VHS tapes sat at the Turf Club’s merch table on Friday night. Why? Chicago indie-rock band Ratboys produced 50 copies of a music video for “Black Earth, WI,” a single from their new album, The Window. At first, there wasn’t a high demand for the tapes, but guitarist and lead vocalist Julia Steiner said, “Once I started mentioning them [on stage], they started selling like hot cakes.” It’s hard to imagine anyone having a VCR anymore, but a piece of Ratboys’ music on analog may prove to be valuable as the Chicago band continues to gain buzz.

Steiner’s crisp voice filled the show with clearly enunciated words, and the rest of the band — drummer Marcus Nuccio, bassist Sean Neumann, and guitarist Dave Sagan — matched her precision with instrumentation that was true to their albums. The band functioned as a holistic unit, with Nuccio adding sonic layers to songs with a handheld shaker, Neumann backing vocals and banging his head, and Sagan gracefully performing detailed guitar work. 

Along with throwbacks from earlier in their discography, Ratboys played all 11 songs on the hook-filled new album. The audience met the most energetic songs, like “Empty” and “Make Noise for the Ones You Love,” with cheers as Steiner pounded her guitar strings. 

During songs sprinkled with country-rock twang, like “No Way” and “Morning Zoo,” it was easy to imagine a scene of kids jumping across hay bales in the field. And during “Go Outside,” Steiner’s voice singing, “And I wanna make myself a meal / I wanna wake up with you next to / Me and ask you how you feel / I wanna make us both a meal,” evoked sitting on a patio in the sun. 

The evening’s mood remained lighthearted despite songs with topics like losing pets. Steiner explained that “Elvis Is in the Freezer” refers to “how hard it can be to say bye to dear pets when they leave us behind.” She then said she once left a dog in a freezer for a few months. Steiner said people can bring a pet back through the power of song, and she sang with a smile, “Elvis is in the freezer / I got your tail, I'm teasing / My lover is all gone and it's my fault.”

Songs also detailed the loss of human lovers. The band followed “I Want You (Fall 2010),” a song about young love, with “Charles Bernstein,” a song about the love Steiner experienced in the fall of 2010. The idealistic lines from Ratboys’ 2015 debut album, AOID, included, “And how in the name of He Who Made Creation / Did I breathe a second without you by my side?” She didn’t wish to bring that type of love back to life, though. “Young and dumb, young and dumb,” she said after the last notes. 

Steiner’s witty banter between songs included an introduction to “It’s Alive.” She recalled a pre-show conversation: “Someone at the merch table told me they heard this song on The Current, which is very exciting, so thank you to them for spinning this next song. It’s spinnable, you know. I’m glad they chose to spin a spinnable song.” She continued, “This song is in a f*cked up, deranged tuning that no one should ever attempt. It’s the only song we have in this tuning.” The anthemic track was worth the string tuning break.

The singer also shared thoughts about being back in St. Paul. Ratboys last visited the Twin Cities in 2021, but they hadn’t played the Turf Club since 2017. Steiner said she enjoys documenting tour stops with photos, but usually doesn’t take pictures inside venues. The Turf Club was an exception: The artist loved the ceiling structures, art, and clowns on the bar’s lower level. Of course, when on the road, shows are the best part of the day. “No offense to I-94, it’s a beautiful highway,” Steiner joked. 

As the band neared the end of the show, Sagan pushed his musicianship higher. During the eight-minute “Black Earth, WI,” the guitarist assumed the foreground to play a slow-burning solo with heavy reverb. Steiner played her own chords while staring at Sagan, and the crowd broke out in cheers for the sheer rigor of his riffs. When the rest of the band members took over, he flipped the instrument and set the headstock on the floor to dance a tight swivel around it. On the following track, “Alien with a Sleep Mask On,” Sagan crouched to the floor to twist knobs on his pedals and create distorted sounds, like how movies portray UFOs. When closing on the upbeat “Look To,” Sagan held his instrument to his face while his mouth helped the band wrap up the lively evening. 

Fellow Chicagoans Free Range opened the show. They began with an air of mystery as lead singer and guitarist Sofia Jensen (they/she) said, “We’re from Chicago. That’s obvious,” with bangs hanging over their eyes. Confused, someone in the audience said, “It’s not obvious.” As their set progressed, and Jensen swept the bangs out of their face, the band unveiled their indie-folk undertaking. Each song built to a climax, with many ending in grand instrumentals. Jack Henry often traded drum sticks for wired-fan brushes to lighten percussion as Andy’s pedal steel guitar and Jason Ashworth’s gentle bass plucks took over to carry songs into a warm, smooth twang. On the closing track, another musician jumped on stage with auxillary tambourine to spice up the atmosphere. 

Ratboys

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Free Range

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Setlist

Making Noise for the Ones You Love

Morning Zoo

Go Outside

Crossed that Line

Elvis is in the Freezer

I Want You (Fall 2010)

Charles Bernstein

Space Blows

No Way

The Window

I Go Out at Night

It’s Alive!

Bad Reaction

Empty

Break

Black Earth, WI

Alien with a Sleep Mask On

Look To