THEIR COUNTRY, RATT OR WRONG

THEIR COUNTRY, RATT OR WRONG

FEATURES

Steve Gett

by

While most of us tend to spend Monday mornings wearily attempting to face the drudgery of another working week, Ratt lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy appears totally oblivious to such routine as he ambles into Atlantic Records' midtown Manhattan headquarters. Asked by a cordial press person if he'd care for some breakfast or coffee, his response is simply—"Umm, is there any way I can get a beer?" The fact that it's still only 11 a.m. doesn't bother him in the least.

Without being ultra cynical, or even suggesting that young Stephen has any kind of drinking problem, one senses that he believes he's merely conforming to the rock 'n' roll norm with his early morning quest for alcohol. Either that, or he's still buzzing after a wild weekend, which saw Ratt making their Big Apple debut, as they opened two sell-out shows for Motley Crue.

Whatever the case, over the past 18 months, Stephen Pearcy has emerged from being a frustrated, desperate musician to coming within shooting distance of attaining major success. Indeed, with their debut Out Or The Cellar album recently certified gold and fast heading toward platinum status, Ratt is rapidly surfacing as one of the hottest new metal acts on the scene. Unlike such established heavyweights as Judas Priest, Scorpions and Van Halen, who were forced to spend years of hard graft before achieving full-scale recognition, these rodent rockers have managed to break through in a relatively short period.

"We wanted success so bad; now we're getting it and it's great," Pearcy observes quite matter-of-factly, as he takes his first swig of the day. "But it's definitely not going to blow our minds."

With his shaggy dark mane of hair, ripped fishnet T-shirt, shark-tooth jewelry and a generally disheveled appearance/ some might argue that Pearcy's mind had already been blown. Quite simply though, the man is addicted to the heavy metal way of life. Take, for example, his everyday choice of musical listening.

"I listen to people like Judas Priest, Zeppelin and though I hate to say it, Aerosmith."

"l listen to Aerosmith, though I hate to say it." —Stephen Pearcy

Why the dubious comment about Steven Tyler's gang?

"Oh, just 'cause we get so much shit about them. People are often saying that we're like a 1984 version of Aerosmith. I guess a lot of it's due to the fact that my name's Stephen, I have dark hair and I scream. It's flattering in a way, because they were so successful in their time. But I tend to get defensive about things like that."

Listening to Pearcy, I can only conclude that he gets uptight about comparisons, because he's so desperately eager for recognition in his own right. He should note, however, that even Mr. Tyler spent years of being likened to Mick Jagger and Carly Simon before he was taken at his own face value. Patience is still very much a virtue, a fact that this young rocker should recognize since he possesses undeniable star qualities.

Aside from Stephen Pearcy, Ratt's lineup also comprises: guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini, bassist Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer. Despite the fact that they are generally regarded as an L.A. band, their roots actually lie in San Diego.

"Robin, Warren and I all come from San Diego," reveals the singer. "But we don't like to mention that too much. We like to be recognized as an L.A. group because that's really where everything started for us."

While Pearcy, Crosby and DeMartini cut their rock 'n' roll teeth playing in various San Diego combos, they eventually realized that a move to the City of Angels was the key to finding fame and fortune. Not surprisingly, the lead vocalist was the first to leave. "Although I was in a few bands in San Diego, I made myself a deadline that I'd go to L.A. in 1980. There weren't going to be any if's and but's, and when the time came, I just split."

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Stephen hooked up with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee, who also originally hails from San Diego. "We played together for about a year, but then Jake got an audition to play with Ronnie Dio. Because he's such a good guitarist, he was getting offers left, right and center, so I couldn't really blame him for moving on. As things happened, he had a falling out with Dio and eventually got the job with Ozzy."

" We wanted success so bad!"

Stephen Pearcy

Following Lee's departure, Pearcy began to put a new band together, swiftly enlisting guitarist Robbin Crosby, who had followed him up to L.A. and had occasionally jammed with his last group. Times were tough for the San Diego refugees however, and, according to Crosby, it was during this formative period that they came up with the name Ratt.

"We were rehearsing in this basement at the time, which was like a dungeon! Quite often we'd end up sleeping there with our equipment and one night we saw this big greasy rat on one of the beams. Steve said 'Hey, we're a bunch of rats.' The name started as a bit of a joke, but it eventually stuck."

A somewhat far-fetched tale, methinks, but in view of Crosby's menacing six-anda-half feet frame, I’m not inclined to dispute his word. After persuading fellow axeman Warren DeMartini to leave San Diego and move north, Ratt were ready to rock. At the beginning of 1982, they embarked on what was to be an endless succession of gigs in L.A. clubs like the Starwood, the Roxy and the Whisky.

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“We basically worked our balls off night after night,” reflects Pearcy, “and pretty soon we had quite a strong following. But getting a deal was more or less impossible and after a while we began to feel as though we were banging our heads against a wall.”

Fate was to eventually deal the rocking rodents a good hand, when manager Marshall Berle (nephew of Mr. Television, Milton Berle) caught one of their shows at the Whisky. Instantly impressed, he took them under his wing and soon whipped out his wallet to provide the muchneeded financial support for them to enter a recording studio. An EP was subsequently issued on the group’s own independent Time Coast label, which picked up a considerable amount of airplay on several top L.A. radio stations. Though it also sold around 60,000 copies, a major record deal continued to elude the band.

Not to be deterred, Ratt finally decided to set up a showcase gig at the Beverly Theater in July 1983, which happily precipitated the deal with Atlantic. “Doug Morris, the president of the label, came to the show and was knocked out,” claims Stephen. “He said he wanted to sign us straight away and so we immediately went into preproduction for an album.”

As Ratt began work on their debut LP, the media were swift to announce that a heavy metal revival was spreading across the United States with wildfire rage and intensity. The chart success enjoyed by the likes of Def Leppard, Quiet Riot and Motley Crue had proved to the industry that hard rock was bigger than ever and just about every label wanted a metal act on its roster.

Ratt’s first opportunity to prove themselves came earlier this year, when Out Of The Cellar hit the streets. Judging by the sales figures, they came through with flying colors. Packed with an abundance of solid, hard rock anthems, like “Back For More,” “You’re In Trouble” and their catchy “Round And Round” single, the LP has certainly laid the basic foundation for future success. The only criticism of the record was Beau Hill’s somewhat mediocre production work. “We actually wanted to use Tom (Judas Priest) Allom, but that never came about,” Stephen reveals. Since the mysterious Hill (someone please tell me what he’s done!) was used at the record company’s suggestion, and apparently proved to be a decent sort of chap, Pearcy diplomatically refuses to say more on the matter.

Following the LP’s release, Ratt have been gaining invaluable road experience, touring with the likes of Motley Crue and Blue Oyster Cult. As for the future, Stephen Pearcy predicts: “With all the touring we certainly won’t be seeing home for quite a while. We’ll probably be starting a new LP at the end of the year and in fact a lot of the material is already written. Going on the road is good for getting ideas and after being in New York we’ve come up with a song called ‘Seventh Avenue.’ ”

Pearcy and his band are clearly living on cloud nine at the moment, lapping up every minute of their new-found success. Whether they’ll be able to sustain the momentum over a protracted period remains to be seen, but something tells me we’ve definitely not heard the last of Ratt. @