Bobby Blotzer's version of Ratt will be off the road for at least the next few months, but he insists it has nothing to do with his ongoing legal struggle over the rights to the band's name.

Instead, Blotzer says he's being sidelined by health issues — specifically a back problem he's been battling for years, but has flared up to the point that surgery is unavoidable. He broke the news on Facebook with a post that includes pictures of his MRI. Although he says his limited range of motion hasn't affected his performance — "too much adrenaline" — it's gotten to the point where his offstage life is too painful to continue without medical intervention.

"I've been getting epidural spine injections for six years. Then went into 'sound frequency' nerve burns. That's fun I can tell ya," wrote Blotzer. "None are working. Now it's surgery time. If you see in the picture above, that's me ol spine. Lumbar #5 as you can see is collapsed. Number 1 is next."

The upshot is that March 20 — two days after the group's final scheduled gig — Blotzer is due to go under the knife for a procedure he describes as "pretty f---ed up" but should put him on the road to performing again "around middle late June."

Blotzer continues to predict he'll "mop up this litigation" against his former bandmates and emerge triumphant, but even if that turns out to be the case, he'll need to address a glaring lineup issue before he gets back on the road with Ratt — namely, his current lack of a lead singer. Vocalist Joshua Alan announced his resignation from the group Feb. 15.

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