| THE BAND: RATFEN |
| It was a dream... but who knew that dream would become a reality? |
| Our band is Ratfen. We're a simple "garage" band, playing original peperoq music and covers by some of our favourite artists. The line-up is: HISTORY: The idea to first start a band was created in November '99, among nine people. Knowing quite well that such a large number of people in a band was ridiculous, Jess, Bowie and Sally set off to create their own. The first song lyrics were written in a nearby fast-food joint. None of the members played instruments at the time, so the quality of the songs was not as up-to-scratch as it is today. Bowie owned a guitar so the tunes were written using that. The drums were made up, assuming that Sally would be able to get a kit! The band's first gig was at a school hall in front of more than 200 people. This was to be the first, and last, gig with that line-up. Sally had found a drumkit in a Trading Post, and it had been purchased on the same day. About 5 rehearsals were held before the gig. Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as they had hoped, and they vowed never to return. The band had hit a wall. Alex wanted in on the action as the bass player, but Jess didn't want to play guitar, so after a week or two of tension, Jess quit the band. They thought it was time to take a little break, so they did. The band with the current line-up did not resume until around May 2000. Refreshed from the break, the members decided to try their hands at a few covers. The first of which was Gotta Get Away, by The Offspring. This was pulled off with the most success that could be expected after playing their instruments for only a couple of weeks. Alex had purchased a bass by this time, and Bowie was using her father's Stratocaster. After a few more months, the band had learned to play around 10 new covers such as Gone Away, Come Out And Play, All I Want, Dirty Magic, Pretty Fly and the band's own parody of that, 'The Trannie Song', I Wanna Be Sedated and Time Of Your Life.The band's preferred style was revealed as exhibited in the set list. They also played a couple of originals and the only complaints they had were that people at the gig were constantly going to get food. After progressing for a few more months and learning a variety of new covers, the band prepared for another gig. By this time, around September, they could easily play Self Esteem, DUI, Longview, Beheaded, When I Come Around, Amazed, and others. The gig was a party in which around 30 people attended. The one dilemma they encountered was that a vital part of the drumkit was forgotten (kick pedal) and after turning down suggestions to 'play without it' which would have proved impossible, a member of the crowd offered to run round to his house to get his. Since then, the band has improved dramatically. The purchasing of a new bass amp for Alex and new guitar for Bowie lifted spirits and spurred them on to keep going. By this time the group was named Genocide, it was more like a casual name because they couldn't think of anything else. 'The Mothballs' and 'The Spiders' had been turned down by members of the group as band names earlier (not surprisingly). Genocide then changed it's name to Ratfen due to the fact that newly acquired friends also planned to name their band Genocide, and there was already a well known band of the same name. Their only gig under the name Ratfen was on the 31st of August 2001. Although their set list was cut in half, the audience of approximately 300 were definitely "blown away". Because of their memorable performance, Ratfen was asked to play at a gig on the 17th of November. Everyone seemed to enjoy the gig, especially the group of fans the band had gathered. Ratfen's sound combines PepeRoq with melodic tunes that you would expect of the Bee Gees. There is also an obvious love of vocal harmonies, as demonstrated in their song 'Trannie Airways'. Being pretty much an unintentional 'cover' band, Ratfen decided it was time for a change. The opportunity arose for the band to enter the YouthRock Competition. Unfortunately, the entry forms were only given to them a few days before the closing date so, in six hours, they wrote 3 original songs all with 2nd guitar parts (without having the 2nd guitarist to play them). After spending the next few hours ringing around trying to find a guitarist, Michael jumped aboard the band-wagon. After one day of teaching Michael all the songs, the band was set to film their 'high quality' video - courtesy of one unwilling friend. The new band was named Rodent Kill. (Actually, contrary to popular belief, it was actually the same goddam band, with a different name - kind of like how marketing new products works these days) To know more about Rodent Kill, visit: www.geocities.com/rodentkill |
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| For originals, click HERE |