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Living The Life with Poison’s Rikki Rockett

Interview by Melanie Falina

When glam rockers Poison exploded onto the music scene with their debut release, Look What the Cat Dragged In, they made music fun. Like, really fun. The kind of fun that lead the charge in 80’s rock and metal that was glamorous and carefree. Of course, there were other androgynous looking bands on the rise as well, but Poison made true of their “Nothing But A Good Time” anthem for their following – and without fear of getting knifed by fellow music fans – or in some cases, the band themselves.

Thirty-five years later, albeit minus the massive makeup, hairspray, and brightly colored spandex, Poison is still bringing that good time to the table – and it’s a saving grace for fans of 80s music looking for that feel-good vibe from their formative years, as well as the younger generations of music lovers alike.

Melanie Falina of UnRated Magazine recently got the chance to talk to Poison drummer Rikki Rockett, and Rikki shared some insights on being one-fourth of a ‘band of brothers’ for three and a half decades now, to being both a dad and a cancer survivor, and how he’d love to do a reality TV show…

Check it out!

Melanie Falina: Do you still bring your scooter along with you on tour so that you could ride through the cities that you visit?

Rikki Rockett: Yeah, I do, and now I have a trailer so I can actually bring my motorcycle. But before I had a small-frame that I’d have to put in the bay of the bus and I’d have to drain the gas out every night which was a pain.

Melanie Falina: You’re a few weeks into your “Nothing But A Good Time” summer tour with Cheap Trick and Pop Evil now. Last summer, Poison toured with Def Leppard and Tesla, but for this tour you guys are headlining which is awesome to have you guys on stage for a bit longer.

Rikki Rockett: Yes, I agree – we get to spread our wings a bit.

Melanie Falina: Are there any Poison songs that you guys can squeeze in now as the headliner that you’re enjoying playing again, or are there any older songs that you would like to work into the set-list?

Rikki Rockett: You know, someone requested “Love On The Rocks” last night right in front of Bret and I, and I said ‘Yeah, I want to do it,’ and Bret was like, ‘Oh, who doesn’t?’ And I’m like, ‘No, he doesn’t.’ [laughs] We try to change things up, but you know, the set time isn’t that much longer really because there are three bands – even though we’re the headliner.

Melanie Falina: Are there any older songs that maybe you haven’t done live in forever that you’d really like to?

Rikki Rockett: I really wish we had an A and a B set, you know – honestly, I do. That’s what I would love to be able to do. There are a ton of songs that I would love to play live. I love our hits, don’t get me wrong, and I love the response that we get when we play them. But I do think that doing some deep tracks would be fun, I would actually love to do a ‘no hits’ tour, you know what I mean? Seriously! That would be kind of cool. I love all our songs but I do feel like we have this huge body of work that we’re not using, but that’s just how it is.

Melanie Falina: Poison started 35 years ago – back when you were all basically kids – did you ever think for a second that three and a half decades later you’d still be playing in this band?

Rikki Rockett: No, I didn’t, honestly. I dreamed it but didn’t know that it would actually happen. You hear, ‘living the dream,’ but honestly it’s true. It is a lot different than I envisioned it but it’s still fantastic. It’s still life – it has its ups and downs exactly the way anyone else has things in their life, but it’s just magnified in a different way. I want to write a book and I want to explain this to people [laughs]. People have said, ‘Aren’t you guys like brothers?’ and ‘Why aren’t you guys in the same bus?’ and things like that, but let me tell you something – I love my sister but I don’t want to live with her. I don’t have any brothers, I have a sister, but if I did have brothers I wouldn’t want to live with them either. So honestly, this band is a band of brothers but in some ways it’s actually more stressful because there’s more on the line. If you have a brother or sister there’s nothing expected of you – you share something at Thanksgiving and you’re done with it. [laughs] There’s not a responsibility. But the band – it’s like this child that we all have to share custody of, and we all have our own way of doing it at times. So this is why there are many divorces in bands. [laughs] Proverbially.

Melanie Falina: What are the best things about touring right now at this point in time, and what are the worst things?

