Greg Prato (Songfacts): How did the idea come about to do The Atlantic Years box set?

Stephen Pearcy: This box set, I don't even think the label knew it was the 40th anniversary of the group - it would be 40 years next year for Out Of The Cellar. But it's appropriate. They just got ahold of us and said, "We're going to put this really crazy package together – we'd like you all to be involved." And, all of us were involved.

I gave them what I thought Robbin would like [Crosby died in 2002 at 42], but everyone participated in giving pictures for this big package, which is probably the only reunion you're going to see from the band, unfortunately. It would be great if we could kick a tour off with this. We'll see. Never say never. Next year is the true 40th anniversary of Out Of The Cellar.

Songfacts: You recently toured with Juan, but are you on good terms with the other surviving Ratt members?

Pearcy: I speak to Bob quite a bit – he's doing some press for this. I haven't spoken to Warren in ages – I hope he's well. Great guitar player. But no, there's not much happening. But that's OK – to each his own.¹

I'm doing the Sunset Strip Experience Tour and promoting this, so I'm out there kicking about, and if you want to hear some Ratt 'n' Roll, here's where you're going to get it.

Songfacts: Let's discuss some of Ratt's best-known tunes, starting with "Round And Round."

Pearcy: Warren was coming up with the guitar parts for Out Of The Cellar as early as when he was living with Jake E. Lee, who was the guitar player before Warren stepped in.² Me and Robbin search Warren down. Lo and behold, he comes up to do his first show, and I'm like, "Well, I need a guitar player for my show. Jake is out." In comes Warren.

The way we used to record songs at Ratt Mansion West,³ which is actually a big name for the one-bedroom apartment the three of us slept in. We used to bounce tracks back and forth on cassette. Warren would put down, say, a guitar part here, he would play it, and then the other recording would be Robbin. Then, we'd bounce that and play again with the other cassette, so we were constantly bouncing back and forth. That's how "Round And Round" was written. And it was written pretty quick. The only thing we didn't have was the bridge – the "You put an arrow through my heart" part. That came later.

We used to play the song "Round And Round" live in '83, and that part is not in there. Well, we go into the studio with this new producer, Beau Hill, and he's like, "What d'ya got?" We lay all the songs down, and one of them happens to be "Round And Round." He heard it, and he went, "We're going to go with this." And thank God! Thank you, Beau.

The lyrical content of "Round And Round" is pretty much just stating our claim: "Out on the streets, it's where we'll meet." It's about the group, getting ready to do our thing. This is what we do.

Songfacts: "Back For More."

Pearcy: "Back For More" was a late '70s idea I had in my band Mickey Ratt before I moved to LA. It was pretty much a staple in the early set. We ended up putting it on the EP before Out Of The Cellar. I loved that version on the EP – it's the "live version," per se. A little longer.

Actually, Matt Thorr, who is the bass player in my solo band now, he has a bit of a writing credit in there, which nobody really knows. They thought it was a Pearcy/Crosby composition, but no, there's Matt Thorr, people. Great bass player, producer, engineer. He was actually in Mickey Ratt with Jake E. Lee.

So, the lyrical content on "Back For More," it's kind of a thing like somebody is always going to be – whether it's good or bad – back for more, y'know? I don't know if they like it or they're a glutton for punishment. It's an interesting song and it always works live. It's always in the set, forever.

Songfacts: "Wanted Man."

Pearcy: That song actually transpired in an abandoned building Warren was squatting in with a bass player, Joey Cristofanilli, who actually took a stint in Ratt in early 1983 because our bass player, Juan Croucier, didn't know if he wanted to be in Dokken or not. So, as he was trying to figure it out, we had Joey Cristofanilli because he kind of looked like him and was a great bass player.

Well, Warren and him squatted in there, and I came over one time with Robbin, and we're starting to write, and Joey gives us this riff: "Wanted Man." We're like, "Whoa! What is this? We've got to put this in the set." So, Robbin, myself, and Joey Cristofanilli wrote "Wanted Man." It was put together in this abandoned building on Sunset.

And "Wanted Man," shit, everybody wants to be a cowboy, right? That's the whole premise of that.

Songfacts: "Lay It Down."

Pearcy: This is a song that was demoed I believe in Hawaii during a break from the Cellar tour. We knew we had to go in to do the second record.

It's a Warren-instigated riff. I believe when he brought that riff in, it was all over with. It was just – bam! – strong from the start.

The lyrics on that, it could be about anyone calling somebody out, saying, "Hey, you know you want to lay it down, you know you want to get it on." Always in the set.

Songfacts: "You're In Love."

Pearcy: Croucier brought in that riff. It was just one of those songs that came together real easy. It took a few people to tighten it up. And Beau Hill was fantastic at making things work. Wow. He got the best out of everybody.

"You're In Love" – I call it our "love song," but it's not. At all. It's kind of a "danger zone" love scenario.

I never really think about what I had written or the topic. I tend to just do it, leave it, deal with it, and present it as well as I can, because it can have double entendres, it can have different meanings. We always like the tongue-in-cheek, poke-at-ya, try-and-figure-it-out kind of lyrics. Like Zeppelin.

Why put the lyrics on the albums? That's why I hated putting lyrics on records. Hated it. I think we did it twice, and I still think it's a big mistake.

Songfacts: "Body Talk."

Pearcy: "Body Talk" was originally titled "Invasion Of Your Privacy." I didn't like to name a song the same title as an album, so we changed the name and "Body Talk" wound up on Dancing Undercover.

Man, that song is a beast. We started laying into the song and it got everyone going. It ended up in the Eddie Murphy film The Golden Child. A good ass-kicking song. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Songfacts: "Way Cool Jr."

