Stephen Pearcy , the driving force behind emblematic glam metal rock band RATT, formed the band in 1982, bringing the genre to the LA music scene. Pearcy's raw vocals, unapologetic songwriting, and the band's overt sex appeal led them to sign with Atlantic Records. They exploded onto the national scene with the 1984 release of Out of the Cellar. It became one of many multi-platinum successes. RATT climbed the billboard charts with singles "Round and Round" and the title track, "Out of the Cellar," which reached no. 7. On the heels of the album's success, RATT headed out on a world tour, selling out stadiums and arenas worldwide and sharing a stage with acts such as Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, and more. To commemorate their debut album, the band recently released Out of the Cellar (40th Anniversary) with limited-edition versions, including a previously unreleased track, "Reach for the Sky," recorded during the original album sessions. Pearcy sat down with us remotely to talk all about the anniversary release, his music career spanning more than four decades, writing a tell-all book, and more. This is a LifeMinute with Stephen Pearcy.
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00:00Hi, this is Steven Pearcey. You are watching Life Minute.
00:09It's been more than 40 years since Steven Pearcey and his glam rock metal band R.A.T.T. exploded onto the music scene,
00:15with Pearcey's raw vocals, unapologetic songwriting, and overt sex appeal that took their first release out of the cellar to new heights.
00:24To commemorate the multi-platinum album, the band recently released a limited edition vinyl and CD version and a previously unreleased track.
00:33I sat down with Pearcey recently to hear all about it and more. This is a Life Minute with R.A.T.T.'s Steven Pearcey.
00:41Thanks so much for doing this. Let's start with the 40th anniversary release. Unbelievable.
00:48We'll talk about that and I happen to have it right here. It's got this really cool cover. It's like all hippified. It's like 3D, whatever.
00:58I think it's only with this album because we redid the whole catalog and I was like, wait, way involved with the art director,
01:06which I have been since day one with the art and the art directing of our stuff.
01:11So when this time came around, because we released a box set last year, right?
01:18And this single that came out this year on the 40th anniversary was so weird because I tried to get it on the last one and we couldn't locate it.
01:31Even though I had a copy, it wasn't good enough to, you know, album, whatever.
01:36I knew it was from the out of the cellar sessions and I tried to get on the box set.
01:40So thank God I did it because we found the real thing. And then that's what this is right here.
01:47The single Reach for the Stars.
01:49Wow.
01:50Yeah, it's bad. And we're actually working on a video, which is animation. It's kind of starts like this.
02:00And another thing about this cover, a little rat trivia. This was one of the contenders for the album Reach for the Sky.
02:10I just found it and went, you know, this is very appropriate for the 40th anniversary and the release of the single actually itself, Reach for the Sky.
02:20So Reach for the Sky. Tell us a little bit more about that song.
02:24Well, it was one of the songs that we recorded for Out of the Cellar. It was just like the rest. It was just like round and round and morning after.
02:35We just, you know, here's one of our songs for Out of the Cellar. And it wasn't picked. And we actually have another song that we wrote.
02:47And actually this song was written in 1983 by Robin, myself and Warren left the band for about, this is crazy, Warren left the band for about three months.
03:00But we were a band, right? And he's decided, well, I'm going to go maybe check out Dawkin. I don't know.
03:07So anyway, we bring in Mark Tureen, who's now the singer of the Bullet Boys. But he was a guitar guy more back then. He was more of a noodler.
03:17And we go, well, let's bring him in to Warren's back, right? So we co-wrote this song. And it's crazy. And two of them, we wrote two songs with Mark and Robin when we got together.
03:31And this is one of them. So cheers to Mark, who's out there actually touring Bullet Boys. But here you go, 40 years later, you find these gems, you know, and it just kind of fit.
03:44We talked about 40 years, a long time. Well, look at these 90s guys. They're the corns. And my buddy, Fred Durst, his band, you know, they're out there and people just want something again, you know.
04:00So I look at it in perspective, 80s, 90s, 2000s. And then whatever we ended up here with, you know.
04:10Look, I even like New Kids on the Block in the 80s, you know. But anything went in the 80s. And that's why it's such an important decade. And I totally embrace it.
04:23I ended up being like, oh, they're the forefathers of the Sunset Strip scene. And then I started thinking and going, well, yeah, you're right, we are.
04:33We pulled in there in 1980, January 1, I did with my band and went, well, I blame it all on Van Halen, first of all, who I met in the 78 before they were big.
04:45I'd see him at the Whiskey and became friends with Ed. And it's crazy. So I took notes and I watched them become, by 1980, they were mega.
