The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Poison to perform at Blossom June 12
Drummer Rikki Rocket loves playing with his enduring 1980s rock band on big summer tours
The band has more than enough hits to keep hitting the road, making sure the “Good Time” goes on...
It doesn’t matter that Rikki Rockett is late calling for a phone interview or that he thinks he’s talking to a different writer. ¶ It doesn’t matter because he’s Poison’s drummer, and he’s busy driving on a beautiful Los Angeles freeway headed to a workout. He’s wearing sunglass — ostensibly because the sun is glaring. However, when you’re a platinum artist from the 1980s, you’d better be wearing sunglasses. • “You know what? I really honestly never thought we’d get as big as we got,” Rockett said. “All of us were looking for a career. We thought maybe we could get to a Kix level if we were lucky and just be able to get out there and make a living doing what we love to do. We never thought it would go to the level that it went. We were a bar band.”
Playing the role of rock star has always suited Rockett, born Richard Ream. He’ll be on the road with Poison for another summer, this time with openers Cheap Trick. The night of rock comes through Northeast Ohio for a show June 12 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls.
During the late ’80s and early ’90s Poison rode the glam-metal wave to the tune of more than 40 million albums sold worldwide due to its 12 charting singles, including top-10 hits “Nothin’ but a Good Time,” “Talk Dirty to Me,” “Unskinny Bop,” “Something to Believe In” and, of course, No. 1 smash “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”
While the group hasn’t released new material in more than a decade — the last studio release, in fact, was 2007 covers album “Poison’d” — Poison has remained quite active with numerous package tours along with Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Ratt and Tesla.
“I’d still love to play with The Rolling Stones, even if we didn’t make any money,” Rockett said. “Just to say, ‘Hey, we opened for The Rolling Stones.’ But at this point it’s really about carrying our own weight. I like the headlining stuff because we get to stretch out a little more.”
As for hitting the road this summer with Cheap Trick, Rockett said it’s a good match.
“The guys in Cheap Trick are heroes of mine,” Rockett said. “They’re a band that took hard rock and melded it with melody. I think that’s
what we did, as well. Even some of the riffs are sort of punkish, and that’s a lot what Poison did. We’re very similar in that regard.
“I recently saw Cheap Trick with Foreigner a few months ago. Me and Sebastian Bach went.”
Since he name-dropped
the former Skid Row frontman, it would be impolite not to ask about the “Youth Gone Wild” singer.
“He’s good — he’s still out doing the Sebastian Bach stuff,” Rockett said.
So that’s Rockett’s life in a nutshell. When he’s not hanging with his buddies,
he’s touring with Poison. Perhaps the next big moment in Rockett’s career, aside from hopefully opening for Mick and Keith, is one day joining them in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Considering the recent run of inductees, is there any chance one day the members of Poison will be nominated, let alone be inducted among their heroes?
“You know what? That’s a slippery slope,” Rockett said. “I guess we meet the criteria: We’re all original lineup, and we stuck it out for more than 30 years, but we’ve never been the industry
darlings.
“We’re popular with our fans, and it kind of stops there. That’s fine with me because it really kind of makes us the rebels of our industry. We’re out headlining a tour, and we don’t even have a record deal. I think that’s pretty cool.”