Rikki Rockett: I think it’s all together better, for me. At 20 years we got our own buses to travel in, and that’s not to be snide but it’s nice to have your own space. I’ve got a trailer with a motorcycle out with me, I’ve got tools so I can work on it, my cameras – I’m kind of a camera buff, and I’m never bored on the road. When you’re all cramped on a bus – road crew, band, everybody – you’ve got to respect each other’s space, it’s just a lot more stressful. If you leave a bag in the middle of the hallway somebody is mad about it or whatever. It’s prison-like, you know what I mean? You understand why someone gets shanked over a ham sandwich. [laugh] On the bus there are these things – who stole someone’s DVD or whatever – all these little things because huge things.

Melanie Falina: You’ve already had an interesting life – in addition to music, you’re a dad, you’re a black belt, you’re a cancer survivor – I can go on and on. So what would you say is the most important lesson you’ve learned thus far in life?

Rikki Rockett: Wow, that’s kind of tough because there’s a yin and a yang there. I think that my kids have been a blessing because they’ve taught me a lot, especially having a girl. You know, the boy is such a reflexion of me, but the girl – I want to teach her how to be treated, how she’ll put up with things – that’s an important thing. Somebody posted this thing the other day that said, ‘As for my girls, I’m going to teach them to think that they can breathe fire.’ And I want to do that with my kids, without spoiling them. Then on the flipside, I had the cancer thing that taught me a whole other lesson. After the cancer thing a lot of people ask me if I want to stop and smell the roses more, but no. I’ve lost a little bit of time and I realize our time is limited. So I’m a whole lot less patient these days, if I meet somebody and they’re like, ‘Oh, bro, I’ll call you!’ and they don’t call me, that’s it – I’m done. I’m totally done with them. People don’t get second chances in my life because I know now, when I look back, how many people have burned me and wasted my time. And like the song, “Life Loves A Tragedy,” if you listen to that song, there’s a little bit of that truth in that.

Melanie Falina: I know that Poison is taking up the bulk of your time right now, but what’s going on with your other band, Devil City Angels?

Rikki Rockett: It’s funny that you mention that, we just did a Devil City Angels music video for a new single called “Testify.” We’ve got Joel Kosche from Collective Soul on guitar, and we’ve got a guy called Topher Nolan out of Nashville who was with John Corabi – Corabi went on to do The Dead Daisies so we grabbed Topher – not a big name, you know? But he’s kind of like Brandan [Gibbs] in that we’re lucky to have a guy who’s that talented and hasn’t been grabbed up by someone already. So that’s the band and I’m telling you, this new song is really, really cool. It’ll be out in the new few weeks, we’re moving pretty quickly with it. I’m super excited.

Melanie Falina: Ok, so now for a question you probably get asked all the time and are tired of having to answer – but do you foresee there ever being another Poison album with all-new material?

Rikki Rockett: You know what, I don’t have an announcement about that, but we have talked about new material quite a bit, and we’ve messed around with stuff. So would we do it? All I can say is I hope so because I think it would be fantastic.

Melanie Falina: Is there anything else in your life, musically or otherwise, that you would like to do?

Rikki Rockett: Well, I’m pretty into motorcycles and I have a blog that’s pretty much motorcentric, so I spend a lot of time with my YouTube channel doing that stuff from the perspective of being on a motorcycle – like what’s life like when you’re riding. So I do a lot of that already and I have a really good idea for a reality TV show that I’m going to pitch after this tour is over and it has to do with motorcycles. So that’s what I’d like to do. And you know the motorcycle community is shrinking, actually, newer riders are not emerging as quickly as even five years ago – so I want to help with that. It’s kind of like trying to fix Global Warming [laughs], I’m going to do my part. Riding just takes you to a lot of places that you might not even have cared to go to, but then all of a sudden you’re like I’m glad I got here.

Melanie Falina: Is there anything you’d like to say directly to your fans?

Rikki Rockett: Yes. Honestly, the fans are the reason why we’re still here after all these years. People ask, ‘What is the secret to your longevity?’ Fans! We’re very lucky to have them, and I’m lucky to be in a band where fans have embraced us so well. If they hadn’t, we just wouldn’t be able to do it. I love them. And I know other groups and artists have talked about that but I feel like they just say it but I really mean it.