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Warren DeMartini | |
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 DeMartini performing in 2010 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | April 10, 1963 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Glam metal, [1] heavy metal, hard rock |
| Occupation | Guitarist |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Formerly of | Ratt |
| Website | therattpack |
Warren Justin DeMartini (born April 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist for glam metal band Ratt, [2] which achieved international stardom in the 1980s.
DeMartini was born on April 10, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of five boys. [3] He spent his early years in the suburb of River Forest, Illinois. The family later relocated to San Diego. DeMartini became interested in rock music due to the influence of his older brothers Bernard and James, whose band rehearsed in the family basement. His grandmother was also a musician, playing piano accompaniment to silent movies in Preston, Minnesota.[ citation needed ]
DeMartini's mother bought him a guitar at his request when he was "around seven or eight years old". According to Warren, he struggled early on learning to play it due to the tuning pegs being cheap, causing the instrument to constantly fall out of tune. As a result, he became frustrated and smashed the instrument as he had seen Pete Townshend of the Who do onstage. As a result, that was the last guitar he would receive as a gift. At age 14, he had to get himself a job in order to raise the money to purchase a new electric guitar, a Cimar Les Paul copy. The first song DeMartini learned was "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream, which he learned by ear. [3]
Warren played his first concert with his band the Plague in front of a small crowd at San Diego's La Jolla High School at the age of 15. By this time he was emerging as one of the San Diego area's most talented and sought-after young guitar players. The first year he signed up, he won "Best New Guitar Player in San Diego" at Guitar Trader on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. He graduated from high school in 1981. DeMartini began taking classes at a local college, but in the first semester was invited up to Los Angeles to join Mickey Ratt, the band that would eventually become the highly successful 1980s metal band Ratt. [4]
DeMartini replaced Jake E. Lee, who would be hired by Ozzy Osbourne in December 1982. When DeMartini was called up from San Diego to join RATT in Los Angeles, he lived with Lee to learn the songs on the band's first album, and each greatly influenced the other's styles.[ citation needed ]
DeMartini's lead guitar became one of Ratt's most recognizable aspects, and he would co-write several of the band's best known songs, including "Round and Round", "Lay It Down", "Dance", and "Way Cool Jr.". Ratt would ultimately become one of the top-selling and most popular metal acts of the decade, issuing four consecutive platinum albums and one EP in the 1980s before disbanding in February 1992.
After Ratt broke up, DeMartini had a short stint with the band Dokken before briefly becoming a touring guitarist for hard rock band Whitesnake in 1994. In 1995, he released his debut solo song "Surf's Up" as an EP featuring remixes of the title track, followed by his only full-length album to date, Crazy Enough to Sing to You, in 1996. Ratt reunited in 1996 and released two albums, Collage in July 1997, and a self-titled album in July 1999, which was a critical and commercial failure. In 2003, DeMartini was hired to replace guitarist Doug Aldrich in the band Dio but after several rehearsals he decided to leave the band due to musical differences with band leader Ronnie James Dio. Ratt reformed again in 2007 and began a tour in the summer of that year. In March 2018, it was widely rumored that DeMartini had lost interest with continuing forward with Ratt due to ongoing problems within the band. In July 2018, Ratt stated that DeMartini would no longer be involved with the current touring lineup as "he didn't want to go out there anymore."
VH1 labeled him as one of the ten most underrated "hair metal" guitarists of the 80s. [5]
Warren will sometimes use finger vibrato, similar in style to George Lynch.[ citation needed ] Allan Holdsworth often used the same technique, which achieves the periodic raising and lowering of the note by moving the fretting finger longitudinally, back and forth along the string, to alter the pitch, as opposed to bending the string across the frets. Moderate downward finger pressure and relatively light strings are necessary for friction of the fingertip against the string to facilitate such pushing and pulling, respectively lowering and raising the pitch, as well as frets to stop the strings, making such vibrato possible. (Violin-style vibrato requires moving the fingertip along the string's length somewhat, more of a rolling approach, since the violin and family lack frets altogether.)
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle, giving rise to the term bottleneck guitar to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.
Robbinson Lantz Crosby was an American guitarist who was a member of glam metal band Ratt, earning several platinum albums in the US in the 1980s. Crosby died in 2002 from a heroin overdose.
