Ratt Goes Round and Round!

Can you dig it, Ratt is back! OK, you don't sound so pumped huh! New album is out and the band is back, well kinda. Ratt fans are well aware of the fragile relationship between singer Stephen Pearcy and guitarist Warren DeMartini.

For roughly the last decade and a half, the two have been off and on again more than Sammy Hagar and Van Halen, which says a lot.

And, as with the original Sunset Strip band, another Ratt reunion seemed inevitable.

“I think down deep I did think things would work themselves out,” said DeMartini, in a recent interview.

“We had talked about going the (band-therapy) route but never really seemed to find the time to do it. So we just kind of made it happen. We went through a very difficult and tumultuous period, and that definitely took some time to sort of smooth over.”

The most recent Ratt reconciliation came in 2007, with a busy touring schedule keeping the hard-rock act focused on its catalog.

This culminated last summer with a 25th-anniversary tour of the band’s 1984 debut, “Out of the Cellar,” which included its career-defining top-20 hit “Round and Round.” The group — Pearcy, DeMartini, Bobby Blotzer (drums), Robbie Crane (bass) and Carlos Cavazo (guitar) — played the album in its entirety.

Having seemingly raided its closet and used up all of its nostalgia currency of any worth, Ratt was at a crossroads. Either record new material or, again, call it quits.

While DeMartini had the desire to record a new project, the biggest question remaining was whether he could once again work with Pearcy. Ironically, the answer to how to move forward came in the form of the band’s past.

“When Stephen had returned to the band and we were rehearsing for the tour, we got to a song called ‘Lack of Communication’ on ‘Out of the Cellar,’ ” DeMartini said. “It’s a fade-out on the album, so we have to write a way to get out of it live. I wrote this outro. After we got done playing the song, they were like, ‘What was that? Where did that come from?’ And then Stephen said, ‘We should make a song out of that.’ So that was a real pivotal moment for me — that I realized that Stephen Pearcy and I could get back to writing, try to put everything behind us and get back to sort of a creative situation.”

The result was the song “Take a Big Bite,” which can be found on Ratt’s recently released seventh studio effort, “Infestation.” The group is touring the album and plays Wednesday at the House of Blues in Cleveland. Perhaps the last question remaining for Ratt’s small but loyal audience is whether this latest reunion will stick?

“Yeah, I hope so,” DeMartini laughed. “Look, rock ’n’ roll bands are a fragile thing. I think part of what makes it exciting is it can implode at any moment. But, having said that, we’re in a very good mood and very good spirits. So we’re looking forward to hitting the road.”

I'm looking forward to going round and round!