Tales Of A RATT

by Bobby Blotzer

  He blows. "Don't fucking 'what's up, dude' me! I don't fucking like you!”

  I'm a little taken aback. A little. "What, is this a joke?”

  "No, it's not a joke, Blotzer. You left us hanging out there!”

  I'm a guy who isn't quick to anger. I've got a pretty long fuse, and will let a lot of shit slide, even when I shouldn't. However, I get home that night, and Gunns is just eating at me.

  Enter one of my nemesis. DRUNK DIALING! I called Gunn's cell phone and unloaded on the little shit.

  I saw this kind of shit from him a few years earlier when I did the Contraband record in 1990 with him, Michael Scheneker, Sher Petterson from Vixen, and Richard Black from Shark Island. He pulled this sort of shit, then. I didn't know anything about it at first, but he threw his little temper tantrums and Hitler moves.

  Since then, we've seen each other a couple of times. We're civil, and never let this thing go to war. That's smart on his part. Smart on mine, too, because I don't have time for that kind of bullshit.

  When I got back, we had made some money. Not a lot of money, but enough that I could breathe for five or six months. Or, until our next tour because, that tour was done.

  Contraband 1990 Michael Schenker, Share Pedersen, Richard Black (chair), Tracii Guns, and Me, 1991. Photo courtesy Neil Zlozower.

  31

  A Virginian Angel Comes To The Rescue

  I'd actually met Misty out on tour in 1999, but I didn't remember her. How that happened, I don't know. Because, this chick was certainly memorable!

  I ran into her again at the Baked Potato when I was out on a date with a nurse. It was pretty funny. The nurse was completely loaded, and had no idea that I was checking out Misty.

  I gave Misty my number that night, and told her to call me. I could tell that she was interested, and she was so fucking gorgeous! We just stared across the room at each other all night. When I first came in, we were looking at each other, and I'm mouthing to her "I want to talk to you" behind this nurse's head when she's not looking.

  I didn't hear from Misty for weeks. I figured it was a bust. The next time I heard from her, I actually had Tamala back out from Kansas City.

  I was starting to get pretty burned on her. She was getting to where she wanted to move out here and move in together. I flat didn't want to do that. Besides, there was something that just wasn't right. She was unbelievably gorgeous. We had such a great chemistry. But it didn't seem to be there for the boyfriend / girlfriend angle.

  I'm mulling over all these things about Tamala, when Misty calls. I was out at the Coconut Teaser with Tamala, and the phone rings.

  It took me a minute to realize who it was. I was like "You fucker! Finally! Where have you been? I thought you would have called the next day. I would have bet money on it!”

  In fact, I came home that night with the nurse, and I saw Tim. I was getting ready to go and do my thing with the nurse, and I told Tim "I met this girl tonight. Misty. She'll be calling tomorrow, for sure.”

  And, then she never called. Typical.

  Misty had moved out from West Virginia with her girlfriend. Her girlfriend liked me as much as Misty did, which caused them to get into this big rift. When I started dating Misty, her girlfriend got pissed. About a month after Misty and I started dating, the girlfriend left, and went back east, leaving Misty there by herself. She had no car, no furniture. Virtually nothing.

  So I rescued her, and pulled her in with me. I was still renting Tim's guesthouse at the time, and that's where we lived. We were together.

  I had to go back out on the road, so I told her "When I get back, we'll start looking for a place.”

  That whole time I was out on the road, Traci kept coming to mind. We started calling each other again. It was infuriating and enticing all at the same time. She would always keep in touch with phone calls and emails. I would catch myself saying that I loved her. People were saying that I was obsessive, but Robbie heard some of those calls, and he knows. Traci knew exactly what she was doing, because she went out of her way to keep that in me. She just wouldn't let me grow past her.

  We almost got back together in the summer of 2000.

  She was calling me all the time, going, "I still love you. I just want to hear your voice", all kinds of shit like that. The worst part is, it was working.

