them. So, I was jockeying for the gig.
Ramirez kept me on the line forever. He was always telling me, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to do it. Any day now.” I learned the whole record, was ready to go at a moments notice, but they still kept me hanging for months.
During this down time, Stephen Pearcy had started coming around, and he was really pushing for me to join RATT. I had met Stephen through a guy named Dennis O'Neil, who was dating one of my roommates. So, I went to see RATT, and I didn't like it. I thought they were okay. It just wasn't what I was looking for. So, I turned him down.
About five weeks later, Stephen buzzed me up again, and was like, "What's going on, man. Did you get that thing?” I had told him I was trying to get the Bruiser gig.
"No, dude, they're still not doing anything.” So, he tells me that they're playing another gig, and they have a new drummer, but they don't really like him either. So, why don't I come down and check them out again?
I went and saw them a second time, but it wasn't that much different from the first. Same music with a different drummer who wasn't very good. But, I was sitting around doing nothing, so I thought, "What the hell. I'll join these guys until something better comes along.”
Thank God nothing better did, because it's fucking RATT! It's my life, now. And, it has been since that day. March 1, 1982.
Dennis O'Neil's mother's house was where we rehearsed; right in her garage. Juan Croucier drove me down there with all my shit in the back of his truck to play. Then he was heading off with this Top 40 band he was playing in.
The chemistry came pretty quick. I was a good drummer, and had a lot of experience. They could sense that, I think. Plus, we were all influenced by the same bands; Aerosmith, in particular. We were all close to the same age, and had the same influences, and that became a launching pad. We were just like, "Well let's have at it. Let's fucking do it.” And, that set the tone for the band.
At rehearsals, the bass player really wasn't good. I was trying to get him out of the band. I wasn't being malicious about it, or anything. I was just trying to get him tightened up some; more in sync with me as a drummer. I was trying to get the rhythm section of the band going so there would be a foundation to the music.
The first gig we played together was at the Country Club in Reseda. Our bassist took a hit of acid before the show, and was just gone; completely out of it. He couldn't play any of the songs. So I told those guys after that, "Hey, it's him or me. I'm not playing with this guy anymore. I've got Juan Croucier. We've been playing together since we were seventeen. He is great. He's great on stage.” So, I brought Juan into the mix.
Suddenly, RATT had elevated its music several notches in one big step. Juan and I were rock solid as a rhythm section.
I write songs, and I've learned to do it pretty well, but my strengths were always in arrangements musically. I could come up with parts. "How about going from this, to this to that, and maybe add this chord…” That sort of thing. So, instead of sitting down with a couple of guitars in a writing session, like those guys had been doing, we would take those sessions as a group and turn them into tunes. It wasn't that Juan and I "fixed" everything wrong with RATT. We simply brought out the potentials.
Warren was really young then. Seventeen or eighteen. And, he and Stephen used to butt heads a lot. It got so bad, that at one point in 1982, with Stephen's prodding, we actually got rid of Warren. Marq Torien, who's the lead singer for the Bullet Boys, came in and played guitar for us for a couple of months. He was an absolute wackjob, and we did not dig the whole thing.
Robbin Crosby, Juan and me, I can't remember if we really wanted Warren out, or if we were just tired of all the bullshit fighting between he and Stephen. It didn't matter, because we went out and got Warren back, then just
Ramirez kept me on the line forever. He was always telling me, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to do it. Any day now.” I learned the whole record, was ready to go at a moments notice, but they still kept me hanging for months.
During this down time, Stephen Pearcy had started coming around, and he was really pushing for me to join RATT. I had met Stephen through a guy named Dennis O'Neil, who was dating one of my roommates. So, I went to see RATT, and I didn't like it. I thought they were okay. It just wasn't what I was looking for. So, I turned him down.
About five weeks later, Stephen buzzed me up again, and was like, "What's going on, man. Did you get that thing?” I had told him I was trying to get the Bruiser gig.
"No, dude, they're still not doing anything.” So, he tells me that they're playing another gig, and they have a new drummer, but they don't really like him either. So, why don't I come down and check them out again?
I went and saw them a second time, but it wasn't that much different from the first. Same music with a different drummer who wasn't very good. But, I was sitting around doing nothing, so I thought, "What the hell. I'll join these guys until something better comes along.”
Thank God nothing better did, because it's fucking RATT! It's my life, now. And, it has been since that day. March 1, 1982.
Dennis O'Neil's mother's house was where we rehearsed; right in her garage. Juan Croucier drove me down there with all my shit in the back of his truck to play. Then he was heading off with this Top 40 band he was playing in.
The chemistry came pretty quick. I was a good drummer, and had a lot of experience. They could sense that, I think. Plus, we were all influenced by the same bands; Aerosmith, in particular. We were all close to the same age, and had the same influences, and that became a launching pad. We were just like, "Well let's have at it. Let's fucking do it.” And, that set the tone for the band.
At rehearsals, the bass player really wasn't good. I was trying to get him out of the band. I wasn't being malicious about it, or anything. I was just trying to get him tightened up some; more in sync with me as a drummer. I was trying to get the rhythm section of the band going so there would be a foundation to the music.
The first gig we played together was at the Country Club in Reseda. Our bassist took a hit of acid before the show, and was just gone; completely out of it. He couldn't play any of the songs. So I told those guys after that, "Hey, it's him or me. I'm not playing with this guy anymore. I've got Juan Croucier. We've been playing together since we were seventeen. He is great. He's great on stage.” So, I brought Juan into the mix.
Suddenly, RATT had elevated its music several notches in one big step. Juan and I were rock solid as a rhythm section.
I write songs, and I've learned to do it pretty well, but my strengths were always in arrangements musically. I could come up with parts. "How about going from this, to this to that, and maybe add this chord…” That sort of thing. So, instead of sitting down with a couple of guitars in a writing session, like those guys had been doing, we would take those sessions as a group and turn them into tunes. It wasn't that Juan and I "fixed" everything wrong with RATT. We simply brought out the potentials.
Warren was really young then. Seventeen or eighteen. And, he and Stephen used to butt heads a lot. It got so bad, that at one point in 1982, with Stephen's prodding, we actually got rid of Warren. Marq Torien, who's the lead singer for the Bullet Boys, came in and played guitar for us for a couple of months. He was an absolute wackjob, and we did not dig the whole thing.
Robbin Crosby, Juan and me, I can't remember if we really wanted Warren out, or if we were just tired of all the bullshit fighting between he and Stephen. It didn't matter, because we went out and got Warren back, then just
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