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Chapter 1: What near-fatal event pushed Stephen Pearcy towards music?
When we went out there, we were like fired up, man. I'm talking, you know, I would put my band up against anybody. When I first heard you sing and I first heard your band, I was like, this is different. Out of the blue, Doug goes, you can't play here anymore under the name Rack. And I go, why? He goes, it makes a club look bad.
I was listening to a lot of hard rock at the time, and I remember thinking, This is weird. No, I remember thinking, this is the kind of band I want to be in.
I still go, wow, this is cool, man.
Don't give it away. We've got to mark it. Yeah, yeah. Steven, thank you so much for being here. I've wanted you on my show for so long, so I'm very honored to have you here. Thank you, brother.
With a rock and roll life, you can jump into any point, but I think with you, the simplest way to do it, because there's some musical points I want to get at, is to kind of start at the beginning, San Diego area, late 50s.
No, that would be... I was born in Long Beach, but anyway, end up in San... There's not a lot of great biographical information about your life. Yeah, and even in the book, there's another one coming someday, but... I ended up in, you know, Los Angeles and whatever. I wasn't, I listened to music, but wasn't.
But I want to talk about your early life. Just, I'm not trying to cut you off.
I'm just saying.
Yeah, right, right. Yeah. Just give me your early life a bit because, you know. Well. Because, you know, for kids like us growing up in Chicago, this part of the world was the magical land. Right. You guys had Disneyland. You had sunshine. We didn't have any sunshine or Disneyland. Yeah. So there's kind of an idyllic version that we have from the Midwest of what. California. Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How did Ratt's sound differentiate from other metal bands?
So I drew all, you know, and this and that. and go touch it and everything. And then we moved again in L.A., and there was another race car in the neighborhood. I'm like, well, this is interesting, right? So I go bother this guy. Next thing you know, we're moving to Westchester. I'm riding my bike. There's a dragster, right?
I become friends with this guy, and I'm like 14, and become his pit crew guy, right? It was crazy. This would have been like, what about? 68, something like that. I was like, yeah, yeah. And I just got the bug for drag racing. It was like every weekend.
It's loud, fast, exciting. And in that time, in American culture, drag racing had a much bigger place than it does now. You think that's fair? Yeah. It was kind of celebrated, Evel Knievel.
There was a lot of that kind of... Daredevil. Daredevil-ish. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And these guys were nuts, drag racers back then. Especially back then. They were the real guys. Now it's millions of dollars and... The roll cages.
But back then, they were crazy.
It's not like when I was with them, you'd be sleeping under a truck going to a race, you know?
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Ratt face in the LA club circuit?
And that's what we did. And I was expected to go, I want to be a driver at 16.
Mm-hmm.
Well, that didn't happen. I went to San Diego. We ended up moving to San Diego. My mom had remarried, and we lived on this hilly area. Anyway, not even a year being there, I get run over by a car, you know, and break both legs and made a mess of me. And like, you're not going to walk again, kind of stuff. And you're a kid going, holy shit.
Tell me back to that story, because there's the information on what I could find was very sketchy on this. Because I think I have a theory that our lives are often defined by trauma, like they send us in a particular direction. Definite word. Okay, so you're just walking down the road, somebody runs you over?
No, I'm on a bike, leaving my friend's house. We were smoking out, you know, and I do. And I'm on a bike and collision course. And anyway, it busted me up. And I was like six months on my back in the hospital. And, you know, wow, wow, wow. Anyway. through a lot of prayer and, you know, in a wheelchair to graduating to crutches. Then I got into music. Somebody gave me a guitar, acoustic guitar.
Just to give you something to do? In the hospital. So I'm like, oh, okay. And I kind of adapted to it, you know. And then when I got out and I was at home, all I could do was, you know, I was in a wheelchair and recuperating. So it was play. So I started playing.
then it was like you know really going to see the bands the san diego sports arena was real close so who would you have you seen in there oh man you see like black sabbath blue oyster cult fog hat one weekend the next weekend you'd get blue oyster cult and so and so they were always there it almost seemed like every weekend there was a concert right david bowie uh You know, it was great.
So I really got into music. And then I started really playing guitar first, became a guitar player. And then somebody coaxed me into singing. And I started singing once in a while in bands. You know, you play at the beach. Sure. You know, we play in the canyon.
Well, once you figure out there's excitement, attention, money, and girls attached to it.
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Chapter 4: How did Stephen Pearcy get into music after his accident?
People were going, Mickey Rats, crazy. You know, well, I'm learning some things, you know.
