Ratboys’ Julia Steiner talks ESPN, country music, and gas stations ahead of recordBar performance

Julia Steiner. // photo credit Miles Kalchik

Ratboys play recordBar on Wednesday, March 25, with villagerrr. Details on that show here.

Ratboys vocalist and songwriter Julia Steiner used to get home from school and tune into ESPN programs like Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption, two sports commentary and debate shows where familiar hosts and a community of panelists bantered about the headlines of the day with an affable sense of humor.

“Tony [Kornheiser] and Mike [Wilbon] are like my uncles,” Steiner said in an interview with The Pitch. “I just really appreciate their candor. … They love learning. I don’t know, they cover it all. They’re true journalists in that way. They’re just very inquisitive.”

And while windows, chairs, and things of that nature are subjects of the last two albums from the alternative rockers, Steiner said the communal feeling after filling a room with individuals – where conversations range in gravity – has been a source of assurance during bleak times.

“Not even when you’re talking about important issues at a show, but like, going into a gas station on tour and like, people using their manners,” Steiner said. “Basic human interactions. Realizing literally 99 percent of people in this country have so much more in common than the 1 percent ultra-wealthy people, who at the end of the day are pulling the strings. It’s really important to remember that; get outside of my little echo chamber online and be with human beings in the real world.”

Origins behind 2023’s The Window and this year’s Singin’ to an Empty Chair reference deeply emotional conversations with loved ones: the former a final farewell between her grandparents during the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter a therapy exercise to confront feelings toward an estranged relative. Upbeat jams, jangly rhythms, and a sweetness to Steiner’s delivery may not immediately line up with such heart-breaking backstories, but their talent for transforming hard times into uplifting anthems has helped Ratboys endure and endear for more than a decade.

“We got to play in Chicago the night [Singin’ to an Empty Chair] came out, and getting to be in a room with people and talking about issues facing our country and realizing in that moment how much solidarity exists among people, like real human beings, is honestly like the greatest generator of optimism for me,” Steiner said.

The Pitch caught up with Steiner ahead of Ratboys’ Wednesday, March 25 show at recordBar.

The Pitch: Based on some of the profiles I’ve read, the band spends a lot of time living and working together. I know that’s not unusual for touring artists, but you guys are also known as being a nice group of people. How do you guys manage to get along so well? What does a Ratboys argument look like?

Julia Steiner: We do spend a lot of time together. That’s like the crux of any band, that’s the reality. Any touring band, you know you’re going to be in a confined space with your band mates pretty much all the time, like the majority of each day. Lucky for us, we’re pretty in cahoots as far as the stuff we like to do in van. We like to listen to music in the van moreso than podcasts. We appreciate listening to full albums together, and so we’re often talking about the music we’re listening to, just kind of bonding over that.

Outside of tour, Sean [Neumann], and Dave [Sagan] and I lived together for a few years in the same house. That was really nice. We got really lucky because that period overlapped with most of the Covid time, and so we were able to sort of have our own little built-in unit of friendship and creative outlet as far as like, being able to still work on band stuff and learn all sorts of crazy stuff over the course of that time, like live-streaming. It was a really nice time.

One of my heroes, Jeff Tweedy from the band Wilco, talked about in the past that fantasy that The Monkees put out there in the ’60s of the band living all together, like riding the fireman’s pole down to the practice space. Wilco has their loft, that’s like their vision of the fantasy. For us, for a while there, we had the basement. Sean has since moved out but we all still reconvene to practice there. It’s nice having that space to come together and it’s nice to have our own space now. When we come together, it’s exciting to be back in the same room.

Ratboys. //photo credit Miles Kalchik

It sounds like that stretch of time where everyone was living together is why you guys manage to get along so well.

It definitely helped us feel even more comfortable with each other. They’re my brothers. It’s not all–we’re human beings, we’re not always having a great time. We get on each other’s nerves. We’ll have band practice, and my feedback or critiques can get pretty detailed, like pretty zoomed in. My goal, I’m trying to be better at knowing when to say something. Peppering in feedback and not constantly harping on random bullshit. We have definitely gotten in arguments about like, “Should we record this one a single BPM slower?” or something. We all have opinions and want to do a good job. We are passionate about music and we don’t always agree. That’s what makes an artist, man. It’s subjective.

Oh yeah, Sean has very strong options about like, “No good food can be served at a gas station.” And Kansas City is one of those exceptions, I think, because you guys have that Joe’s BBQ in a gas station. And we’re like, “Sean, there are clearly exceptions to the rule.” He gets really bristly whenever we go to eat somewhere in any sort of proximity to a gas station.

That is pretty funny. Gas stations are a popular place to eat around here, whether it’s an acclaimed barbecue place or just QuikTrip.

QuikTrip is awesome. I wish we had those here, I don’t know why we don’t. They’re up in Wisconsin.

You worked with producer Chris Walla for this album, same as the last. What were the benefits of working with the same producer two straight albums, and specifically, working with him? What does he bring out of Ratboys that perhaps previous collaborators spent less time with?

