and on and on. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe songs shift and breathe as worlds all their own, tied together by the group's self-proclaimed 'post-country' sound, which combines moments of distortion and a DIY aesthetic with a devotion to simple songwriting and ties to the Americana sounds of years past.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Blue","offer_id":50401833124171,"sku":"1155882","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP - Maroon","offer_id":51188271022411,"sku":"2242511","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50401834598731,"sku":"1155883","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c0f5f447-c9a8-439a-af38-6355ac94a586_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726525579"},{"product_id":"the-window-4","title":"The Window","description":"\u003cp\u003eRatboys have been recording and releasing music for over a decade, but their newest album, The Window, marks the first time they'd ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to make a record, journeying to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla. The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band's style of soft-hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys' most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on \"Crossed That Line\" and \"It's Alive!\" to a warm country twang on \"Morning Zoo\" to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard--expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender--the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Pink","offer_id":50426413842763,"sku":"2184933","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_47728939_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726809418"},{"product_id":"aoid","title":"Aoid","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAoid\u003c\/i\u003e starts with disarming sounds swarming and settling into a prominent, mellifluous vocal track and heartbreakingly tender strumming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAoid\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us of classics like Mirah, Okkervil River, Rilo Kiley or Wye Oak meeting somewhere with more contemporary acts like Waxahatchee or even Hop Along at their quieter moments. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Blue","offer_id":50456998347083,"sku":"1155892","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50456997593419,"sku":"1155891","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5b7f60e6-20f8-4884-b7b9-f6bf3af76b71_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727202315"},{"product_id":"printer-s-devil","title":"Printer's Devil","description":"\u003cp\u003eUpheaval and change are themes spread throughout the songs on \u003ci\u003ePrinter’s Devil\u003c\/i\u003e, the latest Ratboys LP, released via Topshelf Records. A tangible sonic shift is apparent thanks to a newly-expanded lineup - founding members Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan are now joined by Marcus Nuccio and Sean Neumann on drums and bass. What started as an acoustic duo has finally transformed into a full-scale indie-rock band with a clear identity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded live at Decade Music Studios in Chicago, \u003ci\u003ePrinter's Devil\u003c\/i\u003e features big-chorus power pop songs like “Alien with a Sleep Mask On” and “Anj” that sound massive and larger than life, alongside intimate folk songs like “A Vision” and devastating alt-country tracks like “Listening,” showcasing once again the group's signature versatility. Building off their previous albums Ratboys captures the bombastic, electrified fun of their live show in a bottle on \u003ci\u003ePrinter’s Devil\u003c\/i\u003e and showcases their growing chemistry as a tight-knit group.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Pink","offer_id":50463971213643,"sku":"1155886","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50463971672395,"sku":"1087717","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/aa20f4b4-ef32-4801-ac0b-5a8cfd70ab1b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727269303"},{"product_id":"happy-birthday-ratboy","title":"Happy Birthday, Ratboy","description":"\u003ctable width=\"71\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\"\u003e\n\u003ccolgroup\u003e\u003ccol width=\"71\"\u003e\u003c\/colgroup\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr height=\"20\"\u003e\n\u003ctd width=\"71\" height=\"20\"\u003eHappy Birthday, Ratboy combines the old and new — containing 10 brand new recordings of their earliest material + a newly-written bonus track, this record celebrates a decade of Ratboys: a 10-year songwriting partnership, an evolving live show, a D.I.Y. project, a web of friendships, and every thing in between. Almost as soon as Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan met during their college orientation, they started playing music together. What came out of their dorm rooms was the 5-song RATBOY EP, uploaded to Bandcamp on April 1, 2011 to share with friends and family. Now, to mark a decade since (to the day), Ratboys have hit the studio to re-inhabit these songs and bring them back to life. New recordings of the 5 original RATBOY EP songs make up the A-side of Happy Birthday, Ratboy, with 5 new versions of rare college-era tracks and the newly-written standout, “Go Outside” on the B-side. Featuring mainstays from their live show over the years, including “The Stanza” \u0026amp; “Space Blows,” pressed to vinyl for the first time and given the full band treatment, Happy Birthday, Ratboy introduces new Ratboys fans to the band’s beginnings while also raising a toast to those who’ve been there from the start.