The V-Rats

The idea and concept of 'The Vaseline Rats' (The V-Rats) has been around for some time now, headed up by bass guitarist and vocalist Pete MZ Emms. The band came together in 2004.
The V-Rats have raised their musicianship in spectacular fashion as the live 'back bone' for a tour of the United States as part of a celebration of 20 years of 'New Wave Of British Heavy Metal' with Al Atkins (Judas Priest), Jess Cox (Tygers Of Pan Tang) and Dennis Stratton (Iron Maiden, Praying Mantis).
Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin (Plant & Bonham), Judas Priest, bands that set the template for the future of Heavy Rock and Metal all have a common thread, they all came from central England from an area called 'The Black Country'. The V-Rats are Black Country born and bred and very aware and immensely proud of this heritage. The V-Rats hail from a session based back ground working with artists from Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Tygers Of Pan Tang to name a few. The V-Rats were already being used as a 'band for hire' for live work so the transition to The V-Rats becoming a band in their own right was a natural progression.
A question MZ is asked all the time is "Where did you get the name Vaseline Rats?"
MZ replies, "Well, some years ago, after leaving one of my old bands A.N.D., I was putting a new band together. I was struggling to think of a name for us when a couple of incidents happened and fate kinda took over. I'd been harassing some management teams in London. One was Simon Napier Bell with former Deep Purple and Whitesnake manager John Coletta. John was very surprised to see me at a private party I'd used my 'initiative' to get into. His words were "Bloody hell MZ! You can get into places a Vaseline rat couldn't get!" The name kinda stuck in my head.
The following day I read an article about the LA rock scene in which a journalist described the lifestyle of rock musicians as 'no better than vermin in the city'. John Coletta's words came back to me and I thought 'yeah, The Vaseline Rats, rock n roll vermin' and so the V-Rats were born!"