This was our first time working with someone again, going back and working with the same producer again. It was really nice because we became really close making The Window. We really learned a lot about each other not just in the actual recording studio environment, but Chris really made an effort when we made The Window out in Seattle, to show us around and tell us stories about his upbringing in Seattle. He’s very passionate about the city and like, really niche neighborhood lore. We’re so into that too. We just have a lot of common ground as far as like what we’re into with music and outside of it just as people and appreciating the world around us. We all really picked up on that right away, that we just get along and kind of move through the world in similar ways.

It was exciting going into making this record with that foundation of familiarity under our belts. We didn’t have to spend any time in the studio sussing out each other’s habits. “How early should we start each day? When do we venture into the land of diminishing returns at night? What do you like to eat?” Just like, very human stuff that we didn’t have to talk about this time because we already knew. It helped us get started faster. We just really trust Chris. He brings a great sense of adventure and safety to this whole process. We felt very much in good hands, not that we didn’t feel that way with any of the people we worked with in the past. There’s this really palpable feeling of home working with him. It was great! We knew it was going to be great, and it was.

Your indie rock, pop rock sensibilities are well-documented, referencing The War on Drugs, The Beths, Wilco, and more for your newest album. For the twangy ‘alt-country’ side of Ratboys, who do you point to as your country influences?

I grew up in Kentucky in the 90s, I think that was the golden era for pop country on the radio as far as like big, shiny radio country music. The biggest ones for me were The Chicks and Shanaia Twain. Even hearing people like Alan Jackson on the radio, my babysitter growing up loved Garth Brooks, so he was always on. Outside of that, then you learn about the tradition of Loretta Lynn, Dolly, Merle Haggard, all these country artists from previous eras that I kind of discovered as I got older. Neil Young is a massive influence, just endlessly for us.

And then you start veering, you make connections with who they collaborated with and discovering The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. They aren’t necessarily country bands as you would think of them, but like, they are. Just kind of realizing that the term is such a catch-all. There’s just so many types of storytelling and evocative songwriting happening under that label. It could be anything, and I think that’s why it’s really having a comeback now. If you’re honest and writing earnestly, you can just make country music.

One calling card for a Ratboys song is your singing voice. About when did you get comfortable with your voice and style?

I’m grateful you say that. I joke sometimes but it really is true, my voice is my main instrument. I take it pretty seriously. If anything, I need to take it more seriously, and commit to doing vocal warm-ups and stuff before the show because it’s been getting a little strained sometimes. I have great memories of singing with my mom and grandma growing up, and realizing at a pretty early age that I at least, liked to sing. Not necessarily that I had some sort of great ear for it or whatever, but just remembering those moments where I took pleasure in it is kind of nice. At an early age – at like 6.

I joined choir when I was 13. The timeline is kind of wild. I had to do a compulsory course class, like everyone did, and so I didn’t join voluntarily right away–I was just in this class. But I realized that I really enjoyed it, and I’d actually missed the sign-ups to audition for the choir, so I had to wait another year. But that experience in being in choir in high school was, I don’t think I realized it at the time, but that’s like massively formative for me. Just learning so much about like your body and kind of the physical aspect of singing and how to connect that, like a physical act, with what you’re trying to do is just huge, and it’s something that I still think about a lot when we play and record, especially just trying to unlock something through different like whether it’s lifting your eyebrows or raising your arms above your head completely – there are little tricks you can do to loosen up and access certain parts of your voice. Gotta shout-out Jill Schurman my choir teacher. She is a huge part of why I’m still singing.

It seems like the point of a mandatory class worked in this case.

They got me. They got my ass.

It also sounds like how an an athlete might think about their mechanics.

It’s so true. That’s why I say choir was my sport.

Speaking of sports, a little bit of a clarification: Is Tony Kornheiser familiar with you guys somehow? And who are the best TV sports personalities going now?

Tony is a hero of mine. Sean and I specifically have grown up watching [Pardon the Interruption], literally since it first came on in 2001. It was my ritual everyday after school to watch Around the Horn and PTI at 5 and 5:30pm. Tony and Mike [Wilbon] are like my uncles. I just really appreciate their candor, and just, they’re so thirsty–they love learning. I don’t know, they cover it all. They’re true journalists in that way. They’re just very inquisitive. They don’t discriminate. Obviously Tony has his favorites, his golf. He covers horse racing too, which I always appreciated growing up in Kentucky.

Anyway, he has a podcast with their son and a couple friends of theirs, and they play music on the podcast every time. You’re able to submit, so I’ve sent our music in a couple times and shout-out to Nigel their producer, has played in on the show. Tony knows, we’re on his radar as far as he’s said our band name out loud with his mouth. But I don’t know if he would remember us. It’s an honor to be on his radar, huge fan of him.

But yeah, Mina Kimes is one of our faves. I think she’s kind of the one that we really follow and appreciate right now. Tony’s podcast is still a bastion of his old-school approach to sports journalism. He has great guests on too. Like, Jason La Canfora’s the beat writer in Baltimore for the Ravens, and I can’t vouch for that awful team, but he does a great job covering the league as a whole. Pat Fordy from Louisville is one of my favorite writers, he’s still doing a great job, too. There’s people out there, it just isn’t as easy to find these days.

Ratboys play RecordBar on Wednesday, March 25, with villagerrr. Details on that show here.