Riki Rachtman (Headbanger's Ball, The Cathouse)

Riki Rachtman is a TV/radio personality best known for hosting MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. He also owned the legendary Hollywood rock club The Cathouse. He has also done a lot of work for NASCAR and has an annual charity motorcycle ride called “Riki’s Ride.”  In this episode we’ll discuss how The Cathouse started, his relationship with Guns ’n Roses, his portrayal in the Pam & Tommy series, the possibity for a Cathouse TV series and more! 

00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Headbanger's Ball & Cathouse 
04:20 - Beating Up The D.J. & Gratitude 
05:54 - Going To Shows 
06:43 - Guns 'n Roses 
08:30 - Memories & Friends 
12:05 - Opening the Cathouse 
14:40 - Sometimes Giving Up is Ok 
17:03 - Podcast & Other Projects 
18:52 - Getting Help & Control Freak 
24:35 - Cathouse in Pam & Tommy Show 
27:15 - Meeting Fans  
29:25 - Cool With Rockstars & Dave Mustaine
30:27 - My Chemical Romance 
33:35 - The Cathouse TV Show 
35:35 - Alice Cooper 
37:02 - Positivity Vs Negativity 
43:15 - Outro 

Cathouse Merch website:
https://www.cathousehollywood.com

Riki's Ride fundraiser:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/TheRide22

Chuck Shute website:
http://chuckshute.com

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:00

All right. Ricky Rachman is here today. Very cool, a little bit surreal as I grew up watching him on headbangers ball, and if I could go back in time to 15 year old me and tell him that one day Ricky Rachman would be on my show, I don't think he would believe me. So I'm very grateful to have Ricky on today we're going to talk headbangers ball, the cat house, Ricky's ride and more stick around Yeah, so the fun thing, the first thing I want to ask you about was just, you know, before we do this interview, it's just so interesting to hear you talk about how and I understand it too. Well, I guess what I want to get your take is just how monotonous it would used to get talking about the cat house and the headbangers ball, like you kind of got sick of it for a while. Right?

Riki Rachtman: 0:52

I will I? It's a good question. I sort of got sick of it for a while. Because that was at a point where I was going through a lot of other stuff, where I was, you know, focusing on I was doing talk radio, I was working a lot in NASCAR was doing all this other stuff. But what I didn't realize is that, that not talking about it was kind of a messed up move on my part, because there were a lot of people you know, headbangers ball was my job. cathouse was more than my job because it's what I create. I mean, I'm in an in two office buildings right now that just do cat out shirts, Cat House, coffee, get us everything. So I'm so like, Cat House means everything to me. But I didn't realize, you know, if there was a show that I used to watch, especially if I was a kid, if there was a show that I watched, and I went went up to that person, and I wanted to ask him something about that show. And then he was like, I don't really want to talk about I'd be like, well, that's kind of messed up. And it would really bummed me out. Like headbangers ball was very, very important to a lot of people. And cathouse I'm, I'm so grateful that it's still important to people. So for me not to talk about it, even though I've talked about it every single day for decades. But somebody's hearing it for the very first time. So there was a time that I wanted to move on. I was going through some different stuff. And now I'm at a point where my career is is better than it ever has been. And now I welcome talking about headbangers by welcome talking about the cat house, you know, and, and I know you know, I'm about to start again, my big charity motorcycle ride. And people are always going to be asking me when I stop on the ride about headbanger stuff for cat stuff. So now I'm at a different point in my life, where a I'm a hell of a lot older. And I should be grateful that anybody even remembers any of the stuff I did. Because you know, I'm not a guy that's trying to relive the 80s and 90s. I know that that I'm older, and that people liked some of them liked the stuff that I used to do. And that's very, very flattering, and I shouldn't I shouldn't be very, very grateful of it. So yeah, when it's the same questions over and over again. But you got to, I have to realize that even though it's the same question to me, they're asking this because they don't know the answer. So So you know, it's like, if you're in a band, and you've got that one hit, and then you decide, you don't want to play that hit anymore, because everybody because you're sick of playing it, it's like, well, you're denying the people that want to hear that hit, you know, and that's, so there was a time that it was just like, you know, I was doing I was I was working all the time doing all radio stuff, or, and or NASCAR stuff. And I will just say, it wasn't that I didn't want to talk about it. I was just I wasn't, I wasn't inviting to talk about wasn't welcoming the opportunity to talk about it. Now. I love it. If anybody wants to talk to me, I'm grateful that people want to talk to me at all, you know,

Chuck Shute: 3:56

so was it. So was it a mindset shift where you're like, Okay, I should really be grateful for this, or is it more like, okay, sometimes I'm still a little annoyed by this, but I need to change the behavior and just be more polite and understand it from their perspective.

