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Rat City Riot
| Joel:
What's your band's name? Noah: Rat City Riot. Joel: Who all is in the band and what do they do? Noah: I sing, Mike plays bass, Paco and Chris rock out on the guitars and Jon bangs the hell out of some drums. Joel: Briefly describe your music. |
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Joel: Why should people listen to your band?
Jon: Cause we fucking rock!
Chris: Yeah we rock and I'm hot.
Joel: How long has Rat City Riot been a band for?
Jon: I believe we started around August 2002.
Noah: Yeah I think it was sometime around then, I was working as a bouncer at Club Xanth and found out about a couple different bands who had broken up or were in the midst of a breakup (Eradix, Cutthroat), I wanted to do another band and was introduced to Paco so we got on the ball and arranged the first practice at Jon's house. I think technically we got together and were somewhat officially "doing a band" the night of the last Eradix show. We practiced without a bass player for the first few months or so then we snagged Mike (ex Cutthroat- but not the local Cutthroat paco was in- a different band from Reno where Mike moved from- weird huh?) and since then we've played some shows with bands like Slaughter and the Dogs, Dr. Know, The Generators, Cheap Sex, Barnyard Ballers, The Distraction, the Straponz, Please Mr. Gravedigger, and some others I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Joel: Where did you get your name from?
Chris: I think our drummer made it up. I really have no idea. jeez , I'm not sounding too involved with this band.
Jon: I was looking through a skating magazine and I saw RAT CITY and said "hey, why not rat city rebels?" Then Noah said "rebel is too over done... why not riot?"
Noah: Pretty much we were open for any name that didn't sound absolutely stupid or idiotic- we may or may not have succeeded on that note with our current name, but we definitely had some terrible ideas of names to start with- and we will not mention those.
Joel: What makes Rat City Riot different from every other band out there?
Chris: Class. Plain and simple. Don't ask me what that means, because I don't know either.
Mike: There's not too many streetpunk bands in San Diego right now. While 4 out of 5 of us are skinheads (of the non-racist variety, of course) we don't want to be pigeonholed as a skinhead band. Most of us listen to all kinds of other stuff other than streetpunk and hardcore. I think our music definitely reflects that.
Joel: Is there any message you try to get across through your music?
Mike: No message. People can make what they want of our songs. Our lyrics aren't real abstract or hard to understand, we're not some band that tries to make you wonder what we're about. We pretty much write about what happens to be going on in our lives.
Noah: If you get a bitter and angry vibe from listening to a few of our songs it's probably not an accident.
Joel: Do you have a single song that has a special meaning to you?
Mike: One of our new songs, "Time to Shine." It's about seeing a friend go through a long drawn out break up. It's really weird seeing a good friend go through something like that, especially when you've been through it yourself. You can identify with almost everything they're going through.
Noah: Yeah that song was a surprise for me because I had written a song very similar to it the week before, but was having a hard time fitting it into the music that Mike had already written- Mike offered to go home and write something for it and it was eerie how he even came very close to writing some the same lines as I did. Most of the stuff that I've written myself has a personal meaning and either reflects what I was going through at the time or just mirrors my frustration over everyday life.
Chris: I like "Dead End Future" a lot. It kind of explains why I'm doing this, why I don't just go through life like the next average schmoe, a lot of you guys probably feel the same way.
Joel: What bands, people, books, etc. have had the biggest influence on your band?
Chris: For me, The Bouncing Souls. They would have to be the single most influential and inspirational band I've ever heard.
Mike: Billy Bragg, Madball, Cocksparrer, Swingin' Utters, The Who, The Smiths, Agnostic Front, The Bruisers.
Noah: Slapshot, Warzone, Stormwatch, Bruisers, Madball, The Trouble, Sick of It All, man I'm horrible at listing bands- my mind goes completely blank on questions like this.
Jon: Any old school band from back in the day, all my friends, band mates, they all have a big part in my life, they're like family. The single biggest influence would be my great buddy who I look up to, Mike Bolado!
Joel: What about Rat City Riot are you most proud of?
Jon: I'm just proud about the whole band, I'm proud when we go on stage and do our best even when there's only like 12 or 15 people there, they're clapping, they're cheering, and it makes me proud.
Mike: I think we're really starting to come together as a band. We're starting to develop a chemistry, and we all get along well, both of which are important. The potential is definitely there, we just need to keep at it. Rat City Riot takin' shit over in 2004!
Chris: We played with Slaughter And The Dogs. That was pretty cool. Not to mention the fact that we're the SDP band of the month!!!
Joel: What is the biggest thing about Rat City Riot you want to improve?
Jon: My drum set, it sucks.
Mike: Our already stunning good looks!
Chris: Right now, I want to develop our own sound. We've got all these songs, some punk, some hardcore-ish, some fast, some slow. I just want to take some time and write some more. See what we can come up with.
Joel: What CDs are currently in your stereo?
Jon: Prince Buster, Blood for Blood, and the stray cats.
Mike: Terror "Lowest of the Low," Swingin' Utters "Dead Flowers," Cocksparrer "Two Monkeys," The Smiths "Louder Than Bombs," The Bruisers "Anything You Want," Cro-mags "Age of Quarrel."
Chris: The Murder City Devils are in my CD player, The Jam is on my turntable, and American Nightmare is in my car.
Noah: The Amazing Royal Crowns, Cramps, Whiskey Rebels/Hanover saints split CD, the Rev, Oingo Boingo.
Joel: Do you have any closing comments?
Noah: Thanks for the support and to everyone who has been helping us out- come see us at the next few shows.
Chris: Yeah, buy our merch. Hahahahaha. I still owe Noah $85 for it- so buy it and we can get more.
Mike: Thanks to everybody that's supported us thus far. Extra special thanks to Cheap Sex for lookin' out for us and to the archuleta family.----Cheers!
Rat City Riot has several shows coming up, you can check them out:
July 6th @ Skateboard Heaven (339 12th Ave. Downtown) with The Threats, The Skulls, and Cheap Sex.
July 12th @ Skateboard Heaven (339 12th Ave. Downtown) with Lower Class Brats, Cheap Sex, Rat City Riot, The Anonymous, and Suburban Terror.
July 18th @ the Blue Agave (6608 Mission Gorge Road) with Scotch Greens, Turbo AC's, Sixer, and High School Hellcats.
Official Website: http://www.ratcityriot.com
mp3's: http://www.mp3.com/ratcityriot
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