Bret Michaels Addresses Poison Tour and Rikki Rockett’s Payment Claims
A little bit of band drama… possibly coming to resolve? I don’t know, the Poison boys have had a little back and forth going on, but it seems like it might be coming to an end soon. Maybe. The tour the band was supposed to go on this year crumbled, with the band’s drummer Rikki Rockett claiming it was due to contract and payment disputes. Sounds plausible, and now frontman Bret Michaels has finally responded to his fellow bandmates (Rockett, guitarist C.C. DeVille, and bassist Bobby Dall) in a Facebook post…
“To Green Day and Bad Bunny – congratulations on the Super Bowl concert,” Michaels wrote. “I cannot wait to watch it and I cannot wait to announce a Bucket List NFL dream come true (stay tuned…).”
When addressing what Rockett said, Michaels added: “To my friend Rikki Rockett – have fun tonight with my good buddy Eddie Trunk and enjoy the Metal Hall Of Fame ceremony.”
Michaels has been playing Poison songs continually while on tour with his solo band, but I guess it’s cool that he acknowledged who Poison is at the end of the day: “As always, I consider Poison to be Bobby, C.C., Rikki and myself. I also make no bones about loving the BMB and will always have both in my life. Bottom line – I love music, I love the fans and I’m always forever grateful. Onward & upward and let’s all focus on the positive in 2026, and the potential of a future reunion.”
According to what Rockett told Page Six, the band was offered the chance to do a 2026 tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Look What the Cat Dragged In, their 1986 debut, but couldn’t go through with it because of endless disagreements over how much each member would be compensated.
“Really what it came to was [guitarist] C.C., Bobby and I were all in, and I thought Bret was, but he wanted the lion’s share of the money, to the point where it makes it not possible to even do it. It’s like $6 to every one of our dollars. You just can’t work that way.” Yikes.
Even though it’s not all about the money, that doesn’t change how fairness and equity should be a part of it. “I don’t do this just for the money,” Rockett said. “I do have a love for this, absolutely. But at the same time, you don’t want to go out and work really hard just to make somebody else a bunch of money.”
Apparently, the Poison three have considered replacing Michaels on the tour, which, although pretty wack in the grand scheme of going to see an old band where all the members you want to see are still alive and capable of playing together, isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.
“It’s not out of the question. But doing that is like surgery: it’s the last resort. I don’t want to do that. I’m not quarreling with Bret… We just didn’t come to agreement. I don’t like it, and I’ll say that, but it’s not like, ‘Let’s put up our dukes.’ I don’t think there’s a better frontman for Poison.”
Hopefully the guys can figure it out and come to a conclusion that works for everyone, especially their fans.
