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Ratt’s Bobby Blotzer called KNAC.COM’s Diana Deville from Birmingham, AL on Saturday 6/16 from the Poison tour, where Vains of Jenna had not yet joined, but would be jumping on the tour in North Carolina. That night they were playing a festival on the City Stages with several bands, including Lynam.

Here's Diana's recap from this past week's conversation with Blotzer on her show, The Wild Side:

"Blotzer said the band had had about 4-5 live shows under their belt now and that everything was going well. They had some monitor problems, and he was really impressed with how they handled the technical difficulties and did the show.

They're doing some deep cuts in the set, such as "Closer to My Heart", which is one of Bobby's favorites that he's been trying to get into the set for a while. When asked about how to pick the setlist, he said, "That is an excellent question, because you have 5 guys who have completely different ideas about what should get into the set. Of course you have to play the hits, and then we vote on it and our management breaks the tie, if there is one."

When asked about touring with Poison and the two bands being two of 80's rock mainstays, he said, "We always have a great time with those guys. I've stayed in touch with them...I live about 4 miles from Rikki [Rockett} and I always see him at the grocery store...We took Poison out in 1987 when they were first breaking out, and we've had a blast with them ever since. We love touring with them, and we get along great."

On Stephen Pearcy's return to the band, replacing Jizzy Pearl, who was in the band for 7 years, he said, "Jizzy was great, and we had a lot of fun with him, but it was just time to come full circle. We're very happy to have Stephen back in the band, and things are going great. He's stepping up to the plate, singing great, and we're very happy with the way the shows are going."

He also admitted that he and Warren DeMartini had been talking to Stephen for quite a while before the reunion was announced. There were many things that needed to be worked out, and Bobby said, "This isn't just a matter of going out, doing the tour, grabbing the money and then walking away. We are in this for the long haul."

I knew there had been a LOT of bad blood between them, so I asked, "what did it take to bring the three of you back together again?". Bobby laughed and said, "I don't want to touch too deeply on that, but it took a LOT, and many time, our new management (Sanctuary) acted as a buffer between us. There was a lot of clearing the air, and clearing up misunderstandings to make it work."

Juan Crocier was also involved in the initial reunion talks, and when asked about his non-participation in the reunion, Bobby said, "We talked and talked and we really wanted it to happen, but Juan was on a different page and it didn't work out. We've had Robbie (Crane, current bassist) in the band for over ten years now, and we love playing with him as well."

Bobby said that after the Poison tour wraps in September, there were plans to go to Japan for some shows, and then to do a headline tour in the US in September/October. Also, Ratt plans to start writing for an album of new material to be released sometime in 2008, and there is also a Greatest Hits CD and a DVD of Ratt videos to be released later this year as well. Bobby moved to Houston about two years ago, and opened his own recording studio, Diamond Recording Studios (http://www.diamondrecordingstudio.com) , with his partner Gregg Gill, and has started producing some of his own acts, such as up and comers FlickStick, and Mercury Down, as well as a side project Blotzer performs on, Saints of the Underground, with Jani Lane (ex-Warrant) and Keri Kelli (Alice Cooper).

He also mentioned the Tawn Mastrey (Former KNAC FM Air Personality) benefit drive, and urged people to get involved to donate money. I mentioned that we had updates on the news section, and that we were planning to be involved in the movement.

Official website is www.therattpack.com.

Ratt are touring with Poison through September 1 and we have tickets up for grabs on the contest page."