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Topshelf Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Red Velvet","offer_id":51227586986315,"sku":"2243814","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50474326262091,"sku":"1120838","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/276331b8-ca07-45ad-8183-598cd17c4ecf_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727435670"},{"product_id":"singin-to-an-empty-chair","title":"Singin' To An Empty Chair","description":"\u003cp\u003eIndie rock stalwarts Ratboys release \u003cem\u003eSingin’ to an Empty Chair\u003c\/em\u003e, via New West Records,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite its title, \u003cem\u003eSingin’ to an Empty Chair \u003c\/em\u003eisn’t defined by what’s missing. Rather, it’s the beginning of an important dialogue with a close loved one vocalist\/guitarist Julia Steiner finds herself estranged from. The music on the band’s sixth studio album – its first for New West Records – fills the space that person left behind with 11 songs showcasing Ratboys' twangy, effervescent, as confident as they’ve ever been, and more emotionally interrogative than ever before. If the band’s last record, 2023’s widely-praised\u003cem\u003e The Window\u003c\/em\u003e, was \"a level-up record,” then \u003cem\u003eSingin’ to an Empty Chair \u003c\/em\u003eis Ratboys at the peak of their powers. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo craft\u003cem\u003e Singin’ to an Empty Chair,\u003c\/em\u003e Julia Steiner, guitarist Dave Sagan, drummer Marcus Nuccio, and bassist Sean Neumann decamped to a 75-acre plot of land in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area to write and demo the new songs. Months later, the group reconvened back at the same cabin to begin tracking with co-producer Chris Walla, the band’s trusted collaborator who also produced \u003cem\u003eThe Window.\u003c\/em\u003e After a one-week cabin session, Ratboys and Walla took the songs to Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, and later to Rosebud Studio in Evanston, Illinois, to finish recording. “We wanted to approach this record like it was a quilt,” Neumann says. “We recorded the songs in all these different places, so we approached it in a way where different songs had different scenes. Certain parts of songs were recorded in different spaces, and we switch back and forth between them throughout the record to help tell the story of each song.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSteiner is “[a] sharp-eyed lyricist” (Vulture), and nowhere is this more clear than on Singin’ to an Empty Chair. \"A big, overarching theme of this record is my attempt to document my experience being estranged from a close loved one,” she says. “The goal is to update this person on what's been going on in my life and to try to bridge that impasse and reach out a hand into the void.” S\u003cem\u003eingin’ to an Empty Chair \u003c\/em\u003emarks the first Ratboys album written since Steiner began therapy. The title references a therapy exercise called “The Empty Chair” technique, during which a person attempts to have a difficult conversation with someone who’s not physically present, by speaking out loud to an empty chair and imagining that the person is really there.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It's not all doom and gloom,” Steiner adds. Though \u003cem\u003eSingin’ to an Empty Chair \u003c\/em\u003enavigates complex family dynamics, the band expertly weaves in candid honesty, chaos, and whimsy along the way. Humor finds its way into the conversation on the caffeinated anxiety anthem “Anywhere,” for which Steiner found inspiration in Sagan’s family dog. “Whenever Dave’s mom leaves the room, oh man, his whole world just falls apart,” she says. “You can see it in his face.  I think a lot of us can relate to that sort of anxious attachment style.” The accompanying video, directed by Bobby Butterscotch, is an amusing visualization of this type of relationship. Footage of the band ripping a performance in a fish store are woven with clips of a pet owner visiting various places across Chicago with his goldfish. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New West Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Opaque Yellow \/ Signed \/ Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":53739304157515,"sku":"R8405-7215","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"2LP - Green \/ Signed","offer_id":55789816185163,"sku":"R8405-5874","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":55789816250699,"sku":"R8405-2411","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD \/ Signed","offer_id":55789816152395,"sku":"R8405-2718","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":55789816217931,"sku":"R8405-1467","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tape","offer_id":55789816119627,"sku":"R8405-4539","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"2LP - Green and Brown Marble","offer_id":56647554203979,"sku":"R8405-1829","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"2LP - Green and Brown Marble + Litho","offer_id":57593456820555,"sku":"R8405-4658","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Screenshot2025-10-27at17.08.39.png?v=1761584973"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_aa889e63_thumbnail_4096_4faf1119-10b4-40ab-991c-a51238e5df13.jpg?v=1726367364","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/ratboys.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}