  Traci made me understand the concept of addictions. You hate what you want, yet are powerless to stop wanting it. That relationship was an awakening for me.

  She wanted to date for a while. My thought was, "I am not going to date. We've dated. We know what there is to know. If we do this, I want to pull in together and immediately go to the next level.”

  In the end, she still wouldn't do it. She simply wouldn't commit that far. I told her to forget it.

  When I got back from the road, I got an apartment in Encino where Misty was going to move in with me. But, Traci was still trolling around, and as sick as it was, I wanted to get back with her.

  I told Misty to hold off until I could get my head around what was going to happen. "Things are transpiring here. I think that Traci and I might try to get back together and try to work this out.” I didn't want to hurt Misty. But, bottom line was, I wanted Traci back.

  It was a very conflicting time, because I was really into Misty, too. I wanted to move on. I wanted to get past Traci, but I just couldn't seem to do it. It doesn't make sense when you sit and read this kind of shit, but believe me, when you live it; you completely understand the inner turmoil. On one had, I had this great new girl. On the other, I still had a chance to save the love that I had for Traci.

  So, we went out and did the tour, and when we got back, I got an apartment out in the valley. I'm out in the valley again, because Traci and I were going to be "closer".

  Shit went south immediately with her. She was stubborn, and overly independent. That same independence that was such a killer the first time around. The first several days I was back and in the apartment, Misty kept calling.

  "I really can't talk right now, Misty. You're staying at Tim's. Just keep renting that place from him. Give me a little time to get my head around this.”

  She obviously wanted to keep things going.

  I went out with Traci on a date, and she came back to my apartment to spend the night. It was a really odd night. Even though I was greatly tempted to get back with Traci, I still felt the burn from her fucking around on me. As weird as that sounds, I wouldn't do it.

  The next morning, I'm lying in bed, and I hear the door open. I jump up and run out there.

  Now, to preface this, Misty and I went and looked at apartments before I was going to move to the valley. The apartment that I was living in was in one of the buildings we had looked at. So, she knew where I lived, and came down to the building that day. Somehow, she convinced the manager that she was my girlfriend, and had lost her key to the apartment, so the guy gives her a key.

  I hear the door opening, and it's Misty coming into the apartment. She was like, "I haven't heard from you in days. I thought something was wrong.”

  "You can't just fucking do this, Misty.”

  She wanted to come in and talk, and finally, I'm like, "Look, I'm going to just be honest with you. Traci is in there.”

  It wasn't cool, but as I told her then, and reiterate now, nothing happened that night with Traci. However, there was a pretty strong rivalry that started that day between Misty and Traci.

  I found that really exciting, to tell the truth.

  Shortly thereafter, the Traci thing was done. It was actually done when Misty dropped by the apartment, we just didn't acknowledge it.

  I moved Misty in, and Traci was gone. Misty and I were together for five and a half years. Eventually, I bought a house over in Canyon Country.

  I was going through a revolving door of women before I met Misty. And, during that whole time, I couldn't figure out what I was missing.

  I was proud of all the time Jeni and I had been together. We moved in together in lat
e 1976. While we were on top of the world in the 80's, there was never a time I would have considered destroying my family for something I found on the road. There were a lot of beautiful people out there, but this was my family.

  Jeni was smart enough to know the Pi-RATT's life we were living on the road. After all, she came out there and saw it all first hand. I think she just turned a cheek to it. She knew what that was all about, and while there were jealous episodes, they were few. I'd see my family at least once a month while I was on the long tours. Off tour, I'd see them every day.

  I've talked about the damage done during my divorce from Jeni. During the breakup, Michael and Marcus suffered more than I ever thought they would. My thought was, "I went through a breakup when I was a kid. You'll be fine.” I know they saw the battles that Jeni and I had, and they were smart enough to figure out how that would end.

  But, Michael lashed out at the world. He was on crystal meth, and was very fucked up in very short order. I had to kidnap him and take him to the airport. I sent him back to Pittsburgh to be with my younger brother Michael, and let the kid clean up.

