The Walkmen is an American rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The band consists of Hamilton Leithauser (vocals), Paul Maroon, Walter Martin, Peter Matthew Bauer and Matt Barrick (drums).
Leithauser and Bauer are former members of The Recoys, while Maroon, Martin, and Barrick are former members of Jonathan Fire*Eater.
members: Hamilton Leithauser
formed in: New York City
labels: Record Collection
genres: indie rock
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Each of the members of the Walkmen grew up in and around the Washington, DC, area, played in many of the same bands from early in their careers, and even attended the same Washington-area high school, St. Albans School; Bauer attended Maret School while the other band members attended St. Albans. The bandmates eventually moved to Harlem.
Underlined songs have their story further down.
"The Rat" is a song by American indie rock band the Walkmen. It was released as the first single from their second studio album, Bows + Arrows (2004), on April 19, 2004.
The song peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart.
Singer Hamilton Leithauser said the song originated in a jam session when the band were "just screwin' around." The band's drummer Matt Barrick instigated the track by playing a fast drum pattern. The band then quickly built this foundation into the full track. Leithauser said "we threw some chords on it, I wrote the words in five minutes." The song had been included in the band's live sets as early as February 2002, with slightly different lyrics than the recorded version.
The video features a live performance shot in black and white making use of chiaroscuro and directed by filmmaker Eva Aridjis.
The track has received highly positive critical acclaim, featuring in many end-of-decade lists. It was named thirteenth best track of the decade by NME and 20th best track of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media who named it "a St. Valentine's Day Massacre of relentless drums, bass, and guitar." Rolling Stone called it "one of the greatest songs of the century". Modern Drummer magazine praised Barrick's performance as "a jaw-dropping exercise in precision and velocity".
Florence and The Machine covered the track as part of a series on Myspace Music.