Ratt guitarist Warren DiMartini has released the following statement regarding drummer Bobby Blozter claiming to have won the legal rights to use the band’s name:
“Back in March Bob Blotzer phoned me and said he wanted to form a Ratt tribute band and call it something like “… Ratt Experience”. I suggested he not use Ratt in the title and call it something like Bob’s Cellar as Ratt’s debut record Out of the Cellar has rounded its third decade. He said something to the effect that he wanted to use Ratt in the title “like Jason Bonhan’s Led Zeppelin Experience”. I said I had no problem with him playing songs he recorded with Ratt, but I didn’t agree to him using the name in the title. He used it anyway.
Now he is soliciting his tribute band as Ratt which he is completely unauthorized to do. I am totally against it, and steps are being taken to prevent any further misuse of the name as well as representation about future Ratt performances.”
Blozter announced that “After a five-year battle over trademark issues, doing everything he could to appease and re-assemble the band, Bobby Blotzer, the CEO of WBS Inc. has taken control of the Ratt brand.” Read more here.
14 Responses
There’s already been a ton of responses to yesterday’s post, and there will probably be a bunch for this one too. But – legal or not, one guy plus a bunch of replacements IS NOT RATT! And all those other bands that do it with 1 or NO (!?) original members are NOT those bands either. They are tribute bands! Even if there are only 1 or 2 original members, for 90% of the public the only ones they’ll remember or recognize are the singer or MAYBE lead guitar player if he’s achieved “guitar hero” status. Except for die hard fans of Ratt, or people on this site ever day, most of the people out there that would even consider going to see this band don’t know who Bobby Blotzer is, and are going to think they’re gonna see Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini. And when the don’t there will be plenty of “Who the @#$% are these guys?” comments. “Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt Experience” is fine – he’s not saying it’s “Ratt” while setting the expectation you’re going to hear Ratt’s music. I have no problem with an original band member wanting to continue playing the music, but I really hate this treating a band’s name like it’s a franchise. The one exception I have to that is Megadeth, because it’s clearly been all about Dave Mustaine from the start and he’s always had a revolving cast of characters in that band. Sorry Blotz, I am a Ratt fan, and “Infestation” rocked, but it’s OVER now. Take your new band, write some new music under another name, hit the road (hell even market it as “featuring a member of Ratt”) and mix in some Ratt classics and I can get behind that. But sorry, your band isn’t Ratt.
Supposedly, Bobby just announced that he will be touring as “Wrat” featuring the dude from RATT 😉 His drums will be positioned at front/center stage, usually reserved for the singer. Why am I not surprised that it’s the Drummer who is doing this.
Pearcy will soon be driving a forklift at a home and garden center. They have some solid songs, that hold up well over time, but Warren is the only relevant member at this point.
Geez as long as it’s not Vince Neil driving a forklift at Home Depot. Can you imagine how many victims there’d be? Sorry, was that too soon?
As much as I do not agree with Bobby staright up using the RATT name-logo all by itself… I must say his band is the best {outside of the original, of course} out of all the other RATT bands I’ve heard. The singer sounds awesome! And I love the fact that I may finally get to hear all the deep cuts that I so love off of the Invasion album. And this singer can do it justice!
Now having said all that… I think it was worst when Bobby AND Warren went out and got Jizzy Pearl to be the singer of RATT. And it’s funny Warren had no problem calling that band RATT then when it was downright horrible… But I guess it was ok then cause he was part of it. I mean as much as I loved Jizzy in LOVE/HATE he was completely out of place in RATT. That to me was the worst version ever. So let’s not act as if Warren is all Mr. Innocent here. He’s had his part in tarnishing the name.
I’m going to see this version because I really like the singer and I wanna hear the songs they are going to be playing. I could care less about all the fucking politics of it all. And that’s that!
Eh, Pearcy’s voice is pretty much shot, and the singer they had for a while was ok.
I think there is a difference between having one person, the drummer, carrying on the name of the band, and 3 original guys replacing the singer. Was it Ratt? Dunno. People never agree on what bands are after they replace founding and iconic members. VH, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc…
Ratt was a cool band, and they had their time in the sun, but I don’t see the point in continuing, unless of course, Blozter can make is house payments.
Here now is the the fantastic new single from The Ratt Cartel Experience, “Back and Forth”:
Out in the court
We will cavourt
You make the claims, I always cross the lien
Loosened our belts, abused ourselves
Get in my way, we’ll put you through legal hell.
Another name, some other way?
We’re gonna tour, and you’ll see us again
“I’ve had enough, we’ve had enough
“Not again,” she said.
I knew right from the beginning
Lawyers would end up winning
I knew right from the start
The fans would soon depart
Back and forth
We’ll kind of find a way, just give it time
Back and forth
What comes around goes around
I’ll tell you what, dig
Lookin’ at Pearl, lookin’ at Crane,
The way they move, you know it’s easy to see,
The neon light’s on them tonight
The fans won’t know, we’re gonna prove it tonight
Like Rosencrantz to Guildenstern
Ratt’s been purloin’
You too can join!
“I’ve had enough, we’ve had enough
“It’s all the same,” she said.
Warren comes from a lot money. Blotzer is probably playing birthday parties by now. Wonder who is going to be able to afford to wait this one out in court?