Riki Rachtman: 4:11

I think one thing that happened to me, which was one of the worst things but actually became one of the best was when if you don't know the story,

Chuck Shute: 4:20

I think I know every story I listen to so I think I know your whole life story. But was this the one where he beat up the DJ or is it one,

Riki Rachtman: 4:26

so that yes, it was the story where I beat up the DJ. So because I've been a DJ for people that don't know I lost my job went bankrupt, nobody would hire me. I went completely broke had to get a job selling cars. And I was like, alright, you stupid it. You don't realize how good you had it. And it wasn't like, I regretted beating up the DJ, which Now wasn't that wasn't the smartest career move. But it was like, you know, when you're a young kid and you open up a club, that becomes the biggest rock'n'roll club and everybody's begging to play and every girl wants to beat your club. And every band wants to play your club, and then they offer you like a show hosting. You know, I am not a journalist. I didn't, I didn't go to Radio school, and I didn't study journalism. So they're just taking this punk from the street and making him like that guy. I'm like, I can't lose. And then I'm starting this, and this works. And that works and everything works. And then all of a sudden, it's like, Dude, you got nothing, and I lost everything. And I'm like, you're gonna get you're gonna become grateful now. So now, you know, if somebody asks you, Hey, do you want to do this? You know, you think about it, like, you know, this, this could be a fun gig. And I still turned down a lot of jobs, I turned out a lot of jobs. I'm at the point in my career right now that I only take jobs that I think are fun, like, I can't go emcee a festival, and bring on a band that I don't like, I just can't do it. But I'll go to a band, I'll go see it. So if you see me at shows, I mean, that's why I go to a few, quite a few shows. And I go purely because I just want to be there, you know, I'll, I'll drive or occasionally, you know, fly to certain shows, just because I really, you know, like, you know, when when Iron Maiden plays, I look where hotels are, and I'll fly anywhere to go that and, and there's certain bands that that all go, you know, an exodus and that's a testament that angels was played. I went there and booked hotels and all traveled to go see other shows, you know,

Chuck Shute: 6:26

but you know, you still get the hookups from your old connection sometimes, or

Riki Rachtman: 6:31

some I don't. So I mean, the thing is, I mean, of course, if it's like Exodus, or if it's something like that, or guns and roses or stuff like that, but you're

Chuck Shute: 6:44

still hooked up with I thought you guys were on the outs. Who with Guns and Roses.

Riki Rachtman: 6:49

Not with slot. I wouldn't say I'm on the outs. I don't talk to Axl. But I talked to slash and Duff. I mean, I think the last time I heard from slash was two days ago. I mean, I hear from slash all the time. We, me and my wife had dinner with him in Michigan, probably two months ago, we went and had dinner out here in North Carolina, so and Duff I think the world of stuff me and Axel, who was the one that I was actually tightest with back then. Yeah, we're not on the outs. We just don't talk. And I would love nothing more than to talk to Axel but Apsos doing his own thing. And I hope that one day we connect, but you know, I haven't reached out to him. He hasn't reached out to me. It wasn't like we had a falling out. We just don't talk and I don't really know how to get in touch with him. He's in a whole different place now. But as far as slash and Duff, I mean, slash like I said, I had just the four of us had dinner probably two months ago, out here in North Carolina. So

Chuck Shute: 7:48

okay, you know, I just I heard I heard you say that accent got kind of met because of the you said something about a stranger on headbangers ball. Now that was kind

Riki Rachtman: 7:56

of? I don't know, that's, I don't know if that's true. I mean, that was something that I said, which is probably well over a decade ago. And I don't know if that's true or not. And I don't know what the case is. But I would love nothing more to hang out with x because I've got a lot of really crazy memories with that guy.

Chuck Shute: 8:13

Yeah, I bet that would be really fun to reminisce, there's things that he doesn't remember that you remember that you could you know that you guys could relive

Riki Rachtman: 8:20

with the opposite, probably more things that I don't remember that he remembers,

Chuck Shute: 8:23

Oh, really? Because that was when you were before your sobriety right now, but even

Riki Rachtman: 8:27

even in sobriety, I can't remember stuff. I mean, I have a really good time seeing people from the past because I just like to listen to things that we did. I'm really excited on my ride this year. One of the stops is New York City on my birthday. And I'm going out to dinner with all of the people that I worked with on headbangers ball, the directors and the producers and, and I'm so excited about this, because that was such a huge part of my life. And some of these people I haven't seen, and just to sit and share stories, you know, the same stories that I share with someone like you, you know, these people were there. And they can say like, Hey, you know, they can remember when Kurt Cobain was there, and they can talk about these stories. And it's just, I'm really looking forward because I mean, all we have all of us is just as these this harddrive up there where we keep on storing information, keep on storing memories and keep on storing experiences. And when we get the opportunity to bond with some of these people, I mean, the people that I'm really good friends with are the people that I was good friends with before I even opened cathouse. So when I get together with those people, it's really really nice. You know, I love spending time maintain, maintain, we talk all the time still, we I don't think in a million years we've ever gotten more than two weeks without talking to each other. And it's just fun to talk about things and you know, I'm looking forward to being in California for guildies birthday and getting to just reminisce and just, you know, people that I've known before I ever opened Cat House. So these are people that are that are family to knew that I have so much so many experiences with and it's incredible to see, you know, this, this small group of friends. A lot of us went on to do some pretty incredible things, you know, like people say like, oh, you're hanging out with the guys and Guns and Roses and, and with faster pussycat and and now like all these people I'm like, Well, no, I'm hanging out with the people, you know, a great example is is Jay Bentley from the band Bad Religion, J. Bentley I've been friends with, since I think I was 17. You know? So I mean, I've been friends with him more before I knew Tamie or anybody. So when you're hanging out with some of these people, everybody, you people might think like, Oh, we're just hanging out with these rock stars. It's like, no, these are people that I just happen to know since I was kids since we were kids.

