Photo Credit: handout
Bobby Blotzer has been keeping time in RATT’s rock n’ roll circus for over 25 years. The band recently released Infestation, their first studio album in a decade. The album debuted at #30 on the American charts and #6 in Japan. Besides playing RATT n’ Roll, Blotzer has also written a book entitled Tales of a Ratt: Things You Shouldn’t Know, detailing his life in the rock n’ roll trenches. It is available on Amazon and his personal website, bobbyblotzer.com. RATT is currently touring North America, and you can follow their exploits on www.therattpack.com. I spoke with Bobby before their show at Ram’s Head Live about the new album, writing a book, and drinking a beer from the rafters.
Infestation is RATT’s first studio album in a decade. Did you have to shake off some studio rust?
Bobby Blotzer: Not really. We had a meeting where everyone played the songs they had written and we picked the best of the batch and worked them up. Then the producer just decided where they needed to go.
Is this a different process from the early days?
BB: It’s similar, but there was a little more collaboration and co-writing back then.
Do you miss sitting in a room and writing songs together?
BB: I love doing that but (guitarist) Warren (DeMartini) doesn’t do that and (lead singer) Stephen (Pearcy) takes the music and writes his melodies and lyrics to it. It’s pretty much every man for himself to get his best material presented and ready to go.
Infestation is a return to the classic RATT sound. Was that a conscious decision or was it more organic?
BB: It just kinda turned out that way. We knew we wanted to go back and have a more aggressive, gut-level sound and everyone kept that in mind when they were writing. Michael Baskette really nailed it with his production. It wasn’t anything too contrived.
Carlos Cavazo joined the band last year. How did he enter the fold?
BB: We were auditioning guitar players because John Corabi went to work for Gibson guitars full time. Carlos came in and Warren was very adamant about having him join. I was a little apprehensive, because I was so used to John Corabi as the rhythm guitarist. The thought of having two lead guitar players felt very weird to me. But I’ve always been friends with Carlos. He’s a great musician, great human being and great to work with. I’m glad it worked out.
You have a book coming out. What prompted you to write your memoirs?
BB: I have a lot of friends that love to hear me tell stories about my life of touring and my famous friends. I had so many stories that people kept telling me I should write a book. So in January of 2008, I wrote a couple chapters. I was introduced to a screenwriter named Jim Clayton, who took what I wrote and enhanced it. All the words are mine; he just structured it and put it into context. I don’t think I could have put it together singlehandedly. It was quite an undertaking.
What’s it called?
BB: It’s called Tales of a Ratt: Things You Shouldn’t Know. I threw that in there just to tease people. It’s a really fun book that doesn’t dwell on the negative.
So it has a lighter tone than some other rock memoirs?
BB: Right. It really focuses on the time of the 80s and what we were doing. It goes back to when I was a kid, but the meat of the story is my career in RATT. It has ups and downs like everybody’s life does, but it’s mostly about good times.
Let’s go back a little bit. The first RATT flyers classified the band as “Fashion Rock.” When did Fashion Rock morph into RATT n’ Roll?
BB: That’s a good question. Stephen knew someone that worked at this clothing store on Melrose that sold all these puffy coats and stuff like that, and he got them to loan us some clothes for our first photo session with Neil Zlozower. If you look at the pictures from the EP, Warren is wearing a long trench coat, Stephen has puffy shoulders and I’m wearing a leather coat and spandex pants. Somebody said that we looked like fashion models, and Stephen said, “Yeah, we’re Fashion Metal!” It started out as a joke and then it got into the press a few times and became a moniker for our music.
When did it become RATT n’ Roll
BB: I don’t remember who coined the phrase RATT n’ Roll, but we started writing it everywhere. It was on autographs and shirts. Maybe it was (former guitarist) Robbin Crosby, maybe it was a fan. I don’t remember.
Bon Jovi and Poison both opened for RATT in the mid-80s. When you guys were starting out, who took you under their wing?
BB: I’m going to answer that question by asking you a question. Whatever happened to Bon Jovi and Poison? Did they even survive?
I have no idea. I think that Bon Jovi guy is a country singer now.
BB: (laughs) OK. He was always good at deception. All joking aside, it was Ozzy. We toured with other bands, but nobody took us under their wing like he did. We started out by opening for Billy Squier, and our merchandise was outselling his three to one. Our album was killing his album. I’m not saying he wasn’t big at the time, but we were already headlining arenas. I remember asking our manager “Why are we opening for him when we are doing it on our own?” He said, “You have to do this because it’s bad business if you don’t. blah blah blah.” So we go out on the tour and they didn’t give us anything. We didn’t have any lighting, they had this big round thing in the middle of the stage covered the whole thing. They treated us like shit, so we said, “This changes or we walk.” We were selling the tickets. When we went on, it was complete bedlam. Ozzy really stepped up and helped us out. He had a history of taking out hot young bands that were doing great. We used that template for our next tour, when we took out Bon Jovi.
During the Dancing Undercover tour, a six pack of beer would come down from the rafters and you would drink it with the crowd. How did you come up with that piece of business?
BB: I was looking for something fun to entertain the audience with, so I was talking with our lighting guy one night and I said “Dude, you should just hand a me a beer from up there.” So we worked it out. I would do this thing where I would raise my hands and lower my hands, and get the audience to do it with me. When I finally got them to a climax and put my hands straight up into the air, that was his cue to let the six pack down on a rope. It would stop just eye level and I would open the beer. As soon as I opened the beer, the old Tonight Show theme would play (sings) “buh duh dun duh dana bun dan dana.” I would toast the crowd and guzzle that beer down.
Other than “Round and Round,” what song sums up RATT n’ Roll for you?
BB: Any of the videos we did could be considered pure RATT. The staple songs like “Dance,” “Lay it Down,” or “Way Cool Jr.” All of those exemplify RATT.
Is the EP ever going to be rereleased on CD?
BB: The problem with EP is that our ex-manager, Marshall Berle, owns half and his ex-partner owns half. There has been a lot of litigation going back to 1982, when we made it. Marshall’s ex-partner claims that he gets half of everything, even though he wasn’t involved with Out of the Cellar or anything. He wanted half of what Marshall and the band was getting. He doesn’t care how much money he’ll make off of it, he’ll never let it happen. We might rerecord it though.
You once referred to RATT as “Elvis and John Wayne with guitars.” What did you mean by that?
BB: Elvis played guitar and John Wayne was a badass. I always thought that we were a combination of the two.