"I'm way excited about the box set,” Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy says about the band’s brand new LP collection, The Atlantic Years Limited Edition Box Set, featuring some of the biggest albums of the ‘80s/early ‘90s including Out Of The Cellar, Invasion Of Your Privacy, Dancing Undercover, Reach For The Sky and Detonator. In total, nearly 10 million in sales, all featuring the classic lineup of Stephen Pearcy (vocals), Warren DeMartini (guitars), Robbin Crosby (guitars), Juan Croucier (bass/vocals), and Bobby Blotzer (drums). With the passing of Robbin Crosby in 2002, we will never see a reunion of the original line-up. And even the members that are still alive can’t get in the same room together to sort it out. 

“I keep saying this to everybody, but this is probably the closest to a reunion we'll get to with Ratt,” Pearcy continues. “The fact that everybody threw in their two cents on the box set. It's great, the personal photos, stuff like that. I just wish Robbin was around to see it. And you know, I don't think the label knew it was the 40th anniversary of Ratt - next year for Out Of The Cellar, but in reality 1983, yeah."

BraveWords: What do you think Robbin would have thought about this moment? 

Pearcy: "After he smacked the guys around a little bit?"

BraveWords: Yeah. 

Pearcy: "He would have loved it. And probably would have had some great ideas for it, but you know, I spoke up for him and gave some things that I thought he would like, I think a couple of us guys, you know, gave Robbin some kudos in their photos and stuff like that. It's chock full of goodies. This box set is crazy. But the best thing about it is that it is the epitome of Ratt and Roll and it's the five guys, and if nothing ever happens again, well I'm very happy about it."

BraveWords: I'm just guessing there might be one thing that Robbin might say, he might be like, "What the fuck is with this vinyl craze?". 

Pearcy: "Right? But to be honest with you, Robbin liked vinyl. So he would have appreciated it. Oh yeah. I mean, shit, you know Robbin turned me onto Judas Priest, on vinyl, in 1979. He would have dug it. He would have had some ideas." 

BraveWords: Do you remember the first vinyl you ever bought? 

Pearcy: “Yes I do. It was Black Sabbath - the witch album - Black Sabbath. It was the first record I bought, and I'll tell you what, some headphones and some acid - hello! Okie dokie, wake up time, and I had nothing to do with music back then. I wasn't an aspiring guitar player yet, or singer. It was the furthest thing from my mind. But when I played that - whoa, that was my introduction to vinyl."

BraveWords: Well that's probably the same feeling that the band had while playing it, right? 

Pearcy: "Close, right? Pretty much, pretty much, you got that one." 

BraveWords: Now it's called The Atlantic Years. Do you remember the first time you walked into that room, those offices when you got signed? What was going through your head? 

Pearcy: "What was going through my - I have to say Robbin too - because we were both like, 'Fuckin' eh!'. This is where Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones are at, I think we're happy! I mean, no complaints! What is this BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.)? ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers)? Ok, they're BMI, we're going to go there. So yeah, interesting."

BraveWords: But they must have been happy. They just signed a band with the songs, with the looks, with the attitude, and, most importantly the sales, big time. So, you guys were golden boys. 

Pearcy: "Yeah. You can say that. We worked our asses off, and if it wasn't for Beau Hill instigating ‘Round And Round’ - he was just, 'What do you guys got?'. And we were like, 'Well, we got this song and that song', and when he heard ‘Round And Round’, he was like, 'What's that?'. We were like, 'Oh, it's just a song we have in this set, and it's not quite there', it didn't have the bridge. So, thank you, Beau, for coming in the picture. Because he was a staff producer and the deal was that Doug Morris, President of the label, would sign us only if he was producing. Now, that tale is told, and I don't know how much truth there is there. I'd have to ask Beau Hill. But I loved working with Beau Hill. My drummer, (Bobby) Blotzer, was out there doing some interviews and he's saying some things, speaking for us, Ratt, and I don't agree. I get along great with Beau Hill. He actually mixed and mastered some music of mine over the years, I love him. I mean, he and I created my sound, how we record my voice, the whole schematics of me, you know? My delivery. So, we walk into Atlantic and we were, yeah, quite happy. But I gotta tell you, and Warren hasn't said this in any interview, but it's true, we were one of the last bands to be signed, believe it or not. I mean you got an independent EP selling 100,000 units, and people started taking notice. After we did Santa Monica Civic that was pretty much it. It was like, 'Time for lift-off', you know? Ok, you need a record deal. We were the last to be signed on, if you want to say that."

