Joe Lalaina at Classic Rock Revisited recently caught up with RATT guitarist Warren DeMartini to discuss the band's 1984 breakthrough album, Out Of The Cellar. An excerpt from the story is available below:

The market was ripe in 1984 for the pop-metal sound of Ratt’s Out of the Cellar. Though the band was introduced to the world a year earlier with its self-titled EP, Cellar was Ratt’s first full-length outing and its breakthrough—a multiplatinum seller that solidified the band as one of the most pivotal to emerge from L.A.’s booming metal scene. Released during the height of the MTV video revolution, Ratt fit the mold perfectly and became one of the Eighties’ most popular bands. Although best known for 'Round and Round'—Ratt’s biggest hit and one of the decade’s signature songs—Cellar has several standout tracks, including 'Wanted Man', 'The Morning After' and 'Back for More'. Ratt played the album in entirety during last year’s tour. A year following the album’s release, Warren DeMartini became one of the hottest guitarists to emerge from an L.A.-based rock band since Eddie Van Halen.

“These were the songs that got us signed which we played in the clubs,” says DeMartini. “It doesn’t take long to record an album if you have the material together. We had no idea of what we were about to achieve and how successful the album would become. In the early Eighties, all that bands wanted was a record deal. If it weren’t for Van Halen keeping things alive, I think there would’ve been mass suicides among L.A. rock musicians.”

The year prior to Out of the Cellar, Quiet Riot’s major-label debut, Metal Health, was in the Top Ten in the U.S., and record company talent scouts were scouring the L.A. club circuit for The Next Big Thing. Ratt caught the attention of Atlantic Records, who ultimately signed the band. “Los Angeles at the time was the place to be for rock and roll,” says DeMartini, who was just a year out of high school when he moved to L.A. from San Diego and joined Ratt, replacing original guitarist Jake E. Lee. “Rock musicians were flocking to L.A. in droves. When Atlantic heard 'Round and Round', they gave us a record deal. I was expecting a big celebration when we signed with Atlantic, but it was nothing more than signing a bunch of papers for a loan.”

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