Chuck Shute: 10:46

Because you all had rock and roll in common. I mean, you are a fan and you're a musician. I mean, you're a singer, right?

Riki Rachtman: 10:53

I call myself I think I was in bands. I was, I thought I Yes, I played in several bands I played in the probably the best band that I was in was a band called battery club. Yeah. A little bit. That was fun. But for offspring. Yes, we did. Okay, that is true. Okay. But um, we, when I was in the band virgin, which was a Sunset Strip, and right on YouTube, there's a show that virgin played, where I do two songs with Vince Neil, and this is 1988 or nine. So that was that was pretty fun. So yeah, Virgin was a Sunset Strip. And that I was in that I was a singer up. And it was fun. You know, it was fun. I wanted you know, it's really tough when, when you're starting a band, and you want to make it in a band, and every single person around you in a band is getting a record deal and buying houses and you're like, so you know, I have moved my efforts to the cat house. And obviously, as I sit here in the cow South offices it paid off. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 12:05

Yeah. So there's one thing I didn't understand about the cat house. I think I listened to a lot of interviews with you. But I don't know the story. How did you initially get the money to open the candles? Because I think it was you and Tammy. And I think you said Tammy was working like a retail shop or something. So you guys were not rich.

Riki Rachtman: 12:20

I didn't own I didn't own the club. I didn't own the building. What I did was, and every business that I've ever ran, I mean, you know, I just I just launched a Coffee Company, which everybody said, Don't do because everybody does it. And, you know, we just put 95 bags a percent, it's sold out in an hour. It's like every business that I've run I've done without investors and without money. So I have one business that makes a little bit of money that will lead me to another business, and I'll take that money and put that into another business. And I don't know if that's smart business, because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. With the cathouse, I was a club DJ. And I told this one club, hey, I'm the DJ, this club and that club. Let me take this place, you guys keep the bar, and I'll keep the door. And then when more money came in, I spent a little bit of money on flyers and win more money because the second night of the cat is only 59 people and everybody got it free. Okay. So they don't was no money put into the cathouse. I didn't need investors, I didn't need everything. And then as the catalysts got bigger and bigger than I said, Okay, I'm gonna make cathouse T shirts. And then pretty soon everybody start buying Caddos T shirts. So I was like, I'm going to try another club. So I'd go to a club and I'd say, hey, look, I own the cat house. See how successful that is? I want to do a dance club here on Thursdays, you keep the bar, I'll keep the door, I'll bring in my own staff, and I'll pay him out of the door. So that's pretty much how it works. So it didn't work on an I mean, I think the cat house probably started with initial investment. You're the first person I'm telling this to. I think I started the cathouse with the first initial investment might have been 80 bucks to make some flyers. And then I had but then then I went into the red, because I had to pay the job paid my DJ Joseph and I didn't have any money. So I have my money from DJing. So I'd have to pay him for that. So when more money came in, so at first you know, I remember my friend Keith telling me, you know, a the chaos isn't working. I'm sorry. I'm like, nah, nah, it's gonna work. It's gonna work and and I just kept on trying. He kept on trying. And then obviously, it turned out to be something very successful.

Chuck Shute: 14:36

Yeah, though. There's so many stories like that, where it's just you just if you just keep going about hopefully, eventually that you hit success.

Riki Rachtman: 14:42

Yeah, but there's certain things like you know, I'm a big guy that says like, you know, don't give up. Don't give up don't give up. But that becomes a time when if you don't give up and move on to something else, you look pathetic. And I'm going to use a perfect example and this isn't throwing shade on anybody. But I wanted to be on Sirius XM and they had no interest in hiring me and I kept on saying, dude, I did I could do radio Cat House, I could do version of headbangers ball, and they just weren't, they just didn't even return my calls. And I was like, and it was very, very humiliating. But, but I was, then I got to the point, I'm just like, they don't want to hire me. They just don't they don't think you're good Ricky. I mean, that's the bottom line. And instead of saying, you know, fuck them, you know, I'm, I'm a subscriber and I still listen to, to their shows there. And they just don't want to hire me. So I could just keep on trying and keep on trying. And then after a while, I just look pathetic, and I'm not pathetic. I'm I do. I'm successful in the businesses that I do. Are there other things that I want to try? Yes. And do I get bummed out that I get turned down? For some of them? Yes. But it happens. You know, I'm older. Now. There's reasons. Who knows the reasons that nobody wants to be there, but they didn't. So I could say Never give up. Never give up? Well, you know, what, if I don't give up, I'm gonna look like a frickin loser. If I keep on anything, these people, they don't want to hire me. So I'm like, Okay, move on. Do something.