But Dr. Rock seems to be the first time you step forward as a fan of your music. It seems the first time it's like, okay, there it is. I have to write a song. No, but also there it is. There it is. There's the foundational formula, what ends up being a huge... I couldn't get in the door.
I tried to get gigs. I was walking around. I was my own agent. I didn't know anything.
But I love music in that it's interesting to watch. There's that moment where Jimi Hendrix becomes Jimi Hendrix. Right. You see clicks of him playing behind Little Richard or something. And you're like, there's Jimi Hendrix. He's like, but he ain't Jimi Hendrix yet. It isn't until he goes to England and he works with, you know, Chaz Chandler. It all happens. Jimmy Page was a studio musician.
Yeah, right, right. John Paul Jones. You know what I mean? He needs a, he's in the, he ends up being in the Yardbirds. He needs a lead singer. He asked Steve Marriott to join Steve Marriott. I know. says, no thanks, because I'm Steve Marriott. A few people did, right? Right. I don't need you. I mean, he's Steve Marriott. Right.
He goes out and finds Robert Plant at 19, and John Bonham just happens to be attached to the singer.
Isn't that crazy?
So I'm saying it's always interesting when things are successful, you can find that moment where it sort of clicks.
Well, it happened with us. With us, it happened, you know, we had a good thing with Cenk. He just wanted to be one guitar guy. But I heard two guitars in my songs. So when I wrote Driving On E and Dr. Rock, we just had to have something to get in the door. Here is my band.
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Chapter 5: What was the influence of Van Halen on Ratt's success?
Yes. You know... It's almost like my solo stuff. I like to go all over the place. But with Rat, Robin and I, it was almost like we wrote it out. We need an image. We need to do this. And it was that time, you know, 81. Yeah. You know, 82, the whole European maiden, leopard, motley was happening. We became friends and everybody started getting a little showy, showy.
So, you know, and of course we love Aerosmith. That's why we do Walking the Dog. um and so i heard two guitars and robin heard two guitars and robin was happy being this guitar just holding down there because he you know when you mentioned hendrix he wouldn't he would go places you know and then you have warren and when we got warren everything changed you know
And then it was almost like overnight on a cello tour, that guy just became this, wow, brilliant guitarist. Yeah. You know, Warren. And we just clicked. The way we wrote, it's like, what do you got? Like, round and round. It was written at Rat Mansion West, sitting around two tape recorders with guitars. And me just, you know, da-da-da-da-da. And...
So we kind of created a system of writing, you know. Can you walk me through that? Because I love this stuff. It would be like, you know, who's got what? Because it was four guys. And are you writing riffs too? Oh, 100%. Yeah. Probably, yeah, I don't know how to say something that, you know. But yeah, a lot of the riffs. I would come in with riffs and let them do what they do.
But is it fair to say, because I love the way Robin plays guitar, is it fair to say that even if you wrote the riff, the way Robin plays, it becomes like, that's the sound.
100%. With war now.
No, I get that. And I didn't really realize it, because again, I've been listening to you literally since, well, we'll get to that in a second. Day one. There's something about the way Robin plays guitar, Warren plays leads, and the glam influence sort of pipe through early 80s L.A. Sunset strip music. It's like, there it is.
And when you guys click, it's like, that's the sound. Okay, see, it turned to that with... I'd have to say a lot of my direction, because these guys were all over the place. I'd have to... I was pretty much...
arranging things around but that's why I was asking about early influence because when I went back and listened to the early stuff I hear you doing rat before rat but isn't it isn't it interesting that you had the blueprint sure you had the sort of vision of what you were after I didn't have the components Well, but again, you know how it is with musicians.
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Chapter 6: How did Ratt navigate the grunge era?
And we laugh just like this. We go, holy, that's funny. Or we have a little chat up there going, this is funny. You know those moments.
Oh, yeah. It's like there's no time passes, but then here you are and you're still in this garage somewhere. Right. It's for real. Let me ask you this question. Because you had spent years trying to put together what became Rat, and that's easy to say. It's like, well, there's the success, but obviously it just didn't happen in a hot second.
No.
No. Was there something you were looking for in the people you were working with? Was it a focus or a dedication or a musical vision or was it people writing?
It was dedication. And what happens with success besides excess is the other cess. And that's the one, you know, where you spin out for a while and you don't know who's doing what. Everybody's in their own world and it just ain't going to work, you know? Yeah. And then the tires start falling off. Yeah. And that's what happened. And, you know, but...
