Rorik Brooks (Cloud Rat)
What are your top five albums that were released in 2021? (In order 1-5)
- Kowloon Walled City - Piecework
- Damiana - Vines
- The Body and BIG|BRAVE - Leaving None But Small Birds
- Yautja - The Lurch
- Hide - Interior Terror
Other great mentions:
- Full of Hell - Garden of Burning Apparitions
- BIG|BRAVE - Vital
- Brett Naucke - Mirror Ensemble
- Kælan Mikla - Undir Köldum Norðurljósum
- Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
- Jail (Detroit) - Demo
What band did you discover in 2021 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
I rediscovered how awesome the Ramones are. Embarrassingly obvious of course, but sometimes you go years without engaging with something, then you watch Pet Sematary for the first time in years and suddenly are revisiting the entire Ramones discography and feeling great about it. How the fuck does one write such perfect, heavily impactful, yet very succinct and "simple" songs? I'd like to do something like that with Cloud Rat but we just keep getting more densely complicated and elaborate. AAAAHHHHHH
How will you remember 2021? (In terms of music)
Tons of artists released an absolute shit ton of awesome music and I hope I can catch up and grok even a fraction of it. On a personal note, I think I had some musical growth this year, learning to be better at collaborating, and especially doing music production stuff to a significant degree.
What can we look forward to from you in 2022?
2022 will see a new full-length album from us (we're recording in just a couple weeks actually), and a bit of touring in the US and EU. We'll probably really hit the road after that record drops, so more like late 2022/2023 will see us getting out a lot more if all goes well. We are finally starting to reissue earlier material through our label Artoffact. Our first album (self-titled, 2010) will be out in a few months, fully remixed and remastered from the original stems. The OG version will still be available to listen to for the folks who prefer that too. And then a standalone deluxe edition of our electronic record, Do Not Let Me Off The Cliff will be out soon too, featuring a few additional songs all collected in a nice remastered LP package. We've got a few other recording plans up our sleeve too, hopefully those work out...
What records are you looking forward to most in 2022?
I have no idea who's doing what currently. Brandon should be answering this, he's way more plugged in lol. I'm sure next year will be absolutely stacked though.
What went through your head the first time you played live in 2021 after the delay? (If you haven’t -- what do you anticipate when you hit that point?)
Our first shows back are a little Midwest jaunt January 6-8, 2022. I'm nervous, to be honest. We rarely get to practice and my body is turning to dust as I type this. But I know it'll probably be awesome and breathe some new life into us collectively. I can't wait.
Rorik Brooks – social media links
- Twitter: @cloudratgrind
- Instagram: @cloudratgrind
