RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer spoke with Iconvsicon.com recently about a number of topics including the band's new album, Infestation. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Iconvsicon.com: What was the biggest challenge in putting the record together?

Blotzer: "The biggest challenge, in my opinion, was getting on the same page as Stephen (Pearcy), Warren (DeMartini) and Bobby (Crane) business-wise. That would be the biggest challenge."

Iconvsicon.com: So starting out, you accomplished what you were looking for with this record then?

Blotzer: "Yes. That and more. Yes, I was very pleased. Because you never know, with Stephen it’s not like we write the songs and work them up and rehearse them as a full song. We know what the choruses are, we don’t know what he’s doing until he gets in there. He’ll be down there writing melodies and lyrics and stuff while we’re working the songs up so you never really know what’s going on."

Iconvsicon.com: Obviously you’ve been involved with the record from day one, but where do you think this stacks up against your previous releases with Ratt?

Blotzer: "I definitely think it’s in the same ballpark as “Out of the Cellar” and “Invasion” (Invasion of Your Privacy), I’d put it in between those two records. This is a good thing. I’m definitely not one to tell people “Oh, this is the best thing ever.” if it’s not great. I’m not going to just hype it up. I’ll do interviews for it, like the last one that we did. I liked that record. Do I think it was a great RATT record? No, I didn’t think it was a great Ratt record. I thought there were a handful of really good songs, and I just think that Stephen’s heart wasn’t into that record and I wasn’t crazy about the production and the way it went. Although I like Richie Zito, there were just too many things thrown into that thing. John Kalodner making us write sixty fucking songs, it was just too much. It took too long for the process, by the time we finally got into the studio everybody was just like 'Let’s get this fucking thing done.'”

Iconvsicon.com: What can we expect from Ratt in regards to your tour plans?

Blotzer: "We’re touring, we’ve got a bunch of shows going all through April and a bunch in May that are kind of fly-out stuff. Then, June 8th we leave for Europe for six weeks. Playin all these huge festivals all over the place over there. We’ll come back here and there’s a big tour coming out. Actually I’m sitting here talking to you and I’m hearing 'Click, click', it’s e-mails coming in and I’m waiting for news of the announcement of this tour that we’re going to be doing starting in July and into August. It’s going to be a big tour. And I just got this announcement! I can let you in on, the SCORPIONS are who we’re going to be touring with this year.

Read the entire interview here.