As a drummer myself, and not much into 80s hard rock drummers, Blotz was always stylish and in the pocket. Always. I saw them live a couple times in the day. He and Juan, fantastic rhythm section.
As a drummer(but also was the big song writer in my band)I feel for Bobby. The way you play the drums can make or break a song and is definitely a writing credit but that wasn't understood at the time. It was cheap to leave him out and they should understand how it would be if they helped write a song they he got all the credit? Just saying. I love ratt and their music and all the guys contribution to the band 😎👌🔥❤️👏 ratt n roll!
This whole thing is why Rock music had to change radically in the early nineties : bands like Ratt (& dozens of others) that thought they were way more talented than they were, and producers that thought they were as important as the bands. The eighties sucked.
He may have had a bad night because he is a monster of a drummer. I know this personally. I was lucky to jam with him in the early 2000's and was truly a monster drummer..
Weak link, are you kidding? His drumming is one of the outstanding features of the RATT albums. Might even say he's the best 'hair metal' era drummer. Also, all drum solos suck so.... ;)
@@gabrielbrouwer true but live performance depends on many things... such as how many drugs he'd done the night before... might have just been an 'off night'
I met Ratt in a small restaurant in Burbank in 1985. The owner said that they would come in there for a bit of peace and quiet, and order fish and chips. I was in there for 45 minutes and they were so relaxed and quiet spoken. Nice guys all of them.
Nah man,what hes saying is that aside from the guitarists,DeMartini and Crosby the band SUCKED!!Blotzer is so lucky to have had that gig for as long as he did,cuz ANY competent drummer could have had his job,EASILY!!and the elephant in the room here,is what he must have done to get PEARCY sounding the way he did on those records,cuz much like VINCE NEIL he is and WAS a bad singer,except Vince did have a way of changing up his vocal styles for the song but Pearcy always sounded the same,but good producers can tinker with the vocals and sounds a LOT!!
I met Stephen in Charlotte NC when he was on his RATT Bastard Tour. I worked for the bar and picked him up from his hotel and took him back after the show. He was a genuine guy. Very easy to talk with. Just a decent guy. He asked what I was doing the next day because he had a day off and was staying in town, but I was in college and had a test the next day. Wish I'd hung out with him instead.
I saw Motley Crue at the UCF arena. I didn't enjoy the show cuz I had a test the next day. Got a C in the class (ecology) but I still did well enough to go to medschool lol
He said Bobby was very difficult to work with, he never said Bobby wasn't a good drummer or terrible player. So to whoever says Bobby's drumming sucked, this interview here doesn't back any of that up at all. Anyone with half a brain knows Bobby is a well accomplished drummer and played his ass off on all the Ratt recordings and live shows.
Correct, Bobby is an excellent drummer. The only weak musician is Pearcy. He cannot sing. Never could. Just like Brett Michaels. But it didn't matter, their songs were catchy and even girls liked them. Pearcy wrote most of the songs. So he gets props for that. I love the band, love the songs, but we gotta be honest about it all. Warren is the only super-talent of the lot. Ratt is very dysfunctional. But Blotz being a PITA does not take away from his talent.
Yup, Bobby came up with some interesting drum patterns, he was (and is) very good. What he was like as a person is another matter. His interviews on the Metal Recycle Bin are actually good. I guess people grow up. But Ratt sounds like a bunch of individuals each out for themselves, rather than a band like, say, Def Leppard.
I saw them in 85 I didn't think he was a good drummer at all Want a good Drummer and all the rest should of seen Triumph back then Holy Shit those are real musicians
Love his style, especially his use of interesting crash and china accents. He's on the cymbals a LOT on Dancing Undercover but it's perfect and doesn't come across like over-playing.
Publishing comes up so often in interviews and articles about these older bands it makes you wonder if they were ever really told of it's significance back in the day, or if they knew but didn't care at the time because becoming a rock star was the priority. Billy Corgan said he was warned before singing a deal but he didn't listen, and it played a huge part in killing Smashing Pumpkins. Bon Jovi and Sambora had publishing rights to Skid Row which caused friction once Skid's album shot up the charts. Sambora felt guilty and gave his percentage back but Bon Jovi held on to his for a while. When you see these older bands today selling their catalogs for millions you can see why a band member sitting at home with nothing isn't so quick to reunite.
