THE FULL IN BLOOM FLASHBACK
The story of RATT’s “Round and Round,” according to Warren DeMartini, Robbin Crosby, Stephen Pearcy, and Beau Hill.
LISTEN TO THE STORY VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on our YouTube channel @ this location.
The REAL RATT music 83-91. After Robbin’s exit, it was over. Without King there was mutiny, nothing to do with the musical environment. It was selfishly internally destroyed by the members, and still to this day. I move on appreciative, with the Legacy.
“Backstage Blast”, circa 1984 Robbin “King” Crosby with Nikki Sixx explains to a rock rag the “Gladiators,” the party street gang we created with Motley Crue in the early days hanging on the strip 1981-82. True, RATT was forced to play under that moniker. Where?
Robbin Crosby:
We had a street gang called the Gladiators. Nikki Sixx was the leader, Stephen Pearcy was Ratt Patrol Leader, Vince Neil was Field Marshall, Tommy Lee was Duke, and I was King! Sunset Boulevard was happening, and we were the sleaziest drunk guys you could meet. It was all for fun, you know? Ratt even played two shows under the name the Gladiators because the club wouldn’t book us under our own name.
Answer; The Troubadour- West Hollywood, CA – The Troubadour and I had a trippy relationship with Doug when I was booking the band there. He hated the name RATT, I was Mickey Ratt there. But we sold tickets. 🐀
Guitar World: Warren DeMartini on the ‘80s: “Everybody wanted to play like Eddie, and every band wanted to hit it big like Van Halen.” You can read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
When you joined Ratt, did you and Robbin Crosby hit it off right away?
Warren DeMartini:
“Oh yeah. I was friends with Robbin before he knew any of those guys. He and I went to the same junior high school – not at the same time, but we lived in the same area. I was interested in the guitar, and he was already in a band that played all the time. So when I first got into the guitar, he was out of high school and living the life. His band played covers, but they did some originals, too.
Lead guitarists usually get more of the attention from the press. Do you think Robbin ever minded the spotlight falling more on you?
“If he did, he didn’t mention it. I mean, he never said anything like that. And you know, I didn’t think about that sort of thing. I was just very focused on making my own contribution to the band and doing the best I could with the time I had.”
People often cite your vibrato. How did you start to develop your technique?
“From Jake E. Lee. I went over to his house, and it was the first time I saw somebody really play that way up close. I was pretty mystified about how to use vibrato, and Jake told me that I had to start slow and then go wide. After that, you don’t have to think about it anymore. That was one of the few times I got advice from somebody and was able to put it to good use.”
You mentioned Eddie Van Halen as being the top guy for guitarists when you were coming up. How much impact did he have on your playing?
“Oh, a lot, sure. There was his sound, but there was also his whole style. He had a shuffle that nobody else had. I was crazy about that shuffle in I’m the One. I think Eddie got some of that from listening to Eric Clapton, although he played much slower. There was the same kind of snappiness, though.
“Kind of a funny story about Eddie: Robbin knew him a bit, and I think he also knew some people on Van Halen’s crew, so we got passes to the band’s show in San Diego during the Women and Children First tour. I drove us there, and we got to the arena before the opening act went on. A crew guy that Robbin knew showed us Ed’s rig, and we talked for a bit.
“A while later, halfway through Van Halen’s set, I realized I left my jacket on the stage where we were talking, right behind the PA speakers on Ed’s side. My keys were in the jacket, and losing them wasn’t an option. My pass got me backstage again, so I climbed the stairs to the stage level and saw my jacket 20 feet away.
Nobody was looking, so I went for it – halfway to my jacket, I paused and took in the view from Ed’s world. The band was surrounded by the sold-out arena. Then Ed started moving to his left, and for a few moments his spotlight hit the two of us. Right when the monitor guy noticed me, I took a few more steps, grabbed my jacket and booked.”
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
Blabbermouth: STEPHEN PEARCY Says He And ROBBIN CROSBY Came Close To Forming Band With NIKKI SIXX And TOMMY LEE. You can read the entire article @ this location.
Stephen Pearcy:
“So Robbin and I used to go out all the time into Hollywood — you know, ‘The [Sunset] Strip, yeah. You’ve gotta be seen. You’ve gotta be out there.’ Well, MÖTLEY was doing the same thing. Nikki, Tommy, Vince [Neil, CRÜE singer] — they’d be doing the same thing. You know, tripping down the Strip, going to the Rainbow, going here, getting fucked up… So anyway, we meet them on the Strip, hanging out. We became friends and we became The Gladiators, which was our street thing there, when we went out together. And we each had names, which goes back to [Robbin’s nickname] ‘King’. I don’t know if it was Nikki who gave him that nickname or Robbin gave it to himself.
“So in ’82, we really became close friends,” Stephen said. “I don’t think Nikki was ever really satisfied. Musicians were coming and going in bands, as the whole implosion was getting going — [in] ’81, ’82 in L.A. and that whole Strip thing. He wasn’t happy with his band at that moment.
“So, yes, it’s a true story. Robbin, Nikki, Tommy and myself, and me on guitar, were rehearsing at [pre-RATT band] MICKEY RATT’s rehearsal in Culver City there. And I believe we rehearsed for a couple of times. I don’t know if we wanted to start a band or if we were just jamming, but something was getting intense in there. And Nikki is, like, ‘Nah. I’m gonna go do my thing.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m here. Me and Robbin are doing our thing.’ And so be it.
