Over the last couple of years, there have been quite a lot of high profile reunions in rock and metal, but if you’re holding on to hopes of ever seeing the classic members of Ratt get back together, now might be a good time to start letting go. Singer Stephen Pearcy, who has publicly doubted the possibility of getting the band back together before, tells Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk that “it’s not gonna happen.”
The last few years has been fraught with friction for the members of Ratt. Drummer Bobby Blotzer was touring with his own version of the group for a while and, after a series of legal battles over the band’s name, the drama eventually subsided. There’s been chatter of potentially making new music, but it’s Pearcy who has insisted that he won’t do it without getting the rest of the surviving classic members — Blotzer, bassist Juan Croucier and guitarist Warren DeMartini — on board.
Instead, he’s been focusing on his solo career and, earlier this year, lamented the fact that Ratt were “supposed to do a big summer tour” and, separately, he had stated that the group had received a “lucrative” offer to get back together.
“There’s no business in the Ratt camp, and that’s unfortunate, but that’s why I do my [solo] thing,” Pearcy tells Trunk about the current situation (transcription via BraveWords). “I talk to Bob [Blotzer] every now and then. That’s about it. Warren [DeMartini], I guess, chooses to just be laid back, from what I gather, and that’s all cool. It would be great if we all pulled together; it’s not gonna happen.”
Speculating about what the holdup is, the 66-year-old singer adds, “You’re dealing with a lot of ego. Who knows? I don’t know; I don’t give a shit, actually. This is where it starts and this is where it’s gonna end, and that’s with me.”
“I’d rather be out there (solo) than having the band out there with just me and the bass player in Ratt [Croucier]. That’s not what Ratt was,” he confesses, “Ratt was [late guitarist Robbin] Crosby, Pearcy, DeMartini, Bobby and Juan, and so be it. I’d rather give a bit of integrity to the band, because it was a great rock band, and just continue doing what I do. You can’t beat a dead horse or try to bullshit people.”
Pearcy’s latest solo album, View to a Thrill, was released in 2018. Meanwhile, Ratt last issued Infestation in 2010.