Very good interview! Beau is a genius just for having gotten some of the sounds he got out of Steven and Blotzer - both top notch, not to mention the raw, kickass guitar sounds! Love these interviews! ⚡ 👍
I was a drummer in my share of bar bands that never went anywhere. My strength was in arranging and/or adding a break here or a break there etc. While not melody it sometimes was a riff and perhaps a lyric or harmony, I felt those contributions really took the songs to the next level. In those cases, I would have wanted writing credits if we ever got signed and released a record. I’d be interested in hearing everyone’s thoughts regarding. Thanks.
I think arrangement/composition is an equally important part of writing music as writing the lyrics or the melody if you contributed to that then you deserve writing credits, in my opinion
You would have got arranging credits. It's a separate thing and isn't considered song writing. But generally an arranger's credit gets you paid as well, depending on how it's negotiated. Could be a one time payout or points. (royalties)
Would the song have been a hit without a drum track? Or with a digital drum track? Was this Billy Blotzer guy a part of the band or was he just a hired gun for studio and/or touring? If he was in the band and participated in the writing process he should get a cut of the money. Period. I always heard Blotzer was a jerk, but he wasn't wrong about this.
Bobby is actually a good drummer, plays with excellent timing and is strong and punchy. His intelligence and behavior though is that of a disgruntled 8th grader in the classes for troubled kids.
Writing should include drum parts, guitar solos, bass lines etc. yes lyrics and melody are important , but the song was created by the 5 of them together. Best to share credits equally and avoid drama
Drums, guitars, bass parts typically gets mechanical and arrangement royalties. Writing/publishing credits are a pain in the ass. Bands like Dokken and U2 solved that problem by splitting it ALL equally. Period.
Disagree. The melody, lyrics, chord structure, etc are the entire foundation of a song. Without those things you don’t have a song to write a drum part to or a guitar solo to. When you move into a house and decorate the house, you don’t tell people you built the house or built the foundation. You simply decorated the foundation that was already there. Guitar solos and drum parts, etc are decorations to a song
@@kboy1234 ya i disagree. Sometimes a great song is driven by the drum parts or the guitar solo that takes the song over the top and to completely different place than the original writer had in mind. Or a bass line etc. The collaboration of the players who write their own parts to the original song idea is just as important. Thinking drum machine on the demo, then drummer comes in and takes the song in a different direction and makes it better. He or she should not be considered a writer?
The drummer is supposed to just play drums and come up with drum parts. But that’s not writing ! This idea ruined so many bands. It’s like saying the Wind is more important than Fire. Water more than Earth, Sun - Moon etc. it’s A BAND ! Not A Band of melody & lyric soloist
lol...that's just ridiculous fanboy romanticism. As a drummer I can tell you right now that NOTHING I do when coming up with beats to fit a song is "song writing"....lol. So you think Chris Slade was a "Song Writer" on Thunderstruck! Haha....come on....grow up.
@@doublestrokeroll do you even know what logic means? the point he’s making is your perspective is based in your failure as a musician. a successful drummer would have higher standards and many bands agree with their financial demands because they realize what the drums do to carry the music in a way no one else can. your drumming wasn’t on that level obviously
@@jamiehovis7722 Apparently you don't. Oh no! you called me a bad drummer!!!....I'm so crushed...what will I ever do now that some message board zero says I'm not a good drummer!!! Tell the truth Jamie.....you're like 13 or 14 years old aren't you?
Its hard to feel sorry for BOBBY BLOTZER considering he was most assuredely a multi millionaire in his early to mid 20's,but if u dont take care of that money and set yourself up its gonna go!!and of course EVERY rocker or any hollywood guy I've ever heard of have to buy the massive EMPTY mansion with rooms they probably never even realise they had and then the Ferrari or Lamborghini etc....so EMPHATICALLY its a NO I for one don't feel sorry for an EXTREMELY avg and boring drummer who was LUCKY enough that he got to hang their coat tails and become RICH and FAMOUS for at least a strong DECADE!!
and the other bull bull about this guy talking about drummer not getting any writing credit, if you are a band, you should nip ALL of that and just say "written by Ratt". Check comes in, you get 1/5. bandmember fired or leaves, you aint "Ratt" anymore, you don't get anymore royalties. SIMPLE. nope. gotta feed them lawyers!