04:56You know, we went to the U.S. Festival, you know, whatever. And I went, that's how it's done. Right. And so I moved up in 1980 and we were.
05:07So I'll take the crown of being a forefather of the Sunset Strip experience, I call it.
05:14What was the first record you ever bought?
05:18Oh, you know what? It was Black Sabbath with the witch on the front, the first album. I'll age myself, you know, because I grew up in a great time.
05:29You know, I was able to see Zeppelin in 73 and Aerosmith. And so, you know, until I really got into music and went, oh, OK, I think I want to do that or I'm stuck doing that more or less.
05:44It was not my next question. Did you always know you wanted to be a musician?
05:49No, I did not. I got into music as I wrote a book for years back, Sex, Drugs, Rat and Roll. And I tell the story, you know, I'm not even supposed to be singing or playing.
06:02You know, I wanted to be a race car driver. I was a pit crew guy for top fuel cars. Right. I traveled, you know, every weekend.
06:11I was greasy and dirty, wanted to drive, you know, be a young guy driving. One of the first because one of the youngest was 17 and I was like 15, 14. I go, I can do that.
06:23So, you know, anyway, but I move from L.A. to San Diego and because I live right near the team and I get hit by a car and smash my legs and there goes that.
06:40They go, good luck. You get, you know, your career's over thinking about that kid. You know, and I was a kid, but, you know, that's how you start out there.
06:49And while I was recuperating, I was six months in the hospital. Somebody gave me a guitar. And so I'm here playing an acoustic guitar or just whatever.
07:00And it just kind of adapted. I adapted to music. And then when I got out of the hospital, I started going, oh, I like these electric guitars, you know, and I was off. I was off and running. And that was it.
07:14So, you know, there's my story.
07:17And what about singing? Like, did you know you could sing?
07:20No, actually, no. I was more of a guitar player. That's why I say when I met Ed, we traded gear. It was nothing about, I wasn't like, hey, Dave, the only thing I said to Dave was, hey, Dave, you want to smoke a joint?
07:34And that got me in the whiskey backstage. That's how I got in there to meet Ed. It just so happened we clicked and had the same gear and whatever. Right.
07:47But it wasn't singing. Otherwise, I would've went, hey, Dave, let's hang out while we smoke this joint. I went, **** this, where's Ed? You know, we're still friends, right? But it's crazy.
07:59And I think back in the day, my friends just went, in bands, they just went, you can sing when you look at it. So, oh, you've got long hair. That's what it was. You got long hair. And that was 70, Jesus, 76, you know, kind of thing.
08:17You got long hair, go sing. And next thing you know, I'm singing. I'm just standing up there singing, going, I don't just, I don't do this, you know.
08:25That's crazy.
08:26But anyway, that's where that goes.
08:28Did you strive for that? You know, people say you guys started the glam metal scene, the hair metal. Did you know you were doing that or try to do that or it just happened?
08:39You know, we, like I say, I'll take blame for the Sunset Strip experience thing with Motley Crue, Wasp, even **** Armored Saints. Striper even wasn't Striper. They were Rocks Regime. Great White, it wasn't Great White. It was Dante Fox.
08:58You know, there was so much of us that were really a hardcore part of that. And blame it on Van Halen. All of us have to really give credit as due. Because I do. I know where it came from.
09:11Because after that, it was, you know, who's going to emulate the Van Halen with the white haired singer guy, right? We were a different thing. That's why Rat did what it did. We were different, right?
09:24But once we broke and did our thing, you know, I mean, Quiet Riot, don't forget, Rat did loads of gigs of Quiet Riot back in 81, 82. Starwood, Whiskey, you know, these stories I'll tell again.
09:40There's something coming up here. So we'll let you know. But these stories need to be told. And I was there and I forget I was there, you know, hanging with Ozzy, touring with this guy, doing that, Iron Maid, you know, and I got the pictures.
09:55It's one thing I did then. I took pictures. I don't know why, you know, and I like taking pictures. But even then I was taking pictures. So, you know, I could really show proof of those stories, you know.
10:10Anything you would have done differently? Like anything your current self would tell your younger self about anything?
10:17Yes. This all for one, one for all s**t don't work. You know, when you're an aspiring musician, if you're going to make that endorsement for your brand, you better be very careful because, you know, it would have been a different story if I would have went, no, it's my band and thank you very much. Follow me, you know, or follow me and Robin, actually.
10:44Robin was my really right hand man in the whole rat creation. I mean, we actually thought it up, how to look different, you know. I mean, consider that, you know.