BraveWords: Now, do you remember a little band huddle way back when, when you looked at each other and thought, 'Man, I think we might be able to make it in this business'? Do you remember that moment, because most bands don't make it.

Pearcy: "Sure. But yeah, we knew. I knew I was gonna do something. I mean I work it 'til you can't work it anymore. And yeah, there were those moments, though. But we knew we had something different. And that's the tough thing, You know you're different, you know you sound great, and we were in competition with nobody. I mean, Mötley, Ratt, W.A.S.P., we all started the, we're the forerunners of the Sunset Strip experience, right? People think, you know, that it has to do with that term, 'hair metal' - which doesn't bother me, whatever you can use to sell, sell, that's okay - but a lot of these bands have taken responsibility, or are even claiming responsibility for the ‘80s trip, but it's like, 'Dude, you're from fucking Pennsylvania. You came to L.A. and you begged me to open up a show. And that would be Poison, who still to this day owe me a gold or platinum record, whatever dudes. You didn't keep your end of the bargain. Anyway, we're proud of the fact that we busted our ass on the strip and were a big major part of that scene. And it took a lot of work, it didn't just fucking happen, nobody handed us shit, you know?” 

BraveWords: You fall in the steps, it's a similar situation as Van Halen. They were slogging it out in the clubs and backyard parties. Homing their art. They'd been digging in the trenches, just like Ratt. It just doesn't happen overnight with most bands. 

Pearcy: "No, it doesn't. And you know Ratt came from my band Mickey Ratt who I brought to L.A., January 1, 1980, because Ed Van Halen, who I was friends with and watched their whole trip from 1978. You know, I learned a lot from hanging around with them, but one of the main things was to get your ass up there or you ain't going to do shit, here in San Diego. So we did. But it worked, my band Mickey Ratt was doing a lot of groundwork before I got the original Ratt guys together, so thank you."

BraveWords: Do you remember what you bought when you first got that big payday cheque? 

Pearcy: "Um, um, um, I think I bought my mom a house."

BraveWords: Sweet!

Pearcy: "Yeah. I didn't need anything, we were on the road. We were on a year and a half long tour, you know? I didn't need a house, and I think Robbin and I were the last ones to buy a house, and that was like '86 or something like that. Maybe '85."

BraveWords: Your house was a bus.

Pearcy: “Yeah, and a hotel. And the ironic thing is that even when I had a house, I was fucking staying in hotels. Like, 'You have a house, what are you doing here?' - I don't know?!” 

BraveWords: Not to bring it down a sad path, but it was the anniversary of Tawny Kitaen’s passing recently. What memories do you have working with her? She was part of the team for a little while.

Pearcy: "Yeah she was, and you know, in the late '70s, like '78 or '79, Robbin and I would be in San Diego playing together out there and doing a show and I met her back then. They had a little apartment, a duplex, down the street from my grandmother, which is ironic because I'd take grandma shopping and then I'd go right to Robbin's and we'd get fucked up and we'd play guitar for like 20 hours a day. And she would be there, just going 'Oh my god, you guys just never fucking stop'. So when it came time to do the record, we had an idea. Let's be a little sexy. We don't need sledgehammers, chains and leather, let's just grab her and throw a bunch of rats on her, for the EP. And she was a sport about that. Robbin on one side, me on the other, and then, 'Ok, now! Throw!'. And then for Cellar, obviously. She was a sport. But you know what, now they're both together and it's all copacetic."

BraveWords: You brought up Blotzer who's been yapping about a bunch of stuff. Did you guys get invited to be a part of the stadium tour? Were you guys part of those conversations? 

Pearcy: "No, we had our own thing going that we were going to do. We had our own tour set up before that COVID cold flu thing came about, and it pretty much shut the door on our thing. We should have been invited, that might have gotten us back together, but no. And Joan Jett, I mean, I love Joan. She's played with us many times, she was good for that. It is what it was. There's going to be another."

BraveWords: Well let's hope you're on it. But Blotzer didn't have a lot of good things to say about Mötley Crüe. What are your feelings about the Crüe and were there any of your peers that you admired when you were growing up in the scene? 

