RATT's New Lineup Performs At OC FAIR In Costa Mesa, California (Video)

RATT's new lineup played its second show ever last night (Friday, July 13) at the OC Fair at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Singer Stephen Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier are the sole remaining original members in RATT's current lineup, which also includes drummer Pete Holmes (BLACK 'N BLUE, RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER) and guitarists Jordan Ziff (RAZER) and Chris Sanders (BRITNY FOX, KNIGHT FURY).

During an appearance on the "Trunk Nation" radio show on SiriusXM, Pearcy spoke about the circumstances that caused guitarist Warren DeMartini's exit from RATT. "Waren just didn't wanna go out there," he said. "And when you have a corporation or a company, that company doesn't cease if the majority wants to move forward.

"We wanted to clean house, and that's it, and go out and enjoy ourselves for once," he added. 'Enough drama. We've been through enough."

"I'm just moving forward — Juan and myself — and just trying to keep some legacy involved.

"It's very simple — you either like what you're doing or you don't," he said. "And we do. But it has to be with the right people. It's not like we need to hire Jimmy Page or somebody. We're gonna work with people that we have a great time with."

Pressed about the specific issues that Warren and other two members of RATT's classic lineup couldn't agree on, Stephen said: "I can't speak for the guy… The guy didn't wanna go out there. I wouldn't even call it work. We're privileged enough, 35 years later, to be able to go out and do what we do. And there's still a lot of great fans out there who'd love to hear the music. That's all that concerns me. So if somebody else doesn't wanna do it in the band, regardless [of whether it's Warren] or somebody else, [they can] take a hike."

Pearcy went on to stress that "Warren was not fired — he wasn't fired at all. He just took it upon himself to not be involved, but I'm not gonna dwell on that subject anymore either; it's not worth it," he said.

According to Pearcy, he and Juan "thought things were going copacetic" with DeMartini "but later found out there were other things going on with this guy, and he just didn't wanna partake in these shows. And that's just how it turned out," he said. "Hey, all I know is we didn't fire the guy. I don't tend to dwell on things, so it doesn't bother me. I just move forward, and that's what we did. We wanna go out and have a good time and celebrate. It's no big deal.

"Warren is no longer in the group — his choice; not ours," Stephen clarified. "The company is one thing, the corporation is another, but being in a band, that's a whole another world."

Asked how RATT found its latest additions, Pearcy said: "We went through auditions — many people — and we invited a lot of people to come down. We move forward; we don't waste time — or at least Juan and I don't. We didn't want this just to hit a curb. So we auditioned all these people and decided on guys that we thought would hang around for a bit and grow and hopefully see a few more years out of this… And it wasn't a simple task, by any means, but that's what we settled with. We didn't settle — we actually wanted it to work. And so far… we have lift-off."

Pearcy also confirmed that there are plans for the current lineup of RATT to record and release new music before undertaking a more extensive tour next year.

"What we're gonna do this time around is we're going to record a few songs and release it as we see fit," he said. "We're not gonna go into a full record until we've put a few songs out there and not prove ourselves. 'Cause if it's Juan and me — we've written songs together for years. He's a great singer guy; I'm the singer guy. We just know what we do. It's not as complex as people are making it or trying to make it. It's very simple. We're gonna go out there and we do wanna record a few new songs, yeah. And we will. We'll put a few out there before the next tour, next year — 2019."

Asked why he and Juan chose not to reveal the identities of RATT's newest members prior to this past weekend's concert, Stephen said: "We just wanted to work people in and not have to change midstream — find out, 'Okay, it's not working with this individual' or something. We wanted to know exactly what was happening. And the word got out anyway a day before the show, which is no big deal. I just like to keep things under cover until you're ready to go. And we were ready to go. And now the next show, I'm sure, it's gonna be more of an ass-whippin', 'cause now we got our feet wet."

RATT's new lineup is:

* Stephen Pearcy - Vocals
* Juan Croucier - Bass
* Jordan Ziff (RAZER) - Lead Guitar
* Chris Sanders (BRITNY FOX, KNIGHT FURY) - Rhythm Guitar
* Pete Holmes (BLACK 'N BLUE, RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER) - Drums