Rat Boy has announced details of a brand new album, and it’s not what anyone was expecting.
The follow-up to 2017’s ‘SCUM’ sees him teaming up with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. Titled ‘Internationally Unknown’, the 12-track result will be released on 25th January via Parlophone and Armstrong’s Hellcat Records.
A press release explains that Rat Boy first discovered Armstrong through a record from The Transplants in his father’s collection, before delving back to check out his other bands, Rancid and Operation Ivy.
Meeting at Armstrong’s Shiprec Studios, they recorded three demos on their first day working together. With the whole project recorded over three visits and two months, the album features not only Rat Boy’s live band, but former Aggrolites bassist J Bonner and The Interrupters’ vocalist Aimee Interrupter. John King of The Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys, Beck) also contributed production alongside Armstrong.
“I wanted to do this completely differently because ‘SCUM’ took so long, and I was learning the whole way through making it,” explains Rat Boy. “I wanted to make something more personal and raw, which reflected me more. I was trying to find that sweet spot between hip-hop and punk, and Tim really understands that stuff. I’ve never really spoken to anyone else who love hip-hop and punk like I do.”
The news comes alongside three tracks from the record, ‘Chip On My Shoulder’, ‘No Peace No Justice’ – which features Tim Armstrong – and title track ‘Internationally Unknown’. You can check out all three, and the video for ‘Internationally Unknown’, below.