You can read the entire article @ this location.
Here’s an excerpt from our interview with producer/engineer Beau Hill where he talks about working with Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby. You can listen to the entire interview directly on YouTube or via the embedded video clip below.
full in bloom: Robbin Crosby, you said you were closest to him out of any of the members of Ratt?
Beau Hill:
Yeah.
What was he like to work with?
He was just a lot of fun. That’s what I remember. He came up with these weird things. (laughs) He would walk in and listen to Stephen (Pearcy) warming up. He was standing in the hall, so Stephen couldn’t see him, and he said, “I’m sure glad the girls think he’s sexy because he can’t sing.” And then he would come in and he would listen to me mixing, and he would say, “Man, you really made that very Beaubadelic.” That became sort of a catch phrase. He would come in and he wouldn’t like something going on in a particular song, and he would say, “Beau, get that thing more Beaubadelic.” “Ok, I’ll do that, Robbin.”
Is there a point where you started to notice any issues with Robbin as he started to decline or is there a point in the sequence of albums where you were like, “Hey, I notice a difference in Robbin?”
Yes and no. I had always sort of suspected in the back of my head that Robbin had some issues. But he was very masterful at masking what was going on. He was a big guy; he was 6’5″ and so, even when he’d had that tenth vodka tonic too many, it didn’t…he got buzzed and got drunk like everyone else. But it was the drug use that he hid very, very well.
I knew something was wrong when I was recording somebody else at Enterprise Studios and the front desk called me and said, “Hey, Robbin Crosby came by to see you.” I said, “Oh, great, send him in.” He came into the control room and pulled me over to the side and said, “Hey, how much money do you got on you?” I said, “I don’t know, 80 bucks, 100 bucks, something like that.” He said, “Can I borrow it?” I said, “What do you mean?” He got kind of agitated, and he said, “Look, I just need some money; I need it right now.” He was there with his drug dealer, who was a guy I didn’t know. So, I gave him the money and that’s when I knew there were some very deep problems with him.
Was this after you stopped working with Ratt or was it still in the cycle of working with them.
I had already finished ‘Reach for the Sky’ and I was on to the next project.
You didn’t notice anything on ‘Reach for the Sky,’ like a difference in the studio?
Yeah, a little bit. He was a little more absent than he normally was. I think at that point, Robbin didn’t even attempt to do solos, so Warren (DeMartini) did everything. I believe that’s correct. So, Robbin came in and played his rhythm guitar parts and pretty much left and I didn’t see him much during the recording at all.
He was still ok on the previous album (Dancing Undercover)?
Well, I think an argument could be made that he wasn’t ok, ever. (laughs) But for ‘Dancing Undercover,’ he was more present. He was there and he would run interference for me and help me out as much as he possibly could.
This excerpt was taken from our interview with Beau Hill on the making of Ratt’s ‘Out of the Cellar.’ You can listen to the entire interview directly on YouTube or via the embedded video clip below.
Thinking a lot about my best friend from back in the day. So many tributes floating around on the web this week. Miss you KING. Can’t wait to start our UFO cover band together someday. Photo by Mark Weiss.
full in bloom: During a 1986 interview, Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby talked about the origin of his nickname, “King.”
Interviewer:
A few years ago, various members of Ratt and Motley Crue seemed to be in the same Hollywood street gang together. I think you were involved.
Robbin Crosby:
The Gladiators, everybody was, all of us. It was really more of a drinking team than anything else (laughs). I mean, that was the basic gist of it, to get pissed and have a good time.
Interviewer:
Why were they called The Gladiators?
Robbin Crosby:
Hey, I don’t know. (laughs) Because that’s what we called it, gladiating, going out, have a drink, get in a fight. You know, all that good stuff.
We got in a fight one night and that’s the night everyone got their names. I was “King” and Nikki (Sixx) was “Leader” and Vince (Neil) was “Field Marshall.” It was all silly business, just for fun.
Interviewer:
You managed to keep that name “King.” You’re still referred to as that.
Robbin Crosby:
That’s the truth.
Stephen Pearcy:
We used to hang out, and we started a street gang called The Gladiators. Robbin was “King.” Nikki was “Leader Six,” and Tommy (Lee) was “Field Marshall.”
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW EXCERPT VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP OR SOUNDCLOUD WIDGET BELOW.
You can also listen to this excerpt via Apple Podcasts.
Beau talks about working with RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby.
Beau Hill Interview Excerpt via YouTube:
Beau Hill Interview Excerpt via Soundcloud:
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Make sure to listen to PART I of our interview with Beau, where he talks in-depth about RATT’s 1984 debut album, Out of the Cellar, and PART II, which covers the band’s sophomore album, Invasion of Your Privacy.
Out of the Cellar producer Beau Hill talks about recording RATT guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini.
The 3 excerpts below were taken from the full in bloom interview with RATT producer / engineer Beau Hill.
Beau talks about working with RATT guitar duo Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby on the band’s classic 1984 debut album, Out of the Cellar. Watch the clips below.
You can listen to the entire Out of the Cellar podcast at this location.
Listen to more excerpts from this interview
(1 of 3) Mixing Warren DeMartini & Robbin Crosby:
(2 of 3) Recording Warren DeMartini & Robbin Crosby
(3 of 3) Warren DeMartini’s Quest to Find the Ultimate Marshall Amp:
