Rat at Rat R was a

No Wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

band formed in 1981 by guitarist Victor Poison-tete. The music of Rat at Rat R can best be described as guitar-oriented

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

music.
Rat At Rat R profile at Discogs

History

Originally hailing from

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

, they initially relocated to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, but the band soon relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

to join the NYC

scene, with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

Live Skull Live Skull is a post-punk/experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982. In an overview of their abrasive no wave-influenced music, ''Trouser Press'' said, "As part of the same New York avant-noisy scene that spawned Sonic Youth, Ly ...

, and

Swans Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

, among their contemporaries. Rat at Rat R were frequent performers at CBGB’s. Rat at Rat R has musical links to fellow Harrisburg native, the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

No Wave composer

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

. Branca's cousin, Sonda Andersson played bass in Rat At Rat R until 1988 when she left to play bass in Live Skull. Andersson was replaced by Walter Sipser. Their self-titled album ''Rat At Rat R'' was produced by

Barkmarket Barkmarket was a rock music group formed in New York City in 1987. Personnel were singer/guitarist and main songwriter Dave Sardy, bass guitarist John Nowlin and drummer Rock Savage. Barkmarket's music was usually loud and aggressive, touching ...

singer/guitarist

David Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning m ...

. David Howard played drums on the 1991 release, replacing David Rat, temporarily. Their debut album was reissued on Finland´s Ektro Records. In 2012 the drummer David Rat moved to Argentina to get married, and later moved to Brazil. While living in Buenos Aires he recorded the album ''The United Hate''s. A documentary film was made by Ariel Pukacz, called ''David Rat Got Married''.

Discography

Albums

*''Amer$ide / Rock & Roll is Dead, Long Live Rat at Rat R'' - (LP,

Neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

, 1985) *''Stainless Steel'' - (12" EP, Purge/Sound League, 1988) *''Rat at Rat R'' - (CD/LP, Purge/Sound League, 1991) *''Amer$ide / Rock & Roll is Dead, Long Live Rat at Rat R'' - (CD, Ektro Records, 2012)

External links

Rat at Rat R's "Bloodshot" (mp3)
is web published at

Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine ''Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine'' was an audio cassette magazine publication on cassette active from 1983 to 1993. Originally intended as a subscription bimonthly, it was launched on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to create an avant-guard med ...

UbuWeb UbuWeb is a "a pirate shadow library consisting of hundreds of thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts." It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. The site was created by ...

Footnotes

{{Authority control American noise rock music groups Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups from New York City