RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer recently discussed "control issues" within the band during an interview with Noisecreep about his new book, Tales Of A Ratt: Things You Shouldn't Know. An excerpt from the story is available below:

"I never know from one day to the next that this band's going to be together because of certain people in this band. You can depend on me, I will be there for every show. I won't pull some of the shenanigans and stuff that people do in this band. "And it makes it hard. It makes the creative tension-wise I guess on how that frustration comes in and goes into the music and comes out sounding like kick ass Ratt music. But it's just hard. It's between me, Warren [DeMartini] and Stephen [Pearcy] trying to perpetuate our way of doing business. You got three chiefs and no Indians."

In fact, when pressed on what the members of Ratt fight about the most, Blotzer provides a simple, one word answer: "Control." Blotzer is brutally honest. His new book, Tales Of A Ratt: Things You Shouldn't Know tells the Ratt story from beginning to today from Blotzer's perspective. The autobiography was written by Blotzer with some help from writer friend Jim Clayton.

The writing style is conversational -- as if Blotzer is talking directly to you. In fact, Blotzer dictated all his stories to Clayton in chronological order, and the two collaborated back and forth. Blotzer began working on the book in January 2008 and waited until the release of Ratt's new album, 'Infestation,' to completely finish the book. He self-published the autobiography, and it began shipping in April 2010.

Like all music biographies, the book spends some time on Blotzer's childhood, his love affair with music and his desire to be in a band. Then there are the chance meetings of future Ratt members and the rise to fame. Along the way there are hilarious stories of rock 'n' roll mayhem and painful realities of everyday life.

Toward the middle of the book, Blotzer addresses the '90s when glam metal was no longer the favorite type of music and it was hard for bands like his to get work. Then there was the fact that his lead singer quit. Times were lean and bills had to be paid and Blotzer became an entrepreneur in order to keep his family afloat. Among others, Blotzer owned a steam cleaning business. While he was earning good money, Blotzer admits writing about the steam cleaning business was "painful."
"The irony was that I still lived in my beach house," explains Blotzer. "[I was] still getting royalties or whatever but it's not enough. And I didn't have any other experience in any field other than selling cars -- I didn't want to do that. And I had to do something. And that was something that I knew that I could fire up immediately. It's definitely not a glamorous job, but it's something that does make good money for the guys that do it."

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Ratt recently cancelled their scheduled European tour, issuing the following press release:

Ratt have been forced to cancel their upcoming European tour dates. Vocalist Stephen Pearcy will be undergoing urgent hernia surgery this week. The band regrets missing the European dates on the heels of the release of their first album in 11 years, Infestation, which enjoyed a high chart debut in European territories.

Ratt shares this disappointment with all their European fans who planned to attend the shows at Sweden Rock, Sauna Open Air Festival, UK Download, Hellfest, Grasspop and Gods of Metal as well as their other dates. The band is looking into rescheduling as many of the shows as possible.

Pearcy's doctors anticipate a full recovery in time for Ratt’s North American touring schedule, which includes a run with THE SCORPIONS, beginning in July and running through September.