RATT: 'Infestation' Track Listing Revealed

It's no secret that RATT are back and raring to go. The band is proud to announce April 20, 2010 as the release date for their Loud & Proud debut, "Infestation", an 11-song opus that is their first studio record in 11 years. The first single, "Best of Me" (hear streaming audio below),is scheduled to impact rock radio on February 21. The song is available at all digital stores.

There's been a flurry of activity in the RATT camp in the past few years. Vocalist Stephen Pearcy has returned to the fold and the band has since signed to Loud & Proud/Roadrunner. The legendary Los Angeles rock squad, also featuring guitarist Warren DeMartini, drummer Bobby Blotzer, bassist Robbie Crane and new guitarist Carlos Cavazo, engineered Hollywood's much-heralded Sunset Strip sound in the 1980s.

"We wanted this to be like something that we would have written right after [1984's] 'Out of the Cellar'," Pearcy said. "We definitely went back to basics with the mindset of a band with a lot of excitement and some great songs to get out."

"Infestation" was produced by Elvis Baskette (CHEVELLE, ALTER BRIDGE) at his Virginia studio, marking the first time the band has recorded outside of Los Angeles. The album is full of attitude and of reflection, cycling through a range of emotions. There are party anthems that RATT are known for alongside more contemplative, thoughtful tunes.

"It took 10 years to get back to where we are now, but we're in a good place," Pearcy told Noisecreep. "It wasn't overnight. It took a therapist here and there. It took opening those wounds and stitching them again and closing them. And it's still going on. But we're older now and it's a business, and we've gotten to where we can work together again and make great music."

"I guess I was always hoping that we would settle our differences and get back to work," added DeMartini. "Our problems weren't about our sound or anything. The differences kind of continue to this day, but with the help of our manager and time, we've been able to get some distance from the emotions and create a platform we could both live with to continue from."

"Infestation" track listing:

01. Eat Me Up Alive
02. Best of Me
03. A Little Too Much
04. Look Out Below
05. Last Call
06. Lost Weekend
07. As Good as it Gets
08. Garden of Eden
09. Take a Big Bite
10. Take Me Home
11. Don't Let Go

Stephen Pearcy on several key "Infestation" tracks:

"Best of Me": "You always think the grass is greener on the other side, but in fact it isn't. So you're letting someone know 'you're the best thing I got, but I had to go fuck around to figure it out.' It's one of those you don't know what you got till it's gone kind of things. With me, I go through this shit every day. I'm married one day, then I'm not, but I am."

"Look Out Below": "That's your good old relationship song, but I think when I said, 'There's no one better when you're on your knees.' It's saying, 'Yeah, that sex thing is good. But [at the same time], somebody's gonna get dead if I find out they're in my turf fucking my woman.'"

"A Little Too Much": "I was doing too much of bad things and losing a lot of good things, and I think with this song I was trying to kind of let the other person know what was going on. And at the same time, it's kind of me talking to myself: 'You say let's stop, I say let's go. You say it's hot, I say it's cold.'"

"Garden of Eden": "Again, that's a place I was at to where I was unsure about my relationship to the point where there wasn't one for a while, even during the record. Even though I'm married, there was no relationship. So that song dabbles in that. It's saying, 'Here's my good place. Here's my garden of Eden.' But in this place there's lots of weird shit."