My advice to a young drummer in a signed band is to demand equal songwriting credits on every song the band creates with your drumming participation or walk. The idea that only melody and lyrics count for songwriting is contentious and arguable, but the fact is you don't play a melody instrument and they do. So under their logic, when your whole band brainstorms some riffs and together you piece those riffs into a song, you get zero credit, even though you created the drum parts to the song, and drum music can be and is charted into written sheet music format all the time. Do not bother arguing about this, because it will never be resolved and they are just interested in keeping the real money, if any, to themselves and leaving you out in the cold someday. Remember, if your band succeeds at all, it will be for a short time, and the songwriting credits will be all you have to show for it someday. If they want to treat you like a hired session player, then walk and let them be a Steely Dan type of thing. The bottom line is it's all or nothing. If you can't be a fully equal member of the band then walk. They were just going to cheat you in the long run anyway.
@@777jones The very name "Rock & Roll" came from the beat of the drums and the quality that kind of drumming gave to the music. Here's a thought experiment: Say you have a typical rock band with a lineup of guitar, keys, bass, vocals, and drums. Now suppose you have a gig where one member of the band can't make it. Which element will be missed the most if not present? Guitar can cover for missing keys. Keys can cover for missing guitar or missing bass. Missing vocals can be covered by being an instrumental band for tonight. Missing drums cannot be covered. Also arguable is the way drumming can make or break an otherwise mediocre live band. A drummer with a good solid pulse and tasty chops will carry a lousy band, and a poor drummer will drag down a good band. That's because the nature of rock and roll is so dependent on the beat. A talented guitarist I played with in the past once told me that poor drumming makes it harder for him to play his guitar well. This is so true. It's like the way a jockey on a racehorse makes the winning difference. The horse will run faster with one jockey than it does with another. This is why some individual jockeys become highly sought after, because they know how to drive a racehorse better than others. And the horse will always run faster with a good jockey on it than with no jockey at all. And a guitar player will always rock harder with a good drummer. With no drummer, nobody rocks.
The fact is that any musician that plays any kind of instrument has to kind of be a natural born drummer or your sense of timing would suck and you wouldn't be able to play with anyone and so you know given the fact that there are these things called drum machines and just about anybody could program a drum part if they have the musicality to play an instrument and write a song in the first place, well, that may just put some holes in your argument there... In fact I'm sure you could actually program some parts that were technically very difficult to execute for a real human player. David gilmour has stated before that there are parts that he is recorded in the studio that were you know punched and the result of dubbing that he can't actually perform live you know he can't pull off technically live. So yeah, you can advise drummers all you want though go ahead, some drummers you know can actually play melodic music and and apparently you know well I'm thinking of the fact that Jim Gordon stole the piano part that's in Layla from Rita Coolidge right now.
@@larrylancaster7877 All instrumentalists must have time and rhythm, so what? This does not negate modern drum set drumming or the diminish the importance of drum set drumming in rock music. Even marching brass bands can't function without drumming, and this is not a modern development, it goes back centuries. And every horn player in a brass band must have time and ability to march in step. Again, so what? The band is nothing without its drum corps, and moreover the drum corps is the featured centerpiece of the marching band. As I stated originally, modern rock bands often write melodies by brainstorming riffs in jam sessions. Your Jim Gordon anecdote is pointless, and the argument and sophistry is endless, which is why I advise the drummer in a signed band NOT to argue. The bottom line is if they conspire to deny you credit in a situation like that then they are just cheating you out of future earnings that they will enjoy when the band is history while leaving you with nothing. And so if that is the deal they offer, then don't argue, just walk. Let them hire a session drummer. And if you don't walk, then at least understand that all you are to them is a de facto session drummer. You are not a band member.
My belief is that if you are in a "band" that everything that winds up on a record is shared contribution and should be compensated accordingly. Bobby Blotzer was their drummer. If you have a good drummer you keep him happy. Show him some love.
so he should make exactly the same amount of money as the guys who actually are expected to write all of the original material that he plays drums on? One could argue that everyone in a company is needed in order to make that product sell. So, should they all get paid equally?
