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Metro Spirit (Augusta GA) writes: "Making Noise" In their experimental take on music, Rat Babies is garnering some attention and has a new album underway BY ALICE WYNN AUGUSTA, GA - Some call it stoner metal. Some might call it doom metal. But Athens' Rat Babies think of their music somewhat differently. "We kind of think it's more jazz, but really hard and heavy with screaming vocals," said singer and bassist Mux Blank. Formed in late 2005, Blank joined forces with guitarist Moldy Holmes and gave him a few songs he had written. "I just came to him with what I had, and what he had to fit it fit so perfectly," Blank said. They played one show without a drummer, but when their friend Chodd wanted something heavier than the indie pop band he was playing in, Rat Babies was born. After Moldy left the band, Blank and Chodd played as a two-piece, and just last year added guitarist Tim Vance only a couple of weeks before the band embarked on a five-week tour of the Eastern U.S. "He pretty much learned to play everything on tour," he said. "We had fun - it was a little rough in spots, but we had a good time with it." Last year, Rat Babies released "The Complete Guide to Caring for Your Rat Babies Vol. 1" that consisted of demos, live recordings and material from previous EPs, but with Vance now in the band, they wanted to capture their current sound. Working with Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk, they recently put out a three-song demo, "Beautiful Smokers Cough Medicine," and are currently putting final touches on their full-length album. "We had a few good recordings in the past, but this one, we worked harder at it and spent more time on it and I think it just came out better," Blank said. "Because of [Spence's] work with Harvey Milk, we thought he might be a good person to go to have it mastered. Sure enough, it sounds amazing." Their self-described "jazzy, foaming-at-the-mouth swamp-metal" sound comes from influences ranging from Sonic Youth to Buddy Holly, but the sound hardly means the band lacks focus in their approach to music. "When we play together we have this cohesion somehow that we can play with each other no matter what kind of thing and it just flows," he said, "even if we're experimenting and we're going off from where the song structure actually is, we all play together and stay together. Once we get back into the song, we're where we need to be." Reactions to the band have been mixed, especially since the band doesn't stop between songs, choosing to experiment with their instruments and filling those gaps with noise. "You can tell, most of the people that do like it, they really like it," he said. "We've had a few bad reactions where people have asked us to get off stage and things like that," he added. "I think I like just having a reaction better than not having one, so whether it's a good or bad reaction, at least I got a reaction. That's kind of cool." While the band had played Augusta without much fanfare, it was their opening spot for Jucifer, where they replaced Mongolord at Sky City, that finally opened some eyes. "We were excited to do the show with Jucifer because we knew there would probably be people there that would dig what we were doing. We just had to get in front of enough people for them to notice," he said. "We're excited that we actually get to do this show with Mongolord because we kind of took their place last time and they were really cool about it, and we've been planning this ever since then." And what does the future hold for Rat Babies? "Touring more, releasing the album and then maybe lobotomies," Blank laughed. Rat Babies w/ Mongolord and Sick Sick Sick
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