RAT SKATES - Born In The Basement [DVD]

Posted: 02/17/08

Reviewed by: Dirt

Category: Thrash Metal

Released: 05/12/07

Label URL: www.mvdvisual.com

Artist URL: www.ratskates.com      www.kundrat.com

Drummer Lee Kundrat co-founded New Jersey thrash metal veterans Overkill along with bass player Carlo Verni.  Somewhere along the way, this has been forgotten by the metal community.  If you were to ask the average metal fan, they'd probably say that Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth founded Overkill and they might not even remember Rat Skates.  The truth is that Kundrat seems to have been the mastermind.  As the band began, he took on the name Rat Skates (he was an avid skateboarder) and Carlo Verni became D.D. (after Dee Dee Ramone), and they recruited Blitz and a host of guitarists (including Dan Spitz before he joined Anthrax) before settling in on Bobby Gustafson.

Rat Skates assembled this very professional DVD (aside from his friend who acts as a the interviewer, but comes off as he's reading his lines) and sets the record straight about his importance in Overkill's development.  From what you'll see in this DVD, without Skates, Overkill would surely not exist today.  From his explanations, he (with some help from his wife) was the primary force in getting the band to the pro level.  Not only did he create the Overkill logo and its famous green color, but he also developed the band's early sets, Overkill's stage backdrop, and stage clothing, as well as dubbed the band's demo tapes one by one in his bedroom.  He explains how he used stolen milk crates to lift the drum riser high in the air and hid them behind a professional looking castle wall that was actually hand-made with styrofoam and colored in by hand with markers.  He talks of silk-screening every tee-shirt that the band was to sell by hand late into the night, while the other band members were out partying.  He also describes how he hand-made his stage clothing, which was often passed down to Blitz when he got bored with it.

The Bloody Truth:  This certainly isn't your average band documentary.  It comes from someone who has been unjustifiably forgotten by the the metal community and someone that the band never discusses or gives credit to.  This is certainly a sore point that Skates  mentions at the end of the DVD, but it isn't something that he harps on.  For the most part, he remains quite positive and fond of his time with the band.  In 1987, Rat left Overkill of his own free will because success didn't fulfill him the way he thought it would.  However, in leaving the band, he seems to now know that he made a terribly bad business move, as D.D. and Blitz have benefited monetarily from his early hard work.  Apparently, he had hoped that the guys would provide him with some compensation over the years but his naiveté certainly proved to be a big mistake.  Born In The Basement is a captivating DVD - one that every Overkill and thrash metal fan must see!