10:55Tell me about that. Tell me about how did it all come to be?
10:59Well, you know, it was like dress up almost. It was like f**k, you know, I grew up, like I say, in the 70s. You look at the magazines, you know, and then I'd see Van Halen, I'd see Dave and go, holy s**t, you know, look at this Jim Dandy guy, right?
11:14So that was your competition, right? But I wanted a two guitar band, not one guitar band like a Motley or Wasp thing or whatever, more Aerosmithy and with different guitar players, with heavy metal guitar players.
11:32And so it was created, you know, the look, hey, look, you know, let's look good for the girls because it was becoming an all male force back then, right? You're packing gigs, but, you know, bunch of dudes. We didn't go for that.
11:49So we went, OK, what do we do? You know, all right, let's look piratey. Let's look, you know, I like the Adamant. Believe it or not, I got a bit of my look from Adamant in early 84 and we kind of morphed into this pirateer bunch, you know, the Rat Pack.
12:06Why the name Rat? Where did that come from?
12:10Rat came from my band, Mickey Rat, which was my band in San Diego from when I pretty much started in 77 and till 81. And then I dropped the Mickey in L.A.
12:28when we were playing as a four piece with Jakey Lee, actually. And I did it because I, you know, thought about the KISS logo, how it was just one word, one design, and, you know, instantly the look, the sound, whatever.
12:48So I designed the logo to be because I'm an art guy, art director, and I designed the logo and it morphed. It took years, actually, you know, but we just started calling it Rat and I but I didn't want it just to be a word.
13:02I wanted it to be a logo and hence we did it. I did it, you know, and I actually told Gene, Gene, you know why I have this logo, right? Because it's red, it's four words, and you know exactly what it is when you see it.
13:18Oh, that's that hair metal band. Now somebody would say that, right? There you go.
13:25Yeah. Did you ever care? Like, did that ever bother you being called top metal and hair metal?
13:31Do you know, you know why? When it first pretty much started in, you know, we were starting to introduce our bunch of guys, you know, bands as that. I thought it was funny. Everybody's all uptight, right? And I'm like, it's kind of cool. I go because you're going to be played now on a lot of places and be identified with the 80s scene just being called hair metal. So do something with it.
13:59Anyway, I have a friend and there's this band called Hairball. They dress up like Alice Cooper. They have three singers, right? It's like an act that tours, right? They're insane. So Hairball cheers, but they have an Alice, they have a Halford, Kiss. It's brilliant. Even Rat. I go out there and sing with them once in a while, but it's funny.
14:25Cool. Were you living the typical rock star life then? And how has your life changed now?
14:31Oh, beyond, beyond that. And we live beyond that because when Robin and I like created, pretty much created Rat, we were like, we did it, you know, and, and then anything went, it was just like, whoa, that's what I mean. When you're on those kind of headline in those kind of tours in the 80s, you know, we got all these bands, everybody's trying to outdo each other.
14:59But we were the, we were the kings, right? We came from the strip. You're from where, you know, and we'd beat bands down. I mean, you know, and then you put up us, and then later in the years, you put up, put us up against, you know, Dimebag and them, and it's like, whoa, that's all another ballgame, you know.
15:24What does music do for people?
15:26Well, what I've been finding out the last two years touring is, and having fun doing it, is they're sincere. You know, you're, those people are really sincere, man. And they're the hardcore ones. That's why they're back 40 years later, right? And yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. It's kind of cool.
15:51What did music do for you?
15:52For me, I don't know. It's weird, because that guy, I turn off like a switch, you know. I can't be that guy anymore, you know. I think I put him away, like, when I sobered up after Robin had passed, I decided, well, I'm not next, right? Even in my book. And, boy, you know.
16:21What did it do? What does music do for me? I don't, you know, I don't even know why I do what I do, because I wasn't supposed to do it, you know. I still am involved in drag racing. I haven't since, and I, every year I put out sponsor cars, I go to races, you know.
16:40I make these deals with, sponsorship deals with my, you know, these Top Fuel dragsters and funny cars, and, you know, they fly rat colors or Top Fuel records, my record company or something. So, I love it, you know. I'm still involved in it, and once I'm done doing this and just doing a few shows, I'll be doing more racing, definitely.
17:04I can't drive, but, you know.
17:07So, anyway, I'm at officialstevenpearcy.com. You can see anything, get anything, whatever, and I tell you where I'm at. Everything's really f***ing way cool.
17:18Yeah, it looks good. The site's good. You're so cool. Thank you so much.
17:22I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
17:24To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.