WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS’
METAL SLUDGE EXCLUSIVE: Straight talk with bassist Scott Griffin
HOLLYWOOD — Las Vegas is the land of new starts, and that’s just what Scott Griffin did.
After his shocking termination from L.A. Guns in late 2014, Griffin left Los Angeles in the rear-view mirror for Vegas, and the curly-haired bass player with the magnetic smile did not crap out.
Scott Griffin has landed on his feet. Popular band Sin City Sinners immediately scooped him up, and now Griffin has also earned a spot in Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt Experience.
Griffin returns for a gig with Blotzer’s outfit on Saturday, Sept. 12 at The Whisky, and a capacity crowd is expected nearly a year exactly since Griffin appeared for the last time with L.A. Guns on the very same stage.
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Devloping update: It appears that Bobby Blotzer has announced the last Ratt Experience show which happens tonight at the “Whisky-A-Go-Go” in Hollywood. He also notes “Hello new future!!” Read the full update right HERE
METAL SLUDGE: So you’re back in Los Angeles for tonight’s Blotzer’s Ratt show at The Whisky, but you’ve returned to live in Las Vegas. Which do you like better — L.A. or Vegas?
SCOTT GRIFFIN: I like Vegas better because I can play more and live better. More money. Money goes further out here.
Unless you’re tempted by the gambling tables.
GRIFFIN: No, no, I don’t do that. Maybe a couple of times. But I made a promise I wasn’t going to gamble, and I don’t drink that much anymore, either.
You like being in Blotzer’s band?
GRIFFIN: It’s awesome. We’re playing an awesome set of all the hits, plus some deep cuts. It’s the 30-year anniversary of “Invasion of Your Privacy,” so we’re doing a lot of that. We were doing the whole thing, but we were being forced to leave out too many hits, so now we’re playing like half of it. Our singer Joshua Alan is awesome — he sings it note for note.
Oh? How does his attitude compare to Stephen Pearcy’s?
GRIFFIN: I don’t like to compare. I’ll just say our singer sounds exactly like him. The whole band is great — except for me, I suck — and they make me look good. Everyone who sees us, they’re like, “Fuck man, it sounds perfect.” I’m really happy with it.
Tell me about the others.
GRIFFIN: There’s Michael “Doc” Ellis. He plays all the Robbin Crosby parts. And then there is Blaze, who is like 21 years old, just turned 22 I think. I don’t even know his last name. I just know him as Blaze, and he is the Warren DeMartini, and he has everything down — the tone, the feeling. It’s really unbelievable.
He’s 22? How old was he when Ratt was headlining Long Beach Arena back in the day?
GRIFFIN: (laughs) I don’t think either of his parents had even had sex yet!
Ratt used to be notorious for bringing girls on the bus. They had a “girls wanted” sign. Maybe it’s a good thing to have someone in their 20s.
GRIFFIN: We’ve got a guy in his 20s, a guy in his 30s, a guy in his 40s [plus Blotzer, in his 70s, JK — Editor], so we’ve got every (demographic) covered. We’re like Menudo.
How much fun are you having? Are you enjoying it?
GRIFFIN: I’m having a great time. We don’t have a lot of gigs though.
Well, you’re building. What have played like five gigs so far?
GRIFFIN: Yeah, five gigs. But yeah, I think you’re right. I think it will build. It’s been three or four months, and we’re playing like one gig a month.
I’ve got to ask you about being fired from L.A. Guns, or leaving or being terminated, or whatever you want to call it. Cause I was at the Whisky show backstage, the last show, and everyone was having a great time and was in a great mood, and the next morning, that was it. What the heck happened?
GRIFFIN: I’ve stopped asking. I guess I’ll never find out. I put in seven years of service, and like you said, it was a great show at the Whisky, and then I was out of the band. I have no idea. I really don’t. (Phil Lewis) hasn’t talked to me. He is in Vegas, too, but I haven’t seen him or talked to him. The only ones I talk to are Michael (Grant) and Kenny (Kweens).
Well, you landed on your feet, which isn’t easy in this business because there aren’t that many big bands. Did you have faith in yourself?
GRIFFIN: Yeah, I did have faith. When one door closes, another opens. There is nothing you can do but move forward. I got into Sin City Sinners, and that’s a pretty big deal in Vegas. Sebastian Bach, George Lynch, Scottie Hill, they’ve all come up and jammed with us. All the rockers that come to Vegas, they come and play with us. So I’ve got that going, and then the Ratt thing hapened. So with Sin City Sinners, I’m still in that world, too, but with Ratt, it’s a little nicer hotels. As far as L.A. Guns goes, there are no hard feelings. I wish them all the luck in the world.
I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time with Bobby Blotzer through the years, and I must say that I enjoy his company. He’s a really fun guy.
GRIFFIN: Oh, he is totally fun. I know he gets a bad rap, but that’s only because he gives a shit about things, and you know, that’s a good thing. We talk on the phone a lot, and sometimes he gets a little crazy.
That’s what I like about him.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, that’s what I like about him, too. It’s better than being boring, as far as I can see. He just wants to put on a great show and to play a lot of them. That’s his whole thing. He’s not afraid to voice his opinion.
Ah yes. The infamous Facebook rants.
GRIFFIN: I have no comment on that! That’s his own thing, that’s Bobby. As far as the guy I know, he’s always been straight-up, always pays what’s agreed upon, and I’m just digging it. I wish we could play more gigs.
So give me a little comment about being a sex symbol. You get a lot of female attention, Scott.
GRIFFIN: I guess. I mean, I’m in a band, and girls like guys in bands, you know?
Yeah, but you especially.
GRIFFIN: Well, I eat my Wheaties and do my pushups.
You’re originally from the San Fernando Valley part of L.A.?
GRIFFIN: Yeah, I’m a Valley boy. I grew up in Sylmar.
Sylmar? The nice part or the ghetto?
GRIFFIN: Oh, the ghetto. I went to the same high school as Jeff Scott Soto, but he’s a few years older than me.
So what was your first big break?
GRIFFIN: I guess that would be Hookers & Blow with Dizzy Reed. Other than that, I was in like hundreds of bands that paid to play the Whisky and open for bands like L.A. Guns on the weekends. We’d be the first on the bill when no one would be there. A lot of bands sold tickets in those days, but we just gave ’em away to hot chicks, the hottest chicks, and we’d hope they’d show up early to see us, and more often than not, they did. We played for some packed nights. I don’t want to date myself, but I actually played Gazzarri’s with a band called Mr. Danger.
You know, Dizzy Reed. I think he’s like the last survivor with Axl Rose from early Guns N’ Roses, just him and maybe Del James, if he still talks to Axl.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, Dizzy is not a scab, as Steven Adler calls all of ’em. He played on “Use Your Illusion.”
I actually remember Dizzy from The Wild.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, I remember The Wild. We opened for them.
Jesus, you must have spent a fortune.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, I know. Any band with any notoriety, any band that was in BAM or on the cover of Rock City News, we wanted to open for them.
You work your way up.
GRIFFIN: I remember when my dream was to be on the cover of Rock City News. That was a big deal back then.
Well, a lot of those bands, all those guys aren’t doing a thing now. You’re still standing, Scott.
GRIFFIN: I can’t complain. I’m still doing it, and I love it. It pays my bills. I’m living the dream.’
Scott Griffin @ Facebook – Twitter – Ratt Rx
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Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv
