RATT singer Stephen Pearcy, who, along with some of his bandmates, is involved in a legal battle with drummer Bobby Blotzer over the rights to the group's name, spoke in a brand new interview with "Sound Matters" about the fact that a legendary act like FOREIGNER is continuing to tour with Mick Jones as the sole remaining original member of the band. Asked if FOREIGNER's situation is different from RATT's in the sense that Jones has been the former outfit's main songwriter throughout its four-decade-plus existence, Pearcy replied: "Oh, I think so. And he's been around longer and has more of these redeeming qualities. He's not doing anything… I mean, that's the guy — he wrote the words and music. I mean, what are you gonna say? You can't do that? Anybody can play anybody's music, but, I mean, c'mon! Give respect. That was the analogy [comparing FOREIGNER to RATT] this other person [Editor's note: referring to Blotzer] was trying to use in this situation, but it doesn't work, because we wrote all the music, including myself, and to see it destroyed… I don't even wanna dwell on this shit; it's just psychopathic." Pearcy went on to suggest that Blotzer should be placed under an involuntary 5150 psychiatric hold and is need of a trip to rehab. "It's just a scary situation to think of," the singer said. "It's, like, 'Woah!' Help is needed, please." Last November, a California judge ruled against Blotzer with respect to whether bassist Juan Croucier had committed trademark infringement by using the RATT name and logo to advertise his band RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER back in the fall 2015. The judge furthermore decided that the corporation WBS, Inc. — of which Blotzer and guitarist Warren DeMartini were thought to be the sole shareholders — did not have ownership interest in the RATT marks and that the name and brand was still owned by the members who were part of the original RATT partnership agreement. In addition to claiming to have expelled Blotzer from the partnership following the latest court ruling, DeMartini, Croucier and Pearcy said that Blotzer could now only refer to himself as a "former member of RATT," as per the partnership agreement. Pearcy, Croucier and DeMartini played their first official show as the reunited RATT on February 11 at Treasure Island in Welch, Minnesota. They were joined on stage by Cavazo and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with Y&T, WHITE LION and MEGADETH, among others. A completely different version of RATT — led by Blotzer and featuring a revolving door of members — has been hitting stages across the country since the fall of 2015.
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