@@machupikachu1085 he isn’t suggesting to pay the roadies or managers equally. the band makes the music, period. the songs would sound different with a different drummer. bands like red hot chili peppers, green day, porno for pyro, all gave their drummer equal songwriting publishing.
I think it depends. There are bands that work as a team in the studio and there are artists/ songwriters that tell the musicians what to play for the music they have written.
5:42 Ahhhh. That's a bunch of "music industry" bullshit. Not for nothing but guitar solos contain MELODIES! THEY ARE written. All they had to do is put " All Music/Lyrics Written by RATT" Split 5 fuckin ways. DONE. Everybody's happy. And the smart bands DO just that to avoid unnecessary resentments. Beau was a fine producer. But what he said is about how credits are done is bullshit industry talking points. Plenty of bands divide earnings evenly by simply crediting the entire band for everything splitting royalties EVENLY among all members NO MATTER WHAT. U2, Chili Peppers, The Doors, REM ALL did this.
That's just naive fan perspective. As a drummer NOTHING of what I do when creating a drum part for a song is "song writing". lol. It's kid of ridiculous to even consider it. Song writing in the music industry is a very specific thing. The simple fact of the matter is the drum part of a song is not going to make or break it's success. It's the melody that makes people like it. It's why Nicko McBrain can step into Maiden and Maiden will still be successful. Because Maiden is Steve Harris. Not Nicko McBrain. It's why ACDC can record Thunderstruck with Chris Slade and it will still be a massive hit. Could Phil Rudd have played that song? Of course...it's the SAME beat. It's a massive hit because it was written by Angus and Malcolm, not because of the drummer on it....lol. Hell...they probably could have used a drum machine and it still would have been huge (Think Billy Gibbons on Eliminator). Chris Slade did not deserve royalties for Thunderstruck...and I'm sure he'd be the first to tell you that. Same goes for guitar solos.
Nah, when you got one person writing the music, lyrics, ans making the music, then that person should get 50-70 percent and the rest is split up to everyone else.
Bobby’s groove is amazing Him and Demartini are like Mac and cheese Also Juan Those three are amazing. Stephen is also great. His lyrics and how he fills the void with his diction his unique voice is the sound of Ratt. Only those four guys are Ratt. Not to leave Robbin crosby behind. His songwriting was unique.
Wow....so many of you have ridiculously over romanticized fanboy ideas of what song writing is. Or isn't. As a drummer I can tell you right now that drum parts are NOT song writing. Nobody is "humming along" to a drum part. It's not what sells the song. You could have 20 decent drummers play 20 different drum parts to Round and Round and every single one of them would have been a hit. Because the drums on round in round, while fucking cool, are NOT why the song was successful. But if that doesn't convince you then think about this.... What you're saying is, a guy like say, Chris Slade, deserves a writing credit for "Thunderstruck" by ACDC because he played a 4/4 beat that basically any half decent drummer anywhere could do. Do you think it would have made any difference if Phil Rudd had played that instead? Would ACDC have sold more copies? Yeah...exactly. Drum parts are NOT song writing. And neither are guitar solos.
Drums Do sell the song. Ever listened to be my baby? Your example of ACDC perfectly proves how wrong you are. A 4/4 groove by phil Rudd absolutely sells the song
bad example i dislike acdc but their drummer was incredible and did sell those songs. your drumming must sucked then because some drummers transcend performance and become part of the essence of the music
@@jamiehovis7722 nope...it isn't. And no...because if he did then Thunderstruck wouldn't have been popular. But it was. One of the biggest songs they ever did. Try comprehension.
The vocals on Ratt records are the weakest part. Is this guy bragging about how good the mix was? They sounded like shit on their albums. The guitar riffs were the best part of Ratt, but the over-processed 80s softened their studio sound. Listen to their very first record. It reminds me of Appetite for Destruction.
@Awesome Welles well,Warren DeMartinni was and is a pretty badass player. Crosby was also very good both player and writer. I agree with overrated but they had some talent. Better than WASP or Autograph
Ratt's Out of the Cellar is fukkng incredible album. In my personal top 10 (Back in Black.. Appetite for Destruction.. Highway to Hell.. Out of the Cellar.. Foreigner 4... Reach the Beach.. 1984.. Moving Pictures.. Aenima.. and Lateralus.)
