BRET MICHAELS Says He Was 'On The Fence Between' SLASH And C.C. DEVILLE When They Both Auditioned For POISON

In a new interview with Ethan Dometrius of Tampa Bay's 107.3 The Eagle, POISON frontman Bret Michaels spoke about why Slash wasn't chosen to be the guitarist in POISON when he auditioned for the band prior to joining GUNS N' ROSES in 1985. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So here's the story. We were living behind a dry cleaner so we could rehearse in downtown Los Angeles. And our first guitar player, Matt [Smith], was out there with us. We had no money. We were living on sleeping bags on the floor. I can't make any of this up. I won't embellish anything. We were living in sleeping bags, dry cleaner, downtown L.A. Our guitar player's girlfriend had been out with us for a little bit. She was pregnant, and Matt did the right thing. We had no money. There's no way they could have existed the way we were living. And he did the right thing as a good human being and went home. And so we started auditioning — Rikki [Rockett, POISON drummer], Bobby [Dall, POISON bassist] and myself — and the three guitar players that came down… There was a ton of 'em, 'cause POISON was a popular band on the club scene. But back then, you're not making anything; you're surviving. And that didn't stop us. And the truth is, it came down to Slash, a guy named Steve Silva at that time that was playing with THE JOE PERRY PROJECT, who was great. Slash was great, and C.C. [DeVille, current POISON guitarist]. And each of 'em learned a couple of the songs we had written. And we had a band vote, and I was on the fence between Slash and C.C. I was on the fence. I'm, like, 'But Slash has this style, and C.C. has this style.' But in the end it worked out incredibly great for both GUNS N' ROSES and POISON."

Back in 2017, Rockett was asked by the "Decibel Geek" podcast how Slash came to audition for the guitarist slot in POISON prior to joining GUNS N' ROSES. "Slash we had known," Rikki said. "'Cause he was in HOLLYWOOD ROSE… So Bret and I liked him; we all liked him. And he came and worked on some songs with us, but we continued to audition people even though he was a frontrunner… We didn't want, like, a hotshot Yngwie [Malmsteen-type] guy. We didn't want that. We wanted a rock, East Coast guy. And then C.C. auditioned, and he just made more sense than Slash did. So it was a tough decision, because we all liked Slash. Slash was really pissed off about it. He was pissed. He was, like, 'What the fuck, you guys?'… So there was that rivalry between GUNS N' ROSES and POISON because of that, I think, for a long time, you know? And that's long gone. I see Slash and we're totally cool, you know what I mean?"

Slash spoke about his POISON audition during a 2010 interview with Classic Rock Revisited. He said: "I was living in L.A. and I had just gotten done working in a band with Axl, actually, called HOLLYWOOD ROSE. Steven Adler was in that band as well. I just quit. I told Axl I couldn’t handle it anymore and I walked. That was right after the first time Axl and I ever worked together. Matt, the original guitar player for POISON, who was actually a pretty cool guy, had gotten his wife pregnant or they were getting married or something like that. He was moving back to Pennsylvania. He goes, 'You should try out for POISON.' I hated POISON but in those days you did whatever you had to do to keep moving. Being very ambitious, as I was, I went and auditioned for POISON. I ended up being one of two guitar players left that they were going to pick from. I remember kicking the shit out of the songs they had. There was no denying that I could play them but there was an issue about makeup and stuff. Bobby Dall asked me what kind of shoes I was going to wear. I was, like, 'What?' It was kind of obvious that this was going to go nowhere. As I was walking out of the audition, C.C. DeVille was walking in. He had on pancake makeup and a ton of hairspray. I actually remember thinking right then, 'That should be the guy.' The next day I got a call from Bobby and he said, 'You know, you are great and all but I think we are going to pass on you and go with this other guy.' It was C.C. and it really did make all the sense in the world. I was in a couple of bands after that and then we started GUNS N' ROSES."

POISON has sold over 50 million records worldwide, releasing eight studio albums, four live albums, and four compilations. The band has charted 10 singles on the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and one Hot 100 number-one smash hit, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

POISON's reunited classic lineup — Rockett, Michaels, Dall and DeVille — completed "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS in 2022. The trek was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.