Photo: Sam Porter

Ratboys celebrate their 10th birthday with surprise new album of re-recorded early songs

Happy birthday Ratboys! The lovable underdogs mark 10 years as a band today. While they’re not on the road where they’d prefer to be, they’re still marking it in style with the surprise release of a new album called, fittingly, Happy Birthday, Ratboy.

The 11-track record is made up of new recordings of their original five-song demo RATBOY EP, which was originally recorded in a dorm room and passed out to friends. The second half of Happy Birthday, Ratboy features five more re-recordings of rare dorm era songs. Some of these have remained live mainstays, but it’s nice to hear studio versions of these songs, allowing them to reach their maximum potential with a whole decade’s worth of experience put into them. To cap it off, they’ve added one brand new track called “Go Outside”.

You can find Happy Birthday, Ratboy on streaming platforms or on Bandcamp. They’ve also announced a celebratory livestream – details below.

Ratboys’ 10th Anniversary show, recorded at Chicago’s Schuba’s Tavern, will air on Bandcamp on April 29. Details here.

You can find the band on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.