Interview with The Lab Ratz by Charly Martin from the website Go Psycho!

 

1. Hi, who are the Lab Ratz and what instruments do you play?

Hello! The Lab Ratz are a classic power trio from good ol’ Montreal Canada.

There’s Charly, on vocals and upright-bass, Mick on guitars and Custom Pat on drums and backing vocals.

2. What is the musical genre of the group?

We never said we had to sound that style or that style, but as a trio who play some fast and angry Rockabilly, I think you could easily think we’re Psychobilly related! haha!

3. Why The Lab Ratz as a name?

I was looking for a catchy name, something easy to write (no Ü or É or any accent at all!) and something who could lead on some interesting stories.

The concept of “laboratory rats” is pretty cool because when you see people acting in society, they actually look like some lab rats, so there are a lot of songs to write here!

And also, the Cats were the rockabillies in the 80’s, so on the dark and dirty side, which appears to be the Psychobilly side, it seemed obvious to me that we had to be some Ratz!
I just didn’t notice that a Rap band had the same name! haha! But I don’t think it is a big problem as we don’t reach the same crowd!

4. Where are you from?

We’re from Montreal, Canada (province of Quebec).
Charly actually comes from France, but he moved to Canada 16 or 17 years ago. The 2 other Ratz grew up in the sewer of Montreal.

5. When did the Lab Ratz start playing?

In 2014. Charly was playing in a Psychobilly/Garage band who was called the MAÜ-MAÜ, but the band splitted. So Charly and the drummer decided to set up a new Psychobilly combo.

As we couldn’t find a decent guitar player, Johnny Toxic (from the Gutter Demons who were working on their come-back back then) offered to play with us just to record our demo. He finally enjoyed himself with the Lab Ratz and stayed a little more than a year. We did a lot of shows and recorded our 1st album with him.

Then Mick came on board. He brought a lot of attitude on stage and is an amazing guitar player. He used to play in a Surf combo, but he’s definitely happier in a lab than on a beach!!! :-D

Then our first drummer left for family reasons I guess, and we had the chance to find Custom Pat, who was the original drummer of the Gutter Demons and who was between 2 projects!

6. Do some of you play in other bands?

Charly used to play in several bands, including the Hypnophonics, Joel Kaiser & the Devil’s Own, the Dusty Dodgers, … but he only plays for the Lab Ratz now.

Mick used to play with the Men In Grey Suits, and he is actually jamming in some Vampire Rockabilly project....

As I said, Pat was the original drummer of the Gutter Demons. He also played in a lot of Rockabilly and Punk bands (like the Alley Dukes, the Northern stars, Tailgunners, etc.). Before the Covid breakdown, he was playing with us and with the Fast Food Fairies, a Beachboy-Surf-Punk-Ramone-style kind of band.

7. Influences? (Music, literature, movies, etc.)

Most of my musical influences are pretty much classic for a Psychobilly band, I guess! So I’d say 50’s Rockabilly, 60s Trash, 70’s Punk, 80’s Garage, and the whole Psychobilly scene in general.

I listen to a lot of different music, like 80s dark wave, some metal industrial, or French Punk alternativ from the late 80s, but I can’t say it shows in our music!

Other influences come from real stories (those where someone turns into someone else in a heartbeat are pretty much obsessing to me too), movies like Tarantino’s or Cohens’, and more generally bad taste and dark sense of humour

8. What are your favorite bands?

That's a tricky question! There are so many great bands who inspired me… But If I had to name a very few, I’d say the Long Tall Texans for the attitude on stage, Frenzy for their creativity, the Krewmen for their arrangements, and the band who impressed me each time I had the chance to catch them on stage, the almighty Batmobile!

9. Do you have something recorded? Tell us what you have. Are you going to record something soon?

Actually yes we have 2 albums out on Crazy Love Records: “Terror Is Loose!”, our 1st one has been released in 2016 on vinyl and CD, and “Escape From The Lab!” has just been released a couple of months ago on colored vinyl. CDs should be released somehow soon. You can both order them on Crazy Love Records Website as on usual major records retailers.

It sucks that because of that covid shit we couldn’t do a proper “Release show” for our 2nd album, so we are probably going to record some new songs soon to have some new recordings ready when we can perform on stage again!

We would have the material to record a 3rd album, but no show for a year means no money to pay the recordings, so I don’t know yet how many songs we will be able to record!

https://www.crazyloverecords.de/crazy-love/3941/lab-ratz-terror-is-loose-lp

10. What do your songs talk about?

Love, Sex, Nurse, Monsters, adultery, murder, mice, alcohol, buzzy nights and fuzzy women… but mostly love. If you don’t get the 2nd degree, just stick to the music! ;-)

Most of our songs are en English, as it’s the international Rock & Roll language, but we also have a few songs in French. Songwriting is a little bit different when you change the language, and people like it when we sing in French. We try to keep at least 2 or 3 songs in French in our sets.

11. With whom and where have you played? Upcoming events of your band? Streamings maybe?

We’ve done a lot of shows, mostly in Canada (Quebec and Ontario). We played with some really cool Psychobilly acts, like the GUTTER DEMONS, the CREEPSHOW, REZUREX, BANANE METALIK, the BRAINS, etc. But, here in Canada, the Psychobilly scene is not that large, so we usually have to play with bands from different styles (Garage, Punk, etc.) and it’s cool because we usually have some great responses by these crowds too!

We played at the BEDLAM BREAKOUT festival in 2017 in UK (with SLEEPWALKERZS, MOONSHINE STALKERS, STAGE FRITE, DEMENTED ARE GO, and dozens of amazing bands). That was one of the highlights of our trips!

We also played in New-York just before the big shutdown and we were planning some European trip soon, but the Covid19 changed it all, so we’ll see in a few months what we can do!

I don’t think we will do a streaming live, because I have no real interest in doing a show without a crowd.

12. Are there good psychobilly bands in your environment?

Well, if you like Rock & Roll, Montreal is a really cool city. We have 2 of the main canadian Psychobilly acts here: the BRAINS and the GUTTER DEMONS. We also have some really interesting Rockabilly projects like Danny Duke’s bands, the ALLEY DUKES and the NORTHERN STARS,. I could name another Psycho/Rock band who are awesome when they grant to play, MATCHLESS, and also the HYPNOPHONICS who sound like the Sting-Rays of the XXIst century! But the Psychobilly scene is pretty small here!

Anyway, we’re only 6 hours from New-York where you can find some very interesting bands, like Laura’s SCREAMIN REBEL ANGELS, MEMPHIS MORTICIANS, etc. And also 6hours drive from Ontario where you can find some really cool acts like EVIL ELVIS, the MATADORS or R.I.P., our allies from Toronto.

I just don’t know how many venues will still be on in 2022...

13. Last Words?

Well, these last months have been tough for everyone, but especially for all the people who work in the night industry (bands, technicians, bartenders, etc.). I don’t know what will be left when all this is over, but I really hope that we’re all gonna be able to meet around a stage soon!
And support big festivals, but also support small concerts, they’re both very important for the R&R scene!

See you in the pit!

The Lab Ratz on Facebook