During an appearance on a recent edition of "The Classic Metal Show", RATT singer Stephen Pearcy confirmed that the band is "talking about" returning to the studio to record the follow-up to 2010's "Infestation" album. "We have written a couple of things, and it's good," Pearcy said (hear audio below). "Warren [DeMartini, RATT guitarist] and I are tripping. And Juan [Croucier, RATT bassist], we have yet to get him into the mix, but when Juan and I write, we come up with shit like 'Lack Of Communication' and all these other great songs. So we're looking forward to that too, but it just takes a little more time with RATT music."
Asked why it seemingly takes so much longer to make a RATT album than it does to produce one of his solo records, Pearcy replied: "We just know we have a format. I can't do certain things in RATT that I would do solo. They'd look at me and go, 'Are you fucking out of your brains or something?' So we have a format, and we know what people wanna hear, and we just do the best we can do. And it takes time — it reall does take time. 'Smash' [Pearcy's latest solo album] took a year, if not more, so I expect RATT to take two years, if that's what it takes. And it'll be our… I don't know if it's our tenth studio record, if it is. Well, it'd better kick some fucking ass. If it's the last thing we do, well, we'd better make a statement or we're not doing our gig."
The reunited RATT, featuring three members of the band's classic lineup —Pearcy, Croucier and DeMartini — has played a number of shows so far this year after reforming in 2016 in the midst of a highly publiced legal battle with drummer Bobby Blotzer over the rights to the RATT name. They were joined at the gigs by former QUIET RIOT guitarist Carlos Cavazo, who played on "Infestation", and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with Y&T, WHITE LION and MEGADETH, among others.
Pearcy told "The Classic Metal Show" that he is not concerned that Blotzer could still prevail in the drummer's quest to hold on to the RATT name. "Of course not," he said. "We've established and retained… You know, it is what it is now. There's no reason to even talk about it, because it's a waste of breath to me. Hey, shit happens. So, you know, we're out there and we're headlining great places and playing with some great people and we're having a good time and the band gets along."
Last November, a California judge ruled against Blotzer with respect to whether 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 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 singer Stephen Pearcy said that Blotzer could now only refer to himself as a "former member of RATT," as per the partnership agreement.
