My favourite group of rapscallions, RATSALAD. dropped by for one of the all-time chats. RATSALAD. released two singles last month, Seeing Red + Chicken Lips. They're loud, fast, catchy and full of energy. Hazy Days Music would like to that Jaz, Ken and Erica for taking the time out and having a chat.

 I’m a huge fan!! How did the band start? And could you share a quick history of the band?

KEN: Jaz take it away. 

JAZ: Ken is my husband, he's played in bands forever, and I've always asked him when are we going to start our own band? And he said not till I learn an instrument. So I learned the bass, and we started looking for a drummer, and that's when Erica came onto the scene.  

ERICA: We were all at the pub one night, after this group women's footy thing was in town. 

JAZ: I hadn’t seen Erica since like primary school and started telling her about how we are looking for a drummer, and she was like, I’m a drummer! And we all just became BFFs. That was about two years ago now, and it’s been sick since. 

KEN: We looked for a singer for ages but couldn’t find anyone, so we were just like fuck it, let's just sing ourselves until we find someone and here we are.

ERICA: We legit looked for a singer for like a year and realised that these guys could just do it by themselves. It's only three of us, and that’s all we ever need. 

Ken: We started off playing house parties because you can’t really get gigs in small towns unless you are playing Barnesy covers haha. We just played house shows until we had a good following. We started getting gigs in Kalbarri playing in this little surf town and heading down to Perth.

JAZ: We got some amazing support spots too, straight off the bat. I guess it helps being the only original heavy band in Geraldton. Karnivool came to town and asked us to play and took us up to Exmouth, which was hell fun! 

ERICA: It was ridiculous! 

JAZ: Right at the start of our band, it was so exciting! It was like our third gig. It’s all a blur.

KEN: Things have kicked off super well. Jaz is killing it! Learning to play bass and sing at the same time. Unreal!

Latest single Seeing Red is hectic and up there with my favourites for the year. What's the story behind this one?

JAZ: Ken came up with this wicked riff, and we were jamming it out. I was scrolling through the notes on my phone, looking for some lyrics. And was like shit; here are some I wrote one day when I was really pissed off, haha, and they ended up working really well with the song. It’s about the menstrual cycle, PMS, pretty much a period song. What happened was I started crying in the middle of a touch rugby social game; I got really angry about it and wrote a song.

I think it’s great you released two singles on the same day. What’s the meaning behind Chicken Lips? And where did you record both of these tracks?

ERICA: It's a song that gets you pumped up. KEN: Chicken Lips is kind of like a night like tonight, everyone's getting on the beers. ERICA: We love a good couple of beers. JAZ: Chicken Lips, that’s just fun. I kind of like writing these nonsense lyrics. Chicken Lips just wrote itself. KEN: It’s kind of like when you are so drunk, saying nonsense, and that the nonsense in the chorus, it's just literally nonsense. 

ERICA: I think Jaz is talking about when we jam on Tuesday, Wednesday or Monday nights. We are drinking way too much, and Ken goes to bed early because he has to get up early for work. We are so lucky to jam in their living room, which is super sick! Ken goes off to bed, and that’s when keep drinking beers, dancing and having fun.

KEN: Last year, we won an award at W.A.M (Western Australia Music Awards Night). We won a free day of writing and recording in a studio down in Perth, which is when those two songs were recorded. We are starting to record in town with a local guy but hopefully starting a home studio soon. Watch this space. We just bought the gear.

You had a very prolific 2020, releasing five singles. How was that time considering the state of the world?

JAZ: It was wicked! We recorded all those songs in big clumps and released them, but it took ages to get those songs back, and it’s been a long, drawn-out process. 

KEN: It was an unreal time to push out a bunch of songs over those months. Geraldton's a small town of maybe 30,000 people. We have a lot of friends here, and there wasn't much else to do last year. I think we were all just hanging out for it. It was great releasing all these songs, playing a bunch of house shows, and having people just rock up and get around it.

ERICA: We were super fortunate in Gero because we weren't really affected by COVID. We could play at the pub or throw parties whenever we want to. 

KEN: Even when the pubs shut. You could still have up to 150 people over at your house.

