RATT singer
Stephen Pearcy, who, along with some of his bandmates, is involved in a legal battle with drummer
Bobby Blotzer over the rights to the group's name, spoke in a brand new interview with
"Sound Matters" about the fact that a legendary act like
FOREIGNER is continuing to tour with
Mick Jones as the sole remaining original member of the band. Asked if
FOREIGNER's situation is different from
RATT's in the sense that
Jones has been the former outfit's main songwriter throughout its four-decade-plus existence,
Pearcy replied: "Oh, I think so. And he's been around longer and has more of these redeeming qualities. He's not doing anything… I mean, that's the guy — he wrote the words and music. I mean, what are you gonna say? You can't do that? Anybody can play anybody's music, but, I mean, c'mon! Give respect. That was the analogy [comparing
FOREIGNER to
RATT] this other person [Editor's note: referring to
Blotzer] was trying to use in this situation, but it doesn't work, because we wrote all the music, including myself, and to see it destroyed… I don't even wanna dwell on this shit; it's just psychopathic."
Pearcy went on to suggest that
Blotzer should be placed under an involuntary 5150 psychiatric hold and is need of a trip to rehab. "It's just a scary situation to think of," the singer said. "It's, like, 'Woah!' Help is needed, please."
Last November, a California judge ruled against
Blotzer with respect to whether bassist
Juan Croucier had committed trademark infringement by using the
RATT name and logo to advertise his band
RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER back in the fall 2015. The judge furthermore decided that the corporation
WBS, Inc. — of which
Blotzer and guitarist
Warren DeMartini were thought to be the sole shareholders — did not have ownership interest in the
RATT marks and that the name and brand was still owned by the members who were part of the original
RATT partnership agreement.
In addition to claiming to have expelled
Blotzer from the partnership following the latest court ruling,
DeMartini,
Croucier and
Pearcy said that
Blotzer could now only refer to himself as a "former member of
RATT," as per the partnership agreement.
Pearcy,
Croucier and
DeMartini played their first official show as the reunited
RATT on February 11 at Treasure Island in Welch, Minnesota. They were joined on stage by
Cavazo and drummer
Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with
Y&T,
WHITE LION and
MEGADETH, among others.
A completely different version of
RATT — led by
Blotzer and featuring a revolving door of members — has been hitting stages across the country since the fall of 2015.