Chuck Shute: 16:07

That's weird, because I think a lot of people would listen, I'm a serious subscriber, I would definitely listen to a show that you are hosting. Like, for sure, I'd love to hear you. I'm like, I know, you're probably not a big hairnet hair metal fan, but I'd love to hear on Air Nation, or the boneyard or whatever those stations are,

Riki Rachtman: 16:22

I listened. I listened to both of those stations. I could even do you know, a thrash thing on old school, thrash, and liquid metal or, or I can do in any of the stations, I could be on volume and just do talk, you know, because so I listen to these shows. But you know, I don't have an agent. I don't have a manager. I, that's not I mean, I should but I don't. So it's me, you know, writing an email to somebody, maybe I'm writing to the wrong people. And I'd love to do it. But the fact that they just weren't interested. You know, I could sit here and go Oscar, I think of all the conspiracy theories that you know, somebody who doesn't like me, okay, not everybody likes me. So, instead of saying, Never give up, I'm just like, move on, you know. And I was Hollywood podcast for a short time, and got it up to a half a million downloads, which is a lot of downloads in the podcast world. That is Yeah. And, um, and, you know, I stopped but I want to start again. Yeah, what can I do the market for it?

Chuck Shute: 17:18

Yeah. What's a listen, there's only one episode on spy. It's the Motorhead one,

Riki Rachtman: 17:22

I took them all down. I just did the motor head when I took them all down. Because what I'm doing now is taking all the advertising out and I'm going to start to repost them. Problem is because, you know, what people don't know is, is right now we're here in offices that does Cat House, Hollywood merchandise, luncheon, Cat House, Cat House, coffee. Also, I work for Fox Sports and do American flat track racing. I have a nationally syndicated radio show called racing rocks. That's been on 19 years, once a week, heard on radio stations all over America, I'm getting ready to do my 10,000 mile charity ride called the ride 22. And I'm also the podcast, I write, edit, post did everything. I don't have any staff. It's all me. And I don't know how to do any of this stuff. So there's a lot of things like why don't you do this? It's like, you know, I wake up from the second I wake up, it's all work, work, work, work, work, and I work all day. And that's all I do. And that's all I'm doing right now. So it just it's very, very tight and time consuming. And I'm so scattered doing other stuff, that I don't have time to do some of these things, because there's a lot of things. I mean, there's another project that I'm launching in June. And what's that? I can't tell you yet. Damn it. You Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna announce it on my birthday. June 15. Okay, something fun. It's nothing crazy, huge. It's, it's something that's, you know, kind of bucket list thing. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 18:51

Well, have you ever thought of asking for help? Because you have so many followers and fans, like I know, like, like some of these like Donnie V from enough's enough, he would say, like, oh, all these people that were fans of mine are now like, helping me out because now they're like, in these positions, or lawyers and things. And oh, let me help you with this. And that, and

Riki Rachtman: 19:06

I tried that at once. I mean, I think the P I say rack pack, that's what they call themselves. I don't really like the word fans. But as far as my, the people that follow me, I would say that I've got one of the most loyal, greatest group of people following me whenever I drop a shirt, they're there. Whenever I'm doing a charity. I mean, they work their asses off. You know, when I do these rides, like the one I'm about to start, I raise money for charity. Every penny goes to the charity. We're just starting. And we've already raised $18,000. You know, like, we raise a lot of money because these people go out there, and they set up appearances and then I'll say, Okay, I'm gonna ride through Cleveland. So they'll all meet at milk, grilled cheese, and they're all meet me here. And whenever I release something, they come out with it and they help promote it. So, but the thing to say like I need an agent or a manager, it's like it's really sketchy? Because there's everybody does it. And, you know, the other problem is, you know, I put my name on everything that I do. And I'm really a hard person to work for sometimes because I'm very meticulous, I repeat myself, I want things done the right way. But I do you need help. I mean, I know, you know, I need help. I love welcoming artists to design some cool things and, and maybe make you know, a bag for the coffee or T shirt or, you know, be a publicist, you know, I need publicity. Yeah. Because, because all my stuff gets out word of mouth, you know, I see a lot of people talking about these, oh, and, and this, this festival is going to be this charity, and they'll raise like 8000. And I don't even know how much goes to the charity, when I do my rides. It cost me tons of money. And I donate all the money to different charities, I did 32,000 for stop social suicide, you know, 22,000 for the Alzheimer's Association. And I don't get pressed for this, because I don't have a publicist. So I do need help. And, and, you know, it was a big deal for me earlier in the year to hire another person that handles all the T shirts stuff, which is the office next door. So I do need help. And that's something that I am working on doing, you know, in the next, like, now.

