Shane’s Music Challenge: RATCAT – 2001 – Twisted Tails

Shane | 20 February 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Music Challenge: RATCAT – 2001 – Twisted Tails
6.5/10

Poor old Ratcat, they really were a victim of their own success. There they were, playing quirkie, loopy indie rock before indie rock was really even invented, when Triple J and the nation’s kids developed a short-lived addiction to them – BAM! Now they’re playing a sold out gig at the Perth Concert Hall (where it was hard to hear the music due to all the bloody children who’d obviously never been to a gig before, but liked the cut of leader Simon Day’s trousers or haircut or something). Blink again and it was tumbleweeds – no-one wanted to fess up to digging the madcap, riff heavy trio.

Ratcat were officially soooooo uncool, dude.

It’s a shame, as left to their own devices they really were a top little band, as evidenced by this career-spanning compilation.

Their biggest hits are featured here, Don’t Go Now and That Ain’t Bad. There’s some glaring omissions too, most obviously their ‘I cannot swim to save my own life, but I don’t wanna see my girlfriend drown’ cult classic Don’t Go In The Water, but on top of the two already mentioned, you gotta love the madcap calypso pop of Holiday and the fact that some of the band’s weirder shit is collected here to provide a pretty thorough overview of what they were all about.