Like I say, when Warren's up there, like now, we did the Invasion celebration playing the music of Rat. Everybody's like, why isn't that Rat? I'm like, that's not the point. The point is, Warren and I, the main guy, two main guys haven't seen each other in eight years. Can we get acquainted? You know, before we start talking about Rat, you know, because as far as I'm concerned, it's Rat.
You know, all I can do, we can do is play the music. And I knew when Robin, to be honest, and I say it all the time, is I knew when Robin was going down and he finally passed, that was it. I knew it. I went, well, we did it. I see. You know, and went into my stupor for a bunch of years and came out of it years later. But, you know, you don't need...
40 years later, it's like you look at what's happening with the 80s scene right now, which really trips me out. It's very commercial now. It's like beyond commercial. It's hair metal now, you know? Sure, whatever they call it today. It's punk. So I tell peers, hey, man, embrace that. If you're not in the hair metal scene 40 years later...
You know, you should be lucky, you know, because bands are out there with one guy.
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Chapter 7: What led to internal fractures within Ratt?
And out of the blue, Doug goes, you can't play here anymore under the name Rat. And I go, why? He goes, it makes the club look bad. And I'm like, God, are you kidding me? So, you know, Motley guys and a couple of the Rat guys, you know, me, Robin, we used to run around and call ourselves the Gladiators, right? And, you know, cause trouble.
So anyway, I go, all right, Doug, I'll play here under the name Gladiators. Full blown. I have the ticket still. But there's a rat stamp on it. And we had a line sold out. And then he went, okay, you can come back as rat. And I go, Doug, I don't want to play here anymore, man. The whiskey's my gig. That's the next step. Boing, boing, you know.
Because if you play here, you can't play there a month later or two months later or, you know, whatever. But it was kind of cool. And lo and behold, I got my way into the whiskey and followed the schematic and it worked.
Talk a little bit about the first EP. Was that on Atlantic or you guys did it on your own, right?
We did it Marshall Ball. It later came out.
That's why I get confused.
Yeah, he was like, you guys need a record. Motley had just put out Too Fast for Love. And they were selling them out of their trunk. Doing good. Motley was... And we were right behind him. Who financed the record? A partner of Marshall's. And it was only, it didn't cost much. We went in there over Thanksgiving weekend, if correct. Bobby knows everything.
But I think it was over Thanksgiving weekend or something. And we went in, recorded, next day mixed, and it was done. On one day? Pretty much. A couple-day weekend event. And that was it. But it was us live. We were recording live in there. And that record is so bad, I still want to try to get it out. Or I will. I'll get it out.
So what's prohibiting it coming out or being reissued?
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Chapter 8: How does Stephen Pearcy view his legacy in rock music?
You almost sing more like an alternative singer. I hope you know what I mean by the genres. I would say maybe, yeah. You know, alternative singers sing a little bit more emotionally. Sure. It's not about hitting the big note or being tough.
Oh, yeah, right. It's more of a vibe.
That's why when you think Adam Ant, the way he sings up high, it's more of a thing. So when I think of you up high, it's like a thing. Does that make sense?
I know we're not talking music language. It does. I don't know if it would make sense to somebody else, but... To us, it makes sense. Yeah. You know, but it's weird. I tell people, Adam Ant, yeah. I mean, I got turned on to them in like 82. Yeah, 84. Before, you know, one. And I'd go to these dance clubs. It'd be Duran Duran. Stand and Deliver. All of that. And it was so bitchin'. I'd go, fuck.
And then when the image thing came around, we were kind of fashion-y. Okay. You could think, what are they trying to do? Heavy metal Duran Duran. Now, I was like trying to do anything, right? Find our niche. We didn't want to be the leather studs.
We already went there. But even I remember seeing you on television in the early 80s, and you looked more alternative to me. Yeah, we did. We did. But I'm saying you in particular. Yeah. Was that conscious in your mind, or was that just who you were?
No, what was conscious was we wanted to look different. We wanted to look like a gang, you know? Like Motley had their own little thing, you know? Um, we wanted all of us just to look like a gang, you know? Like, uh...
pirates you know and then that was our cement you know our image came up and robin and i uh kind of created you know we were cement pirates man you know and and uh so we might as well look at you know and then we start like that yeah right Walking up and down the strip in your ship. But at one time, we were getting a little fashion-y, and actually fashion metal. We tried it.
You know, you do what you have to do, because the OG guys in the 80s scene, believe it or not, were people from Metal Massacre. They were armored saints. uh, uh, Bitch, Rat, Wasp, Motley. Uh, there were other bands. Snow, there was, not Snow, um, Venice. There were plenty of other bands that were huge that didn't make it. But the OGs, it's really interesting to think about it.
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