RATBOYS When The Sun Explodes Tour 2026

Friday, June 26 RATBOYS When The Sun Explodes Tour 2026w/ Shallowater at Grog Shop Doors 7 PM | Show 8 PMALL AGES$22 advance / $25 day of show+ $3 at the door if under 21Despite its title, Ratboys new album Singin to an Empty Chair is not defined by whats missing. Rather, its the beginning of an important dialogue with a close loved one, vocalist Julia Steiner finds herself estranged from. The music on the bands sixth studio album its first for New West Records fills the space that person left behind with 11 songs showcasing Ratboys at the peak of their powers twangy, effervescent, as confident as theyve ever been, and perhaps more emotionally interrogative than ever before. The four-piece Chicago band followed up 2023s highly acclaimed The Window by reconvening with co-producer Chris Walla to begin tracking at a rural Wisconsin cabin before taking the songs to Steve Albinis famed Electrical Audio studios in Chicago and later to Rosebud Studio in Evanston, Illinois. The results veer from bubbly power-pop on Anywhere to irresistible post-country on Penny in the Lake, along with heart-piercing ballads like Just Want You to Know the Truth and an exhilarating detour into the extraterrestrial on Light Night Mountains All That, which Steiner dubs the bands mammoth wormhole jam. Singin to an Empty Chair also marks the first Ratboys album written since Steiner began therapy, which the singer/lyricist credits for the clarity found across the albums unflinching examinations of relationship and self. Fittingly, as the album begins by extending a hand into the void, it concludes with a scene of serenity all while weaving candid honesty, humor, chaos, and whimsy along the way. Its not all doom and gloom, Steiner says. The experience of making this record definitely gives me hope for whatever happens next.