Ratboys are reframing their latest album through the ears of their peers. On September 18, the Chicago band will release a deluxe edition of Singin’ to an Empty Chair via New West Records, adding five reworkings of album tracks by PUP, Ducks Ltd., Bad Bad Hats, Wild Pink, and Free Range. It also includes Ratboys’ own cover of “Fix My Brain” by Texas punk band the Marked Men, recorded earlier this year for SiriusXM.
The project is less a bonus disc than a controlled exchange. PUP take on “Know You Then,” Ducks Ltd. cover “Light Night Mountains All That,” Bad Bad Hats rework “Anywhere,” Wild Pink revisit “Strange Love,” and Free Range interpret “What’s Right?” Singer Julia Steiner framed the exercise in straightforward terms, describing it as an opportunity to hear close friends and influences transform the album’s songs.
The deluxe edition arrives the same day as the band’s first NPR Tiny Desk Concert, where they performed older favorite “Black Earth, WI” alongside Singin’ to an Empty Chair tracks “Penny in the Lake” and “What’s Right?”
Ratboys have also confirmed 2026 live dates across the UK, Europe, and North America, including stops in Brighton, Mexico City, and Chicago.
