October 29, 2015 / 834 reads
Rikki recently spoke with Big Music Geek, a few excerpts follow below:
Todd: Poison hasn?t been particularly active recently. Was that a deciding factor in regards to you joining Tracii?
Rikki: "No, we really havenÂ't. ItÂ's been frustrating during the past few years because we havenÂ't been working very much at all. WeÂ've done a lot of corporate shows, but thatÂ's it, really, so that?s been getting frustrating because I do like to record, I do like to create and make music and all of that kind of stuff. ThatÂ's kind of why I finally said Â'You know whatÂ' I am going to go do this. IÂ'm going to make the move and do some different stuff."
Todd: How did everyone become involved with The Special Guests (i.e. Brandon Gibbs, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall and Rikki Rockett)? Was it simply a matter of everyone wanting to move forward despite Bret? scheduling?
Rikki: "It came after the Devil City Angels because we were out there touring. ...Bobby came out to a show in Florida and came up and played a song with us. We had been offered some shows that Bret wasnÂ't interested in doing, so we looked at each other and went ?Brandon?s kind of an obvious fit to this isnÂ't he? Well, letÂ's just do that. We canÂ't say that weÂ're Poison, but let?s go do these?. That?s pretty much how that came about. ...I think Bobby and C.C. were way more apprehensive because I had been working with Brandon for a while and I knew that he could handle it. I had no doubt in my mind that he could handle that pressure and that he wouldnÂ't go out there and try to be Bret, ya know? ThatÂ's something we would not want. A Poison fan wouldnÂ't want it and I wouldnÂ't want it either. He went out there and gave it justice, but then again, he wasnÂ't out there trying to be Bret Michaels. I think people saw that, respected it and thought it was really good. WeÂ've been asked to do a lot of things, but weÂ're being very careful about what we do and how we do it. WeÂ're thinking about what our next step is going to be at this point in time. ...But thereÂ's only so much you can do. Bret hasn?t really wanted to work with us on an equal basis for quite some time. At one point, you have to go Â'Well, my hands are tied here. LetÂ's think of another way to go about doing thisÂ'. But IÂ'm really not ready to do that. ...I love playing Rock Â'nÂ' Roll and I love playing for big audiences, too. IÂ've been very fortunate to be able to go out on a big stage, play my own drum kits and go off for three, four or five months and do what I love to do. ThatÂ's the thing that Poison has afforded me to do, so I cherish that. ...I would love to do it more, but BretÂ's the wild card here. HeÂ's the one thatÂ's been busy and has been less than willing to work with us on different things. I know Brandon would absolutely love to do it, so this all goes into when we consider what we are going to do with it moving forward."
