In June 2022, Deaf Rat opens up in support of the heavy metal icons Judas Priest in the world-famous outdoor arena Dalhalla in Sweden. While waiting for the world to open for live shows to happen again, the band releases a cover version of the classic Madonna hit “Like A Prayer”.
Singer Frankie Rich says: “Making the decision to record a classic hit song that sold millions of copies worldwide may sound like a good idea at first, but it certainly comes with many challenges. When you take a song that has touched so many hearts and souls for so many years, there will be as many opinions as there will be listeners. ”
“Like A Prayer”, released in 1989, is one of Madonna’s best-selling and most popular songs to date. At the time of its release, it also appeared on individual lists in various countries at # 1 (eg US, UK) and # 2 (eg DE, NL) and similar positions in many other countries around the world and has been part of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 500 – Best Songs of All Time.”
The most important thing was to understand the song. “I always treat other artists’ creations and work with great respect,” Frankie continues. “It’s important to understand the song and understand the work behind it before you start taking things apart. On a well-produced song like this, all the details of the recording are for a reason, and they are all played in a certain way for a reason. The biggest challenge for us was to find a way to create something that sounded like Deaf Rat, while retaining much of the parts that the song and instruments play on the original track.
“Three years ago, we had something of a dead period with many setbacks in 10 months. The spirit of the band was not the best. I saw that we needed to focus on something together so I did some demos of cover songs on my own and brought it out to the rest of the band. Fortunately, the rest of the guys took it and we were able to turn our built-up frustration into fuel for creativity in the studio instead. If we had not gone into the studio and worked on this song together, the chances are high that the band would not have existed today. ”
The song is available on streaming platforms here.