Met entire band at a jazz lounge in the hotel they stayed at; the Sealbach in Louisville, apart from Warren trying to get my sis upstairs, I gave Bobby a compliment on his drum solo which he misunderstood and got defensive. Once he calmed down and finally understood, all I could notice was the dark eye bags of paranoia. Warren was cool and we talked some guitars, but I mentioned Yngwie...he and Stephen rolled their eyes at me. I was so excited to meet them regardless. Robin walked in. Scanned the room and did an about face and headed for the elevator. Felt starstruck giddy, Warren is a huge influence. Made it cool to carry on with that Randy Rhoads guitar sound.
Bobby Blotzer is a good guy. He got me and my buddy thrown out of a show in New Haven at Toads Place back in the 90’s but we deserved it and it’s my favorite Ratt memory! Ratt n Roll!
@@tjp3rd No in 1999 they released an album called Ratt. When they came out on stage Jizzy Pearl was singing and we started yelling where’s Stephen cuz we were drunk and BB had us booted. Two security guards lifted us up and threw us out onto the sidewalk like rag dolls….it was awesome. 🤟🏻
@@432b86ed Yea I thought so. I was a huge fan of blackout in the redroom and his album with l.a. guns shrinking violets is in my CD player right now! For years I blamed blackout in the red room for getting me kicked out of the Navy. If you’re a drinker BOITR is the ultimate party album. Now after 20 years sober I can look back and laugh but I know a lot of gen x guys who “lived” the music like their lives were music videos or something.
It's preposterous that an artist doesn't get credited for portions of music they come up with, such as mentioned here, a solo, etc. and receive monetary compensation for it. That's just a straight kick to the groin. It is still a part of what makes the piece as a whole.
Why? The music industry has always had fairly specific "rules" as to what song writing is. He's totally right. A solo is not a song. I'm a drummer. What I do is not song writing in any possible way. It's fitting a beat into what is already a song. Drums can be melodic at times but they are not an instrument that creates melodies or chord progressions. Neither are guitar solos. If you come up with a way to make the song better by suggesting parts and where they go then you'll get an arranging credit but again that's different from a song writing credit. You're looking at it from a fan's perspective and not a musician's perspective. You hear a piece of music and can't imagine it being any other way, but what you heard is only a snap shot of the song as it existed at that moment. Yes, many artists keep that moment mostly the same over the years but many do not. Many guitarists for example often never play a solo the same way twice. Some artists play their old songs much differently than they did on the album versions. Does a guy like Phil X, for example, deserve a song writing credit on a Bon Jovi song that was recorded live because he doesn't play the guitar solo the same way as Ritchie Sambora? That's completely ridiculous. Of course he doesn't. And he knows it.
@@ge2623 Right. Which is why if a band wants to evenly split royalties then it would need to be contractually agreed upon. Many bands did that. They listed the "song writers" as the whole band. In many cases when it was obviously not so. Case in point, Van Halen. Eddie chose to allow song writing credits for everyone. DLR probably would have received one for writing the top line melody, but Alex and Michael Anthony didn't write shit. Eddie wrote everything for Van Halen. But he wanted the "band" type attitude at the beginning. Remember when the Brothers made Michael Anthony give up his writing credits if he wanted to go on tour with them? An example the other way is ACDC. Check the credits. All songs written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young. On the older stuff Bon and Brian got writing credits but by Razor's Edge I don't see Brian getting any writing credits. So that's Angus and Malcolm saying these are our songs. Period. Phil Rudd was their drummer. Cliff Williams was their bass player. Neither were song writers. They simply added parts to already written songs. Iron Maiden. 90% of it is Steve Harris. Steve wrote most of the lyrics too so that's why Bruce hardly ever gets any writing credits. Bruce is basically Steve's employee. In the end the guy coming up with the melodies is the guy who gets to decide. And if they want to keep all the credits because it was their idea then good for them. Lennon McCartney. Right?
In Great White's song 'South bay cities", which I happen to like, there's a line: "and Blotzer's always totally out of his mind", what ever made them put that in a song I'd like to hear a background story.
Part of the problem, it seems to me, is that they handled writing credits in a way that necessarily cut members of the band out despite their contributing part of the songs in question. It's a little weird. And frankly he's the only guy still trying to keep the band going.