ERICA: Half of the town has RATSALAD. tattoos now. 

JAZ: And there are RATSALAD. Stickers everywhere you drive around Gero.

All of your merch is fresh af! Who is responsible for creating all of it?

JAZ: I get a bit excited about making new shirts. The one that everyone wants is the bleached black tee. I just buy these plan tees, and with a paintbrush and some bleach, I paint pictures on them. Everyone goes nuts over them. I don't have the time to make that shit, haha. It's all DIY.

ERICA: She does a lot of work, makes all the original shirts. 

KEN: Musical, lyrical, visual artists, that's all Jaz.

My favourite single from last year is DICK TATZ! What’s the story behind this one?

JAZ: Honestly, still to this day, people leave trolleys out the front of my house, and it shits me!

KEN: No shit, hey! ERICA: Jaz can't breathe the whole time we play that song. Her face is red by the end, haha, gold. JAZ: I love this song! I get excited about it every time we play it. KEN: It’s a little anthem for sure.

Can we catch RATSALAD. playing shows anywhere soon?

KEN: We have lots of shows coming up. These stoner rock guys (Death By Carrot) asked us if we'd want to open for them, and we were like fucken oath aye yeah we’ll do it. 

ERICA: It’ll be sick! It’s like a bar we’ve never played at.

JAZ: Another gig coming up is at this big hotel, and they are emptying out their pool for a skate/BMX night. That night is going to be hell fun! 

KEN: Not too far away is this hell sick local surf break called ‘Jacques Point (aka Jakes Point)’. Erica grew up near there in Kalbarri. They run a surf comp when the conditions are perfect, and they want us to play that. It’s such a sick event! 

ERICA: As soon as the surf is big enough, they throw a big wave surf comp, and we've been asked to play it when it's on. It's in memory of two local legends that passed away, and they hold a big surf comp in memory every year.

KEN: That will be our biggest gig to date, then we have the Scarborough Beach Skate bowl gig that's going to be wild. And we have another gig in Perth at this place called Convenience; it’s at a 7/11 that has a secret door (not that secret) that leads out the back to a venue and that one’s at the end of the month. We have some more good stuff coming up very soon that’s not announced yet.

JAZ: There is some good stuff coming to Gero that we can’t talk about just yet, but that will be a thing soon.

JAZ: It’s hard to break into the Perth scene. We're not super well known down in Perth and can't really play weekday gigs because of work. We head down on the weekends whenever we can and are starting to find our little spot. People are inviting us to a lot more stuff which is super exciting. 

KEN: Our next few gigs are in Perth and Adelaide in October. 

ERICA: We've booked four days in Adelaide (if COVID allows). It's going to be amazing! We pretty much spend all our money on recording or going somewhere to play shows. 

KEN: Jaz gives out these dodgy RATSALAD. Tattoos after gigs. There are a bunch of these RS tattoos floating around Gero haha, it's starting to spread. We have all the cooked units coming up after the gig to get them haha.

Find all the latest tour news and where to get tickets here.

Are you working on new music at the moment?

KEN: The goal is - We are going to try and write fifteen new songs in July and record them all in August, and put out a long EP or a short album. So watch this space. We’ve got a single recorded that’s going to come out very soon, it's sick! It’s our favourite song. Then hopefully back it up with something like a full length. JAZ: We’ve written lots of songs and are very excited to record them.

Congratulations for winning a WA Music award last year and having a few songs nominated again this year. How’s it feel to be recognised?

JAZ: We are stoked that a few of our songs got nominated this year.

KEN: A few of our songs have been nominated for the WAM 'song of the year' awards. Which is hell dope. 

JAZ: We were so excited, that was supposed to be on tonight. We took a few days off work and booked accommodation down in Perth.

KEN: Last year we won the best metal song but couldn't go down because of COVID. 

JAZ: Last year, they hosted a local skype event for the awards night.

ERICA: We were all looking forward to getting dressed up and having a fun night. It would’ve been wild! It’s been pushed back a few months, so we will get to go to it at some point.

Stay up to date with RATSALAD. on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.

Posted on the 22nd of July, by Jake Taylor.