Catching Up With... Ratatat

Since they first joined forces in 2001, Ratatat's Evan Mast and Mike Stroud have kept the music world on its toes in more ways than one. Not only does their innovative sound continue to defy categorization, but once our ears get a whiff of those catchy beats we can't help but start moving. The duo once again gave us an excuse to break out the middle school dance moves with July's LP3. Almost constantly on the road since the release of Classics in 2006, Ratatat is at it again. We caught up with Stroud on the tour bus as it was making its way to the band's stop in Pittsburgh.

Paste: Hey, Mike. So your tour starts today, right?
Stroud: Yeah, we got on the road this morning at like 7a.m. I'm a little tired.

Paste: I'm sure you guys are used to it. You've been on the road pretty much nonstop since Classics was released. What influence did that constant movement have on LP3?
Stroud: I guess there was an influence, probably in some subconscious way.  We got to go all over the world. It's hard to really tell where its coming from. We got to go to Istanbul and I think you can hear some of that. The influence mostly just came from meeting new people and hearing music.

Paste: While touring did you find any favorites? City, venue, etc.?
Stroud: We just toured through Germany. I love Berlin. I don't know, Istanbul was probably the coolest city I've ever been to. When we went there they hired this college kid to show us around and we didn't know anything and this kid just took us all over the place and showed us everything. No one had ever done that for us before and it was really the best way to see the city.

Paste: You guys are known for having a pretty eclectic mix of concert-goers at your shows. What do you think draws so many different types of people to your music?
Stroud: Probably just cause its pretty open and there are no lyrics and I think you can kind of just think about whatever you want when you're listening to that music; its not really like a popular genre. We aren't a genre one certain crowd likes. I think not having lyrics is a big part of it. [laughs] Okay, I actually have no clue.

Paste: LP3 incorporates a lot of interesting instrument choices like harpsichord and mellotron. What was the creative process in deciding to incorporate these rather different instrument choices?
Stroud: We both play all the instruments on our albums. I play most of the harpsichord. I've been playing since I was 10 years old. We've never really been in a studio before and we made Classics in Evan's apartment with two keyboards and a bass and we were really psyched to be in a studio to have all these different instruments, so even if I would write a guitar part, I'd just transpose it to whatever was instrument was available that I thought would sound good.

Paste: What led the two of you to get into electronic music in the first place?
Stroud: We just started playing it totally by accident; we both come from a background of liking everything pretty much. Evan was more into electronic stuff at first and I was from a rock background, so it just happened that way.

Paste: By now it's become pretty obvious that you guys aren't all too keen on lyrics for your own music. Has that been a conscious choice since the beginning?
Stroud: It was a conscious choice; we just like making instrumental choices. I had a band before this in college and I was a singer and whenever I recorded a song I always liked doing the music better, so for me it was a choice.

Paste: There are so many genres and sub-genres of music out there now with ridiculous names. How do you guys define Ratatat's sound?
Stroud: We don't really like to describe it because it sounds stupid. If you don't like jazz, you'll like our records. It's kind of the opposite. We've never really described it, I'd rather just tell people to listen.

Paste: Is there any genre or description that you object to being defined as?
Stroud: I don't care; they can call us whatever they want. So much of the shit I see us being called is almost always wrong so I just don't care.

Paste: You guys use some various non-instrumental sounds on LP3, like running water on "Imperials." How do you come to a point in building a song, where you are like, "Dude, running water is exactly what this beat needs!"
Stroud: [laughs] That was actually in the original beat. That was just Evan putting crazy shit in his piece, so I don't know where that came from. We usually just try to write a song every day, and then two weeks later, just listen back and be like, "We gotta make this weirder. How can we make this song weirder?"

Paste: What were you all listening to while recording LP3?
Stroud: We listened to some weird shit. We listen to this Persian drum trio, Chemirani. They play a drum called a zarb, and the group was just three drums played by a father and three sons. I don't know why, but for some reason for us it was just crazy music. We also listened to the Zombies a lot. Our friend Justin has a band White Flight. But we try not to get too influenced by other stuff while we're recording.

Paste: Do you ever have a specific person or place in mind when you arrange or record a track?
Stroud: I always think about Phil Spector or Brian Wilson. As far as having a picture in our heads, I think it's pretty subconscious or abstract, not a specific thing.

Paste: There has been much to do as of late concerning quote unquote indie artists having their music used in commercials and TV shows. Seeing as Ratatat is included in that category, have you been on the receiving end of any of that criticism? Why do you think it bothers people in the first place?
Stroud: No, we haven't done any licensing stuff in a while. And when we do get criticism, it's just from like high school kids, writing to us like, "You sold out!" My reaction is like, "Dude, your parents pay for your shit." [laughs] It's hard to make money in a band. You have to make money some how. But I also understand where they are coming from. You don't want a song you really love to be in some car commercial.

Paste: Whenever you hear your music outside of the studio or one of your albums, how does it feel? Has that feeling changed over time?
Stroud: It feels cool. I mean, it hardly ever happens. The few times it does it's kind of exciting. I've heard it coming out of bars and that's cool.

Paste: What do you think makes LP3 different from Ratatat's previous work?
Stroud: I don't know what other people think, but as far as making it, we made LP3 in three weeks and we made Classics in three years. I think there are just tons of new sounds, the strings, the organs, the harpsichords, and there are songs that just have like no beat. To me, it just sounds completely different and much more organic.