Out of the Cellar is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Ratt, released in 1984 by Atlantic Records. The album was an immediate success, with wide airplay on radio and heavy rotation on MTV of its singles, especially the hit "Round and Round". The album is certified as triple platinum by the RIAA. The album brought Ratt to the top of the glam metal scene in Los Angeles. Out of the Cellar would prove to be the band's most successful album.
Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to standard techniques that involve fretting with one hand and picking with the other. Tapping is the primary technique intended for instruments such as the Chapman Stick.
Jake E. Lee is an American musician best known as lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne between 1982 and 1987 and later as a member of the heavy metal band Badlands with Ray Gillen. He formed the band Red Dragon Cartel in 2013, and their debut album released in January 2014 entered the Billboard Album Chart at number 69. He has also recorded solo works under his own name—examples being the instrumental album A Fine Pink Mist (1996) and cover album Retraced (2005).
Stephen Eric Pearcy is an American musician who is the founder, singer, songwriter of the heavy metal band Ratt. He has also created the bands Firedome, Crystal Pystal, Arcade, Vicious Delite, and Vertex. He has also recorded seven albums as a solo artist.
Tooth and Nail is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Dokken, released on September 14, 1984 through Elektra Records.
Carlos Cavazo is a Mexican-American musician best known as the guitarist for heavy metal band Quiet Riot during their commercial peak. He has also played with Snow, 3 Legged Dogg, Hollywood Allstarz, and Ratt.
Robert John Blotzer is an American musician best known as the drummer for metal band Ratt. He attended Torrance High School in Torrance, California along with his future Ratt bandmate Juan Croucier.
Vito Bratta is an American guitarist and the former co-songwriter for the glam metal band White Lion. He co-founded White Lion with lead singer Mike Tramp in 1983 and played with the band until 1991.
Ratt is the debut EP by American glam metal band Ratt. It was released independently in 1983 on the band's Time Coast label.
Finger vibrato is vibrato produced on a string instrument by cyclic hand movements. Despite the name, normally the entire hand moves, and sometimes the entire upper arm. It can also refer to vibrato on some woodwind instruments, achieved by lowering one or more fingers over one of the uncovered holes in a trill-like manner. This flattens the note periodically creating the vibrato.
"Round and Round" is a song by American heavy metal band Ratt from their 1984 album Out of the Cellar. It was released as a single in 1984 on Atlantic Records.
"Lay It Down" is a single by American glam metal band Ratt. It was the first single released to promote the group's second album, Invasion of Your Privacy.
"Dance" is a song by American heavy metal band Ratt. It is the first track off their 1986 album Dancing Undercover and the tenth track of their compilation album Ratt & Roll 81-91. It reached #59 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Stephen Pearcy, guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini, and album producer Beau Hill.
"Body Talk" is a song written and recorded by American heavy metal band Ratt. The song is primarily written by Ratt's bassist Juan Croucier. Ratt's guitarist Warren DeMartini had the song's opening riffs for years. However, no one was able to develop it into a song. Under a very tight deadline, Ratt bassist Juan Croucier stepped in. He wrote all the vocal melodies and lyrics, adding additional chord progressions to the one riff that had been around for years. The song title was apparently conceived of by Ratt producer Beau Hill or vocalist Stephen Pearcy.
Warrior is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1982. Best known for their 1985 debut album, Fighting for the Earth, the band has released a total of four studio albums. Guitarist and co-founder Joe Floyd is the only Warrior member to appear on every album.
Ratt was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is perhaps best known for hit singles such as "Round and Round" and "Lay It Down", tracks that ranked on Billboard's top 40 at No. 12 and No. 40, respectively, as well as other songs such as "Wanted Man", "You're in Love" and "Dance". Along with bands such as friendly rivals Mötley Crüe, Ratt has been recognized as instrumental in the formation of the early 1980s Los Angeles glam metal scene, also known as "hair metal" or "pop metal".
Infestation is the seventh and final studio album by American glam metal band Ratt. It is the band's first original effort since their self-titled album in 1999, and the first album since the death of Robbin Crosby in 2002. This is the only album to feature guitarist Carlos Cavazo, formerly of Quiet Riot. The band would enter a turbulent time after the edition of the album, and by 2018 all musicians in it had left the band, except lead singer Stephen Pearcy. It was released by Loud & Proud via Roadrunner Records, a then-sub-label of their longtime home Atlantic Records.
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