Pearcy: "Yeah, I had much respect for some guys I really like. Running into Michael Schenker and having the opportunity to play with him, or him in the band, was amazing. I love Beau Hill, our producer. We still work together. If possible, I would love for him to do a Ratt record, because we fought for him to be involved with Infestation and the other records after the fact. But as far as our peers? Mötley, we are brothers. We don’t necessarily talk a lot anymore, but I see Vince. I see Vinnie all the time. He’s a total brother. I couldn't give a shit. Him and I think the same, we don’t give a fuck. The less shit we have to put up with the better. Just leave it over there. I had to make a point when Sixx disrespected Carmine (Appice). He probably taught Tommy Lee those fricken' things, the drums. To diss him like that it was like ouch. So I said something, like something you’d say to your brother. 'You asshole, what did you say that for? Fucking uncalled for'. So I don’t know where that ended up. But, they do what they do. I still feel the same way as I did years ago, Mötley is Mötley, Ratt is Ratt. It is what it is. They are out there. They should be very fortunate that they are out there. How they are out there with all this commotion about Mick. I didn’t dig that either. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but disrespecting Mick like that. Because Nikki tried to steal Jake E. Lee from me when he was in the band. So, you know, who knows? Never a satisfied guy. And then we jammed together, Nikki, Tommy, me and Robbin a couple of times when we were putting our bands together. And I'm thinking, 'What? Whats going on here?' We'll jam, sure, Robbin and I we're putting this new band together. They already had a band, that's how we met. Too Fast For Love, so I was a little tripped out on that one. But, it's all good. We are all brothers. I'll speak like a brother, it ain't no big fucking deal, I see Vince in a couple of weeks or a month or something."

BraveWords: You brought up the term hair band and I wanted to talk just quickly about the whole glam thing. Jake told me a really funny story because Metallica ws opening up for Ozzy on the Master Of Puppets and that's when Ozzy got really glammed up. And Sharon’s famous quote to Jake was, "You can't dress like the punters" - like the Metallica kids in the audience with ripped jeans and t-shirts and everything. So that's why is Ozzy is all glammed up during The Ultimate Sin era, because you can't dress like the punters. 

Pearcy: "Yeah, interesting. Very interesting. Yeah, that whole thing, I just did an interview talking about that, how misconstrued the real ‘80s guys, who really started that scene, the Mötleys, Ratt, W.A.S.P., they're not fucking guys from out of the state. But I agree. And then it got a little too overblown, you know? You had all these little Mötleys, little Ratts, little Van Halen, and everybody looked the same. It's so funny!”

BraveWords: A lot of the bands around you, they had success just like Ratt, but they had ballads, they had video play with ballads. Ratt didn't have a ‘Home Sweet Home’ or ‘Every Rose Has A Thorn’.

Pearcy: "No. And there'a a reason for that. Because everybody did it. That's one thing that we didn't care about. A lot of things that were fad, from day one. That's why you didn't get the power ballad. We gave it to you on Detonator with ‘Givin' Yourself Away’, they really wanted a ballad, well Warren (DeMartini), Desmond (Child) and myself said, 'We'll give you a fuckin' ballad', and we gave then that song. That's a great song. But no, we didn't want to do it because everybody was doing it. And we missed out on a lot of opportunities, granted, and that sucked. We could have been on late-night shows and this and that, but we just didn't want to do it. And that could be useful or hurtful. So I think we got both. It was an advantage and a disadvantage, because it could have sold a bit more records. Being faddish, you know, 'You got to do this - you're doing it, so you do it, too'. I don't want to fuckin' do it! We don't want to be like them. Especially Mötley, because people were like Mötley-Ratt-Mötley-Ratt, you know. It's good for them. Not good for us."

BraveWords: Stephen, who drew the first Ratt logo? And who has the sketch?

Pearcy: "I did. I created all the Ratt logos. And it's quite possible that I do have the first sketch. The first logo is on this 45 single I released in 1980, that I gave to promoters to get gigs for Mickey Ratt. It's got Drivin' on E and Dr. Rock, and that's the first logo. I can actually show you if you want to see it."

BraveWords: Sure!

Pearcy: (Leaves the room for a moment). It would be this guy (shows sketch).

BraveWords: Dude, that was fast. You must be organized. That's awesome.

