They also didn’t travel what is often accepted as the standard sensitive-duo route.
“We did things our own way and people really responded to it,” Sutton said. “They really dug the kind of alternative to the singer-songwriter thing. It ended up being a real band. It just grew and has been morphing ever since.” Live, the pair is often augmented by other musicians, fleshing out their funky street poetry into something closer to rock & roll.
Something for the rugrats
While Ratboy’s origins were partly borne of circumstance, Ratboy Jr. was even more so, with the pair realizing through a sudden influx of factors that the time was right to shake things up a bit. It began with a simple request.
“A buddy of mine at WDST, Mike Tuttle, was doing this kids’ series, and he wanted to have a band open up for other established bands like Uncle Rock, Dog on Fleas,” Sutton said. “People have always said to Ratboy that their kids like the first album. On a whim, we just took a bunch of Ratboy songs we already had and just changed the words a little bit to make them appropriate. We’d planned to do just one show, and people loved it. And from there it’s taken off out of nowhere. Here we are a couple years later, [and] it’s just been amazing.”
Ratboy Jr. has caught on in an era where musicians who play for kids are also savvy enough to bring the grownups into the mix as well. Sutton said it was a fairly easy transition, though not without a bit of worry early on.
“I was so terrified the first Ratboy Jr. show,” he said. “I was so scared I was going to curse. The banter with the audience is what I love about playing in a bar, and that’s transferred over. The parents enjoy it, too.”
Though Sutton admits to having some regret over choosing a name for the kid-friendly version of Ratboy that was so similar to the regular one, he’s hoping both endeavors will progress enough to where they’ll truly meld into one.
“I’m kind of hoping we’ll be like They Might Be Giants where one day people will see that if we’re playing in a bar, we’re playing Ratboy tunes,” he said.
Both Ratboy and Ratboy Jr. are keeping incredibly busy.
“Some days we’ll have Ratboy Jr. during the day, Ratboy at night and then Ratboy Jr. the next morning after playing until 3 a.m.,” Sutton said.
A peek at the upcoming schedule for both groups proves it. Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 18, Ratboy plays four shows and Ratboy Jr. three. Ratboy stops in at Dave’s Coffee and Wine House in Saugerties on Sept. 3, returning a week later as Ratboy Jr. for Kids’ Family Day at Cantine Field.