There is no set formula for songwriting/publishing credits. I'm 100% sure Bobby got credit for mechanical and he probably got arranging credits for coming up with his parts. That was probably enough to keep him happy. But Stephen and Robbin took the lion share of the publishing, which is where the money is at.
This was pretty much standard in the 80s. Good Songwriters were the bread and butter and that meant writing good melody and lyrics. Everything else you could fix in the studio from a producer's point of view.
@@acepaul407 That's right, which is why in a partnership, which Ratt was, the songwriting credit should have been treated as a collective product, as the music itself was. There was no specific reason why certain members should have taken the majority of the publishing rights, and as Beau himself points out, this resulted in some nasty squabbles. Long-lived bands don't handle it that way. Of course Ratt has fallen apart now because the squabbles finally ended the band.
@@dannywizz You could fix melody and lyrics as well. In fact, owning the publishing rights wasn't something that every band handled correctly either. I think my point stands -- a lot of the problems Ratt went through came down to not handling the publishing rights more equitably. It created unhealthy levels of dissension. The money squabbles have killed many a good band.
I heard Juan once complained about Stephen changing the lyrics of lack of communication which Juan wrote because Stephen said he couldn't sing them but Juan thinks he just wanted the writing credits
Interesting interview on the process of working with Ratt. Very unique band from many standpoints,including fast swinging tempos actually matched with catchy melodies that never plodded or droned,lyrics written in the "second person",narration. Who did that?Not many since years before in Rock at least. "As you were".. Great program!
I recall hearing Stephen Pearcy say Beau was responsible for their sound, and i heard Blotzer was an Ahole, not just by Beau, but the guys in Ratt and other bands. He's a good drummer but apparently difficult to work with.
Nobody in Ratt liked each other. They define the term 'dysfunctional.' Each guy thought all the other guys were assholes, but there was a chemistry there so they had to tolerate each other (that's where the drugs and alcohol came in handy). In many different ways, they were a really strange band.
@@acepaul407 Stephen has always been close friends with Robbin Crosby (R.I.P) and Warren Demartini he has only spoken highly of like a brother. I don't think they all disliked each other. Even family has fights and disagreements.
Back in the day, I knew a female who was pretty close to the band. She always said that Bobby was the chunky funny guy in the band that the girl's liked hanging with but none of them wanted to have sex with. We all had a guy friend like that. I mean, just look at the photo around the three minute mark. Four good looking guys, and Bobby. LOL.
@@evanmaunders5688 - Of Course you're nice to the fans. They are paying your salary so to speak. I've been in bands over half my life, and you are correct. I've seen it a bunch of times when you you work with somebody. There's a legendary guitarist (in my area) that everybody loves. Great player. Shows are legendary. Everybody loves him. Always wanted to work with the guy. Finally got a chance.....and what a collassel dickwad.
Saw Ratt at a local battle-of-the-bands night before they made it big. They were not the best band on stage that night, but they weren't the worst either.
Maybe it was Behind the Music where Bobby got emotional criticizing “the Producer” for wanting to bring in a studio guitarist to do a small lead bit instead of Warren: “You’re using someone else over Warren DeMartini!!”.
This thing about writing credits is very contentious .....by obvious selection Verse / chorus / mid 8 . intro / outro all have merit as a credit .....but i remember in one of my bands coming up with the catchiest hook on TOP of the boring chords they had written and was told - "no" you dint write any of the song....HOWEVER , you take my licks off (and they were repeated ) and the song........is dogshit
Keep in mind drummers are people who have chosen to hit things for a living... not even trying to be funny. I auditioned tons of them in the 90s for varius projects. Drummers are (often, not always of course) loud and tyrannical. You find a drummer who understands how to play drums musically & can hit their instrument on a level that's something other than FULL ON EARTHQUAKE all the time (meaning they comprehend and respect dynamics), you've usually got a winner. Few and far between.
A good example of a drummer your describing is DEVO drummer Josh Freeze! He is a fantastically technical and hard hitting skins man! He’s also recently toured with The Offspring and The Pixies! He’s not really a metal guy but he’s fantastic! Peace ☮️✌️👽🤘☮️
I recommend people listen to the Jason Green segment of The Classic Metal Show entitled 'Inside the RATT Trap'. Green goes off for an hour on the experience of being the tour manager for Blotzer"s fake RATT band, and what a scam it was. It's VERY funny, all the stories about what a pompous douche Blotzer is.
