Rateliff didn’t want it to be on the first record at all - Night Sweats drummer Patrick Meese and Richard Swift, the enigmatic producer behind both Night Sweats records, had to convince him to include it. Much like “Anthem,” a song Rateliff came up with on stage at a Denver concert that won him a $150,000 offer from Roadrunner Records that he subsequently declined, “S.O.B.” was written on a lark. What made its success harder to swallow was that, in Rateliff’s own estimation, “S.O.B.” isn’t a great song. “But that’s also not my responsibility as a performer.” “It was hard because, sometimes, it felt like, man, people just don’t get what I’m talking about,” Rateliff said. Set to a punchy rhythm, that traumatic experience became a hugely popular drinking anthem. The song was inspired by Rateliff’s bout with delirium tremens - a potentially fatal symptom of alcohol withdrawal that’s accompanied by shaking, hallucinations and, yes, sweating. The reaction was a cruel twist of entertainment-industry fate. Spiking the band’s rug-burning Sam & Dave routine with big folk ballads and Americana rock, it’s as much of a bawler as a brawler, toasting to the good times one moment and imagining setting “the whole thing on fire” the next. ![]() On March 9, Rateliff and company will release “Tearing at the Seams,” its sophomore effort. “I don’t really have any time for myself or a personal life,” Rateliff said, a trucker hat clamped down over his unkempt tuft of hair. Our conversation, 30 short minutes in a well-appointed office at 7S Management’s headquarters in Denver, came amid a stretch of promo appearances that’s had him doing up to 12 interviews a day for outlets around the world. ![]() But when you sign up to party on TV with giant CGI hamsters, those days are necessarily over. It wasn’t long ago that you could catch Rateliff for a curbside interview on any given day on South Broadway. Since the Denver-based singer-songwriter started performing with his spirited soul band, The Night Sweats, he and the band have played some 350 concerts with another 59 already on the books for 2018 - an aggressive clip for any outfit. Nathaniel Rateliff’s time is no longer his own. Tuesday, March 21st 2023 Home Page Close Menu
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