RETURN OF THE RATS – Vintage Portland Music That Deserves to Live On – By Ben Easher

Music historians rarely mention the Rats except when listing bands that Portland singer/songwriter/guitarist Fred Cole played in before Dead Moon. In fact, the Rose City’s alternative music scene of the early 1980s is mostly regarded as a footnote to the hype generated in Seattle a decade later. When former Dead Moon drummer Andrew Loomis invited the Rats to reunite for his fiftieth birthday party at the Star Theater on November 17, my first mission was to drive down from Seattle for the show. My second mission was to spread the word about the Rats and other underrated Portland bands of that era.

Why the Obscurity?

In mid-1970s Portland, cover bands dominated the nightclubs. This began to change after the Ramones passed through town on their first two American tours. In 1978, the Wipers accelerated the process by releasing their “Better Off Dead” 45 on the Trap label, started by bandleader Greg Sage. Cole’s band, King Bee, put out their own single later that year. By late 1979, King Bee was gone and so was Cole’s next group, Zap Spangler. Out of necessity he taught his wife, Kathleen “Toody” Cole, to play bass. Together with an inexperienced drummer, Rod Hibbert (aka Rod Rat), they became the Rats.

At the dawn of the 1980s, Portland was still considered a backwater by the music industry. In fact, Sage had to set up a New York office in order to get distribution for Trap Records. The Wipers made the rounds of the independent touring circuit that bands like Black Flag had helped create. Meanwhile, the Coles were raising three children, so the Rats never left the Pacific Northwest. Their only national exposure consisted of occasional reviews in low-budget music magazines and limited airplay on college radio.

Compared to the no-frills garage punk of Dead Moon, the Rats had a quirkier sound, even adding new-wave synthesizers on some of the recordings. Fred Cole is no perfectionist on guitar, but every song is memorable. Hibbert quit after the self-titled first album and took his own life in 1981. Former Wipers drummer Sam Henry played on the follow-up, Intermittent Signals, then moved on to Napalm Beach. Louie Samora joined for the final record, In a Desperate Red. When he left in 1984, the Rats called it a day.

By the late 1980s, the Wipers were playing to large crowds in Europe. Other Portland bands would soon follow, including Dead Moon (formed in 1987). Their reputation overseas eventually led to demand for tours of the United States. Pearl Jam started covering Dead Moon songs in concert. Sub Pop Records released a best-of collection, Echoes of the Past, in 2006…and then the band broke up. Less than a year later, the Coles were back with their current group, Pierced Arrows.

How Was the Show?

I arrived at a crowded Star Theater in time to see Girl Trouble, a continuous Tacoma sock-hop swamp-rock institution since 1984. Turns out the starting time had been changed and I had missed the first two bands. Friends told me that the Wolfman Fairies cut their opening set short because of equipment problems, and that the Stiphnoyds—who appeared on several bills with the Rats and recorded for Trap—sounded great. Fortunately, video footage of both bands is already showing up on YouTube.

The Lordy Lords went on fourth. Their upright bass and rectangular Bo Diddley guitar had a 1950s look, but their sound owed as much to late 1970s punk rock. Then the Rats took the stage for their first reunion since 1988. Louie Samora played drums on a handful of songs before giving up his seat to Sam Henry. Although the band admittedly had little time to rehearse, hearing those lost classics at full blast made my trip worthwhile. For an encore, Fred and Toody Cole briefly reunited Dead Moon by convincing the birthday boy to accompany them on a version of Elvis Presley‘s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Where Can You Get the Records?

Original pressings of the Rats’ records go for up to $100 on eBay. Recent reissues of The Rats and Intermittent Signals on Mississippi Records quickly sold out. In a Desperate Red will be remixed from the original tapes in 2012.

Many other Portland recordings from this time period have become collectors’ items. Greg Sage reissued the first three Wipers albums on his label (now called Zeno), along with a compilation of Trap releases—History of Portland Punk Vol. I—that is now out of print. Twelve early Napalm Beach songs have resurfaced on the European collection Rock and Roll Hell, but the Crumbling Myths album by the Neo Boys (who had a single on Trap, and weren’t boys) is still unavailable.

The audience at the Star Theater included many people too young to have seen the Rats back in the day. Future reunions are unlikely, but the music deserves to live on.

– Ben Easher


The Rats


The Stiphnoyds


Napalm Beach


The Neo Boys


The Wipers

1999 Dead Moon Review

1997 Dead Moon Interview