Chuck Shute: 21:23

Yeah, I see the same thing for me, like with the podcast, I hate doing all the editing, I love doing the interviews, but I hate doing I'm like, there's gotta be somebody out there that would want to do that. And help, I would hope, I don't know, maybe not all you're gonna

Riki Rachtman: 21:35

do Chuck is you're just gonna listen, you're just gonna, you know, spend the time listening to it wondering why that should have been edited, or that should have just the same amount of time, when I did my start my radio show racing rocks. 19 years ago, they had writers and they had and they still have a producer and editor. I don't edit that, that reassurance that they had at the interviews. But when I started that show, they had this whole staff, because it was united stations, radio networks, which was the Clarks company, big radio syndicator. And then I said, Hey, fire, the writer, give me more money. And I started writing the show. So I start taking more and more stuff upon myself to do and because I am a control freak, and I want stuff done a certain way. But I've never had, you know, so to speak with my radio show, I do have a producer, but you know, I write every word in the script. You know, nobody gives me information or stuff like that. And the same thing with when someone buys a cat house t shirt. You know what they the cat is T shirt is like, you know, I'm looking at the quality of the shirt. I'm designing most of the shirts, I designed myself. And rarely now, but I used to be the guy folding them sticking in the envelopes. Now I help. But Karen right next door does it. But when we have the coffee company we did the 100 200 bags, you know, we're putting stickers on the bags, right over in that this part on if you can see, right? Oh, yeah, that's awesome. All the coffee shops that this my office is now this is just the coffee department of my office and, and there's another office, right next door. That's just t shirts and we have a warehouse the shirts and you know, it's just it's a very, very hands on organization. And, and it's more work but you know, I I do need somebody else to do certain stuff. But in the meantime, I like doing it myself. And I think that's why it's still working.

Chuck Shute: 23:29

Because we like to stay busy, right? You've always been kind of a go getter.

Riki Rachtman: 23:32

Yeah, I would. But I think I'd like to not busy pretty soon. And I think I've been like, like, now I get to the plan. Like what would retirement be, you know, what would? What would it be like just like to hang out on the lake and just ride my motorcycle or get an RV. I mean, you know, riding my motorcycle is my escape. And that's why I go on, like 10,000 mile rides. But I think eventually I'll get to the point where I'll just say, Okay, I'm off social media. I'm off. I'm done. I'm just done. Really? Yeah, I'm just done. You know, I still gotta go to shows and I'll still see people and do fun stuff that I want to do. And, you know, maybe spoken word stuff, but I'll just have I'll just relax and not be so worried about what which shirt do we sell? What's a new shirt that we're gonna come out within a month, you know? Because even though the shirt you're wearing is the shirt that we just selling tons of you know, and, and then in Pam Itami they're wearing that shirt, and

Chuck Shute: 24:31

I was gonna ask you about that. That was so cool. And I saw

Riki Rachtman: 24:35

what happened was they asked me they said we're doing a docu drama about Pam and Tommy and I was a DJ at Tommy another's wedding and we want to work cathouse stuff. How do you feel about us using cathouse? Oh, no, this is what they said. They said we want we want to have a Ricky Rachman character in the show. And we really Yeah, there was there was a guy that got the record store had a cat house Have a vest on with a patch and if and my wife speaks French so we get stuff in subtitles. So in stuff is in subtitles, it said Ricky Rachman speaking. Oh, I don't even notice that I Yeah. So this best I don't know if you can see this. Yeah, we never made these available for sale. I never will. Nobody's ever worn this vest. There were seven people that have on and axles worn his and we never made those because I never wanted because it was something very special for select few. And they said we're going to can we use the vest? I said no. I said I'll tell you what I make these Dickies jackets, I'll send you a big patch. And then they said, Okay, well, we also have this long sleeve flame shirt that you use to make and we just bought that. And the character is going to wear that too. I'm like, go right ahead. So they bought hats, bought shirts, I signed a release to wear it. And then the character wore that that cat out shirt with the flames on it. And then they sent it back to me. So I have the cat house shirt. That was in Pam and Tommy that they wore and you know, Tommy wears does he work account house hat I think and house hats all the time. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 26:03

Was that accurate to was he wearing those in the in the 90s?

Riki Rachtman: 26:07

Oh, yeah, I've got tons of photos of them of him wearing cat shirts. I've got photos of everybody wearing Cat House shirts. And you know, obviously I got offered money. It's like, do you want to put these in hot topic? Do you want to put these in this store? Do you? And I'm like, No, I don't. It's like, Yes, I probably would have gotten a big fat check. And then nobody would want it. But the truth is, if you bought a cat house shirt, you bought it from me, you didn't get it from anywhere else, there are people selling bootleg shirts. But if it's a cash cow shirt, it came from us getting the shirts and folding them in my office and sending them out. And sometimes I'm the one folding the shirts and when we do the cathouse I'm the one putting the coffee for now. I'm the one putting stickers on the labels and doing stuff like that, because it's my company, I own these companies. And I want to make sure that everything works great. And it doesn't need to be accessible to everybody. You know, there's something cool that when you walk into a show and you see three cat out shirts, you know, as you go to the club, where do you get the shirt? And nobody's gonna say, oh, yeah, I got it at Walmart. I got it. Yeah, they got it was cathouse hollywood.com. And I'm very proud of that. And I got

Chuck Shute: 27:15

a minor rockin pod. I met you I met you there. Well,

Riki Rachtman: 27:18

or you bought it from me. You bought you bought the shirt from me? Yeah, literally.

