May 10, 2005 / 846 reads
Interview by Eric Weiss of http://www.satyamag.com
Eric Weiss recently spoke with Rikki Rockett about all things rock, celebrity and the state of the animal rights movement.
When I think of the music scene and Poison, what comes to mind is sex, drugs and rock n roll, and definitely not animal rights. How did someone so immersed in a scene thats all about debauchery come to care so much for animals?
Therere a lot of reasons for it, but one thing that bothers me about rock n roll, or my genre of rock, is that it is very self indulgent most of the time. It pisses me off. Its fed by MTV and stuff. I watched VH1s The Greatest: 40 Least Metal Moments and they had this top list of stuff that didnt fit into the sex, drugs, and debauchery thing. Im surprised they didnt have me in there talking about how Im un-metal for feeling this way about the animalsmass slaughter of animals, how metal is that? Is that cool? It does bother me. But Im an individual. I feel things and certain things have changed me over time. It didnt all happen at once, but it did sort of landslide at one point, and it brought me to the place where I am.
What was that landslide moment for you?
In high school I had been involved with anti-vivisection. I was going to be a biology major, and then I started to see what was happening with dissection. I did a pro/con project and took the side of an anti-vivisectionist. I began to understand that whole side of animal rights, but I wasnt vegetarian and there were all these other things I didnt connect the dots with.
But about 13 years ago, I was asked by a small grassroots [animal rights] group to be involved in a fundraiser. I said thats fine, but dont pull me into the vegetarian stuff because I dont feel that. If its about vivisection, Im there; if it isnt, Im not. [Then] I basically sat with this one person for about eight hours who patiently answered every single question I ever had about animal rights and absolutely put me into a spin for at least two weeks because I finally connected the dots. Thats kind of what changed me. It wasnt that I got brain-washedI had specific questions. I was coming from the place of a guy growing up in Pennsylvania who took the hunters safety course when I was 12 and had steak every Sunday. And I hammered this poor girl for hours asking what if this? or what if that?with all the typical arguments a layman would give. She was just completely patient and answered every one one them, one by one. It didnt become a battle of semantics. I aspired to have that effect on at least one other person. Im still not that good. I still get spirited.
I think thats such an important point because I think its such a logical issue but also such an emotional one. For so many activists, its hard not to get spirited. Its good to find out that you spoke with someone who maintained her calm and was able to speak to you in the most effective way.
The opposition will come at us and say you are just being emotional. Ive come to the conclusion that I dont think thats entirely bad. It seems believing that feeling is the truth. If something visual is stimulating or you hear about something that is happening to cats and you react to it, why is that such a bad thing? I understand their point, because you can get to a point where you are not looking at something in a rational way. Yes, we need to be rational, but I dont think you can separate the emotional part of the plight of animals. It is the thing that drives us.
Youve had celebrity status for some years now, and Im wondering what your view is on using famous artists and celebrities to further the cause of animal rights. Specifically, do you think it helps the movement and gets people truly interested? Or do you think the movement has been focusing too much on celebrities, almost style over substance?
I think that if people didnt believe in the fantasy of celebrity culture, I probably wouldnt be anywhere. But looking from the outside in, I think the emphasis we put on celebrities and what they think is completely absurd. We do the same thing with sports stars. Because somebody can put a ball through a hoop, we want to hear his opinion on apartheid, and it just drives me crazy.
People grow up these days not wanting to educate or culture themselves; they want to figure out how they can win the latest version of American Idol. That bums me out. This is the problem with the media right now. [Yet], if I call the media about a demonstration about something that isnt fair, generally, if its animal rights they wont even respond. But if, say, Brad Pitt is going to be there, then I can get some media. But Im not so sure that kind of media is the best. It is great to get the attention, but when that happens Im not so sure the attention stays focused on the issue. With Id rather go naked than wear fur, I dont even know if people are looking at the message, except to see if the girl is hot or not. I dont know how effective it is. But I dont know how to be effective in this changing culture. Its getting harder to fight.
