Early Life
Rat Skates grew up in a conservative middle-class household in New Providence, New Jersey, where he attended school, played sports and drew artwork. By age ten, he was listening to music daily from The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Elton John during his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road era. He achieved semi-professional status as a skateboarder and was sponsored by surf shops in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. He won first and second places in freestyle, slalom, and ramp competitions. His friends dubbed him with the nickname "Rat Skates" combining part of his last name and skateboarding.
At age 15, he studied jazz drumming techniques with instructor Jack Robertello, and taught himself to play the drum parts of songs performed by rock drummers Cliff Davies, Joey Kramer, John Bonham and Peter Criss. Skates met Carlos Verni (later known as D.D. Blaze, then D.D. Verni) in New Providence High School in 1976, and they formed a punk group known as The Lubricunts. At age 17, they played the nightclubs CBGB, Great Gildersleeves, Max's Kansas City, Trudy Heller's, Bottany Talk House, The Mudd Club and The Showplace.
While he was working at his first post-high school job as a graphic artist and printing press operator at RC Graphics in Caldwell, New Jersey, Skates met the Misfits founder/bassist Jerry Only while he was delivering printed materials to the X-Acto knife blade factory where Only worked. Only booked a recording session Skates to play drums for a Misfits recording, but could not use his mother's car to make the session. He worked as a stock boy in the Summit Food Market to re-pay his mother who loaned him money to purchase a Ludwig double bass drum kit that he re-fitted with Tama heads. Skates and Verni were listening to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Riot, Accept, AC/DC and Scorpions as they wanted a heavier sound, and the Lubricunts disbanded.
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