Chad Bowar of the Heavy Metal Guide recently interviewed RATT singer Stephen Pearcy of RATT about their long-awaited new album Infestation. Excerpts from the interview are below:

Heavy Metal Guide: Was the song-writing process the same as it has always been?

Pearcy: “We pretty much went back to basics, and that was really important for this record. We tried to get back to the principles of how we wrote back in '84 or '85, living together and spending time together. That's all you think about 24/7. The thing that helped was getting us all under one roof, like Ratt Mansion West, the one bedroom apartment we lived in back in the day.”

Heavy Metal Guide: With the state of the music industry these days, how do you measure success with an album?

Pearcy: “I don't know. Right now, so far so good. We don't worry ourselves much with that. If people like it, that's our reward. If they come out to the shows it's an even bigger reward. The fact we were able to accomplish what we did is a milestone. It's been 10, 11 years since our last studio record.”

Heavy Metal Guide: Will you still do solo stuff when Ratt's not busy?

Pearcy: “Yes. I'm finishing that up right now, and if things go as they should, then it will be all Ratt and roll all the time. But I'm one to get bored and antsy, and that's the reason I do those things, for my personal creative pleasure. But I also have the drag race cars, and we might be incorporating Ratt into one of the top fuel dragsters. My label Top Fuel Records is on the funny car now. It keeps me busy.”

To read the full interview go here.