First Solo-Album of Ratrock Tot Sint Jans - released June 2012 on pumpkin records

Ratrock Tot Sint Jans
is a recording artist from Graz, Austria. After leaving behind his old Country/Rock-Band "The Shady Lanes" he is now recording his solo-material in his own studio, mainly consisting of an 8-track tape machine.
The first release was "Silvester Möstl" an intimate journey through Ratrocks past and future, not to mention the present. Recorded with many friends from other Bands (like Marino Acapulco of Spring and the Land, Klaus Wohlgemuth of Fragments of An Empire, Martin Riegler of Goldsoundz and Killed by 9 Volt Batteries, Matthias Krejan of The Sado Maso Guitar Club, Paul Pfleger of Stereoface, and many more), "Silvester Möstl" is the record Ratrock wanted to do for many years. Just simple songs - analoge recording - and doing about everything by himself.
"Silvester Möstl" was only released on vinyl. 300 pieces have been pressed and there will be no re-releases. Ratrock added some super-ultimate collectors copys, one in white vinyl, one in clear vinyl, two in red vinyl and one copy made of chocolate. These 5 copies have been placed at record stores, train stations and meadows all over europe to be found by some lucky listeners.
Recording of "Silvester Möstl" took about 2 years - First thing was getting together all the needed equipment, like the tape machine and an analoge mixing desk, the tapes, the space echoes, the guitars, the microphones. That took about a year. A couple of months have been spend in arranging the songs and at the same time - getting all the old equipment in functional condition. The recording itself didn't take that long, like 4 weeks. After that, overdubs and mastering was a bit more tricky, also all the other non-musical work (like setting up an email-account, facebook, bandspace, pressing the vinyl, design of the record, hustling the labels, filling out stupid papers, paying stupid fees...) was a pain in the ass.
From the songs recorded for the album, only 10 tracks got onto the album, another 10-15 Songs had to be left behind for later release or to decay in the dust of Ratrocks brain.
Ratrocks new love for old synthesizers was not featured that much on "Silvester Möstl", but maybe in the future there will be a couple of electronic influenced songs popping out. Either that or Ratrock goes back to his roots of acoustic singer/songwriter material.