Stephen Pearcy spoke to All That Shreds about the return of RATT without drummer Bobby Blotzer and the band's plans to release its first new music since 2010's "Infestation" album. Asked if the legal battle with Blotzer over the rights to the RATT name is finally over, the singer, who will release a new solo disc called "Smash" at the end of this month, said: "Yes, the dust has settled pretty much, and it's getting cemented." He continued: "The thing with RATT is… Look, we have the ability to say we don't want to do anything for a year or two or three if it just isn't right, so that's what happened. As we were doing that, Warren [DeMartini, guitar] didn't want to go out there without all of us [from] the original [lineup], and someone just decided, 'Well, I'm going out there and I'm going to do my own thing and I'm going to call it this.' Well, unfortunately, that was a bad move not only for our fans but for business and the true integrity of the entity. So hence this person created all these things going down. "I don't want to mention names or bad-rap or nothing, because justice is peace and things are done and taken care of, and, like I say, the dust has pretty much settled and we're going out and doing our thing. RATT's first show is February 11th and then we headline [the] M3 [Rock Festival]. "You know, there's a lot going on there, but it's got to be done right. There's a lot of this mess created, but one thing you can't do — especially a person who didn't write music or anything — is try to change the course of history and its four members, you know, and that was the worst thing I thought possible." Pearcy added: "You know, we're not ones to get out there and chit-chat for the sake of doing it. It's not like the Hitler approach, where if you tell the people the same thing enough, they'll believe it. Our audience isn't that stupid. They're very smart they've been around for thirty years, you know. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of them, hence things took care of themselves, pretty much, and so we're moving ahead. "[There's] a lot more to go down, and, like I said, Warren and I have already started dabbling and writing, and we'll see what happens. We'd like to get something out sometime this year, but we've still got a lot to accomplish and take it slow and easy and make sure it's done right time and make sure there's no ifs, ands or buts, and hopefully we can have another few years out there for everybody." Asked if there is a chance of any kind of reconciliation between him and Blotzer, Stephen responded: "No! All I know is there is Warren and myself and Juan [Croucier], and Carlos [Cavazo, who played on 'Infestation'] is back in the game, and we'll figure out who's on [drums] when we get there." Pearcy also praised Carlos's contributions to "Infestation", saying that the first two songs for the album were written by him and Cavazo."It was crazy. I sunk my teeth into those songs so fast," he said. "Some things just happen. The same with writing with Warren sometimes. The last thing I just did with Warren, he showed me this riff and the next thing you know, I'm in there singing and writing lyrics, and we're looking at each other going, 'This is pretty cool,' and this was what — a few weeks ago?" At the end of November, a California judge ruled against Blotzer with respect to whether 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 DeMartini were thought to be the sole shareholders, and which Blotzer had claimed owns the RATT name and brand, 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: Pearcy, Croucier, DeMartini and Blotzer. In addition to claiming to have expelled Blotzer from the partnership following the latest court ruling, Pearcy, DeMartini and Croucier said that Blotzer could now only refer to himself as a "former member of RATT," as per the partnership agreement. Blotzer's attorney, Drew Sherman, said last month: "It's a long time before this is done. We're not even at the appeals part yet."
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