Raging Nathans frontman heard Fat Heaven’s “Crybaby” in his car before he knew anything about the band. “It was just on a playlist and I liked it so much I played it over and over,” he says. “It’s kind of rare that I hear a random song that I don’t know anything about and love it.” When he found out that Fat Heaven’s album had been released by Sell The Heart Records, he called Andy Pohl — who he already knew — and asked him to connect the two bands about doing a split. That was over a year ago.
The result is a four-song 7″ coming out March 20th via Rad Girlfriend Records and Sell The Heart Records, and today we’re premiering the first two tracks — one from each side.
The Raging Nathans‘ contributions came together fast. The Dayton band had just wrapped their latest full-length, “Room For One More,” and never really stopped writing. “We never want to stay in one place for too long so we just decided to hit the studio and record a bunch of tunes,” the band says. Their side was mixed by Chris Dugan, known for his work with Green Day and Weezer.
Fat Heaven, the Brooklyn group whose drummer Gayla also plays guitar in Crazy and the Brains, brought “Coattail Rider” and “Getting Away With Murder” to the table. On “Coattail Rider,” the band takes aim at the transactional underbelly of the punk scene: “Everyone is such an ass kisser and always trying to get favors from people. The scene has been so transactional for a minute. Honestly, we probably do it too subconsciously.” “Getting Away With Murder” is about accountability — or the lack of it. “It’s pretty obvious that there’s a class of people that just never get held accountable for anything,” they say. “Sadly they work in the most powerful positions.”
Both bands are quick to point out that the split works because they don’t sound the same. Fat Heaven describe themselves as leaning more pop, while they see the Raging Nathans as having a “hard-nosed skate punk energy” — but the common ground is obvious enough. “You can definitely hear we come from the same influences,” Fat Heaven say. The Raging Nathans put it similarly: “I think the bands play two different yet distinct styles of punk rock and they both complement each other. Both bands are good at their craft and there’s this common melodic thread that holds it all together for me.”
For the Raging Nathans, the last few years have been a strange ride. They got dropped by their booking agent while touring Europe and struggled to find a new one. When they did, they ended up on the road with bands they’d grown up listening to, playing bigger rooms and learning a whole different side of the industry after years of doing everything themselves.
This year, things have leveled off — they’re back to booking their own tours and writing constantly. They’re in the middle of recording a new record right now. “It puts us in this strange position where we’re like this mid-level band that can hang, and I don’t feel has reached their peak yet, but we don’t know exactly what to do or what to focus on next,” they say. On a personal level, members Nick and the vocalist went through a rough stretch post-COVID. “Our lives are kind of all fucked up and you can kind of hear that in the tone and lyrics of these two songs. This is the first time in a while that either of us feel like we can really breathe again.”
Fat Heaven are in a different headspace but need the same thing from this release. “Honestly this split is like the injection of adrenaline we need right now,” they say. “The world/life is always just so draining but being able to release music alongside a band you genuinely like gives a feeling of hope that we can continue to just keep doing what we love.”
Andy from Sell The Heart Records had originally floated the idea to Fat Heaven, who were already fans: “We’ve been fans of the Raging Nathans for a while and fortunate enough to run in the same circles within the punk scene so it felt like a no-brainer.” A few shows together later, it finally happened.
The split is out March 20th. Cover art by Wall of Youth. Photos by Kevin Condon (Fat Heaven) and Charles Furment (Raging Nathans).
