Interview With The Riptide Rats' Bassist Jocke Olsson
- Samuel Stevens
- Dec 30, 2025
- 4 min read
How would you describe your music to any person who may have never heard it before? Jocke: We play the kind of music you will hear in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
What's the significance of your band's band?
Jocke: We’re called The Riptide Rats, and we play surf/rock/twang/western music. Riptide is a surf term, and Rats got a rock/punk vibe to it, and that is what we are.
What are your musical influences?
Jocke: Sunny beaches, big blue waves, shady German big city backstreets, junk food and bourbon. And when it comes to music, it stretches from early 1960s Californian surf music to 1977 UK punk rock.
What are your musical inspirations? Jocke: Personally, I get most inspiration from movies, books and TV shows. It could be a line, or a segment of a song that catches my ear, and then I spin off on that in my head for a couple of hours. Sometimes it ends up as a song, sometimes it just irritates my wife. If given the chance, what musician or musicians would you like to collaborate with? Jocke: We would love to spend some time in the studio with Satan’s Pilgrims. They are one of the best bands out there, and I think we would learn a lot from just sitting there for a couple of days.
What's the album about?
Jocke: This album is about preserving the feeling of real old school rock’n’roll. The album contains a couple of different musical genres, but they all have rock’n’roll in common. If it makes you foot stomp, we are happy!
What's something you hope people take away from the new songs on the album? Jocke: I hope that people understand that this is for real. There is no fake stuff on the record, no AI, no cheating. It is recorded pure and true, in an old-fashioned way. Which songs on the album were the most fun to write, and which were the most challenging to write? Jocke: The twelve-bar rock tracks were the ones I enjoyed the most to record. It sounds like they are the easiest songs to write and record, but to get that old rock’n’roll groove, it must be tight and loud. “Backwater Showdown” & “Straitjacket” are two good examples. “Astrofeet” & “Grease My Board” were the ones that took us most time to finish. Sometimes that happens, you have trouble finding the right sound, or getting stuck on a single note.
Do you have any favourite song(s) off the new album? Jocke: My personal favourites are “Breaker,” “Backwater Showdown,” and “Reef Rumblin’.”
When you find yourself in a creative rut, what do you usually turn to? Any habits, environments or even non-musical sources that help you reconnect with your creativity? As I said earlier, music, TV, movies and books are great sources of inspiration to me. But the best way for us to get out of a creative rut is beers in the shed. We spend some hours talking, drinking beers & Jägermeister, and suddenly a song appears. Every time.
Do you have any favourite songs to perform live? Could be your own music or even a cover. Any reason why?
Jocke: It is a bit cheesy, but we like to end our sets with “Miserlou.” I don’t think we can get bored of that one, it is an amazing song, and even the most bored guy with his arms crossed over his chest at the end of the bar will start moving.
If you could perform a show this very second anywhere in the world, where would it be? Jocke: I would like to play the Surf Guitar 101 Festival in Long Beach, California, right now!
Is there any particular venue(s) or city/cities that come to mind? Jocke: Madrid & Los Angeles! I think that would be a good start for a world tour.
What do you currently have planned for the remainder of the year?
Jocke: We are almost done with 2025. We will have some beer rehearsals and write some new music for our next album, and in 2026, we will play shows in Finland, Spain, and Sweden.
If your music was a type of food, what would it be and why? Jocke: A chicken burrito. And I don’t know why.
What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you while performing?
Jocke: Fun stuff happens on stage all the time… I fell of the stage a couple of times. Maybe not that fun to me, but everyone else enjoyed it and still remind med about it.
What's the most random thing that has ever inspired you to write a song? Jocke: Since we don’t have any lyrics, it is kind of difficult to say. When you have lyrics, there is always something there to remind you about when and why you wrote the song. Maybe when we wrote “Astrofeet”. Gustav had a couple of shots too many in the Shed and said it felt like he was walking on the moon. And bang! You got astro feet dude!
What's the most useless talent you have, and would you incorporate it into your music if you could?
Jocke: I can sound like a bagpipe if I want to. And no, I would not incorporate that into our music.
Thanks for the time today, Jocke. Is there anything else you may want to add that I didn't cover before you go? Jocke: Thank you very much for having me! Take care, happy holidays and be kind to each other out there. Cheers from Sweden!
The Rats:
Gustav Wilhelmsson – Guitar
Fredrik Wallgren – Drums
Jocke Olsson – Bass
Erik – Guitar Follow The Riptide Rats online: www.riptiderats.com
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