Delivering scrappy but taut pop-leaning punk with muscle and melodies in equal proportions, Patsy's Rats is a band from Portland, Oregon with a rotating lineup anchored by Patsy Gelb and Christian Blunda. Patsy Gelb was seemingly born to play music; her father, Howe Gelb, is the leader of the long-running indie/alt-country band Giant Sand, while her mother, Paula Jean Brown, played bass with Giant Sand, was briefly a member of the Go-Go's, and co-wrote Belinda Carlisle's solo hit "Mad About You." Patsy has followed in the family tradition by performing with Giant Sand, while she was also a member of a furious punk outfit, Scavenger C**t. Christian Blunda, meanwhile, has made a name for himself as the guitarist and lead singer with the band Mean Jeans (under the stage name Billy Jeans). Patsy Gelb and Christian Blunda teamed up in 2015, writing songs together and recording a handful of tracks alongside bassist Aaron Levy and drummers Nat Bower and Kyle Raquipiso (Gelb and Blunda both handled guitars and vocals). In November of that year, under the name Patsy's Rats, they released a seven-song cassette on Burger Records. Two more tracks appeared on the soundtrack of the cult favorite horror film Green Room, "Melted" and "Takin' Out the Trash." A pair of tunes from the Burger cassette, "Rock & Roll Friend" and "Hard Time Karen," appeared on a 7" vinyl single from La-Ti-Da Records in February 2016, while DIG! Records drew two more songs from the cassette, "Burnin' Honey" and "Nowhere Close," for another 7" single in June 2016. In August 2017, Patsy's Rats dropped a single via Dirtnap Records, "Rounding Up" b/w "Little Rat Charm," with bassist Stevie Pohlman and drummer Jon Barron of Mope Grooves sitting in with Gelb and Blunda. Two months later, yet another Patsy's Rats 7" hit the record racks; "Is It Alright?" b/w "Givin' Up," which also featured the rhythm section of Pohlman and Barron, was released by Wink and Spit Records. ~ Mark Deming