Ratboys is bigger than ever.
The Chicago-based rock band formed more than a decade ago, bringing together lead singer Julia Steiner and guitarist David Sagan. Their 2023 album, “The Window,” was greeted with resounding critical acclaim, and it marked the first time the group recorded outside Chicago. Heading to Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie fame resulted in a varied, expansive sound and a Pitchfork review that called the set of 11 songs a “breakthrough.”
The album was also evidence of collaborative growth. After being introduced to the recording process during the creation of 2020 LP “Printer’s Devil,” Sean Neumann and drummer Marcus Nuccio contributed to “The Window” from the outset, unlocking a new level of cohesion for the quartet. While the COVID-19 pandemic robbed Ratboys of the opportunity to tour as headliners behind “Printer’s Devil,” the time away from playing shows was formative. “It was kind of an awesome incubator not just for the music, but for our friendships, which is such an underrated aspect of making music as a band,” says Julia Steiner. “The interpersonal chemistry and dynamic of four people, not just in a room playing instruments, but being people.”
With the success of “The Window,” Ratboys has a second chance to tour as headliners behind an outstanding album. Fresh off a run of shows in Japan, with a performance scheduled for Tuesday, April 2 at Richmond Music Hall, Steiner spoke with Style Weekly about how life on the road has evolved and the benefits of bonding as an ensemble.
Style Weekly: How did touring in Japan go?
Julia Steiner: It was awesome. We’re really lucky; that was our second time going over there … The people in Japan are friendly in a different way than we’ve experienced anywhere else. They’re so kind and generous and it feels like they are savoring every moment at these shows. I think they realize how far we are from home, so they try to make it really special. We had multiple people bring us gifts — little trinkets, some custom art. That normally doesn’t happen anywhere else that we play. The gift-giving culture is pretty strong in Japan, and so we always really enjoy that … Bringing gifts from America to our hosts over there, but also it’s really cool to receive little gifts from fans as well.
Did any gift in particular really leave an impression?
I’m looking at this right now — it’s a little framed drawing of the four of us that someone made that says, “Welcome to Japan.” It’s just so amazing. Those kinds of things don’t happen every day. We don’t take it for granted.
Have you noticed any difference in crowd reaction since “The Window” came out to such critical acclaim?
I’m not sure, to be honest. It’s hard to compare this response to something we’ve had before … This is the first time that we’re doing a proper, ticketed run of headline club dates, so everything is sort of a new experience in that way. The time that we get to the venue [is] a little bit earlier than we normally would if we’re opening for another band. We have a longer soundcheck. We have more control over “What’s the house music that’s going to be playing during the show over the loudspeakers? What’s the stage going to look like? What’s the run of show going to be like — how long is everything going to be?” All the details — we have more of a creative say over that. It’s exciting to be able to make the shows more tailored to what we want them to be.
Hopefully people are having a good time. It seems like people are enjoying themselves, and we’re still selling our own merch and hanging out at the table, and getting to see old friends and make new ones, so in that way, it’s kind of the same.
In what ways has your approach to touring changed over the life of the band?
When we started… we were very determined to never stay in a hotel, and we were definitely roughing it for a while. [That’s] not to say now everything’s easy and perfect and glamorous whatsoever, because in that way touring is very much the same. It’s a repetitive routine every day of getting in the van and going to the show and moving all your equipment and setting up and playing. I feel like as we’ve gotten older, we’re pretty conscious of taking care of ourselves. Not just getting rest [and] staying in hotels from time to time but also taking care of each other and trying to be really communicative and making sure that everyone’s feeling really good on the road, because little things compound. Lots of bumps and bruises loading and being away from home.
I’m very lucky because Dave [Sagan] is my partner, so we’re together on the road all the time, but Sean [Neumann] and Marcus [Nuccio] have a wife and a partner at home, and so just the mental and physical aspect of being on the road — it doesn’t necessarily get easier or change that much as you get older, so we’re trying to be open and talking about stuff … But at the heart of it, tour is still tour, and we love it, so that’s why we want to keep doing it.
How has settling into the quartet format been going?
It’s awesome. Dave and I started the band, just the two of us, when we met in college, and it took us a while to find people who were interested in touring a lot and wanted to set aside time to commit to this one band. When we found Sean and Marcus, it felt really natural right away, because we had known both of them for a long time. They’re both old friends from other bands and Dave and Sean went to neighboring high schools and stuff and truly grew up together, so it was a natural fit right away.
We made the 2020 album, “Printer’s Devil,” together in a way that was building up to them being full-time members and fully involved from the get-go with the next one, which ended up being “The Window.” But of course we had this massive amount of time off from touring, just like everyone did with the pandemic, and oddly enough, that gave us a really sacred amount of time to become even closer as friends … Obviously it would have been better for all of humanity if it hadn’t happened, but that was something we were able to get out of it — a silver lining, I guess.
You posted recently about a band trip to Wisconsin to work on new music. Anything you can share about that?
Nothing yet. We had a really good experience back in 2020 doing a similar thing for “The Window.” We went up to Michigan for 10 days and tried to hash out some ideas up there, and also spent some time together — some focused friendship and music time. I’m so grateful that the guys were willing to do that. Actually Marcus, our drummer, this time really pushed for us to do something like that again, even though now our lives are much busier than they were in 2020. So we carved out a week and found a house up in Wisconsin — just rented a cabin up there. This time it was exciting because the song ideas were quite a bit earlier on than some of the ones in 2020. A lot of these new ideas don’t even really have lyrics yet; we were just hashing out from little, tiny seeds of ideas. We had a good, productive time up there. We got some good demos going, but still pretty early on in the process. I just couldn’t help myself. I wanted to share because it was a special week, and it’s such a cool space … We had one nice day where we did a big aimless country drive, which is one of my favorite things to do. That was a highlight for me personally. I love driving around the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. It’s so special.
Ratboys will perform at Richmond Music Hall on Tuesday, April 2. Ducks Ltd. will also perform. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at thebroadberry.com. To hear and purchase “The Window,” visit ratboysband.com.