Pearcy: "Very. That's how I get shit done. So this was my first drawing of the logo. And then I made one, or I had somebody sketch up something, and the logo - I can show you all of these, but I won't - it looked like, I called it the Batman logo. It looked like the Batman logo. It's a little Aerosmith-y looking. And then I really created the R and the triangle A, and the two T's, and I started putting it all together, and I got it tighter and tighter, and got rid of the round, soft edges, and now you just have the Ratt logo with the points on each side. But yeah, it all started with that guy."

BraveWords: And obviously, growing up as a kid, what logos were you influenced by? Was it the Rolling Stones lips? And then you're thinking, "Ok, I'm going to do a band, but we need a name, number one, and we need to draw a logo.”

Pearcy: "Yeah, when I decided to use the name Mickey Ratt, he was already this fuckin' X-rated cartoon, comic character. The way opposite of Mickey Mouse, obviously. And Robert Crump is this guy's name out of San Francisco, he came from one of those, you know Mr. Natural and all this hippie-dippy ‘60s posters and stuff? Well that guy created Mickey Ratt in a comic, and he was always fucking, and high, and into trouble, and I figured, 'Fuck! That's my band name!'. So, I took on that and as soon as I moved to L.A. with this, I said, 'I gotta cut the name down'. I want a name that has impact, a visual like the KISS logo. As I told Gene, 'You know, Gene, your logo gave me some ideas for the Ratt logo'. One colour, one word, bam. You know what it is immediately. You can hear it."

BraveWords: And you know what I can hear Gene saying? "I need a cut of the Ratt sales", right? 

Pearcy: "He made that joke. He said, 'And you owe me for that'. Yeah, that's true. But I knew I wanted to change it to Ratt as soon as I moved to L.A. You know the Van Halen logo, I liked the VH with the wings. I like their first logo too, have you seen it? Do you remember it? 

BraveWords: Yes, I do.

Pearcy: "Pretty cool. And then the Aerosmith logo. But I'm an art guy. I'm an art director dude anyway, from day one. I had a big part to do with all the album covers, art directing, and ideas. Stage designs. So it did its thing and eventually this guy turned into - you know it's so weird you're bringing that up because I was going to put the logos from day one, up. I'm going to do that just because of this. See, look what you did."

BraveWords: What was the one band that you saw live and you said, "We need to do this, but better"?

Pearcy: "Ooh. Well, I doubt if it could be done better. I mean if you had the opportunity to sit on the Whiskey Stage watching fuckin' Van Halen, and I'd be right there with Ed, just sitting there going, 'Fuck man! This is a whole new world!' I'd go back to San Diego and tell everybody, 'You gotta see this band!'. It took me a while to go see them. A friend of mine was busting my balls over and over, 'You gotta go see this band, you gotta see this band, they're like Zep'. But I'll tell you what - Zeppelin - I actually had the opportunity to see them three times, and talk about an awakening. I mean, Jesus. Holy shit. So here I am watching Van Halen from day one, pretty much, and then I get to see the mighty Led Zeppelin, and I'm like, 'Ok, you've got a long road ahead of you now'. But you aim high. I mean, I loved Aerosmith, the earlier stuff is amazing. Blue Öyster Cult, Priest - I remember Robbin (Crosby) turning me onto Priest in '78, '79 and I lost my mind, like, 'Who the fuck is this?’” 

BraveWords: What did Eddie think of Ratt?

Pearcy: "You know, I would harass him all the time, 'Let my band play with you!'. He never would. But we did finally. Ratt opened for Van Halen at a festival, a few years before he passed. Thank god we did it at least once. I really would give him shit all the time, 'Let my band open for you! I see you all the time. Fuck this, let's play! Come on, man!'. But yeah, we actually did get to play with the mighty Van Halen, and wow, very cool."

BraveWords: And that Monsters Of Rock tour that went around, it wasn't Ratt on the tour, it was Dokken. What did you think when Van Halen chose Dokken to be on that Monsters bill?

Pearcy: "There's a method to their madness. I don't know, maybe they just didn't want bands to really give them competition? But there's no competition. Ratt isn't competition. We didn't see Mötley as competition, or any of these fucking bands, Armored Saint, or Mötley or W.A.S.P. or whatever. We're still friends to this day, there was no competition."

(Photos by MissTruthAdare)