Peter Hodgson from I Heart Guitar recently interviewed RATT guitarist Warren DeMartini about the band's new album, Infestation. An excerpt follows:

I understand you recorded Infestation in a mansion?

"We did, we’re really big fans of records that have the stories behind them, like the band will rent a villa in the south of France, live there for six months and cut some timeless piece. We always talked about doing it but it really didn’t merge with opportunity until this record."

Did you use the space in creative ways, like do the LED ZEPPELIN thing of putting the drums in the stairwell, or was it more of just an environment to be in?

"What happened was, our producer Michael Baskette basically bought his family’s home on the Chessapeake Bay and turned it into a recording studio. So it was already set up for recording. It just kinda evolved. He was cutting records in his living room, the as he got more and more successful he had more and more modifications done to the place, then he finally totally redid it to be a studio. It worked out perfectly, having the remoteness of getting away and moving into a place for a while, and the technical aspects."

So it’d be a very different album if you recorded it in LA or something.

"I think so. It was more of a wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee and get to it, then take a few breaks, get back to it, go to sleep, wake up and do it again. It was a little different not having to drive somewhere, and not having the kind of distractions you typically get when you record in LA."

To read the interview in its entirety, click here.

Prior to heading to Europe, Ratt is currently rounding out their US tour. Remaining dates are as follows:

May

18 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, Utah
19 - Ogden Theatre - Denver, Colorado
20 - Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium - Idaho Falls, Idaho
22 - Majestic Ventura Theatre - Ventura, California
23 - Pima County Fair - Tucson, Arizona

June

5 -Wendover Road Ride - Wendover, Nevada