Rat Skates

Rat Skates (born Lee Kundrat, on May 17, 1961 in Summit, New Jersey) is a filmmaker, writer and musician. He is most widely known as a director of music documentaries and his contributions to the thrash metal genre as the founding drummer of Overkill.

Early life

Rat Skates grew up in a conservative middle-class household in New Providence, New Jersey, where he attended school, played sports and drew artwork. By age ten, he was listening to music daily from The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Elton John during his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road era. He achieved semi-professional status as a skateboarder and was sponsored by surf shops in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. He won first and second places in freestyle, slalom, and ramp competitions. His friends dubbed him with the nickname "Rat Skates" combining part of his last name and skateboarding.

At age 15, he studied jazz drumming techniques with instructor Jack Robertello, and taught himself to play the drum parts of songs performed by rock drummers Cliff Davies, Joey Kramer, John Bonham and Peter Criss. Skates met Carlos Verni (later known as D.D. Blaze, then D.D. Verni) in New Providence High School in 1976, and they formed a punk group known as The Lubricunts. At age 17, they played the nightclubs CBGB, Great Gildersleeves, Max's Kansas City, Trudy Heller's, Bottany Talk House, The Mudd Club and The Showplace.