STEPHEN PEARCY Discusses 'Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll' Book With 'Hangar 19' (Audio)

Cutter of Envision Radio Networks' "Hangar 19" recently conducted an interview with vocalist Stephen Pearcy of Californian rockers RATT. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Pearcy's book, "Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock", was released on May 7 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

A 288-page hardcover, "Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock" is described in a press release as "a jaw-dropping tell-all from the lead singer of the 1980s supergroup RATT: the groupies, the trashed hotel rooms, the drugs — and just how much you can get away with when you're one of the biggest hair metal stars of all time."

In the mid-1980s, RATT, alongside MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and QUIET RIOT, were laying down the riffs and unleashing the scissor kicks that would herald the arrival of music's most flamboyantly debauched era. Now with "Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll", RATT frontman and chief rabble-rouser Stephen Pearcy divulges all the dirty details of the era when big-haired bands ruled the world.

Stephen was primed for a life of excess from an early age — his father died of a heroin overdose when he was twelve, and by the age of fifteen, Stephen was himself a drug addict. When Stephen met the thrill-seeking Robbin Crosby, he knew he'd found his perfect partner in crime — both in music and partying. RATT's 1984 debut single, "Round And Round", became one of the top-selling metal songs of all time, but it was the band's off-stage escapades that were the stuff of legend.

"Our tour bus is like our pirate ship," said Pearcy in 1987. Now Pearcy's memoir reveals all the rock-star excess — the partying, the women, the $2,000-a-day drug habits — letting fans see into this harrowing hair-metal lifestyle and what it's really like behind the scenes when you're a rock star.

Famed book editor Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, editor at Gallery Books stated about what fans can expect from Stephen Pearcy's forthcoming book: "There will be a ton of sex, mind-boggling amounts of drugs, and, of course, a whole lot of RATT and roll. There's also stuff about him breaking both legs as a kid and whatnot, but are you seriously not more intrigued by the sex and drugs?"

In a 2011 interview, Pearcy stated about "Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock" — which has been in the works for more than three years: "[It will include] so many stories. The good, the bad (real bad) and the ugly." He added, "It's a big wakeup call to remember some things, but have to share. Some might learn something from my experiences and get something positive in the end. There are bright moments; it's not all about Ratt 'n' Roll."

Pearcy told the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner in a separate interview: "There's lots of tales in there that people need to know or haven't known. You know, to get the real opinion. . . It's a real honest book. The kitchen sink is in there. It's time to share because nobody knows what we're about or how you got there or what you went through. I got into music by accident — realistically by accident. [laughs]"

When asked if his book be a rebuttal to RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer's "Tales Of A Ratt - Things You Shouldn't Know" autobiography or if it will be more autobiographical in nature, Pearcy said, "Both. Because when I started that band, people got the wrong perspective on so many things. That's why we're on the level we don't wish to be on, by default and admission. But everything I say is going to be honest. Bob took his own side on his book. But it's his own. It's like when I read the Keith Richards and [Steven] Tyler books, I thought, 'That's how I want my book to read.'"

Interview (audio):