  He's been clean since then, thank God. The guy has got a good heart, but that really fucked with him a lot more than I thought it would. I was sorry it happened like that. The boy defends his mother, and he thinks I fucked her over. I can dig that, but he'll understand one day when he has to deal with a breakup.

  No one wins, and no one is innocent.

  Marcus was a little different. When Marcus was a boy, he had clubbed feet. Both feet turned in sharply and he had to wear braces on both ankles in an effort to straighten them out.

  Poor kid.

  We struggled and struggled with that, trying to help straighten him out. At one point, we were going to have the surgery where they break his legs and reset the bones in an effort to straighten them. It's a brutal, extremely painful procedure, and I hated the fact I was going to have this done to one of my sons.

  On the eve of the operation, at the hospital, some random doctor was talking to me in the hallway. He goes, "So, what's your son here for?” I told him about the surgery, and that we were going to have his feet straightened, because they were turned in so badly.

  The doctor seems a little surprised, and goes, "This boy here?” He turns to Marcus and watches him for a second.

  Then he goes, "Marcus, do me a favor. Go to the end of the hall and run toward me.”

  Marcus kind of grins, and then goes to the end of the hall. As he's running, the doctor is staring at Marcus's legs and feet.

  "Okay, Marcus, now walk to me.” Marcus does.

  The doctor sort of looks at me, and starts to say something, but then goes, "You know, nevermind.”

  I look back at Marcus, then at the doctor, and go, "Wait a minute. You can't say 'nevermind' and then walk off! What were you looking at?”

  "I'm just thinking, if he was my kid, I wouldn't do it.”

  "Seriously? Look, man, he goes in for surgery in just a couple of hours. You need to tell me what's going on.”

  He goes, "Do you know who John Elway is?”

  "Of course, I do.”

  "When Elway was born, he had the same feet. The guy is a superstar quarterback today. When Marcus gets older, they'll straighten out on their own. There's no need to break them. He'll always be a little toed in, and he'll always have weird wearing on his shoes, but it won't slow him down.”

  That threw me into an emotional whirlwind. I immediately went in, packed all of Marcus's stuff up, and took my boy home. I'm really glad I did, too. That was going to be a brutal surgery. He was going to be laid up for a really long time. They had a party for him at school, and everything.

  These are the things you deal with when you are a parent. There's an endless assault on your child from the moment they are born, and you're the only thing out there that can protect them.

  Even then, things are going to happen. That's just the way nature works.

  Marcus drowned in our Jacuzzi at home, in 1985.

  I was coming home from getting my haircut, and an ambulance flies past me at full speed with it's sirens blaring. As it did, I got this profound feeling that something wasn't right. This was way at the top of my street.

  When I get down to my house, Jeni comes running out to the street, crying. I'm out of the car in a flash, going, "Woah! What the fuck is going on?” I was in a total panic mode.

  She goes, "Marcus fell in the Jacuzzi! He drowned! They had to resuscitate him!”

  I almost fell out, right there. My boy had died, and then been brought back by a paramedic. Jeni went on to tell me that she had fallen asleep on the couch. Marcus got up while she and Michael were sleeping, and had made his way downstairs and to the back door.

  He had only been gone for a minute when Jeni noticed it. She went looking for him, and when she found him, his stuffed bear was floating in the water. The water had been ice cold. If it had been warm, there would have been nothing they could do. Marcus would be dead. It was the dead of winter, and the water was near freezing.

  I was always watching out for him. Precious little Marcus.

  I remember one time, I was laying on the couch watching TV. I heard this sound, this sort of wailing sound that was getting louder. I muted the TV, and bolted up on the couch.

  I ran outside, and here comes Marcus, crying. He had been riding in the street, and cars would come flying down that thing at fifty or sixty miles an hour. He came close to some car, and laid his bike down.

  His tooth was stuck in his hand! He was scraped up and bleeding. It was a nightmare.

