UPDATED: Ratt Reunion Officially Announced, Ousted Drummer Bobby Blotzer Responds
When Ratt drummer Bobby Blotzer rolled out his own version of the band, he insisted he was only doing it because the other members of the group refused to tour or record. It looks like they're finally willing to put a reunion together — but unfortunately for Blotzer, he won't be part of it.
Following yesterday's report that singer Stephen Pearcy had told fans the "real Ratt" would return in 2017, radio host Eddie Trunk has posted an attorney's statement formally announcing that Pearcy, guitarist Warren DeMartini and bassist Juan Croucier have wrested legal rights to the band name from Blotzer, and now plan to tour as Ratt.
"Pearcy, DeMartini and Croucier have also expelled Blotzer from the partnership," reads part of the attorney's statement. "Blotzer thus has no further interest in the Ratt name and may now only refer to himself as a 'former member of Ratt' as per the partnership agreement."
12/1 Update: Blotzer has responded to these new developments via a post on his Ratt website: "Don’t believe everything you’re hearing. REAL news is coming very soon." He also reminded fans that his version of Ratt has four shows left to perform in 2016, with more planned for next year.
The crux of Blotzer's ouster appears to rest on a technicality invalidating the creation of WBS, Inc., the band partnership Blotzer said he was upholding by taking his version of the band on the road. "Five years we’ve been off," he explained. "You can’t do that legally. It’s against corporate law in California. I don’t know what everybody does outside this state, but you cannot be an officer and a shareholder and not work your company. It’s called breach of fiduciary duty."
Be that as it may, Blotzer's ex-bandmates successfully argued that when WBS assumed ownership of Ratt's trademarks in 1997, it did so without the consent or knowledge of Croucier, who was still a partner in the band. "Under a 1985-written Ratt Partnership Agreement, the name/trademarks are the property of the partnership and can only be transferred with the unanimous approval of all partners," reads the attorney's announcement. "Thus, the partnership still owns the Ratt name."
It's presumably worth noting that Blotzer's version of the group hasn't publicly commented on the decision — and that his band's Facebook page, which has been updated in the past 24 hours, includes a number of tour dates, all of which are still attributed to Ratt.
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