Tales Of A RATT Page 11

  I heard another comedian say once that 33% of all road deaths are caused by drunk drivers; but, that means 67% of them are pulled off by fuckers who are completely sober! Take that for what you will (by the way, send all your hate mail about these statements to my manager. He'll love that!).

  Hopefully, we've put all the vicious, vindictive Quiet Riot vs. RATT shit to bed. I would like that. And, while Frankie and I aren't going to be picking out curtains together, we might be friendly again.

  We'll see.

  We went out with Motley in 1984, while on the Cellar tour. That was...that was when history became legend.

  Our history with Mötley Crüe is colorful, to say the least. But of all those guys, Tommy Lee is my bro! Tommy and I go way back. Back in the day, we hung out a lot; Did a lot of dirt bike riding, things like that. We don't see each other as much, these days. Being who we are, life simply gets in the way. But, when we do get together, it's like we see each other every day. T-Bone is rocker family.

  Heather Locklear's sister, Laurie, was married to this guy Terry Ahearn, who I still see from time to time. Terry, Tommy, Vince and I used to go dirt bike riding, along with Mickey Diamond who was a champion motorcross rider. We used to have a lot of fun together like that.

  Tommy and I were out together the night he met Heather. We went to see REO Speedwagon, and we were hanging out at the Forum Club, which was an elite type of place at the Forum where you had to have a VIP Pass to get in. We were at the bar, hanging out with all of our friends who were there, when I saw Heather Locklear and Scott Baio walk in.

  I was like "T-Bone, check that out. It's Heather Locklear.”

  Tommy went, "Aw, dude, she's fucking hot! She is so hot! We have the same dentist!”

  "That's awesome, bro. Really.”

  Tommy's all giddy, and he's already loaded with liquid courage, courtesy of Mr. Daniels.

  He flashes this troublesome grin he has, and goes, "I'm going to go talk to her, dude.”

  I was like, "Don't even go over there, bro! Not right now. She's with Baio.”

  He's like, "Naw, man, I'm going to do it right now. I'm going to call my dentist and get her number.”

  And, he did. He called me a few weeks later and went, "Guess who I'm going out with?”

  I'm like, "You motherfucker!” So, I couldn't wait to hear about the first time he fucked her.

  Took him a while, too. It was something like three months before he closed the deal. I don't know who was more impatient about it, T-Bone, or me.

  Over the years, Jeni and I did a lot of hanging out with Heather and Tommy. There was one time where Heather, Tommy, Jeni and I were out on the town all night, then went back to their place and spent the rest of the night partying.

  She was great; a really great girl. Great to hang out with, and a fantastic personality; she had a fun sense of humor, just everything a guy could ever want in a girl. I loved her to death, and she was so unbelievably hot, too!

  That night, she was up showing Jeni her jewelry chest. It was this wacky looking pirate's chest full of jewels and baubles. She was showing it off.

  Tommy and I were downstairs in the kitchen trading shots, snorting lines, and telling stories of how much we both hated our lead singers! Meanwhile, outside, it's turning blue. The sun is about to come up. Then Tommy, in mid sentence, kinda looks through me and just falls forward.

  It was almost like a joke. You know, when you're cutting up, and you're going to act like you're falling forward onto your face, but at the last second, you don't? It was just like that. That's what I thought he was going to do, but at the last second, he didn't stop. He hit, face first, right in the middle of the kitchen floor!

  BOOM!

  He landed with a big crack of a thud, and never moved!

  I went upstairs, "Uh, Heather? Guys? Tommy's, like, out of it down here.”

  We picked him up and managed to get him over to the couch. The whole thing was a little scary. I'd not seen anyone that fucked up before. Even when I was touring with them.

  That turned out to be shades of dark things to come for T-Bone, and the rest of us in the 80s music crowd. It seems that drugs and alcohol had their crosshairs on us, and it was only a matter of time before we were shot down by them in some fashion or form.

  But, that's something for another chapter.

