RATBOYS + SUDS – DUST, BRIGHTON 13.11.23
American indie rock band Ratboys started their UK and European tour at DUST in Brighton on Monday night. The band was formed in 2010 by Julia Steiner (guitar, vocals) and Dave Sagan (guitar). The line-up was completed with Marcus Nuccio (drums) and Sean Neumann (bass, vocals). Their tour follows their fifth studio album, ‘The Window’, which was released on 25th August 2023 through Topshelf Records.
At the start of their set, Julia announced, “We’re from Chicago on our European UK adventure”. To almost emphasise the point, drummer Marcus was wearing a t-shirt from their home city declaring “Chicago My Kind Of Town”. After the opening couple of new songs, ‘Making Noise For The Ones You Love’ and ‘Morning Zoo’, the band mentioned their new album, ‘The Window’, and the next song would be the fourth track from it, which they described as “the Devil’s track”. ‘It’s Alive’ was a slightly mellower song compared to the opening two. The next track ‘Go Outside’ was dedicated to the audience, who had gone outside to get to the gig. Julia pointed out the gig was inside, “but we haven’t yet written a song called ‘Go Outside And Back Inside’”. This song, from the 2021 album ‘Happy Birthday, Ratboy’, had a bit of a country music sound.
Julia announced that it was Ratboys’ third time playing Brighton after shows in 2016 and 2018, and apologised for breaking their two-year pattern and not being back sooner. Whilst introducing the next song about her childhood cat, it was obvious that some people had been at those previous Ratboys shows, shouting out the cat’s name, Elvis. The song ‘Elvis In The Freezer’, from their 2017 album ‘GN’, had a strange backstory of freezing the dead cat to prolong saying goodbye to it.
Julia and other members of the band had some witty banter with the audience. For example, after ‘I Want You (Fall 2010)’ Julia said that one had been a request. She joked, “Always happy when somebody requests a song we know how to play. So, if anybody wants ‘Beverly Hills’ by Weezer. No really. You’re here for Ratboys.” Introducing ‘Black Earth, WI’, Julia said “For this one we made a YouTube music video with our bare hands,” adding “… and a computer.” This was one of the standout tracks of their set. At about 8 minutes long, it had an amazing instrumental break, which showcased Dave’s intricate guitar skills really well.
Usually in bands, it’s the bassist who is fairly stationary and doesn’t sing, while the lead guitarist sings backing vocals. With Ratboys, it was the other way round. Bassist Sean sang backing vocals and moved around the stage, while guitarist Dave didn’t sing and stood rather still. However, both were key in the band’s soft-hearted Midwestern indie rock. Their sound also had a subtle Americana twist.
Before the last two songs, Julia said that the band would be at the merch stall after the gig “in the seductive circular booths at the back, before we’re all kicked out at 10.” Those last two songs were the most mellow of the set, with Julia singing solo with just her own guitar on the intros. They were a perfect way to close a very impressive, entertaining performance by Ratboys.
Ratboys:
Julia Steiner – guitar, vocals
Dave Sagan – guitar
Marcus Nuccio – drums
Sean Neumann – bass, vocals
Ratboys setlist:
‘Making Noise For The Ones You Love’
‘Morning Zoo’
‘It’s Alive!’
‘Go Outside’
‘Crossed That Line’
‘Elvis Is In The Freezer’
‘I Want You (Fall 2010)’
‘Charles Bernstein’
‘The Window’
‘I Go Out At Night’
‘Break’
‘Black Earth, WI’
‘Bad Reaction’
‘Peter The Wild Boy’
Supporting Ratboys were Norwich based SUDS. Like the headline band, they were also making their third appearance in Brighton and have recently released an album, their debut, ‘The Great Overgrowth’, via Big Scary Monsters. The Emo/indie four-piece are Jack Ames (drums, vocals), Mae Cater (vocals, guitar), Dan Godfrey (guitar, vocals) and Harry Mitchell (bass).
The opening song from SUDS ‘A Terrible Thing’ started very gently for the first few bars with Mae singing with just a guitar before the whole band joined. That was a bit of a wake-up jolt, as if the band and venue came to life. The quick drumming from Jack set a faster tempo for the next song, ‘Changing’. ‘Entropy’, introduced as “an old one” their debut single, and ‘Hard For Me’ were mellower songs.
SUDS varied the pace of their set very well between songs, with the next two being more up-tempo indie pop tunes. ‘Paint My Body’ was particularly good. This was followed by ‘Gone For Good’ which Mae introduced as “the ballad from the album”. Mae’s vocals across both the quieter slower and louder faster songs were equally impressive and a highlight of SUDS’s performance. The band combined great vocals and harmonies with fuzzy indie guitar tunes, not unlike Alvvays or Sixpence None The Richer, which the crowd seemed to really enjoy. I certainly did.
SUDS closed a very enjoyable set with two tracks from their debut album ‘The Great Overgrowth’. Bassist Harry said it was the closing track then one from the middle, “No idea why it’s that order”. The first was ‘Overgrowth’ which was a gentler song with a dreamlike intro and early vocals, whereas ‘Freckle’ was an upbeat pop tune. The right order, I think, to finish a very good performance by SUDS.
SUDS:
Mae Cater – vocals, guitar
Jack Ames – drums, vocals
Dan Godfrey – guitar, vocals
Harry Mitchell – bass
SUDS setlist:
‘A Terrible Thing’
‘Changing’
‘Entropy’
‘Hard For Me’
‘Hide & Seek’
‘Paint My Body’
‘Gone For Good’
‘The Great Overgrowth’
‘Overgrown’
‘Freckle’
