![Indie Band Journeys: Tales of Resilience from Ratboys and The Beths]](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Indie-Band-Journeys-Tales-of-Resilience-from-Ratboys-and-The-758x426.jpg "Indie Band Journeys: Tales of Resilience from Ratboys and The Beths] 1")
For someone dealing with a dodgy tour van coolant system, Julia Steiner is surprisingly calm. The Ratboys guitarist and songwriter is calling from the road as the Chicago foursome – completed by guitarist Dave Sagan, bassist Sean Neumann and drummer Marcus Nuccio – support their sixth studio album, Singin’ to an Empty Chair, a record that grapples with bottomless grief and impossible joy in their signature alt-country sheen.
Likewise, Liz Stokes of The Beths is no stranger to documenting personal growth. She dials in from her home studio in Auckland where she’s been working since her band completed a four-month tour for Straight Line Was A Lie.
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Your last two releases came out six months apart. What do you take from each other’s work?
Steiner: The Beths record continues the trend of fantastic songwriting and interesting sonic choices. There’s never a dull moment. Not to gas you up, Liz, but y’all are honing in on your strengths – vulnerable, emotional songwriting with a bit of a wink and some self-awareness.
I’m always trying to say something but I say it with way too many words. You have a way of distilling something into a really beautiful phrase!
Steiner: We met in the UK in 2018 on a Monday night at the Louisiana in Bristol. Ratboys were on tour with Wild Pink. You were traveling with no gear and asked to use our amps. Your set blew me away – I emailed our booking agent, saying, “You need to sign this band!” Then the record came out three months later, and the whole world knew.
Stokes: That was a real DIY tour – I was cold-emailing promoters, and the Bristol booker said, “The show’s sold out and already has three bands, but I’ll put you on first.” It was the best show of the tour.
Julia, you play on a Danelectro-inspired V from Nepco. What makes this model special compared to your traditional Danelectros?
Steiner: The Nepco has the masculine rock ’n’ roll thing combined with the approachable aesthetic of Danelectros, but with a bit more heft. They’re still super-lightweight, but not as buzzy, and easier to work with – which is really important for me.
Shoutout to Ian [Williams]! And a huge fuck you to Gibson! [Editor’s note: in 2023, Gibson issued a cease and desist to Nepco over its V-shaped builds.] Ian makes these guitars for the love of it, and anyone should be able to play a V-shaped guitar.
I didn’t learn to use a pick until I decided to be in a band
Liz Stokes
[A Texas federal jury ruled in March 2025 that Gibson owns the trademarks to the Flying V shape and name. – Ed]
In an interview about the collab with Nepco, Julia, you recall breaking a string on your first guitar, a 1998 Danelectro DC-3. Liz, what was your first guitar?
Stokes: My first electric was a Peavey Raptor starter pack, and later, my dad got me an Epiphone G-400 with gold hardware and three humbuckers, which I started playing in The Beths.
Early on, when I was looking for guitars, I was toying with a Jazzmaster. I bought a G&L Fallout that became my main guitar, until it got stolen on tour.
That was the guitar I had when we met Julia. When we flew from New Zealand to Europe, I unbolted the neck and put it in a suitcase to save baggage. We later saw all our stolen gear posted for sale somewhere in Eastern Europe – so maybe it’ll come back around one day.
Steiner: It happened to Paul McCartney, didn’t it? He just got his Höfner bass back.
The Beths’ bassist Benjamin Sinclair mentioned Ratboys in his tour diary, Breakfast and Travel Updates, during a few Chicago posts, including going to a Paul McCartney stadium show. How was the show?
Stokes: My sister told me he was in town the weekend we were in Chicago. We got on the laptop to find tickets. I felt redeemed because when he came to New Zealand in 2018, I stupidly booked a Beths show the same night, and nobody came – they all went to see Paul McCartney!
Who were your guitar heroes growing up?
Steiner: One of the earliest songs I learned was A Horse With No Name by America. It’s just two chords the whole time. I had a ’70s compilation CD I took out of my babysitter’s car that included American Woman by The Guess Who and some Creedence Clearwater Revival. So, John Fogerty, let’s go with that. What a badass!
Stokes: I had lessons at school, but I mostly learned from Ultimate Guitar tabs. Early songs were Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy, and I used to busk with friends playing folky fingerpicking stuff like Death Cab for Cutie and Tegan and Sara.
When we started the band it was acoustic. I look back and I’m like, ’What a pure outlook!’
Julia Steiner
I didn’t learn to use a pick until I decided I wanted to be in a band and started writing rock songs for The Beths.
Digging into some of your pedals, Julia, there’s the EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job and the Paul Cochrane Timmy, which is heralded as a legendary guitar pedal, right up there with the Klon. What do you like about it?
Steiner: I never owned an electric guitar until two weeks before we recorded the first Ratboys album! When we started the band it was acoustic. I look back and I’m like, “What a pure outlook!” I wasn’t even worried about tone. I was just vibing and having fun.
Dave gifted me the Timmy before we recorded Printer’s Devil in 2018, and it’s still my workhorse. It sounds heavy without being too thick.
The Tone Job is basically a light boost/EQ that I discovered in the studio; I ended up running my guitar through it the entire time. I also just added an Acapulco Gold, which I love because it only has one giant knob, about the size of a tangerine, and it’s just the fuzz level.
Liz, you made a custom sewn-up tote bag so you can carry your pedals onto a flight. With such a tight amount of space, how do you prioritise?
Stokes: The tote bag’s gone! Now I have a Pelican case because I have two pedalboards. My setup has become more complicated – I’m switching between electric and acoustic, and both run through the same pedalboard with a switcher.
The acoustic only really gets a chorus for one song, but the electric has four levels of distortion, a fuzz and two delays. I don’t like adjusting knobs between songs, but I still end up doing it anyway. The tap dance never ends!
There’s a lot of switching mid-song while I’m singing, so my setlists have these hilarious notes like, “Sing down, turn off tuner pedal.”
You’ve both been performing for over a decade – how have you seen the realities of being a touring musician shift in that time?
Steiner: It’s a strange time to be on tour in America. Touring often feels like a mirror to our own lives. With everything going on politically in the US right now, gas prices have gone up significantly.
But one of my favorite parts is still the bands we get to play with. We’re on tour with Florry right now, and Francie Medosch is the most joyful shredder I’ve ever seen – huge Pete Townshend-style chords with a massive smile! Seeing great music every night is still my favorite part of touring.
I feel for younger bands now because there’s so much pressure around followers and streaming numbers. When we started none of those public metrics existed. I hope people give themselves the freedom to make music and not feel like they have to go viral. That’s not the point.
Stokes: You have to start with an in-person experience, and from there it turns into a room with some of your friends. That’s the pull of guitar music – it endures.
