Rat Skates - Born in the Basement

Rat Skates (a.k.a. Lee Kundrat) is best known as the original drummer of New Jersey thrash metal legends Overkill. Rat abruptly left that band in 1987 and then seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth for almost two decades. So where has he been all this time? It seems Rat married his girlfriend Lori and has gone into independent film and video production. He's just released BORN IN THE BASEMENT, his own DVD detailing the formative years of the Thrash Metal movement as seen through his own eyes. It's kinda like a homemade "Behind The Music: Overkill," but with a more personal touch than you'd get from one of those sterilized VH1 productions. Rat (still long haired and old school to the bone!) is the good-humored host and narrator of BORN IN THE BASEMENT and we join him as he tells the story of Overkill's early days, going all the way back to their roots in Rat's high-school punk band "the Lubric*nts." During their Lubric*nts period, Rat and future Overkill bassist Carlo (a.k.a. D.D.)Verni gained their first on-stage experience and learned about the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) punk spirit of self-promotion that would serve Rat well when the band eventually revamped its lineup, changed its name to Overkill, and "went Metal," eventually becoming one of the premier Thrash Metal outfits in the world. One thing I was surprised to learn from BORN IN THE BASEMENT was how integral Rat Skates was in getting that band's name around in their unsigned days. You rarely think of the drummer as being the "go-to" guy in a band, but Rat lived, breathed, and busted his ass for Overkill 24-7 in those days!! He designed the logo that they still use today, silk-screened the band's first T-shirts, copied and mailed out thousands of demo tapes and press kits, filled merchandise orders, and designed backdrops and stage props, all on a shoestring budget! When you see some of the early live footage of the band, it's amazing to think that their impressive, professional looking castle-and-dungeon styled drum riser and back line was made up of milk crates covered in homemade Styrofoam "bricks," or that the gigantic "OVERKILL" logo at the back of the stage was made by Rat himself with magic markers, scissors, and a LOT of patience! In addition to those amazingly cool live videos of Overkill in their formative years (when they were a bit more, shall we say, "theatrical" looking than they are now…) you'll see killer photos of the other early thrash bands (Metallica, Anvil, Venom, Slayer and many others) playing at such long-gone tri-state area dives as the Showplace in Dover, NJ, Club 516 in Old Bridge, NJ, and the Paramount Theater on Staten Island, NY. The overwhelming feeling I got from BORN IN THE BASEMENT was how much fun (and hard work) it must've been to get a band off the ground in the midst of the early 80s thrash metal explosion. (Sadly, even though I've lived in New Jersey for my whole life, I was a mere pre-teenager at the time so I didn't get to experience the thrash movement till it was already in full swing…) It's fascinating stuff for an old school metal trivia geek like myself. Of course, since this is Rat's own video, it's HIS viewpoints and opinions, though I'm sure if you asked Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth or D.D. Verni about certain pivotal moments in Overkill history, their takes on things would probably be quite different from Rat's. It would've been nice to see either of those guys make an appearance in this documentary, but from what I gather it didn't end well between them when Rat left the band so there's probably still some bad blood there. On the whole, however, Rat's DVD is fascinating viewing and it makes for a nice companion volume to Overkill's BATMEN: THE RETURN documentary that was included on the WRECKING EVERYTHING live DVD, because it filled in a lot of blanks about Overkill's early history. I have been an Overkill fan(atic) since the FEEL THE FIRE days and I thought I knew everything about the band, but I learned a few new things from BORN IN THE BASEMENT!! Don't skip over the bonus features on this DVD, by the way, because you'll miss out on even MORE cool stuff, like the interviews with Lubric*nts vocalist Billy Vector (abso-f**kin-lutely hilarious!!) and original Overkill guitarist Riff Thunder (no kidding), some clips from an unfinished video documentary from 1986 ("Escape From Stalag 13"), live clips and an interview from a New York City public-access cable music show ("Rock Pipeline') in 1984, and tons more… I usually ignore the bonus features on DVDs but I've actually watched some of this stuff more than once! I guess it's pretty obvious by now that I loved this video, huh? If I haven't made it abundantly clear by now, BORN IN THE BASEMENT is well worth checking out if you've ever been an Overkill fan or if you grew up in the New York/New Jersey area during the 80s...or both, like me. Thanks for the memories, Rat, and welcome back!!