Keith West - The Brats

Keith West in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://hozacrecords.com/bands/brats/

Before there was KISS, before there were The Ramones and Blondie, there was The Brats. The Brats and The New York Dolls were at the forefront of the NYC music scene of the Seventies.

Brat, Rick Rivets, actually quit The Dolls to form The Brats. The Brats would become the biggest draw in NYC from 1972 to 1981 and every band hoped to open for them for the exposure. Just ask any one of the members of KISS or The Ramones (“Beat on The Brat!”) or any other NYC band for that matter, The Brats were a big influence on them and the whole NYC music scene of the Seventies. Their story begins one night while hanging out with Alice Cooper downstairs at Max’s, Keith West and the boys were giving the waitress a hard time. Alice leaned over and said “You guys are a bunch of Brats” and they took him literally. Early on, The Brats rehearsed in a loft on Bleecker Street, where they would stage their infamous loft parties, often with an then unsigned band, KISS, as their opening act. They headlined all over the New York City area with other up and coming bands like Blondie, The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads and The Heartbreakers