Better known as The Rat, the club was the epicenter of Boston’s punk rock scene from 1973-1997. Former employees, musicians and more share memories of the venue and the man who owned it.
Dee Stroy and his girlfriend Molly Blom enjoy an event at The Rathskeller club and venue, also known as"The Rat" in Kenmore Square in Boston, on Sept. 13, 1996. Stroy is a member of The johnnies, a punk band out of Plymouth, MA.
There was a pipeline between CBGB and the Rat, with New York bands like Talking Heads, Ramones, Suicide, The Cramps and Dead Boys coming north and Boston bands heading south. When English bands first hit the U.S. — The Police, The Jam, The Damned, The Stranglers, The Fall, Gang of Four — CBGB and the Rat became their staging grounds. “The Rat reeked of old beer and had wet, beer-soaked, wall-to-wall carpeting on the floor,” recalled Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz.
“It was our scene,” said Oedipus, “and Kenmore Square was rough and tumble and so exciting. It was music only a certain amount of people gravitated to; it had this edge of danger around it.”Oedipus This was the defiant and unapologetic era of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Some of it onstage, some of it under the table or on the back stairs outside the club. Rules were not necessarily there to be followed.
“Anyone who became part of the Rat family was treated like family by Jim,” said Kathei Logue, who booked the club during part of the ‘80s. “And just like any family sometimes there would be yelling, sometimes tears, but most of the time lots of laughter.” This “banned for life” thing was a threat Harold would make every so often to a misbehaving band or audience member. Around the time Doherty was ranting, Harold was upstairs, trying to get someone to pay him $30 for a fake rat, part of the club’s décor. Downstairs, Stoker was manning the packed bar. He had run out of free vodka, and asked customers,"Is free gin OK?" Someone had scrawled this on the men's room wall:"Rat, R.I.P.
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