Let the Infestation Begin

By Jessica A. Botelho

Stephen Pearcy, lead singer of reenergized 80s glam rock band RATT (remember how you couldn’t get their song “Round and Round” out of your head or stop thinking about how deliciously sleazy they were ~ and how somehow they’d gotten the legendary Milton Berle to star in the video ~ both in and out of drag?), said that he’s pumped to be fronting the band again and is pleased with their new album, Infestation.

“Believe it or not, the music brought us back together,” Pearcy said. “We knew we had good music in us still and fortunately, we hooked up with a great label called Roadrunner. They came to our show and said, ‘It’s time,’ and we agreed.”

Despite rumors that the band had had a falling out, Pearcy said there was never any sort of rift.

“It was all business and business is taken care of. It wasn’t personal.”

He said being a rock star in 2010 is a lot different than it was when he first started touring with RATT in the 1980s.

“Back in the day, Robbin [Crosby] (who tragically passed away on June 6, 2002, two months prior to his 43rd birthday) and I created the three ‘Ps,’ which were ‘P*ssy, Party, Paycheck,’” he laughed. “These days, we’re mostly concerned with the paycheck because now we’ve got kids and wives and dogs and cats. It’s a whole other ballgame.”

But, they still know how to have fun on the road.

“Warren [DeMartini] is the most serious, but we’re all friggin’ goofs,” Pearcy said. “If you don’t keep the adolescence involved, it’s not worth the gain. This is a dangerous profession, so you’ve got to enjoy it.”

Pearcy said he definitely enjoys the new album. The track “Eat Me Up Alive” is one of his favorites.

“That song just drives me nuts. I knew when I heard that riff it would be a great tune. It’s the same with ‘Best of Me.’”

When they were writing the music, Pearcy said many of the songs evolved when DeMartini was messing around with his guitar in pre-production.

“I’d stopped him cold and said, ‘What the hell is that? We’ve got to work that out.”

Pearcy said he fine-tuned the lyrics for several months, re-writing them every morning for two or three hours until he was ready.

“There’s definitely personal stuff, party stuff, even a drug talking to me on there,” he said. “I didn’t write fantasy or fiction back in the day, and I didn’t intend to now.”

After 25 years of making music, he hopes everybody gets into the new record and grabs a copy of “Infestation.”

“We think it will kick everybody in the a**,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Be sure to check out tour dates at the www.theRattpack.com and www.myspace.com/therattpack

Jessica’s Q&A with Stephen Pearcy

Pulse: Can you discuss the writing process of Infestation, the latest album from RATT?

SP: We just started writing and took a step back to how we worked and wrote back in the day and how we came up with ‘Round and Round,’ ‘Lay It Down,’ and ‘Lack of Communication.’ We did the same process and it worked. I’d put Infestation right in between Cellar and Invasion. We hit the nail in the head on this one.

Pulse: Are there any tributes to your former guitar player, Robbin Crosby, who passed away in 2002, on the album?

SP: The whole record is to our brethren, Robbin. His spirit is there. We keep him in mind and somehow he pulls us in the direction of something he would contribute. I wrote a song about him called “Time Slips Away” on my last solo record, Under My Skin.

Pulse: What would you be doing for a living if you hadn’t become a rock star?

SP: I would definitely be driving race cars, top-fueled dragsters. I was a pit guy back in the day and as I teenager, I was gearing up to drive. Then I got into an accident and somebody gave me a guitar. I was turned on to music. All of a sudden, I made it in music and it allowed me to invest in my passion of drag racing.

Pulse: Can you talk more about your racing? Do you race with any fellow musicians?

SP: Vince [Neil] and I actually got our racing licenses together in the mid-eighties and we’ve done celebrity races together. He likes indie-racing, and I like drag racing. Drag racing’s a little faster. I saw [Motley Crue]…recently and I thought they were amazing. They are in top form and it’s great because we started hanging out together on the Sunset Strip when we had nothing and we both accomplished something. If anybody from our genre is doing good, it does us good.”

Pulse: What other bands do you listen to now?

SP: I still listen to what I grew up on, which is Blue Oyster Cult, Priest, Zeppelin, a bit of Sabbath, Out of the Box.  I recently hooked up with an all girl band I’ve been developing for years called Riot Brides. I think they are amazing. I jam with them and they are getting ready to tour with National P*ssy.

Pulse: Any comments on the state of the world?

SP: The economy has hit everybody. Definitely, the music and entertainment business got hit, but everybody needs entertainment, so it’s a double edged sword.

Pulse: What are your thoughts on how technology has affected music?

SP: I think it’s affected it a lot. I don’t think the record companies were prepared. But, Napster and things like that don’t bother me. In a good way, your stuff can get out there, whether you’re signed with a major label or not. In a bad way, everybody knows you sh*t the minute you sh*t. Thank God that wasn’t around back in the day. We’d all be in Hell.