Heaven's Cheeky Chappy Entertains The Youth

If you want to feel old, go to a Rat Boy gig.

At least if you’re over twenty-five, anyway. At his recent show in Charing Cross’ Heaven, the crowd was so young that the bar had to be shut. I felt ancient.

The nineteen-year old artist, still very much a youngster himself, seems to have established himself as something of an icon for teenagers. Singing about issues with bouncers and struggling to hold a job down, Rat Boy’s music relates to his fans in the same way that pre-WPSIATWIN did for Arctic Monkeys. His debut album hasn’t even been released yet, yet his biggest show in the capital sold out weeks in advance. Vintage sportswear-clad fans were queuing outside of the venue hours before the doors opened, and inside there were mosh-pits circling before Rat Boy was even on the stage. It’s a cult.

Perhaps fittingly, Rat Boy’s music is as varied in genre as that laid down on Panic Prevention; a debut release from an artist who’s sound Rat Boy seems to emulate. ‘Wasteman’ is the best representation of this, but it isn’t just Jamie T who seems to have inspired the young Essex artist.

The evening’s opening track, ‘Move’, isn’t just similar to something the Beastie Boys would have released, but has striking similarities to ‘Super Disco Breaking’. The same can be applied to ‘Fake ID’, which seems to channel not just the Vaccines but their debut album’s ‘Norgaard’.

Memories of Larrikin Love are evoked with ‘Left 4 Dead’, and Rat Boy’s standout track ‘Sign On’ – definitely the one that caused the biggest stir with his crowd at Heaven – has a similar scratchy guitar intro that wouldn’t be out of place on any Libertines song. Coincidentally both artists are signed to Parlophone, so perhaps there’s something in the label’s water.

The artists that seem to be echoed in Rat Boy’s music were all considered to be the representative voices of their generation too, so perhaps this is the cause for comparisons. It’s a talent to produce music that people like, and to do so across a range of genres at such a young age is remarkably impressive.

Rat Boy’s already been confirmed for Reading and Leeds, a huge statement from Festival Republic given that his debut album is still to be released. It’s hard to gauge whether the success is simply a craze, but given his striking musical versatility and comfort as a frontman there’s always to be disaffected youth he can sing to.

COMMENTS

• Daniel Sado
  Damn! I really wanted to go!