Chuck Shute: 27:24

Exactly. You and I think it was your assistant or? Yeah,

Riki Rachtman: 27:28

yeah, she hasn't worked there. And but Leah was there as well. And, and we had such a good time at that. That was just such a good time. So I, I don't know if we're gonna go again. But I wouldn't be surprised because it's just, it's like, you know, I don't do like velvet rope sign sign clicks on it. I like to talk, you know, you see Matt need places to talk to people. And to me, I don't care if you're in a band, or I don't care if you, you know, work at a gas station, I don't care. We've all got stories and, and everybody, and nobody is going to say otherwise. If you say that about me, maybe you caught me in a bad mood. But I do enjoy meeting people. And I don't ever believe that. You know, some rock stars is crack me up. But there's a lot of rock stars that I you know, that I'm that I've met that I that I witnessed that are so good with people. And what takes only a minute of their time is something that these people remember, you know, when I saw X, Gary Holt and zetro from Exodus, you know, there was some a kid walking by with a parent walking by the bus. And they both walked out and like, I mean, did Gary Holtz Slayer, you know, and they walked out and they spent time talking to dad talking to the kid. Now this kid is always they're gonna get back on the bus, and they're not going to remember tomorrow, but that kid is always going to remember. And that kid is going to buy music and that kid is going to buy T shirts, and he's going to tell his friends. So if, if you're a rock star, and you and and, and some fan walks by and goes, Hey, Joe or something, and you just go and you're like, wow, that guy's a dick. But if that guy looks at him and acknowledges them like, Hey, what's up? You know, you remember that? And then you'll spend your money to support what they do. And it's

Chuck Shute: 29:26

yeah, no, I totally get it. It's like whenever I have a guest off there, if sometimes I think I heard you say the same thing. Sometimes you're not as big of a fan of the music. But then you interview them and you're like, they're really cool. And then it makes you more of a fan of their music.

Riki Rachtman: 29:38

Absolutely. And it also works the opposite to if you're somebody that is a dick, you're like that song. I can't listen to that song. There was like, in the whole time. I mean, Dave Mustaine and I were friends. Yeah. No matter what everybody thinks we were friends. But there was a time that he gave me a hard time. And there was a time that he took it too far. And I was like Buck and I took a, you took a T system stuff. But um, but I love Megadeth. And I was like, I'm not gonna listen to Megadeth like when there's bands that do me wrong, I'm not gonna listen to those bands anymore. And, like, I was really like, okay, there's a band that I really, really like that a lot of my counterparts are not necessarily fans of, that you wouldn't think I like, but I'm a huge fan of My Chemical Romance. Okay, I love that band. Yeah. So, um, so I was like, wow, you know, I really liked that band. I'd like to see him live. And if I ever came in contact with them, and they were dicks. I wouldn't like that band was little do I know that the mike way from My Chemical Romance follows me on Instagram. And he writes this letter. He's like, do you know me and Gerard we used to, we used to love we'd watch headbangers ball. And I'm like, like, when I wrote him, I like to join. And so like, like, I'm a huge My Chemical Romance fan. And I don't even think he believes like, I'm a huge My Chemical Romance fan. And they're playing and I'm gonna get to go see him play. And I'm so excited to see this show. Except from what I heard when I go see and play like, because they have a young fan base, that all the kids like all sing every words and you can't hear the band. I'm going to be like that grumpy old dude. I'm like, looking at their shows. And I'm like, so excited to go see this band because I think that bands got great songs. You know? Everybody said that. bandits are guilty pleasure. You know? And, and that one's mine. I just I love that band.

Chuck Shute: 31:39

I love that. What's the album with the guy on the cover? That's kind of like all sideways. That outlaid Yes, that one is so fucking good. It's like amazing. No

Riki Rachtman: 31:48

understand why they got that whole emo thing because because emo stuff bores me, I always thought they were just like a good rock and roll band. I mean, some of their real old stuff sounds like punk rock. And some of their stuff is very kind of Bowie ish. And I just think they're just a great rock band.

Chuck Shute: 32:02

And they just had a new song come out to write. Yeah,

Riki Rachtman: 32:05

that even has a breakdown in it. And it's good. I mean, they're just good. I'm just excited to see the show.

