BOBBY BLOTZER Says His Version Of RATT 'Replicates' The Band's 'Catalog With Such Great Integrity'

On November 12, Uber Rock‘s Mark Ashby conducted an interview with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer backstage at this year’s Hard Rock Hell festival at Camp HRH, Pwllheli, North Wales, Gwynedd. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about his version of RATT, which recently announced the addition of Mitch Perry (TALAS, HEAVEN, STEELER, MSG, LITA FORD) and Stacey Blades (L.A. GUNS) on guitar and Brad Lang (Y&T) on bass, Blotzer said: “It’s amazing. We get along so well. We replicate the RATT catalog with such great integrity. I mean, it sounds like the record with that live push, you know what I mean? Especially vocally, it really sounds like the RATT vocals; that was very important.”

He added: “We’re doing great. It’s our sixty-fifth show tonight. We’ve been playing in front of giant crowds across North America, headlining arenas. Everything has moved at a lightning speed. It reminds me of ’84, you know what I mean? It’s like a new band with built-in hits. We’re having a ball, and we get along great. No arguing, no fighting, we’re all joking. Just seriousness with the music, but it’s all fun. It’s not arguing about little trivial shit, like we happened to find ourselves in kind of a circle of doing with the old band.”

Blotzer also addressed his legal battle with Warren DeMartini over the rights to the RATT name, with the guitarist filing a lawsuit last fall claiming that the drummer was falsely advertising his “tribute band” as the real thing. That dispute is still pending in California state court.

“We were off the road for five years, and I was tired of waiting around,” Bobby explained. “Being one of the owners of the name, [with] Warren DeMartini [being] the other one, I said, ‘Look, you wanna come? ‘Cause I’m going. I’m taking the name, and I’m going out. It’s that simple.’ He didn’t wanna do so, and it put him and me in a litigious situation, which is not fun to be in, I’ll tell you that.”

According to Blotzer, there are plans for his version of RATT to record a new studio album as a follow-up to 2010’s “Infestation”, widely considered one of the best LPs of the band’s career. “[That] definitely is gonna happen,” Bobby said. “We’ve already gotten the green light from our record company. We’re gonna do another tour in 2017, and then we’re gonna start working on the record. We have the material; we just need to work it up.”

Blotzer‘s revamped RATT also includes vocalist Josh Alan (ex-SIN CITY SINNERS).

Three members of RATT‘s classic lineup — singer Stephen Pearcy, bassist Juan Croucier and Warren DeMartini — performed as the “surprise band” on October 1 on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise West, also known as Monsterwood. Joining them on stage at the event were former QUIET RIOT guitarist Carlos Cavazo, who played on RATT‘s last studio album, 2010’s “Infestation”, and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with Y&T, WHITE LION and MEGADETH, among others.

Blotzer and DeMartini are the only remaining shareholders in WBS, Inc., the company which manages the business and operations related to RATT.