Jim AKA: "Rat or Ratman" Ratcliffe

"Rat", also a native of the Bay Area, picked up his first pair of drumsticks at age 8. Rat was instantly inspired by the Beatles, especially the drummer "Ringo." Rat's first drumset came two years later, a vintage Ludwig Pearl kit which got played for several years at local parties and school in two bands.

But by age 15, Rat began to grow, and got heavily into sports. In High School, he had grown into a 6'3" 225 pound football player (linebacker), bench pressing over 400 pounds and leg pressing over 800 pounds. Rat was now a full time sports fanatic, and had completely set aside any and all of his earlier music aspirations. Instead of hitting his drums, he preferred hitting running backs. What a rush! Needless to say, the drum kit was put to rest, so he thought?

Rat went on to finish college and received a B.S. degree, where he met his soul mate, soon married and had 3 children. Now married, with a family, working long hours and days for some 30 years. While cleaning out his basement, he came across his old Ludwig drum set, full of dirt, rust and dust. After cleaning the old Ludwigs up, he decided to play them, but soon found out that he was more rusty than his set.

Looking back over all those years, his major influence on drums are John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Stewart Copeland of Police, and of course the best drummer of all time, Buddy Rich! .With that, he was inspired and kept on playing for several months until he slowly but surely got his chops back. Then lead guitarist Phil Willet came into the picture late in 2005. They began jamming, working on covers and originals that Phil was writing. Before long, Bass player Chaz Hawley joined the band. We were now a power trio. As our music improved, it was decided that instead of just being a weekend jam band, it was time now to take it to the next level. That's when we picked up another awesome guitarist Eric Marston.

The rest is history. We tried out a few names and settled on the ROCK GUARDIANS. So, for Rat's sake, anyone and everyone, please come out and cheer "Big Rat" on as he attempts to deal with his Mid-Life Crisis Issues. He needs your support big time (poor dude)!

Some of Rat's hobbies other than beating the shit out of his drums are Barefoot Water Skiing, Slalom Water Sking, Snow Skiing, weight lifting, working out, and all contact sports. Rat's primary source of relaxation is hanging out at any beach in Mexico or the Carribbean, with a beer in hand and a cigar in the other....24/7!

Equipment: 7 Piece DW All Black Drum Set. All Hardwear by DW. All Cymbals by Sabien.