Pearcy: I love that. As I do these interviews and I get these great questions, one of them tends to be about the style of "Lovin' You's A Dirty Job" and "Way Cool Jr." Well, to me, that's Warren – those are Warren riffs. He was just becoming fierce. We were probably the only band that would get away with doing those kind of songs - these songs that swing.

And that has to do with Bobby, because Bobby has a great swing when he plays drums. He's not a 4/4 kinda guy. So, when we lay down songs like "Dirty Job" or "Way Cool," I've got to hand it to us, we pulled it off. Because no other hard rock whatever band from LA – call us what you want – they're not pulling that off. But we did. And that's Warren just being Warren, getting better and better as we progressed.

As to what the song is about, it's just about a way cool guy. That's about it.

Songfacts: Was that song about any certain person?

Pearcy: No. At the time, we were letting Beau dabble in some words. He had some great ideas. I loved it. It was about nobody in particular – it was about this way cool cat.

If you see the video, well Jesus, this guy is dirty boy! But that's Hollywood. That was the decade of decadence, and so be it. But I love those two songs. Live, you can't go wrong. It's amazing how we can beat you in the head with "Body Talk" or "I'm Insane" and then the next thing you know, we're swinging with "Way Cool Jr."

Songfacts: "Lovin' You's A Dirty Job."

Pearcy: A fun song to do. Piecing together these songs that aren't really hard-rock/metal/Hollywood/Sunset Strip trips from the '80s, we step outside the box. "Lovin' You's A Dirty Job" is on Detonator, that was Desmond. Talk about a writer – Desmond Child.

The group didn't get lazy as we were writing but we were going through a lot of hell. A lot of stuff was happening internally, externally. Change of management, change of producers. Which I really regret – I wish Beau was involved.⁴ But with Desmond, we got some great songs. There's a lot of Desmond in there lyrically. Everybody uses the term, "It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it."

Songfacts: "Nobody Rides For Free."

Pearcy: We had done a bunch of movies by then, and more recently, we're doing Cobra Kai, Geico, Dollar Loan Center [the last two being TV commercials]. It was kind of cool when this came around, because Warren is a surfer, Robbin was a surfer... even though Robbin wasn't involved, which was a drag. There was a lot of tumultuous shit going on then.

But we were approached to be in Point Break, and we were like, "Yeah. We're surfers, San Diego, let's go." This guy gave us this song, and Warren, Croucier, and myself listened to it and went, "Y'know, that's not Ratt. At all." And the guy was relentless in not wanting to give anybody credit. We were like, "Wait a minute dude. You're talking about a multi-Platinum act. We wrote our own hits – you're not doing us a favor." So, we kind of adapted to the song. We changed all sorts of stuff around in it and it became this way cool song.

Songfacts: Which Ratt music video was your favorite?

Pearcy: I'd say "Wanted Man." Just for the fact that everybody wants to be a cowboy, right? And what was funny was, we did a festival really early and the video was the next day. So we're probably driving hundreds of miles to do this video. We get up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning for makeup and dress – It's time to be cowboys. We loved it.

Marshall [Berle, the band's manager] was clever in helping the producers and directors with our videos – always. We wanted to keep them kind of fun, not serious, heavy-metal fire and brimstone. It was great to just go through that trip of dressing up, getting on the horses.

I was talking to somebody the other day. We actually have enough videos to do a full concert set, so I might just do that one day, the "video tour." We've got maybe 16 or 18 videos.

Songfacts: Are you still friends with Mötley Crüe, and if so, have you discussed the current Mick Mars situation with any of them?

Pearcy: No. I do shows with brother Vinnie [Vince Neil] to this day – we have a show coming up. It wouldn't even come up because it's unnecessary. Look, I don't give a shit. I don't need press, I don't need that. People make it out to be this thing, but it's really a drag because I went in there and said my two cents on behalf of Carmine, who I thought was kind of fucked up.

But you know what? They do what they do, we do what we do. We always have. We're The Gladiators.⁵ We go way back, hanging out on the Sunset Strip. Robbin lived with Nikki, my dogs lived at Vince's. Vinnie and I are close – we got our racing licenses together. We're still friends. Shit happens in bands, and you really don't know the truth until the end of the day.

But if Carmine says what he says, I don't doubt him, but it's none of my business. If they want to use tapes, use tapes. It doesn't change my friendship with these guys. They'll tell me to fuck off as fast as I'd tell them!

And it's all a joke, it's tongue in cheek – we're brothers. Why have animosity for something that's going around in the press? "Hey, I didn't like what he said." OK, so what? Next. It's no big deal.

I just wish Mick well. They're going to deal with their business as we have dealt with ours. We've been suing each other for ages [Laughs]. Shit happens. I wish them all good. But we've got a show coming up – Vince and I – and it's way cool.

June 6, 2023

For more Stephen, visit officialstephenpearcy.com. For more Ratt, visit therattpack.com.

Further reading:
Fact or Fiction: Mötley Crüe edition
Interview with Don Dokken
Interview with Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot
Cover Story: Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi
Interview with Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger

Footnotes:

• 1] Ratt broke up in 1992 after five albums, four of which went Platinum. They re-formed in 1996 and released two more albums before Pearcy split in 2000. The band kept at it with a different lead singer, touring with the likes of Poison and Cinderella until Pearcy returned in 2007. (back)
• 2] Jake E. Lee later joined Ozzy Osbourne's band, replacing Randy Rhoads. (back)
• 3] The first "Ratt Mansion" was where Pearcy lived in Culver City, California. "Ratt Mansion West" was the apartment he lived in with Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini near the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Their roadies would sometimes stay there and use it to store equipment. (back)
• 4] Detonator was co-produced by Desmond Child and Arthur Payson. (back)
• 5] The Gladiators were the crew of Pearcy and Crosby along with Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe. They considered forming their own band but never did. (back)

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