  On a fun note, New Year's Eve in 1987, Jeni, Heather, Tommy and me all took a leer jet to Vegas for New Year's. And, in typical Tommy fashion, he got the pilot to do barrel rolls!

  Only T-Bone! That dude is a breed unto himself.

  Oddly, on the list of groups that we opened for on that tour; Motley, Night Ranger, ZZ Top; there was only one that gave us any grief. Billy Squire. Not Billy himself, but his production people. They were just a pain in the ass.

  We were already headlining arena shows by that time, but we had agreed to do a tour with Billy Squire as the headline. It was a little awkward. I don't think anyone anticipated us taking off so fast, so when the tour was booked, it wasn't a big consideration.

  By the time it made it's way around, we were already huge. The Squire leg was less money, less stage space, and a huge pain in the ass. But, management insisted we do it, because they didn't want us developing a bad reputation of leaving tours hanging.

  Our first night with Squire, there were no lights. There was very little space on stage for us to use, and Squire had this huge, round thing in the middle of the stage that made it even tighter.

  By that time, we were the big band on that tour. Squire was big, but we were blowing him away in the merchandise sales every night. Squire was cool about bringing out the new up-n-coming bands on tour with him. He had us, Def Leppard, and others, that he had run tours with.

  We tried to do something similar to that when we were headlining. When we took Poison out with us, no one knew who they were. But as they started to break, we had discovered a formula that works really well. The opening act actually helps the bill.

  We got along with the Squire guys pretty well, all things considered, but the tour was a tough one. We should have been headlining, and everyone there knew it. It made for tense relations, because, clearly, RATT-mania was in those crowds.

  I did a lot of partying with the late, great Bobby Chouinard, who was the drummer for Billy Squire. He was a great guy.

  Bobby passed away a couple of years ago from a cocaine overdose. I can't say I'm completely surprised by that, considering the amount of blow that I witnessed him go through. The guy was ALWAYS on that shit. It was one of those things that eventually catches up to you.

  Bobby Chouinard will be sorely missed.

  These days, my rituals are set. I'll show up to the gig about an hour before. I'd drink about 3 Coors Lights and start to warm up by stretching, and playing along with my favorite CD's. I'll just tap along on any surface, because going and getting a drum pad would just be too fucking easy! I always use the bus as my dressing room. Especially today. Robbie Crane and I would be in there getting ready. After the show, if I drink, it's red wine. Sometimes I like to throw a Jagerbomb with the guys every now and then, but not very often. My days of hard liquor consumption are behind me, for the most part.

  We finished the U.S. leg of the Cellar tour in December of 1984. We all went home for Christmas, which was really great. But, before we could call an end to the tour, we had to hit Japan.

  We were all really tired by that point, but nothing prepared us for the Japanese fans. They were maniacal! It was complete "RATT-a-mania", and we were mobbed everywhere we went! Plus, the culture is out of this world, so, it was a whole new experience for us, after 15 months of nothing but whole new experiences!

  We finished the Japan tour, and shot the RATT Longform Video over there, you know, us on the bullet train and stuff. It was a platinum video.

  It was a great way to end the tour. The band immediately took a sabbatical to Hawaii where we ran and hid in Maui. We all had these condos on the beach, and a little portable recording studio. Ou
r job was to write the "Invasion of Your Privacy" album.

  These were tough times. None of us were given a chance to relax from the tour, and we were already back into the mix with a new album. Management was really cracking the whip on their platinum recording show pony, believe me.

  Little rifts were already forming in the band. Mostly between the band and Stephen, but a little with Robbin as well. Of course, we brought our families, otherwise we would hardly see them before we went back out on tour with the new album. I think that created more tension in the band, because, instead of working, we took a lot of personal time. That's too bad, but what did they expect? It's our families.

  We were in this little restaurant in Lahaina one night when I get a tap on the shoulder, turn around, and there Billy Squire.

  I was like, "What the fuck are you doing here?!?! Are you following us?” We got a big laugh out of it, and hung out with him for a few days, having a good time.

