STEPHEN PEARCY And WARREN DEMARTINI Are 'Demoing Up' New RATT Material

Stephen Pearcy says that the recently reunited RATT is working on its first new music since 2010's "Infestation" album.

The singer, who will release a new solo disc called "Smash" at the end of this month, told Josh Rundquist (a.k.a. That Drummer Guy) on Thursday (January 5): "Warren [DeMartini, RATT guitarist] and I already demoing up some RATT music for, you know, what's going on this year. So who knows? Maybe we'll try to get a record started for RATT. In a year, it's been, like, what? Six years now by now, or something, seven years, since 'Infestation'. I guess… I don't know how long it's been. It took ten years to do that. [Laughs] But that's a whole another animal in itself."

He continued: "With my solo stuff, I have a tendency to go into another place that I'm not expected to with the RATT audience. But we'll see what happens. What we're dealing with now is kind of interesting.

"But with 'Smash', I really was able to, out of all my solo records, really get into something cool. And it was a sobering place. It's made it even better."

RATT's current lineup includes Pearcy and DeMartini alongside bassist Juan Croucier. Joining them in the group's latest incarnation is former QUIET RIOT guitarist Carlos Cavazo, who played on "Infestation".

RATT will embark on the "Back For More" tour later this year, with the first confirmed date being the previously announced appearance at the M3 Rock Festival, set to take place on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

At the end of November, DeMartini, Pearcy and Croucier issued a press release claiming that they had taken control of the band's name after a judge ruled against drummer Bobby 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.

Under a 1985 written Ratt Partnership Agreement, the name/trademarks are the property of the partnership and can only be transferred with the unanimous approval of all partners. Thus, the judge ruled that in 1997 when Blotzer, DeMartini and Pearcy purported to transfer the trademarks to WBS, the transfer was invalid since Croucier, who was still a partner, was never advised of, and therefore did not consent to, the transfer. Therefore, the judge said, the partnership still owned the RATT name.

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.