1331. Ratcat / Tingles [EP]. 1990. 4.5/5

One of the anomalies of the band Ratcat was that they were formed in 1985 in Sydney, and had two releases prior to the EP we are going to discuss today. The fact that so many people are of the belief that the band began with this EP probably goes to prove how unknown they generally were before its release, and then how big they became in Australia after its release.
Formed by Simon Day on lead guitar and lead vocals and Victor Levi on bass guitar, who had both been members of the popular garage band Danger Mouse in the early 1980’s, they also recruited Andrew Polin on drums to complete their lineup. Ratcat built-up a strong live following initially by focusing on playing the venues of the Sydney skate-punk scene, alongside bigger and well-known Sydney underground bands such as Massappeal, The Hellmenn, The Hard-ons and Happy Hate Me Nots. On the back of this the band signed to Waterfront Records, and released a self-titled EP in December 1987 that contained their best live songs at the time.
This was followed in July 1989 with their debut album titled ”This Nightmare”. Levi had moved on by this point in time, replaced on bass guitar by John McAteer. By that time the line-up was Day, John McAteer on bass guitar and Andrew Polin on drums. Music critics were favourable to the release, suggesting that the witty and effervescent songs were catchy and representative of the era, emboldening it as a solid first album. Amr Zaid replaced McAteer on bass guitar and backing vocals, and in February 1990 Ratcat supported English group Buzzcocks and fellow Australian band Falling Joys, before deciding to leave Waterfront Records and signing with the rooArt label, distributed by PolyGram.
For their first release with their new label, Ratcat again decided on releasing an EP, gathering together new material to showcase their growing stylistic changes as the band reached the start of the new decade. It was to become their true breakthrough, the EP that put them well and truly on the Australian music map and more importantly on the Australian music charts, with the collection of quirky rock songs that they named “Tingles”.

There is every chance that I would never have listened to the band Ratcat, nor to this EP in particular, if not for two non-coinciding events that occurred in my life in January of 1991. One of those events was having been asked to form a band with four of my very good friends of the time back in 1989, a band that (somehow) was still together by the time we reached the beginning of 1991. Two members in particular, along with other mutual friends, had become slightly obsessed over this EP and played it often. So I was aware of it, even more so when we decided to record a demo tape to take around to the local pubs and clubs to try and drum up some gigs, and the first song that the other three members of the band insisted we do was “That Ain’t Bad”. Over the next 12 months we added three of the songs off this EP into our gigs. Pretty sure I got outvoted there. The other event was that I started dated the sister of one of my best mates, and it was at this time that I discovered that she had this EP and played it often and spoke about it often. Perhaps it worked in my favour that I did indeed know this EP at that time. 35 years later and we do still occasionally listen to it together.
It’s catchy. Having listened to it a lot at the time it was released (not by my choice at any time) a lot of it grew on me. Four of the six songs, as you will have heard, are ones I can still run with today. And there is a lot of nostalgia tied up in listening to this EP now, because of those significant goings-on at the time it was released. Our band was beginning to look to play our first gigs, and I began dating the girl I eventually married. They are great memories that these songs bring back to me.
Helen’s vinyl copy of this album was lost in the flood of 2001, but I did eventually get around to replacing it with a CD copy many years later, again for nostalgia’s sake, and it is that copy I have listened to again this week. And it is those same old memories as described here that it brings back to me. The EP eventually made #1 on the Australian singles charts, and finished 1991 as the second biggest single in Australia, behind Bryan Adamas and “Everything I Do, I Do For You”.
So no, Ratcat has never been MY band. They are a band that I somewhat had forced upon me. This EP is still fun enough to listen to, but I really don’t think I ever would have listened to them without those incidents being prevalent on its release. But then, why did I feel the need to buy the EP on CD to replace our lost copy? Maybe I know less about my own feelings here than usual.