Ratboys at the Raccoon Motel -- December 22.
Wednesday, December 22, 7 p.m.
The Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Touring in support of their critically acclaimed 2021 album Happy Birthday, Ratboy that Pitchfork praised for blending “cozy nostalgia with their hard-rocking instincts,” as well as for its songs that “have a glowing warmth even when the guitars roar,” the rockers of Ratboys headline a December 22 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with the Chicago musicians lauded by DIY magazine for tracks that “manage to be swashbuckling and irresistible.”
A Windy City indie-rock band formed in 2010 by singer/songwriters Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan, Ratboys is composed of Steiner on guitar and vocals, Sagan on guitar, Marcus Nuccio on drums, and Sean Neumann on bass and vocals. Founded by Steiner and Sagan during their time studying at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, the pair released their first music together with a cover of “Spiderweb,“ a song originally written by Champaign, Illinois' band Easter. Two years later, Ratboys released their first, self-titled EP, and in May of 2014, the musicians released two songs – "Space Blows" and "Collected" – and embarked on their first small tour with future bassist Neumann's band Single Player that summer in a few cities around the Midwest. The band relocated back to Sagan's hometown of Chicago in 2015 and released its debut album AOID that same year on Topshelf Records. Neumann joined the band as full-time member in 2016, Nuccio joined shortly thereafter in 2017, and Ratboys released its second album GN in 2017, ultimately gaining awareness while touring with such other rising acts as PUP, Soccer Mommy, Diet Cig, and Wild Pink.
Critical praise began amounting with the band's second full-length recording, with Rolling Stone naming GN one of the “15 Great Albums You Probably Didn’t Hear in 2017,” while Uproxx rock critic Steven Hyden called the album one of the year's best. Ratboys released its third studio album, Printer’s Devil, in February of 2020 to even greater accolades. Pitchfork gave the album a 7.7 rating, called the recording's depth "comforting and sobering all at once," and wrote that Steiner's lyrics give “a wistful metaphor for growing up” that fill the listener with “innocuous signifiers of the passage of time that carry weight only in the rare moments we pause to consider them.” MTV, meanwhile, said that Ratboys made “the best album of their career” with Printer's Devil and credited the band's newly found “big” sound to be credit to their ever-growing experience playing in front of larger crowds.
Ratboys play their December 22 engagement with an opening set by Penny Peach, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $12, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