Chuck Shute: 32:10

Yeah, I haven't seen so they're on tour. I need to see I've never seen them live and it's so funny

Riki Rachtman: 32:13

because like, you know, sometimes I'll here's from from I gotta check as I got. Let me see what time it is. I've got a couple of sometimes there's bands that that are my friends that are playing with another friends bands that are being rock stars. And you're talking about like, oh, well, you know, we drew 450, and they only do 350. And I'm hearing these bands talk like this. I'm like, Oh, God, and then I'm looking at an Instagram thing. And my chemical romance. It's like, oh, and we're setting up a football stadium for like, 50,000 people. And I'm like, Oh, God, you guys are who's bigger. We dropped 400 We drive 300 I'm like, shut up. You know, you guys are playing small bars on a Wednesday. Sorry, you have a time limit or not got about 10 more minutes, I have to have a meeting with one of the sponsors for my ride, which I hope everybody checks out goes to the ride. 22 I've got live tracking. I ride everywhere in America. And people go on social media and tell me where to stop or where to eat. Or they can see where we are and stuff like

Chuck Shute: 33:17

coming to Arizona? Um,

Riki Rachtman: 33:20

I think I don't know, my radio shows on Kane PD. My radio show has been on kpd for 19 years. Oh, um, I think I'm going to airs I don't know. I know. We're gonna ride through Calif go to California. So mine. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 33:34

I'll come see you if you're in Phoenix. Oh, I was gonna ask you Alice Cooper had suggested I love this idea that the cat house should be like a Netflix show.

Riki Rachtman: 33:46

Why? I got Alice Cooper telling you you should start the cat house and I will I want to do it. It has to be done. Right? It has to be the right writers. I don't want it to be no offense to the dirt. But I don't want it to be the dirt. The cathouse was was was yes, this magical crazy sex, drugs, rock and roll. But there was a lot of dark stuff that happened at the cat house. None of them did in the dirt. I mean, I'm not putting bad they did a good job with the dirt. But I want to do the cathouse story because it's much more than people think it was, you know, I mean, you got to understand none of us were anybody back then. And it was a place for all the misfits and the crazies to hang out and I'll become family. And, you know, I mean, I wish Alice Cooper would say Okay, I'm gonna produce this, or let's make this happen. I mean, when Alice Cooper's and Alice Cooper was like, I got a picture of Alice Cooper and a cat shirt behind me, you know, Alice Cooper is it to me, and when he's sitting there saying you should do a Netflix special i My guess you're right. But I don't have agents, managers, producers going out there trying to sell it for me. So

Chuck Shute: 34:57

just need a screenwriter, somebody to write it for First Yeah, but it's gotta be done right? Yeah, cuz I was gonna say I had the guy for the wrote the dirt rich Wilks on my show, but like you said, you knew you're saying now you're saying you don't want to be like the dirt, although he said that they twisted his script. So

Riki Rachtman: 35:11

they did. I'm sure they did. I mean, I know that they're gonna make a move. They're gonna make a documentary of that book. Nothing but a good time. You know, really, I didn't hear about that. That's what I heard. Yeah, good source. And, and, you know, that was another book and cat houses and I'm all through that book. It's like, it's, you know, it's something that should be done. And hopefully, it's something that will be

Chuck Shute: 35:33

done. Yeah. Tell me one good Cat House story before you go. Like I mean, there's so many like, the the Vince Neil, Izzy, you said that started. They're like actual stories. Like, I mean, there's so many good ones. But what's your favorite?

Riki Rachtman: 35:46

It's the Vince the Vince Neil act. I mean, my favorite story is, you know, the story of me being a kid. And my dad got me into seen Alice Cooper rehearsal, and then I got bad grades. So my dad didn't let me go see Alice Cooper. And all I cared about was Alice Cooper. And then you move 20 years later, it's Halloween. The best night in the world is see Alice Cooper. And Alice Cooper is playing at the cat house. And he opens with a song called trash where the first line is, it ain't the way she crawls across the Cat House floor. You know, when you've got your childhood idol, the biggest rock star in the world, the coolest rock star in the world, that all you wanted to do was see him as a kid. And then they didn't let you go see him. And now he's playing at your club on Halloween sing song about your club. I mean, that was just like, wow. Like, how in the world did I get here? And certain things happen? That you're just like, wow, like, like, like that was? That was the best. And these are things not like, hey, asked, Would you play Halloween house? Would you put cat offs? It's like, this is a thing that these people went out of their way to do. You know, when Guns and Roses would play the Cat House, the day before they're playing with the Rolling Stones. It's them calling me and saying, Hey, let's do something at the cat house. It's, you know, I didn't solicit these people. These people were very, very kind to me, these people have always done some really, really good good things. And there's there's a lot of there's even a lot of newer bands that are very good to me, that that reach out and that want to, you know, do nice things.

Chuck Shute: 37:30

And why do you think that is? What's the secret to your success?