  Again, that's what happens when you are a parent. You fight through the pitfalls and challenges, and if you're lucky, your children come out into adult hood with a healthy frame of mind.

  Today, Marcus is full-time employed in the medical industry. He's gearing up for school to become an X-Ray technician.

  Michael is a drummer. Michael is an incredible drummer. "A Chip Off The Old Blotz," is what we call him. They just fired their singer, and then the guitarist quit, so he's back to square one. He works a day job with a friend of mine at a company called Emergency Service. Dan Hartwell's company. He's making $2500 a month during training. But in about a year, he'll get his own truck. The guys doing that are all pulling in $100K a year.

  Hopefully, he gets there really soon.

  Both of those boys are the world to me. They are really tight, and really protective of one another, and absolutely convinced that the other son is my favorite!

  That's another common theme with parenthood, and I've had to deal with that their entire lives. Marcus would know how to get Michael in trouble. Michael would know how to get Marcus in trouble. Then, when you bust them, it's all, "Yeah, dad. That's because Michael / Marcus is your favorite! You've always loved him more!”

  "Look, I love you both equal, and you both drive me crazy equal. Now, who wants the belt first? You're both in trouble on this one.”

  Much to Michael's disbelief, I'm absolutely proud of them both, and it is a pride that I will carry with me all the way to my grave, and beyond.

  I love my boys. I really do.

  32

  Litigation, Mitigation, And Mental Masturbation

  “In this Rat-Race, everybody is guilty until proven innocent!” - Bette Davis

  By the end of the 2000 tour, Warren, who was emotionally exhausted, told me that he wasn't sure he wanted to go back out and tour anymore.

  I just couldn't deal with it. I became like, "Fuck this! Fuck musicians! I'm getting a regular gig, and I never want to see this shit again!”

  That's when I went into the real estate business.

  I wanted to become a real estate agent. I took a course for seven weeks, passed with flying colors, and by the time I got all of that done, Stephen was suing us.

  In 2001, we found out that Stephen Pearcy was going out as RATT, and had filed a lawsuit making all of these ridiculous claims against us; misappropriation of corporate funds, unfair competition, b
reech of fiduciary duties, all bullshit.

  When Stephen left this band, and left us losing all that money that we were going to make with the Japan tour, he stuck us with $6000 in incidental bills that he had run up and not paid for. Our tour manager had to pay for that out of the receipts of the tour, i.e., Warren and I paid for them.

  So, battle lines were drawn. Worse, this was something that neither Warren, nor myself were expecting. Needless to say, we had to prepare for this on the fly. It was shaping up to be a knock down, drag-out fight.

  It was Stephen and his disciples; his agent and his lawyer, who were putting this all together. Knowing the situation, it was probably Stephen's disciples that were pushing for the whole thing in the first place. They saw the bucks disappearing with him no longer a part of RATT.

  Warren and I were in a position of "Where's all this money going to come from to fight a lawsuit?” So, we started having to gig, not only to survive, but also to pay for this fucking thing.

  And now, things had to change.

  There was no compromise to it. We had a lawsuit to fight, not only that, we also had to counter-sue and establish the reality of what was REALLY going on! Stephen walked out and left us holding the bag, now he's going to go out and promote himself as RATT? He's going to make the bucks? Nah. Don't think so. Not after he's quit the band.

  I had just finished this real estate course, ready to dive headlong into life without RATT, but now Warren and I had this drama to deal with. So, the real estate thing had to go to the side. I just didn't have the time to do it. We immediately had to start booking gigs and touring again, as RATT.

  Stephen had really stirred things up. He not only sued us, but he sued Tim Hyne, our manager, which was completely wrong! Tim Hyne did all kinds of things for Stephen, personally. Tim was good to us, as a band, so, for Stephen to sue Tim was a whole new level of betrayal. He sued Troy Blakely and APA, our agency. He was completely sue happy. Him, and his lawyer and his manager.