BRET MICHAELS Hopes To Announce 'Really Awesome' POISON 2020 Tour 'In The Next Month Or So'

Bret Michaels has confirmed to Arizona Republic that POISON will return next year with a "really awesome" tour.

"Every other year," he said, "we're out with the all-original lineup and it's always out in the arenas and amphitheaters, having an amazing time. It'll be great and hopefully we'll get to announce something really awesome coming up in the next month or so."

Asked how touring with POISON compares to being on the road as a solo artist, Michaels said: "Honestly? I love doing both, and I think being out with POISON again, it's who I grew up with. They're still my great friends. We go out and have a blast. And then being able to do the solo stuff just allows me to continuously write new music and add it in. When we play Talking Stick, we'll play all the POISON hits, a few different twists on some of them. And then with the rest of it, I get to throw in the new songs like 'Unbroken', and the songs from 'Rock Of Love'. And it's a pretty amazing feeling to be able to do both seamlessly."

In 2018, POISON completed the "Nothin' But A Good Time" tour with CHEAP TRICK and POP EVIL.

POISON's last album of new material was 2002's "Hollyweird". An album of covers, "Poison'd", followed in 2007.

Last year, POISON bassist Bobby Dall said that the band "should" be making a new studio album but claimed that he didn't know if it would happen. "I'm not going to bullshit you and say there's any [new music] in the process [of being made]," he told All That Shreds. "Would I like there to be? Yes. But, it's a matter of everyone having the time. Everybody in the band has other commitments. Some members have younger children than others. So between those two issues, it's difficult, and, you know, [there are] health issues as we get older. Should we be making a new record? Yes, definitely. But will it happen? I don't know."

In a 2017 interview, POISON drummer Rikki Rockett acknowledged that part of the reason the band hasn't been motivated to work on new music has been the fact that fans rarely show interest in hearing fresh material performed live when classic rock groups go on tour. "We could write the second coming of 'Talk Dirty To Me', and I don't know if people wanna hear it or not, and that's a frustrating thing; it really is," he said. "AEROSMITH was able to do it, but not everybody is. I mean, even THE ROLLING STONES have had problems with that in the last few years. So… I don't know. But I do think it's important to stay viable. For the 'über fans,' it's always a really, really good thing. And that's what you do it for — you do it for you, you do it for the real fans, the real true fans."

More recently, Rockett admitted that he and other members of POISON harbor some resentment toward Michaels, whose frequent tours as a solo artist caused the band to take a five-year break from the road.

"I think we need to get away from each other and do other things, but at the same time, I think he spent a little too much time away," Rockett said. "There's definitely some resentment, but not resentment like I want him to fail. I want him to do good. I just want POISON to be important too, and I would like [him] to put a little more energy into POISON."