Riki Rachtman: 37:34

I don't I don't know. I mean, there's and then on the same token, it's like, why are there certain people that just won't hire me? The thing is, is I'm not a journalist, a reporter, I don't. Even though some people think that I might walk around saying like, Oh, I'm hanging out with my friend that's or my hanger. If I'm saying it, it's because those people are my, you know, when I start my motorcycle ride, the first stop is to have dinner with my friend Mark Morton from Lamb of God. And then I'll probably see this person because these people are our like, friend, friends, like, these are the people that we go out to dinner with not because anybody has something to promote. And we don't talk about rock and roll, we just talk about whatever, you know, that if slashed is in North Carolina, he says like, Hey, let's go get something. It's not for promotional reasons, just because these are the people that I feel comfortable hanging with, because I've got history with. So you know, and I would do anything for them. And I don't I'm just very, very lucky. I mean, you know, and there's plenty people that if my name is brought up, they don't want to have anything to do with anything I do. I mean, I know, I know, a lot of people that feel that way. And that's okay, you know, why am I not? I had a lot of these festivals because I let people know how I feel about certain bands. Yeah, I never do. But I don't do like on social media. I really these days, if there's a band that comes out with a song that really sucks, I don't really post anything about it anymore. Because it really doesn't do anything like I saw was, there was some movie that I recently saw, and it was just so horrible. And I wanted to just say, this won't be so horrible, but then I'm like, what is it going to do? What what is it? Somebody might get butthurt about it? And how does that benefit me at all? As opposed to saying, you know, like, Hey, I just saw this show and this shows really, really good well, maybe somebody will listen to me and then sad to watch it and then maybe that person that made that show will hear him it's like that was somebody somebody nice said something about me so I'm really limiting or getting rid of all the negative things that I can because in this world, I mean, I can say anything and somebody who just writes something mean a mean about it. I can say something like you know, you know I people like Oh, Ricky I got a mohawk. Trying so hard to be relevant. I'm like, Who the hell has a mohawk? It's frickin in their 50s. And because I wandered into it, you know, it's like if my hair was short Oh, he's got his short share show. It's like, people just want to write something like if I say, I drink this water, and he's like, Oh, he's drinking water now, because he saw, you know, somebody, it's like, shut up, right? They actively really look for things to say something mean about and that doesn't. And they're miserable. It doesn't matter. Like, well, fuck you, you're a piece. It's like, okay, meanwhile, there's 100 people that are saying how much they really love this podcast or love your apparel line, or love this. And then this other guy says, We're you suck, and I'm going to answer this guy. It's like, what is the what is the logic in that it's like, acknowledge these people that are here benefiting you, because they're doing very nice things for you. And just, you know, just blocked, delete, block, delete, block, delete, you know, guess what, I don't have a million followers, because I have blocked people the second that they talk, you know, somebody would say, Oh, this logo you're using for cathouse coffee looks like this, this, you ripped it off? And then somebody would say, No, he doesn't. And then that person will say, What the hell do you know? And I'm like, Dude, shut up, you know, like, like, let's, there's no benefit of putting negative people aren't thinking you're cool and talking shit about people the same as they don't talk politics. You know, I have my very, very strong political beliefs. And I know some people that think completely opposite of me. And even though I questioned their logic, it's like, I believe that deep down inside, they want some sort of good, like we all do, you know. So

Chuck Shute: 41:43

yeah, no, I get and that's why you're saying like, at some point, you want to just delete social media, because I'm almost there. I mean, if I didn't have podcast to do and use that, I feel like it's like so pointless. A lot of the time. It's so much negativity, like it can be very positive, too, but so much negativity,

Riki Rachtman: 41:59

a lot of hate. I wouldn't be raising all this money for charity if it wasn't for social media. But what is the point of what is the point of posting negative things I did? That's how I don't get Yeah, it does nothing. I mean, it doesn't make you feel good. You know, if I say you suck, you know, some of that stuff is sticking on me if I put it that's that negative stuff. I mean, I don't you know, there's there's political things that happened. That made me furious. You know, the whole thing about COVID. Everybody's an expert. Everybody knows exactly what's going on when the truth is, nobody still knows what happened with that, you know, and I was very outspoken about a certain things and prove that I was completely mistaken. And I copped to it. I said, hey, guess what, I was an idiot. I'm wrong. You know, it's just like, everybody's an expert with everything. And, you know, if your opinion is different, damn you, you know,

Chuck Shute: 42:58

right now. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for doing this. I know you gotta get going. So let's get back to your the rest of your work. stay busy. And I'll put all the links in the show notes so people can donate. Okay, I look forward to that count house show Sunday. It's going to happen. Yes, I hope so. Okay, I'll see you later. Bye, Ricky. So cool that Ricky does the Ricky's ride and raises a lot of money for charity. So please help out if you can. You can also check out his website and grab some really cool merch. Both links are in the show notes along with my website. And you should all know the drill by now and how to support the show and our guests with the likes, comments, shares on social media, all that great stuff. No one ever does this, but maybe someday somebody would write me a nice review on Apple podcasts. It's been a while since I've had a review on there. I think the last one is a troll writing a bad review. So it would be cool to see a nice one at the top of the list instead of that bad review. So otherwise, have a great day. Thank you for listening and remember to shoot for the moon.