  Maui was where I learned to play golf. Kapalua. Our manager, Marshall, was leaving every day to go play golf, and one day I was like, "Hey, let me go with you.”

  He's goes, "You ever played before?”

  "I've played baseball, dude. Golf is baseball for fags. I think I can fucking handle it.”

  So I went to one of the greatest courses in the world to learn to play. I bought the shirt, shorts, shoes, hat, glove the whole fag uniform. I didn't buy clubs over there, though. I rented clubs. But, immediately I was hooked. For life!

  Hawaii was where "Invasion of Your Privacy" happened. We went out there together, with the intent of hammering out the new tunes and getting back to the mainland for recording. But getting Stephen to show for rehearsal was virtually impossible. He was simply never available. Too much sun and sand, maybe, but I'm amazed anything happened beyond that second album.

  The fracturing was already starting to form.

  Of course, it did happen for us. When we got back, we immediately started recording the record at Rumbo Studios with Beau Hill producing us again. There was absolutely no time off, but if you’ve got to do it, do it when you’re young, right?

  We were young, in more ways than one. We had just become multi-platinum recording sensations, and none of us knew the "rights and wrongs" to the business, yet. We were all too naive to realize we were being severely overworked. By the time we caught on to that fact, it was much too late to stop the nose dive.

  During the recording of Invasion, things seemed to gain their focus again. Stephen wasn't yet at the point he would be after the coming tour, and he showed to the sessions pretty consistently, and he sang along as we were tightening things up. So, it wasn't bad…yet.

  Consequently, we literally got this record done and out in four months time.

  For all the huge, grandstanding groups that came out of southern California in the early and mid-eighties, we were still a very tight community. We all knew each other, and most of us had played in other bands together; and were really good friends, with very few beefs. There were exceptions, most of which involved the various lead singers, but for the most part, we were all bros.

  So, I'm both nostalgic and mournful with a lot of the stuff I'm reading in other books and bios of the time.

  A lot of these rockstar bios are hitting close to home. I'm sure that this one won't be much different for the guys who read it. Those guys were friends, or at least, good acquaintances. Tommy's book, "Tommyland.” Slash's book. Motley's book, "The Dirt.” Even "The Heroin Diaries" that Nikki put together.

  I've never had a real great love for Nikki. I respect his business acumen, and his song writing skills, but, he's a difficult person; a complete egomaniac. Stephen and Juan pale in comparison to Nikki's ego.

  His book, "The Heroin Diaries"... Jesus. I read a few chapters, and it really started to feel real. It was really unsettling in my gut. I was close to them when all that shit was going on. I've seen those guys amazingly fucked up. That first tour with them is a big example of that.

  There are a lot of memories that I've kept buried, but, that book conjures all that shit back up. Sixx wrote a very dark tome, and I was in that circle of darkness at that time. I can really relate to a lot of that shit. I had a hard time reading about the total meltdown of a guy I once ran with. It's depressing as hell.

  On this subject, I never saw Nikki or Robbin doing smack. Come to think of it, I've never seen heroin. I knew something was probably going on with those guys, but again, I sort of exist in two worlds; my family world, and the band world. Luckily, I never really partook of the lowest of lows like some of these guys have. I never hit the extremes one-way or the other. Not very hard, anyway. The responsibilities of one side always trumped the other. So, I never noticed those guys were doing that shit.

  We worked as a democracy as a band, but that was about to become very difficult. We had to fire Robbin on the Detonator tour. He was so buried under alcohol and heroin that he began to really fuck up on stage. Shit like, putting the wrong guitar on and playing the whole song out of key. It was horrifying.

  It was at the Sun Plaza, in Tokyo. He just didn't change guitars between songs, and we started into "Lack of Communication" with him playing completely the wrong chords. We actually had to stop the show and make him change. That was the end.

  I missed some big signs with King. He was always throwing up on the side of the stage. I just thought it was nerves, you know. I didn't know he was smoking heroin!