Being a drummer and guitarist, bassist, pianist. I have always thought that these laws about publishing rights are bullshit. If you have a melody with a vocal and/or with a stringed instrument or other noise making instrument, you get publishing. But if you and the bassist that form the foundation of the song, PERIOD...... put your exact amount of time in with your instrument and drummers pay way more that a guitarist to buy equipment, then you should definitely be paid the exact amount as everyone else. Every single band member puts into the song/music that everyone else does. Singers...forget it, they barely do anything except show up and plug in the mic that the club supplies unless they actually have their own PA and equipment, which I respect completely, Then I can agree. I do understand the thing about melody. However, If you play the drums and tell a story with that, Then your foundation, groove and funky or heavy beat deserves everything too. Whoever made these laws must not be a drummer or bassist. I look to change this.
I've never understood why creating a drum beat for the song ISN'T considered writing!? I call BS. The drummer had to CREATE that beat! And I've never listened to lyrics. I've heard songs a million times....couldn't tell you 80% of the lyrics.
Huge fan of RATT back in their heyday, but now when I listen to their stuff what stands out to me the most is how monotonously grating Pearcy's voice is...and that's on their polished, fully produced albums. Listening to clips of their live stuff...his singing is cringeworthy--probably because he doesn't have the sanitized and harmonized backing vocals that the albums added for distracting the listener.
Blotzer seemed to serve the Ratt music well and added some personality. I like Mick Brown (Dokken) too but if I compared the two I would say Mick's playing was more straight forward and simpler. I personally liked Blotzer's full tom sound and electronic sounds mixed in to the bluesy rock sound. Much preferred his style vs Tommy Lee even though both are clearly solid drummers. While I hear he's hard to deal with we also have to consider the sources (Pearcy, DeMartini) have their reported challenges as well. Beau does seem like he's giving an honest take so that is cool to hear!
I think unless you're a Neil Peart or John Bonham - you won't have any currency to hold over a band. There are so many studio cats out there that will do all the drumming for an album for a set fee and never cost a band another dime again. I am a drummer, but if I had a band that recorded - I would rent out the drumming too to a studio recording musician. Once and done, and then hire some hired guns for the touring. Have a guy consistently in the band make pretend, etc. But I wouldn't share actual writing royalties to a drummer. Drumming isn't a song. Drumming doesn't make 60,000 people pay for tickets and crowd into a stadium. It's the power of the lyrics and the instrumental melodies. I play the guitar, not that I think I will ever contribute anything musically to the world. But on the off chance I do have inspiration - I will have the tools to translate that into a melody. And even if you aren't a lyricist - as long as you write the music - you can share and be on equal footing with the guy writing the lyrics. A partnership. Being a drummer doesn't have much currency. Some guys like Mick Brown got shit ass lucky, other guys in the band wrote the tunes - he showed up and came up with drum parts in 4/4 and then went to some bar and boozed the rest of the night away - and got paid millions.
Bobby said in a recent interview that Beau Hill called him out on this interview cause Beau was probably still angry at Bobby for calling him out in Bobby's book.. Bobby claims that Beau would bring Fiona in the studio after Ratt gets done & use up Ratt's studio time & money to record her album (Beyond the Pale)
All bands go through this about songwriting credits. A lot of times the drummer didn’t contribute musical material but will help out with arrangements and get a bit of credit for that. A lot of bands will put the songwriting under the name of the band, so everybody gets a piece of the action. But when the money starts rolling in large quantities, things/attitudes do change quickly.
I understand the post of a producer’s role, and yet again, if they were good enough to have their own band , they would have done it. How about let the bands do their thing( it’s what got them there) and then add info on what’s given and not change it to suit themselves as if it’s there band. Mettalica got got lucky on the black album, then. Load and reload. Enough said I think.
It really makes no sense to me that guitar riffs and melody constitute writing creds in the music industry. Imagine those parts without drums.....boring and no one dances or grooves to it. Drums are the foundation of entire songs....everyone agrees that a solid drummer makes bands.
Beau Hill was/is the worst. Worked with him around this time and a control freak with soooo much ego. Knew the some of the Ratt guys and they were not fans of this guy.
