Rat Jesu Interview

As an early member of the internet-borne music genre HexD, Oklahoma’s Rat Jesu has paved her own way by taking foundational parts of the style and infusing it with experiences all her own and influences distinct to her life. Recently, she graciously took the time to correspond with SCAD Radio’s own General Manager Megan Atwell to share more about just what makes her take on music so thrilling to fans. Read below!

So my previous touch point with your work is Emo Girl Ex Machina and your feature on Fax Gang’s Dataprism, and both are very different in many ways from the digital hardcore leanings of Prepared to Die. What led you towards this change of sound?

So I recorded Emo Girl Ex Machina at the same time that I started transitioning. The album just came naturally as a part of realizing I was trans, and the flood of emotions that followed it. It was a very unique time in my life and the actual process of creating the album was a blur. Because of this I didn’t really have any direction to go once I started to settle into my transition. Creating a follow-up album became a real challenge, and I fell into a bit of writer’s block. I ended up combating this by experimenting with alot of different musical styles, and alot of it ended up going in a heavier direction.

Rat Judah feels very tongue in cheek with the play on your name, and the sound of it reads as a real homage to around the fur-era Deftones. What made you choose that track as the tone-setter and opener for this record?

A big part of dealing with writer’s block was going back to my roots. I absolutely loved Bionicles as a kid, and the music they used for theme songs was a big part of why. Songs like ‘Creeping In My Soul’ by Cryoshell blew my mind back then, and I remember falling in love with heavy music right then and there. The Alternative station on the radio ended up being a huge part of my musical development, and led me to discovering some of my favorite bands like Linkin Park and Deftones. Fun fact, the original name for the album was going to be ‘Bionicle Soundtrack’.

Lots of these songs are very short but have a ton of individual personality, from the pop of girls to the hardcore of the doom fulfilled to the gamey synths of new game plus. Did you intentionally cover a lot of ground as far as genre, or did that come naturally?

I’ve always been a pretty genre agnostic artist, as I really like to mess around with a bunch of different styles and techniques. Experimenting with different genres also helped me with my writer’s block, so the variation of the album happened as a result.

Priestess of the godless valley in particular strikes me as feeling very new for you with those synth harps and the intense, thrumming breakdown. Do you think that in the future you’d like to expand on that kind of duality of sound more?

I was really happy to have the opportunity to work with Cacola on Priestess of the Godless Valley, and I’m very happy without it turned out. The harder side of electronic music is definitely something I’m looking into for future projects, although it may not be as Rat Jesu.

Being an artist whose growth and style is owed very heavily to the internet, what parts of this new age of music do you enjoy and what things do you find limiting? Are you surprised to see yourself where you’re at now?

As someone who grew up with the internet, I think it’s probably the best thing to happen to music since the invention of tape recording. The internet has allowed so many people to get their music heard who otherwise wouldn’t be able to. A ton of my favorite music has come from this era, and I don’t think my music would have found an audience otherwise. While there are certainly some drawbacks, especially with streaming services not paying very well, I think there are more positives than negatives.

How’d you link up with PK Shellboy?

So Maknaeslayer of Fax Gang actually contacted us after Unimon Superstar dropped. They were a big fan of the record, and sent us some beats that were orginally intended for Aethernet. That’s actually how Poison.jpg got made! I then got to meet PK and Glacier Baby in New York for a No Agreements show, and we’ve been great friends ever since. FXG3000 was a huge inspiration to Emo Girl Ex Machina, so getting to be on a Fax Gang album was a dream come true!

Where does your sound “come from,” and how would you define HexD? Do you identify with that genre label? Where do you fall in terms of mixing HexD with outside influence?

I would say the biggest influence on the early Rat Jesu albums was Black Dresses and Fax Gang. When I was younger I really didn’t pay too much attention to newer music, so when my friends showed me Peaceful As Hell it really blew my mind. I just knew I had to try and make music that sounded like that. Hearing FXG3000 was also huge for me, as that was the first time I had ever heard bitcrushing used so heavily. For influences outside of the scene, I’ve always been a little obsessed with late 2000s internet culture. Things like nightcore and AMVs were a big part of Emo Girl Ex Machina’s aesthetic, and alot of music popular at the time like MCR and Fall Out Boy bled into my musical style.

My close friend and listening partner Sophie is a trans lesbian and really connected with some of the lyrics on Concrete, saying she’d never heard that confusion between desire and envy towards other women articulated in a pop song. Was that inspired by a specific experience, or is it more general, and how do you feel about pop music (or music generally, whatever) as a medium for ideas like this?

One of the best parts about being a queer artist is being able to draw on unique experiences when writing songs. Most popular music is written from a cis-het male perspective, so when you hear music written by a bi girl, you can tell. As for Concrete itself, the song is really driven by dysphoria, particularly the type that comes from comparing yourself to a girl you have a crush on. It’s a really complicated and difficult emotion, and I think music is the only way I can personally express it.

The gamey synths on the back half of the album give it a really characteristic sound; did you have any games in particular you took influence from?

I grew up playing on my Dad’s old Sega Genesis, so when I’ve incorporated synths into my music they’ve always had a very 8-bit sound. I’ve always had a deep love for the orignal Sonic The Hedgehog soundtracks, and really any games from that era. Newer titles like Celeste and the Dark Souls series are also a very big influence for me!

I notice after following you on instagram we both like a lot of posts and reels related to frogs, cats, really any animal. Could you give me your top 3 favorite animals?

I really love all creatures and critters, but right now I would have to say my top 3 favs are Frogs, Cats and Sharks!