  I don't remember when it finally clicked for me and I learned of Robbin's problems, but it was late. Really late. Like I said, at this point in the game, we were all leading decidedly separate lives. From the beginning, the core debaucheries were a little outside my world. I had my wife and kids going. They were the priority in my life, and while I would party with the best of them, my responsibilities as a father made me look at my professional life differently than the other guys.

  It was probably after the 1989 tour that I realized what he was doing. That shit was scary, man. To watch Robbin go out like that. Supposedly, Robbin had been an addict since 1985.

  To say that Nikki Sixx introduced Robbin to heroin, I don't know how true that is. I wasn't there. But, they roomed together early on, so, I guess it's possible.

  In the end, Sixx turned out not to be a real friend to him. Robbin, in his last days, turned on Sixx. He didn't like him at all. Sixx wouldn't come see him. And, those two were really tight bros for years.

  Robbin was in the hospital for almost two years, and Nikki stayed away. He didn't even go to Robbin's memorial down in La Jolla. That friendship didn't end well.

  I never see Nikki anymore. I think he heard I went out in an interview and blamed him for King's death, but that's bullshit. I never said that. King decided to do heroin. It didn't matter if he got it from Nikki or Joe Smith the midget. King killed himself. He could not conquer his demons. Seeing that, Nikki is lucky to be alive, himself. Everyone knows that. Him most of all.

  Nikki has a problem with me, but he's also got a problem with all the 80's bands. He tries to remove Crüe from that scene, but he can't. They are the center of the 80s metal universe. With their Theater of Pain album, it was Nikki in fucking polka dots and Vince in pink chiffon and shit. They were the originators of glam metal.

  A lot of people look at those years, and knowing that I ran with that, they aren't going to believe me when I say I didn't know. Maybe it's denial. I'm not sure. But, when I finally heard the stories about Nikki, and saw the horrible results with Robbin, I was genuinely surprised.

  Heroin scared the fuck out of me. I was too smart to get sucked in to that. But, the guys in Mötley, that's a different story. They lived the most depraved, ragged edge existence of any band in the 80s, possibly any band in history. I don't know. They were so desperate to get loaded, that they would drink cooking sherry if they had to. They snorted Halcions, for Christ's sake!

  Mötley Crüe was an incredible display of reckless debauchery. I'm amazed any of them made it out of the 80s alive. They a
ll came really close to punching the clock; Nikki most of all. When you hit drugs so hard that you are periodically declared dead, it's gone to far.

  Mötley were way more over the top than RATT was. We weren't one of the big drug bands. That was Mötley and Guns. We were all pretty harmless with drugs. Stephen and Warren smoked weed; Stephen, almost constantly. Hell, everybody smoked weed! Everybody snorted blow after the show, and no one thought anything of it. It was just something you did.

  Even Robbin, who wrecked himself with smack, did his fix on the sly. We weren't privy to it. It was his dirty little secret.

  It was the invulnerability of youth and wealth. We weren’t the poster boys for it, but we certainly hung out with those who were.

  Mick Mars and Me backstage during the Mötley RATT tour 1984

  Last night for Mötley and RATT tour party, 1984.

  Me and Tommy Lee at Namm Show in 1985.

  Stephen, Ozzy, and Me at 4 AM in Ozzy’s suite, 1986.

  Vince and Stephen comparing notes, 1984.

  Warren and Kathy and Me having some late night tea in my room in Tokyo, 1985.

  Scorpions headlined this show. RATT was special guest. Opening bands were Metallica, Inva Malmsteen, and WNT.

  13

  All Hail The Mighty Krell!

  "Cocaine is God's way of saying you're making too much money." - Robin Williams

  Cocaine (or KRELL, as we affectionately called it) and I go way back. While I might have gotten close a time or two, I was never addicted. I drank like a fish, and A.A. probably had me on their radar, but that's bullshit. When I wanted to quit hard liquor, I did. And, weed is just an old friend; weed, cinnamon toast and Black Sabbath.

  We used to love to snort on tour. Again, we never saw a problem with it, unless you completely abused it and stayed up all night with it. At times we had done that, of course, which sucked, but for the most part, it was just a recreational thing.