Unfortunately, lead singer Stephen Pearcy is a major pain in the ass. The band has has plenty of personnel issues over the years. Fights over who does and doesn't own the name. Who can and can't tour with the name. It's been a major soap opera over the past 10+ years. I remember listening to Eddie Trunk a number of years ago on his XM radio show, he was talking with Bobby Blotzer (drums) about the situation at that time and Bobby talked about how Stephen wanted 50% of the money but didn't want to invest dollar ONE into the expenses of touring and that is what ended up causing the breakup in the early 2000's. Bobby, Warren and Juan ended up suiing Stephen for the rights to the band and I thought they had won. Then when Ratt started to get it's shit together again a few yrs back, Bobby was out of the band, touring as "Ratt" and Stephen, Warren and Juan sued Bobby for the same sort of shit and won. So, Bobby has been the main name in some bullshit version of Ratt for the last couple of years and the rest of Ratt was Stephen, Warren, Juan, Carlos Carvazo (originally known for the glory years of Quiet Riot) and some drummer I don't remember.
Then, a couple of months ago, I read that Warren was let go from the band. ZERO reason as to why this happened. Days (or a couple of weeks at most) after that was announced, Carlos left the band. Again, next to no press about the reason for it. They have what I consider to be 2 no-name guys playing guitar now. Juan and Stephen and 3 unknowns are what we see in Ratt these days. A LOT of us long-time, die-hard fans aren't too happy about it. It's no longer Ratt, but rather it SHOULD be called "The Stephen Pearcy Band" (much like GnR being the Axl Rose Band). It's not just that Warren and Carlos and Bobby are out, but Warren is a LOT of what makes Ratt what it is. His playing style, tone and chops are a big part of what made Ratt what it was.
After Warren and Carlos were removed/gone, there were a lot of rumors as to who was going to take on the lead guitar role. The first name that rolled around that I heard was Jake E Lee (Ozzy, Badlands, Red Dragon Cartel). I didn't think it would happen, mostly for two reasons. 1) I've heard plenty about Jake being a pretty strong willed, and I just didn't think that would work very well playing other people's music, mixed with Stephen's already over-inflated ego. 2) Warren and Jake E Lee and George Lynch kind of all came up in the music business around the same time and from what I've heard, they all remain friends. I just didn't think that Jake would step into the shoes of a good friend.
Then a few weeks ago, there was some audio floating around the net that George Lynch said he was approached to join Ratt, but he said that there was a money issue and it wasn't going to happen. I never heard the audio, but did see people commenting about it in various places.
I'm glad that last one didn't pan out. I'd rather see George touring with Lynch Mob, doing Dokken and Lynch Mob tracks over Ratt songs. He has a LOT more to offer than covering someone else's work.
Sorry, I could keep writing, but I'll leave it at that for now.
As it is, I love everything from Ratt from 1981-1991.
in all sincerity though , it is a vibe and feel that has really not been replicated and it is a shame because it was that cool. Some bands manage to keep it together and mellow on in a different way- Ratt don't seem to be one of them to bad I am a fan and would have loved more from the original line-up
