Heaven and Hell Records will soon be reissuing a square-peg of a sort, which might leave a few scratching their heads. For the first time ever officially reissued, and first time ever released on CD WHITE BOY AND THE AVERAGE RAT BAND will be made available for collectors and introduced to new audiences.
WHITE BOY AND THE AVERAGE RAT BAND formed in the small secluded Virginia mountain town Richlands around 1979 after guitarist and founder Mike Matney returned from a short stint with a band in Nashville, Tennessee. Once back home Matney began to put together his Average Rat Band consisting of bassist Tommy Altizer (R.I.P) , rhythm guitarist Seth Kelly and Tim Gilbert.
In 1980 the project was ready to go into a small local studio and record a slap of DIY heaviness. The 8-track album would see a modest release of 300 and limited distribution beyond the band’s means.
“Beyond all the vagueness lies a very confusing, very DIY-sounding Heavy Metal album that’ll have you wondering the intentions from the get-go. Did these guys know how fucked up they were?” –Tony Rettman (Vice News)
Jump forward several years and WHITE BOY AND THE AVERAGE RAT BAND was now an obscure memory, but the album the band released was beginning to be remembered, remembered and discovered by collectors worldwide who would be paying hundreds of dollars to get one of these pieces of wax in their collections. Every fan of post punk and proto-metal would have this record topping their want-list.
“I think that one of the reasons people like this record is its isolated, alienated quality. It’s not an expression of anybody trying to get anywhere. Rather, it’s a raw power urge to make rock ‘n’ roll—a pure thing.” – Ron Garmon (L.A. Record)
Now after all these years this album will finally get a proper reissue, fully digitally re-mastered from the original tapes and released on CD limited to 500 copies worldwide, with booklet containing lyrics and liner-notes by guitarist Mike Matney. The CD version will also include 5 bonus tracks that will ONLY be available on CD version.
Also WHITE BOY AND THE AVERAGE RAT BAND debut LP will be re-released for the first time officially on vinyl in a limited 500 pressing; 100 coke-clear and 400 black pieces. The album will be fully re-mastered from the original tape sources to assure that best sound quality possible. This will be the only official reissue of this release, others are unofficial bootlegs taken mastered from vinyl sources.
Fans of early Sabbath, Priest, Motorhead, Axe, Wicked Witch, A Band Called Death, Roky Erikson, The MC5, and Iggy and the Stooges will certainly find this to be appealing.
Release is set for an October 20th street date.
