BRET MICHAELS 'Would Be Honored' To Replace SIMON COWELL On 'American Idol'

Mike Hess of PopEater.com recently conducted an interview with POISON singer Bret Michaels. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

PopEater.com: Firstly and most importantly, how are you feeling?

Bret: Honestly, all things considered with what I've been through, I'm feeling pretty good. I know my body pretty well. I'm running [at] about 75 percent where I'd like to be. I'm striving to get back to 100. I went out this last Memorial Day weekend and did shows, and I walked out on stage ... most fans, we're like family now. On stage, normally, I go completely insane and kick-ass. This time, I gave 100 percent of my 75 percent. My one leg is still jacked up on my left side ... The injections I'm taking in my leg, they're pretty painful. My legs are black and blue from the thigh to the knee on both sides now. That, plus the blood thinner I need with that ridiculous PFO hole in my heart ... I'm like, "Man, I guess the brain hemorrhage and appendix removal wasn't enough." But in spirit, I'm excited. It's good for my soul to be out making music again.

PopEater.com: There's lots of buzz saying you may replace Simon Cowell on "American Idol", and our readers overwhelmingly voted for you to be the next judge. Is that a responsibility you'd want?

Bret: This is a good question, and here's why — I'd be honored to do it. I feel there's one area I shine in, it's giving musicians unbelievable advice. When you talk about being a judge, Simon did an amazing job. He cut to the chase with his brutal honesty. Mine would be less brutal and with more advice along with the judging. I'll say that wasn't the right song, do you have what it takes? My life is all-encompassing ... it's being a performer, as well as a singer-songwriter and a producer. I can cover every aspect of the business for them. I'd be honored to do it and fans would be blown away by the advice. Everyone thinks when you get a record deal, you've made it. I say the exact opposite. You have a foot in the door, now how do you last 20 years. What's going to make fans watch "Idol" and see a kid write a great song, and 20 years from now they still want to see you playing music. I would love to do it and I could give killer advice.

PopEater.com: And you're also considering doing a new version of "Rock Star"?

Bret: That offer has already been made, and we're just trying to consider putting everything in. I've got a VH1 show I'm shooting called "Life As I Know It", which will air in the fall. Then it would either be "Rock Star" at the beginning of the year, or I'd start "Idol" [and] then we'll start shooting when they start their season again. I'm really excited about it, but "Rock Star" is another place where I'd take on the job of hosting, and what I want to do is, every week, bring in three important people from the music industry. Maybe like a producer, an agent and a celebrity come in. Then you bring in someone from AOL, someone from here, from there. You say, "Why would I want to do an interview with you?" I'd want to round it out more to show the new young musicians there's a lot more to the music industry than playing music. When I first started playing music, I thought all you did was play your guitar and everything falls into place. There's a lot more to it.

PopEater.com: Your new album, "Custom Built", comes out July 6. What are you most excited for the public to hear?

Bret: For me, there's so many different songs I want people to hear ... I'm excited about the rootsy version of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", the new stuff. The theme song to my show is called "Riding Against the Wind" ... and a cover of SUBLIME's "What I Got". That's one of my favorite songs; it just puts me in a great mood. I love hearing that song, so I busted it out live, and I thought I did a really respectful version of it. I wanted to keep some of what the song is, but I added some of my own lyrics and a cool breakdown to it. We played it live and it went over insane. It's been one of my favorite songs since the early '90s.

Read the entire interview from PopEater.com.