Anyone my age, give or take a few years, can remember a time when Ratt was larger than life.\u00a0 Ratt was a band that put on huge ass arena shows and had hit after hit with songs like, \u201cWanted Man\u201d, \u201cRound & Round\u201d, \u201cWay Cool Jr.\u201d and \u201cDance\u201d just to name a few.\u00a0 Leading the Ratt pack was lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy.\u00a0 Pearcy had (and still has) one of the most distinct voices in hard rock and over 40 years later he\u2019s still going strong.<\/p>\n
I recently had the chance to talk with Stephen and he was such a great guy to talk with.\u00a0 We talked about his forthcoming album Smashed, his love and admiration of Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant, and how it makes him feel to see Ratt\u2019s influence on other bands.\u00a0 Enjoy the hell out of this one folks and remember\u2026 Ratt & Roll or Pay the Toll!<\/p>\n
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Stephen, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today.<\/strong><\/p>\n No problem, Don.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Back in 1987, I won tickets to see you guys in Biloxi, MS with Queensryche and Lillian Axe opening.\u00a0 My mom had to take me so she\u2019ll love that I talked to you today!<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s great.\u00a0 That\u2019s really cool.\u00a0 She has great taste [laughs].<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Before we get started, I just have to ask you.\u00a0 What is one question you get asked so much that if you get asked it again you\u2019re going to kick someone?<\/strong><\/p>\n I really don\u2019t get asked questions that I get tiresome of.\u00a0 There\u2019s really no question that really bothers me honestly.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Last year you spoke very openly about your sobriety.\u00a0 How is that going for you these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m still sober.\u00a0 I\u2019m just not one of those preacher characters because you\u2019re just being hypocritical if you happen to lose it [laughs].<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n That\u2019s awesome and congrats on your sobriety.\u00a0 That\u2019s a pretty huge thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks.\u00a0 Yeah, it takes a couple of stumbles here and there.\u00a0 My approach in anything that I do is that if I set out to do it, I eventually accomplish it no matter what. \u00a0I get everything I want done eventually.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Since being sober, have you found yourself with some new found love and appreciation for music in general?<\/strong><\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s just made me sharper and possibly meaner [laughs].\u00a0 I tend to go more underground than to hang out up here with the nonsense of what people think is so relevant.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Smash is about to come out this month and I have to say I totally enjoyed it.\u00a0 I loved the album.\u00a0 It sounds very current but at the same time classic.<\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you.\u00a0 Yeah, a lot of Smash has to do with different perspectives.\u00a0 It\u2019s by far a Ratt record.\u00a0 I do have a couple of songs that are tongue in cheek but the other songs, they\u2019re not really predictable.\u00a0 It\u2019s the 2nd<\/sup> record that I\u2019ve put lyrics to in my life.\u00a0 I hate doing it but I\u2019m glad I did it on this one because it really changed things for me.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n I can only assume that being able to write the lyrics yourself will definitely make it more inner personal as opposed to the stereotypical \u201ctongue in cheek\u201d kind of thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, there\u2019s a lot more involved here.\u00a0 You live and learn that there are other things to say.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t by far mean that I\u2019ve lost my sense of humor in this music business [laughs].\u00a0 It\u2019s a whole new world for me and it\u2019s just my take on things nowadays.\u00a0 Smash is a really relevant record in my career and in my lifetime.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n When writing, do you have a way of saying, \u201cThis is a RATT song\u201d and \u201cThis is a solo song\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n It depends.\u00a0 If I\u2019m writing for Ratt, which Warren and I are dabbling in right now, you know what\u2019s expected.\u00a0 Even the stuff that we\u2019re demoing up now is quite different but it\u2019s still Ratt.\u00a0 With me, I tend to like the heavier and brighter, the ebb and the flow of say the Zeppelin approach.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n In a nutshell, when you\u2019re writing for yourself, you feel less like to be forced to write within the confines of what would be done for Ratt.\u00a0 That must be a great release for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh yeah, 100%.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I created Top Fuel Records in 1995 and my first release Vicious Delight.\u00a0 That should be a punk record [laughs].\u00a0 It was just, to me, an angry, sexy, 2 minute-3 minute, wham bam thank you mam, and go fuck yourself by the way kind of record [laughs].\u00a0 Of course it sounds like me but I can also change my delivery, my approach, and the subject matter to suit where I\u2019m at.\u00a0 I tend to have a little more leeway to talk about things that some people might not understand or want to understand.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n What was the defining moment for you when you knew you wanted to do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t set out to be a rock guy and sell millions of records and take a lot of drugs. [laughs]\u00a0 That was the furthest thing from my mind.\u00a0 I wanted to be a racecar driver when I was a kid but I got all smashed up and ended up in the hospital.\u00a0 Someone then gave me a guitar and I just adapted to it.\u00a0 It almost became an appendage to me and when I got out of the hospital I just started writing my own songs.\u00a0 The first songs I wrote were songs on the Ratt EP and that was in 1978.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really want to be a lead singer though.\u00a0 I wanted to be a guitar player.\u00a0 I saw Zeppelin a couple of times and I went, \u201cI hear my calling.\u00a0 This is it.\u201d<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Are there any bands that were coming up on the Strip with you guys that felt like should\u2019ve made it that never did?