Children of the Rat Temple
Southern Illinois
If you’ve never heard the sounds of Children of the Rat Temple, you’re missing out. The duo began making music together when they were in junior high. They started with a punk rock style and over the years they’ve evolved their style. They’re now bringing their unique experiential, electronic and psychedelic sound to Beloit for a live performance that will truly indulge the senses.
Coming from the Southern Illinois music scene, Children of the Rat Temple is ready to shake things up at DEVIATE.From their songs to their style to the visual aspects incorporated into their shows, this dynamic duo is doing something different and wants everyone to be a part of it this October.
october 15
How would you describe your music?
Describing our sound is always sort of a tricky endeavor as our music/art is to some extent constantly evolving and changing. Generally when pressed to categorize, I would say our sound falls somewhere in the realm(s) of experimental/electronic/psychedelic.
Where do you find your inspiration?
We have been making music together in one form or another for a long time now - and I think we bring all our interests to the table (both shared and separate) - so there are elements of all sorts of things that wind up being mixed in. As far as musical styles that we are inspired by and incorporate, it's pretty universal - ska, dub, punk, blues, singer-songwriter, shoegaze, Latin influences, middle-eastern influences. We both listen to and love all kinds of things, but I think we also take inspiration from other art forms just as much - be it literature, film, painting, collage...as well as just the trappings of everyday life. May sound cheesy, but it's all interconnected...and we do our best to not limit our expression too much.
How long does it take for you to write a song from start to finish? How do you make your music? The time it takes for us to write music varies. Usually if one of us has an idea, we can sort of flesh it out into a more fully realized song or piece within the space of one practice session, but then the more definitive pieces that we do have are never played exactly the same twice so they are sort of ever evolving in that way.
Where can we find your work? Examples of galleries, stores, and events you have been involved in. There is a thriving music scene in Carbondale and we have played a lot of local shows (bars, venues, house-shows, art galleries, benefits, etc) and we have branched out to other nearby places (St. Louis, Nashville TN, Cape Girardeau) as well. We recently played some benefit shows for a local shelter/community organization and the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement, both of which are totally in line with our ideals as individuals and as a band. As for where to find our work - YouTube, Bandcamp, and Instagram...all are good places to find our music and content online.
What is your background? Growing up, I had always wanted a guitar, but it wasn't until my 3rd grade music teacher realized I had a natural ear for music. Picking up songs fast in the music class, he initiated my journey in music with a simple phone call to my parents. What started as playing guitar at the age of 9 would explode into a self taught singer/songwriter, producer, and artist within a decade. I've been very fortunate with the experiences I've been through, Traveling from New Orleans to Canada for some amazing opportunities, including performances on American Idol, the Chicago House of Blues, and many other venues.
Is this your full-time job? If so, where do you work? Both of us have other means of generating income, I work in the lab at a cannabis cultivation center and Jonathan works as a massage therapist. In a way I think these other means of income allow us a certain freedom in our musical/artistic endeavors together, not only because we can afford to travel somewhat when we have the time, but also (besides just our own independent nature/s) these other means of income create that much more space for our art/music to be expressed in an even further uninhibited manner based on whatever our imaginations generate - as opposed to being subject so much to the demands of a given market or audience
What are your future goals for your music? In the immediate sense, we have been working on some recordings that will see the light at some point in the relatively near future and our performance at Deviate has now become the sort-of focal point of a small tour that we have shaped up. In the longer-term I think we would both like to be able to travel more often and book larger tours and continue to make Children of the Rat Temple a sustainable and growing entity. Currently our other means of income are helpful and beneficial, but we are passionate about music and I think we would both love to be able to make it our full-time endeavor.
Why should people come to DEVIATE and check you out? People should come to Deviate because it offers something out of the ordinary, adjacent to the norm and I think with the daily struggle that America is going through it's good for people to maybe see something they don't usually see, to see an alternative or a skewed view of the world. There's so much more interesting talent on the fringes and so much more out there to experience than just what the mainstream has to offer.
People should come check us out because we're one-of-a-kind, and we love what we do. If you've never seen us, you've never seen anything like us. We bring a unique take not only to the music we play and our lyrical ideas, but also our stage presentation and the visual aspects of our show. No two shows are ever the same and we'll surely pull out the stops for Deviate. We're all passion, but we have fashion too.
What are you most excited about for DEVIATE? We are probably most excited about just getting to experience all of the artists' work and learn new perspectives, meet new people, see into their lives in that way and have them see into ours - the shared experience of creation.