Formed in 1979 by Fred Cole from the 1960's garage rock band The Lollipop Shoppe. Cole played guitar and sang, his wife Toody played bass and sang, and initially Rod Rat played drums. Their sound was a raw mix of punk rock and garage rock with occasional country touches. Their self-titled debut album appeared on Cole's Whizeagle label in 1980. Soon after, Rod Rat left the band, though he guested on the 1981 follow-up Intermittent Signals before his tragic suicide. Sam Henry, formerly of The Wipers, played drums on this LP but left to join another Portland band, Napalm Beach. Louis Samora was on the drum throne for the 1983 album In a Desperate Red, still on Whizeagle. Samora left in 1984 to concentrate on his rockabilly band, The Jackals.
Tired of losing drummers, and bored with the punk scene's decline into macho posturing, the Rats broke up. Soon after, Fred and Toody enlisted an old Roland drum machine and formed the country band The Range Rats. Adding Andrew Loomis on drums and returning to a more rock / punk style they became the 20 year veterans Dead Moon.
Despite great songwriting, The Rats' records did not sell well, and are hard to find today. Music and live perfomances by The Rats are in the Dead Moon documentary "Unknown Passage".
Fred and Toody, we wanted to make sure you knew our debut CD SOUTHERN SEXUAL: In a Failing Third World Nation is now available on Permanent Lifetime Records. It has ten original songs and features appearances by Lynn Drury, MC ShellShock!, Robin Beach, and Miss Kitty Baudoin. Includes the hits "Crying On Mardi Gras," "Watch New Orleans Die" and "You Don't Say", all of which can be previewed FREE at our Myspace page. Please check it out, and thanks as ever for your support....Todd Souvignier
By the way, Fred, I still have that blackface pre-CBS Fender Super Reverb Amp that you sold me in 1982 for $275. I had no idea what this thing really was, and meant, at that time, but surely you knew. You understood the value and significance of this amp. You laid a heavy, heavy favor on me and i was too green-and-dumb to even realize it until about ten years later. Joe Gore (from PJ Harvey & Tom Waits) chewed me out one night for not taking proper care of it. At any rate, it survived Katrina and still sounds great..you always were, and always will be, The Man......todd s.
