RATT MEMBERS STEPHEN PEARCY AND WARREN DEMARTINI, REVEAL THEIR M3 BAND MEMBERS, TO EDDIE TRUNK

During an appearance on Wednesday’s (January 29th) episode of SiriusXM‘s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini revealed the musicians who will join them when they perform a set of RATTclassics as one of the headliners of the 2025 edition of the M3 Rock Festival, set to take place May 2nd-4th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

Pearcy said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “We’re gonna have [Ratt and Quiet Riot guitarist] Carlos [Cavazo] out there, which is cool. And I’m bringing in [Ratt and Rough Cutt‘s] Matt Thorr on bass, who’s pretty much an original Ratt guy from 1981, ’82, when Jake E. [Lee] and Warren pulled in. And then we’re taking Blas Elias on drums from Slaughter and my band. And we’re ready to go.”

Added DeMartini, “When I moved up to L.A. to join Ratt, I stayed at a house with Jake E. Lee for a few months, and, it was like a three-bedroom [house], and Jake had one, and Matt had the other, and this other musician had the third. And I was on the couch. But Matt goes way back with [Ratt]. I’m actually kind of looking forward to checking that out again. He was playing bass at the time I joined [Ratt].”

Regarding why they are not playing the M3 show under the Ratt banner, Pearcy said, “Well, I’ll tell you right straight up — it’s not about Ratt. It’s about the legacy of our music. And who better to deliver it, because we don’t have all the proper original elements, which would include [late Ratt guitarist] Robbin [Crosby]. So we just decided — no. This is great. This is perfect. I mean, we don’t wanna hit a brick wall. We want this nice and smooth. So that’s what we intend to do. It’s not about that — it’s about the legacy of Ratt. Period.”

DeMartini went on to say that he is open to playing more shows with Pearcy in the future, assuming that everything goes will with the M3 gig.

“Since we announced the M3 show, other stuff has come up,” he revealed. “When this [M3 concert] came up, I was treating it as a one-off, but everything has a momentum, or it can have a momentum. And in this case, it just feels better and better. I’ve always wanted to play these songs to the people, like we always have,” he added. “So I’m totally game to doing more.”

Asked if drummer Bobby Blotzer and bassist Juan Croucier, who were both in Ratt‘s classic lineup, will have any involvement in the M3 and other planned appearances, Pearcy replied, “No, no, no. Not on this. No. Like I say, we wanted it to be about the music and Warren and myself delivering it, because it is gonna be a little different. If you were to throw the other guys in the mix, it wouldn’t be exactly what it is now, the opportunity.”

On the topic of what he has been doing in the seven years since he last played with Pearcy, DeMartini stated, “What I always did and what I always do. When I’m not sort of dealing with all the stuff that we deal with in life, I drift back into the studio and either start working on something that I hear in my head or refining something that I have going. So it’s been a really nice thing to be able to do all this time, because basically since Stephen and Robbin and I wrote Round And Round, it’s, like, ‘Okay, you can be a writer if you wanna be,’ so that’s what I do, basically.”

When asked if he missed being on stage, and being in front of an audience, DeMartin commented, “Oh, of course. It’s hard to find words to describe the kind of energy that we have with our audience. It’s just fantastic… I did do some gigs with some friends, like the last one was with Billy Gibbons and Sebastian Bach, and we would all play each other’s songs. It was two or three songs each. And stuff like that kind of kept it burning, but this is the real fire.”

As for a possible setlist for the M3 show, DeMartini said, “I think we need to really look at the whole catalog. I mean, we did — what? — six records with Atlantic, and we’ve done three through other labels. There’s probably a lot of deep cuts that would be just totally awesome for this.” Pearcy added, “Oh, yeah. I can think of a few right now — Between The Eyes, Hard Time, Eat Me Up Alive.” DeMartini added. “‘Givin’ Yourself Away‘ would be cool.” Pearcy chimed in, “Oh, that would be cool, actually.”

Last year, Pearcy celebrated the 40th anniversary of Ratt‘s classic debut album, Out Of The Cellar, by performing it in its entirety and in sequence for the first time.

Ratt exploded on to the national scene in 1984 with the release of Out Of The Cellar. Featuring an undeniable hook and legendary music video, lead single Round And Round hit Number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Out Of The Cellar reached Number 7 on the Billboard Top 200 and was certified triple platinum. Two more charting singles followed with Back For More and Wanted Man. Ratt started the tour as an opening act, but by the end of the tour had climbed to arena headliner.