Ague is a solo musical venture formed by Half-Rats. Working In tandem with the music is an involved backstory, initially taking place in the late 19th - Early 20th centuries (WWI story arc). It details the events which transpired to bring Half-Rats to the present (21st century). It is currently on-going and is released as a serial on a semi-regular basis via his Facebook page. The story features some elements of Steampunk, Victorian Spiritualism, Weird Fiction and Non-Fiction. The musical style is reminiscent of a mixture of Folk, Parisian Jazz, Music Hall/Beer Hall and Classical. The song subject matter centers around historical themes and is very dark in nature. Many of the lyrics and titles correlate directly to the story of "Half-Rats". The lyrics are inspired by the works of authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, George Macdonald, Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood. The music was influenced by the likes of Django Reinhardt, Tom Waits, J.G. Thirlwell and Danny Elfman and composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, Franz Liszt and Beethoven. According to Half-Rats during a live performance; the reason why he has been "forced" to continue as a solo act is thus: "None of my players made it through due to a rather unfortunate incident involving time travel and the invariable nature of human mortality. Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to hear is their mournful playing from beyond the veil, as they are forever relegated to the Aether.I will attempt now to convey their scores by the facility of this device." The live performance of Ague features diverse props and a format vaguely similar to a medicine show - including references and allusions to concepts such as Animal Magnetism. Audience participation is encouraged. Half-Rats is known to use a straight razor to play guitar, (Much akin to the slide employed in Delta Blues) while performing "Straight Razor Swing". Characters from the story are known to make appearances and interact onstage.