1. Rat Skates was born on Lee Kundrat on May 17,1961 and is an American filmmaker, writer and musician.
19 Facts About Rat Skates
1. 2.
Rat Skates is most widely known as a director of music documentaries and his contributions to the thrash metal genre as a founding member and the original drummer of Overkill.
3.
Rat Skates grew up in a conservative middle-class household in New Providence, New Jersey, where he attended school, played sports and drew artwork.
4.
Rat Skates achieved semi-professional status as a skateboarder and was sponsored by surf shops in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
5.
Rat Skates won first and second places in freestyle, slalom, and ramp competitions.
6.
Rat Skates's friends dubbed him with the nickname "Rat Skates" combining part of his last name and skateboarding.
7.
Rat Skates 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.
8.
In March and September 1983, Rat Skates co-composed five original songs for a demo tape titled Power in Black.
9.
Rat Skates dubbed individual cassette-tape copies for selling and to solicit for a recording contract, used a Xerox photocopier in a library to create a two-sided cover, and shrink wrapped copies using plastic film used to make fruit baskets and a hair dryer to include in their press kit.
10.
Rat Skates established a relationship with Jon and Marsha Zazula in 1982 by mutual acquaintances of the Old Bridge Militia, an assembly of heavy metal fans and roadies who were providing their home for musicians Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton to live.
11.
Rat Skates toured for these records in North America, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Great Britain, Poland, France, Holland and Austria as thrash metal bands experienced exponential growth during these years.
12.
Rat Skates became inundated with touring and recording commitments, and stated that the close-mindedness of some band members was suppressing Overkill's success, and the inability to satisfy his work ethics resulted in deep depression, excessive sleeping and alcoholism.
13.
Rat Skates refused to meet the commitments required by a recording artist employed within the recording industry, and he announced his departure in Los Angeles, California in the fall of 1987 while completing a tour with Megadeth.
14.
Rat Skates noted that when he removed the cross emblem from between the words in his original logo design, he never connected the two words "Over" and "Kill" together, and that is it was never resolved as being a one-word or two-word name, suggesting that Lemmy from Motorhead would know the answer.
15.
In 1988, Rat Skates wrote Some Stuff I Recorded, a ten-song demo of ideas to share with other musicians for a new project, where he played bass, drums, keyboards and vocals while intoxicated.
16.
From 1988 to 1996, Rat Skates established a career as a percussion instructor through both private instruction and the New Jersey Percussion Center in Rockaway, New Jersey.
17.
Rat Skates freelanced for the Suburban Cablevision television network as an audio engineer, live mixer and cameraman from 1988 to 1992; departing due to creative conflicts.
18.
Rat Skates conceptualized Rock-Un-Rold, a musician's television talk show with colleague David Ellefson, and filmed a demo shoot at The Studio in New York City on October 28,2007.
19.
Rat Skates married photographer and merchandiser Lori DeAngelis whom he had dated in 1980; she is third cousin to director Brian De Palma.