Photo by Miles Kalchik via Ratboys - Facebook
Ratboys
Ratboys
Ratboys created a great deal of their sixth full-length, Singin’ to an Empty Chair, in Richland Center, a small town in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. The indie-rock quartet’s lead singer, guitarist and lyricist Julia Steiner got to know the region after Milwaukee relatives told her about the House on the Rock, a highly eccentric tourist attraction near Spring Green.
“Dave and I went out there for my birthday and took a summertime road trip and kind of fell in love with that,” Steiner said during a recent phone interview, mentioning her partner, Ratboys guitarist and co-founder Dave Sagan. “And in 2024 we were looking for a place that was out of the way, with no neighbors, and we stumbled on this house.”
The (other) house was Driftless Cabin, and the Chicago-based group spent time there in March 2024 and February 2025, developing songs and then recording them with Chris Walla, a Death Cab For Cutie alumnus who also co-produced the fifth Ratboys album, 2023’s The Window.
“We became really close with him, and it cannot be overstated how important that is,” Steiner said. “You want to work with someone that has skill and experience with recording music, and it’s just as important to have someone who has psychological and spiritual know-how. We value his sense of wonder.”
Sense of Wonder
Ratboys gently expand their own sense of wonder on Singin’, alchemizing their knack for pop hooks with the simplicity of folk music, the straight power of rock ‘n’ roll, and bucolic country touches possibly influenced by the Driftless setting. Steiner is, as ever, a winsome vocal presence, even as the lyrics in songs like “What’s Right” and “Open Up” reflect, rather than directly refer to, Steiner’s continuing progress in therapy.
“Having the opportunity to monologue about my life has been extremely clarifying for me, about how my feelings and thoughts have developed over time,” she said. “I think of therapy as extremely liberating.”
Singin’ also reflects the ways in which the lineup—solidified two albums ago when then-touring bassist and drummer Sean Neumann and Marcus Nuccio became the go-to rhythm section—feels comfortable stretching slow-simmering tracks like “Burn It Down” into introspectively longer runtimes.
“We really fell into something musically where it felt like there were enough peaks and valleys that there was plenty of time to express myself,” Steiner said. “We never felt bored, and that should translate to the audience.”
Greater Visibility
That audience, according to many reports, includes the legendary Robert Plant, who visited B-Side Records in Madison in June 2024 and bought The Window on the strength of hearing it over the store’s stereo. That album gave Ratboys greater visibility than ever before, but not so much that the band couldn’t handle the mild increase in pressure.
“We weren’t household names,” Steiner said. “We were in the Midwest and able to ground ourselves here, and it’s the same four band members in a room, and Chris is back. It was really a natural progression.”
The Ratboys will perform at 8 p.m. March 14 at Vivarium.