<\/strong><\/p>\n Um, no because there were so many great bands but the thing is, when I came into town in 1980, the only people that were around was Van Halen, Quiet Riot, and a couple of younger bands.\u00a0 When 1981 rolled around and we ran into Motley Crue, it was almost like the western days.\u00a0 \u201cWho\u2019s the fast gun in town?\u00a0 Oh it\u2019s this Mickey Ratt band.\u201d\u00a0 We were saying the same thing.\u00a0 \u201cWho\u2019s the hot shit here?\u00a0 Motley Crue.\u201d\u00a0 Then we met up and became good friends and then everything new started happening.\u00a0 Great White was Dante Fox, Stryper, we went up the ropes with them, they were called Roxx Regime.\u00a0 It was such an interesting kind of world that we fell into.\u00a0 There were a lot of bands but the ones that really kind of stuck it out are the ones still standing in different ways, manners, and forms.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Back when RATT just started to break through, did you have any idea that it would be this long of a ride?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ratt will be 34 years old next year and honestly, we didn\u2019t think any of this would last [laughs].\u00a0 When Robin (Crosby; former\/passed guitarist) heard our song on two radio stations at once, we were like, \u201cOh man, we made it!\u201d\u00a0 We didn\u2019t think we\u2019d make it another year or two.\u00a0 We just thought we would get signed and we hoped for the best.\u00a0 Fortunately we had plenty of hits and plenty of these platinum records that nobody gets any more.\u00a0 We took the ride and we took it all the way.\u00a0 Some survived and some didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Some of us are still kickin\u2019.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been doing this for over 40 years.\u00a0 Do you still get that feeling of excitement before walking on stage?<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh yeah except now I have a different approach.\u00a0 I don\u2019t waste my time with the \u201cpre\u201d of everything.\u00a0 I go there ready and prepared to go on the front line and then I\u2019m off duty.\u00a0 I turn that freak on and then I turn it off when he\u2019s done.\u00a0 I still have a great time doing this.\u00a0 Who wouldn\u2019t?\u00a0 It\u2019s the face, the vibe.\u00a0 There\u2019s that millisecond.\u00a0 If you can get just that one little millisecond that we all look for up there; that feeling.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t last long but if you can grab that for just one second, it\u2019s the most amazing feeling of euphoria that no high can come close to.\u00a0 I don\u2019t go searching for it.\u00a0 It\u2019s just something that has to happen.\u00a0 It\u2019s like going 330mph in 4.5 seconds.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n What is one song that you never get tired of singing no matter how many times you do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I like a lot of our stuff.\u00a0 I love the EP.\u00a0 I still get off on Cheater or songs like that.\u00a0 I love \u201cBody Talk\u201d and of course \u201cRound and Round\u201d has this euphoric thing with people that really does something.\u00a0 There are also some solo songs of mine that we don\u2019t play that I just love and that get me high.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n I loved when you joined the Donnas for their cover of \u201cRound and Round.\u201d\u00a0 How was that for you to see such a young band tipping their hats to Ratt?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah.\u00a0 We actually re-recorded that song for them.\u00a0 It was crazy.\u00a0 You don\u2019t think about it sometimes; the impression that your music does make on people.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s a compliment though of course when people appreciate you and have a place for you their life because I\u2019ve had those moments too.\u00a0 What they get out of me couldn\u2019t be far different than what I got out of Zeppelin or Blue Oyster Cult or Sabbath or Cooper.\u00a0 To top it all off, getting to meet these people later in life and get to sit in with them it\u2019s like, \u201cHoly shit!\u00a0 I\u2019m actually up there with Blue Oyster Cult or hanging out with Aerosmith.\u201d<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n That actually leads into my next question.\u00a0 What is the most starstruck you\u2019ve ever been?<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh meeting Robert Plant.\u00a0 Definitely.\u00a0 It was really strange.\u00a0 We were in Europe doing a festival and when I check into a hotel, I usually go to the gift shop.\u00a0 Some fan came up to me and said, \u201cHey, Stephen.\u00a0 This is great.\u00a0 I have my two favorite singer\u2019s autographs.\u201d \u00a0I said, \u201cRight on who are they\u201d and he goes, \u201cRobert Plant and you.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWay cool.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s a huge influence\u201d and he says, \u201cHe\u2019s right over there.\u201d\u00a0 I signed his shit and was like, \u201cThanks very much\u201d and walked right past him to go meet Robert Plant [laughs].\u00a0 I talked to him and met him and he knew who I was.\u00a0 It was really something.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n If you could put to rest one misconception about Stephen Pearcy, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Some people don\u2019t seem to think that I don\u2019t write music.\u00a0 I have to remind them, \u201cWhere do you think the EP and Out of the Cellar came from?\u00a0 Another one would be that we\u2019re actually very smart people [laughs].<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Are there any plans for you to tour any time soon behind Smash?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, there are plenty of dates on the table.\u00a0 We\u2019re still booking them and for Ratt, yeah, we have a couple of shows but as you know, that\u2019s a whole different monster [laughs].\u00a0 We have to take our time doing what we\u2019re doing with that.<\/p>\n ===========================================<\/p>\n Thanks so much for taking the time out to do this and thank you for all the years of great music.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a real pleasure to get to talk to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n You got it brother.\u00a0 Thank you, Don.\u00a0 I really appreciate it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more on Stephen Pearcy and Ratt, head over to<\/p>\n