The Rats

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A few obscure rock bands have used the name The Rats, including an English outfit with Mick Ronson on guitar. The most prolific was the Portland, Oregon band formed by Fred Cole from the 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. Bill Barker of Profile Studios in Vancouver, BC, convinced the band to reunite for a single that he overproduced. It appeared under the band name The Desperate Edge later in 1984. Soon after, Cole assembled a country band, Western Front, and he and Toody later reunited in Dead Moon. Despite great songwriting, The Rats' records did not sell well, and are hard to find today.

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