About Rat Park

Record

Subject: Rat Park
Active since: 2020
Formed: Harlem, New York City
Last seen: Los Angeles, California
Sound: Anarcho-punk, hip hop, dancehall, ska
Known associates: Jesse Michaels (Operation Ivy). Coyote. Raul “Riff” Cuellar.
Status: Recording

Notes

Rat Park is an anonymous music and art collective. Its members are not named.

It started in 2020 with an observation about sound. Punk and hip hop are the same thing. Crass spit bars. Nas is as political as any anarcho-punk record. Punk cuts up images and pastes them into something new. Hip hop does the same with samples.

The first songs were written in an apartment in Harlem during a snowstorm: an acoustic guitar pushed through a machine until it broke up, a laptop, and samples.

The name is personal. Members of Rat Park are in recovery from addiction and have lived through homelessness and poverty. Rat Park is the decision to live anyway, and to take a different path from the one they were on.

Recordings

The demo tapes

First documented online in 2022. Bootlegs have been passed around the DIY punk scene since. The demos reached Raul “Riff” Cuellar, who became central to shaping Rat Park’s sound for what came next. Riff played them for Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Operation Ivy, who suggested introducing Jesse Michaels to Rat Park. Michaels appears as a guest on the song “Rat Park.”

Upcoming album

Untitled. Recorded 2026. Produced, engineered and mixed by Raul “Riff” Cuellar at Riff Audio, Los Angeles. Cuellar has worked with NOFX, Suicidal Tendencies, Simple Plan, The Interrupters, The Casualties, Joyce Manor, DECEITS, Bad Suns, CHON and Mutemath.

Singles coming early 2027. Vinyl planned for mid 2027.

Black-and-white photo from the Rat Park sessions at Riff Audio: boots up in the foreground, the engineer at the mixing desk facing the monitors, amps and racks of outboard gear on either side. — Riff Audio, Los Angeles.

Questions

Who is Rat Park?: An anonymous music and art collective, active since 2020, formed in Harlem, New York City and based in Los Angeles.
Why the name Rat Park?: It comes from the Rat Park experiment, a 1970s study of addiction and environment.
Who is on the debut album?: Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy on “Rat Park” and the Los Angeles rap group Coyote on “Thought Control.” Produced by Raul “Riff” Cuellar at Riff Audio.
When is new music out?: Singles coming early 2027. A vinyl pressing is planned for mid 2027.
How do I book Rat Park?: Email booking@ratpark.co. Press: press@ratpark.co.