Down in the Sewer with Tommy Ratz on Toilet Rats’ IV
“Living down in the sewer, you might imagine there's not a lot of resources to find new music and shows to watch,” shared drain dwelling, slimy synth rocker Tommy Ratz of the quite literally underground Minneapolis-based project Toilet Rats. “There is a boombox in my den with a working cassette player and I have a VCR, Atari 2600, and an old television. It's amazing what some people throw out.”
“Anyway, I do occasionally find cassette tapes down here. I think they get tossed from cars or fall from the dumpster of Kmart,” Ratz said, indulging Wormbrain on how Toilet Rats has found the influences for their latest album IV released earlier this month on Cleveland, OH’s Steadfast Records, while hidden away from modern society down in the sewer. “I've got tapes from Duran Duran, Anthrax, Soundtrack for The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Wham!, Slayer, The Cure, DC TALK and a few other things. I listen to them over and over and over. Same as the cassettes, I find VHS copies of horror movies. I also find Garbage Pail Kids, pamphlets of the world ending by Jehovah's Witnesses, and food wrappers with little cartoon mascots. This is my daily input and I think that what I create is basically an amalgamation of all that stuff.”
Ripe with pulsing synthesizers and lyrics about the supernatural or scientifically fictious, their latest is a tangle of the schlocky and shocking retro pop culture that filters its way into Tommy Ratz. The result is a jam-packed collection of ten tracks that could all find their way onto throwback slasher movie soundtracks just as easily as your own pregame party playlist.
In case you missed the cinematic references on first listen, Ratz told us, “‘Carol Kane’ is a shout-out to When A Stranger Calls and ‘Oskar & Eli’ is a shout-out to Let the Right One In,” in a discussion about what kinds of films they felt these songs could find their way into. “‘Walk the Earth’; would be cool in a Romero film. ‘Haunted Haus’ could be cool in something because it follows the Amityville trope. The other songs are just kind of fun imaginations and not deliberately referencing any specific movie.”
“Unfortunately, I haven't found VCR tapes in a while down here, so I've mostly watched the ones listed above plus: Lost Boys, Critters, Phantasm II, Friday The 13th and various sequels, Halloween III, and a few others. I would really love it if they made a movie about a song from Toilet Rats III called ‘Mall Goth.’”
Photo by Dena Denny
“It’s amazing what some people throw out.”
“I think that I'm enjoying the efficiency and process of this being a solo endeavor. However, it would be nice to play a show from time to time.” Toilet Rats is currently a one rodent band with Tommy Ratz manning the helm, though if the project should ever decide to perform live in real life that may not be the case.
While unlikely, Ratz did joke about adding Shockwave from Transformers to the band, and said, “[that] would be cool. He talks and sings with a vocoder already.”
“The truth is I don't have the energy to round up four or five people from scratch and hope they get along and then get a practice space and van and all that shit,” Ratz admitted. “I have a plan, though.”
“Plan A — There are bands that are already bands who play well together and we're buds. I was gonna be like, ‘Wanna learn like 20 minutes of my songs and play a show as my backing band?’ and then book a show with them doing their set, then doing a Rats set with me. Give them a set list to learn, then we have a quick rehearsal when they're ready for me and we go play the show. I'll just give them my cut of the door, of course, and will do whatever I can to help them as well.”
“Plan B — I make some versions of the songs where it's basically like synthpop with really grimey synths, and occasionally do a solo set where I run around like a fool and have antics, maybe some syncopated movie screens.”
“Both of these options would allow me to travel easily,” concluded Ratz. “Like if I was gonna go to the East Coast to visit some pals, I could hook up with a band out there and play a couple shows, too — or just do a solo show at a place with a loud PA or in a basement through a couple of bass amps.”
So fret not new Toilet Rats fans, no need to flush yourself for the chance to meet the band! For now, just listen to Toilet Rats IV.
Wormbrain World asked Tommy Ratz of Toilet Rats about which famous rats would be their favorites and here’s what they said:
Splinter - Loyal, wise, mentors others with his skills
Ron The Sewer Rat - Local plumber saving the day
Socrates - Important rat from the movie Willard
Reepicheep - Helps those kids through Narnia (technically a mouse)
ProCo Rat - One of the best distortion pedals ever made
Photo by Dena Denny
W.W: What is Wormbrain?
TR: It's a Ceti Eel from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. Scary!
W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.
Toilet Rats’ latest album IV is out now everywhere via Cleveland, Ohio record label Steadfast Records.
