MM208 is back with our local musician feature blog!!! This weeks is the stellar Rat Champion!
Formed in late 2019, the Dungeons & Dragons referencing Rat Champion is an Idahoan indie trio, with influences coming from The Cranberries and The Smashing Pumpkins. Their most recent EP, “Idahoe “, was released through Shadrack Tuck’s Mishap Records. “It is a 3 song EP that Jake, Jimi and I wrote with the concept being about a few experiences we have had while living in Idaho,” says bassist/vocalist Nelle. “Overall the EP captures a lot of emotions for the three of us.”
“The first track, "Drunk N Luv", is my personal favorite,” Nelle says. “It’s about falling for someone while you were drunk. Unfortunately, you wake up the next morning having forgotten most of the previous night. The song is a hazy recollection of the previous night. I tried to capture the distress of trying to remember in the chorus with the lyrics "I'm forgetting something important." “The second track, "Yuck Fu", is a high energy, ‘f**k you’ to dumb opinions. This song has a video on YouTube, where we filmed in multiple recognizable places around Boise.”
With Nelle and guitarist/vocalist Jimmy happily married, as well as Jimmy and drummer Jake working together, Rat Champion can sometimes feel like “a more gay Golden Girls spinoff episode”. “At the end of the day though, we are all best pals and after we all have a beer or two we end up having a big band cry and share our feelings and then make a sick song.”
“Honestly, we kind of go with the flow. Our main goal is to make noise that we enjoy and hopefully other people like it too! A long term goal is to hopefully do a small tour to somewhere like Vietnam.” Catch Rat Champion live in Juntura, Oregon on June 25th and keep an eye out for some tasty new jams coming your way.
Written by Brandy Blush Photos by Kenyon McWilliams
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