In June 2022, Deaf Rat will be opening up as the support act for heavy metal icons Judas Priest in the world famous outdoor arena Dalhalla in Sweden. While waiting for the world to open up for live shows to happen again, the band is releasing a cover version of the classic Madonna hit “Like A Prayer”.

Vocalist Frankie Rich states: “To make the decision to record a classic hit song that sold millions of copies all over the world may sound like a great idea at first, but it sure comes with a lot of challenges. When you take on a song that has touched so many hearts and souls during so many years, there will be just as many opinions as there will be listeners.”

“Like A Prayer”, released in 1989, is one of Madonna’s bestsellers and most popular songs to date. Furthermore at time of release it entered single charts in various countries on #1 (e.g. US, UK) and #2 ( e.g. DE, NL) and similar positions in a lot of other countries worldwide and has been part of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 500 – best songs of all times.”

Most important 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 details on the recording are there 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 keeping much of the parts that the vocals and instruments play on the original track.

“Three years ago, we had somewhat of a dead period with a lot of setbacks during 10 months. The spirit inside 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 forward to the rest of the band. Luckily, the rest of the guys grasped on to it and we were able to turn our built up frustration into fuel for creativity in the studio instead. If we had not entered the studio and worked on this song together, chances are big the band would not be around today.”

The song is available on streaming platforms here.