Dan's Papers - September 5, 2008

Rolling Stone magazine probably put it best: The Good Rats are America's greatest unknown band.

The Good Rats have been a Long Island institution since they formed in 1969 - nearly 40 years ago - despite never quite making it on the national scene. Now, with a legion of fans in the tri-state area, they're getting some of the attention and accolades they deserve, as they're set to be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October, alongside artists such as Barbara Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel and Pat Benatar.

"It's quite an honor, considering who else is going to be there," said Peppi Marchello, who founded the band and continues to perform under the Good Rats name with new members, including his son, Gene. "It's good company to be among."

And before the induction ceremony, The Good Rats line-up will be performing at the Artful Dodger in Westhampton Beach on Saturday, Sept. 6. "Some of our fans hang out there and told [the venue] about us," said Marchello.

The group started out playing mostly covers before eventually writing their own music, which fuses a classic rock feel with jazz, pop and even hard rock at times. During the '70s, they were an integral part of the thriving Long Island music scene, alongside bands such as Twisted Sister and Zebra, playing at now long gone venues such as The Attic and My Father's Place.

In 1974, they signed with Warner Bros., releasing their most popular album, Tasty, that August. Then a shake-up at the label found The Good Rats being dropped just four months later, in December, when Warner let go all artists selling less than 50,000 records.

The band released a series of albums on smaller albums between 1976 and 1980, but despite having many other bands as fans (future well known acts, such as Bon Jovi, members of Poison and U2 have told Marchello personally how much The Good Rats' music meant to them) they never made it at a national level. "And there's one reason for it: Lack of support," said Marchello, who said Warner and other labels simply didn't work hard enough to get them the radio airplay the group needed to take their musical career up a notch.

"We sold more records in this area than most of the big artists. People always say, 'You guys should have been doing this' or 'You guys should have been doing that.' But now it is what it is. I'm just amazed we were never part of the national scene."

During the 10 years they played together, the group performed at Madison Square Garden, Central Park, Nassau Coliseum, the Hammerstein Odeon in England and many more large venues and festivals around the world. They shared the stage - both headlining and opening - with groups such as Rush, Journey, Aerosmith and the Grateful Dead.

The group eventually parted ways because of the frustration of seeing bands that opened for them move up the ranks in the music industry, while they stayed where they were. "It was the curse of the rats," Marchello said. "Everyone who opened for us became famous." But, he added, "We're very proud of the 10 years we played together." Members of The Good Rats went on to play with Kiss, Billy Joel and Twisted Sister.

Ironically, these days, with the record industry crumbling because of internet downloading, legal and otherwise, the Internet is actually helping The Good Rats reach out to new fans around the world. "Since the Internet came around, we find we have pockets of fans in places like Finland and Argentina," Marchello said. "I still get royalties from all sorts of weird countries."

And, in 2001, Marchello and the group's new line-up nearly had a second chance at making it in the record industry, when a label wanted to sign them to release their song "Let's Have Another Beer." At the time, Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out" was a huge success and labels were looking for the next catchy novelty song. But then, September 11 happened. "The label told us, 'You can't put out a festive song at a time like this,'" he said. "Wrong place, wrong time."

Still, with family, friends and fans making a video for the song, it's become a bit of an Internet sensation on Youtube and fans of all ages are drawn to it. "If you're over 30 it's depressing, but if you're under 30 it's just about drinking beer," Marchello said. "It's humorous and depressing, kind of like 'The Sopranos.'"

But don't think Marchello is bitter. For him it's all about the music and he's grateful he's been able to make music his life. "I still get to go out there and it makes me feel terrific," he said, adding that the band play at least 100 shows a year still. "I've always been and always will be a Good Rat."

For more information, go to www.goodrats.com.

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