When you are a celebrity its tough, because everyone is looking to ridicule you, not necessarily to hear what you have to say. Unfortunately, a lot of times I dont feel that effective, and almost feel that if I was more anonymous I could get more done. People want to focus in on everything I may or may not do right. I had someone jump all over me because I had a 50 year-old leather jacket on when I was riding my motorcycle. They want to focus on one little thing over the thousands of positive things I do for the animals.
How has it been with your band mates? Have you had any influence on them or are they just like "what the hell has happened to you Rikki"?
They are not disrespectful of me and I was quite surprised about that. There have been times when Ive woken up on the tour bus and we are stopped at an Arbys and [the food] is on the bus and I have to smell it. But generally speaking they are pretty cool. We have to live together. I cant live in a glass house. I went through a phase where I couldnt even be around meat-eaters. I just cant do that anymore, I have friends who are meat-eaters. Im more effective just setting an example, to tell you the truth, rather than segregating myself.
Speaking of tours, when we spoke awhile back you mentioned talking with Ted Nugent about animal rights when he was on tour with Poison. Now he hosts hunting tours, runs a hunting camp for kids and delights in tormenting both animals and animal activists on his reality TV show Surviving Nugent. Im wondering what its like to talk to the guy. Do you feel like youve gotten through to him at all?
No, I dont. Hes gotten worse over the years too. He was with Damn Yankees at the time and they opened for us. Generally, he wasnt aroundhed go hunting or run off somewhere and wouldnt come in until the last minute to play the show. I didnt see much of him, but when I did there was just a line of stuff that he went through. Hell say his piece and walk away. Hell never listen to what you have to say.
The main thing I said to him was by being an animal rights activist, I dont get one cent (in fact if it does anything, it creates other issues in my professional life). But you make money off of your abuseyou sell stuff. You are making money off it; Im not making one dime. Lets see who has got the validity here.
As someone who has been involved in the animal rights movement for some years, what is your take on the movement? Where do you think it is succeeding and where is it failing?
Its a huge question. For one thing, I dont like to be judgmental of groups in the movement. But I wish that each group would find their niche, stick to it and be effective in that area. There are too many groups trying to do too many things and they dont get any one thing done. And the media will go to what they consider to be the nuttiest thing. We need to manipulate the media better. I think the animal rights movement needs to be promoted like a rock band. It needs to be marketed because its not effective any other way. Either that or not even worry about getting in the media anymore and just do it on the grassroots level and be happy with that and maybe well be just as effective.
Were not taken seriously. Thats the problem. When you are talking about vivisection and somebody comes out in a bunny suitwhen you are talking about children starving in other countries, you dont have someone in a bunny suit hopping [around]. When you have any serious issue, it should be approached seriously. And what we are doing is using anything to get the word out there. Just like the old saying that any publicity is good publicity. I dont agree with that. We live in a different world now. The media is looking to find somebody goofy in our movement and there are plentythere are in any movement.
I think we need to unite more on how we want people to see us. Its the trickiest thing in the world because everyone wants to express themselves, and I respect and completely understand that. I just hope more people will look at the consequences of how they express themselves before they do it.
Do you think that wearing your politics on your sleeve has influenced many die-hard Poison fans? Is there a legion of vegan Poison fans out there wearing faux snakeskin boots and faux leather pants?
It has been effective. Its funny how animal rights, animal rescue, animal welfare are three different topics, but the public at large looks at them the same. They kind of put them all together. I say Im involved in animal rights, and they say we just love our puppy. They just dont understand. I kind of get a smattering of all of it. There have been some people who have gone to my website and then on the Internet and have become hard-core animal rights activists. That really makes me happy that Ive had that influence. Not everyone is going to be influenced to that degree. My goal is not for someone to do it because of me. My goal is to just expose someone to it, and out of their own consciousness, they explore it and want to do it.
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