POISON Frontman Talks Touring, Upcoming VH1 Show

Patrick Douglas of The Culture Shock recently conducted an interview with POISON frontman Bret Michaels. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

The Culture Shock: What's the biggest difference for you guys as a touring band, as POISON today, in comparison to 20 years ago, as far as taking the show on the road?

Bret: The best thing is we all got our own private tour bus (laughs). It keeps us friendly. Hey, look, last year we still had our own buses and me and Bob still got in a fight onstage. (laughs). You know what's great about? We still are the epitome of the ultimate garage band from Pennsylvania, except for C.C., who's from New York, and we are the epitome of the ultimate garage band that got to do this for 21 years. That is the best way … we still argue about songs that are going in the set. We're still fired up, but when that passion works right, that chemistry, it makes for a really great show. And we're all really good … that's the one thing, we're really good friends that just have the occasional disagreement. (laughs).

The Culture Shock: Do you guys ever sit back and laugh at each other and talk about how one minute, you're pissed off at each other and the next minute, you're friends again?

Bret: We have many a laugh about our own exciting, yet "Spinal Tap"-ish career. You can quote that (laughs). We half laugh at it. Last year, Bobby, when we got in a fight in Atlanta, he hit me in the knee and I said, you wussie. I thought we were gonna go mano-y-mano, fist-to-fist, good old style. He took his green, sharp pointy Warlock bass off, winged it around like Peter Townsend and then it hit me that he was actually gonna throw it at me and I'm like, "Man, I'm gonna die." I went into a karate kick stance, he threw it and the fuckin' bass caught my knee (laughs). This was how I had to act it out. Although I felt like crying, here we are at a sold-out show in Atlanta, or a packed show, and I hobble up to the mike, and I know I need stitches, right. I go, "This is our last song we're doing. You may never see us again." I'm a little dramatic. I go, "You may never see us again." Not a couple hours later, they stitch me up and we're at a truck stop laughing about it. I'm like, "Hey, you dick, look at my knee." We laughed it off and the next day we played Memphis and I had to play in a knee brace for the next five shows.

The Culture Shock: Right and meanwhile the media's going crazy, talking about the end of POISON.

Bret: They were going nuts. But, this was what was going through my head. Out of all the things. You're thinking about the show and whatnot. I'm thinking, he's gonna hit me with the heaviest and pointiest of all basses (laughs). I've actually felt the weight 'cause I've played his Warlock bass before. That thing's like lifting a tree and I'm like, "Man he's gonna whip that into my body. I'm gonna die." So I went into a karate kick stance (laughs). Unfortunately, I didn't get to block all of it and it took a nice chunk out of my leg (laughs). A few stitches later and after a couple laughs, we were back playing Memphis that very next day.

The Culture Shock: Tell me about this upcoming TV show, "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels". I'm assuming you filmed it already and it's all done.

Bret: Yeah, we just finished up. It's gonna be VH1's biggest show of the summer. They pushed the premiere up from an hour to an hour and a half. I promise this, I will make all rockers proud. The show is insane and bizarre and it's off the chart, that's all I'm gonna say. It's the most off-the-chart thing. It may push reality to a whole new level, but they were only gonna do six episodes and they ended up doing eleven. That's how crazy it got. We were supposed to eliminate a zillion girls and we did the first two shows and they're like, "Whoa, slow down." And they bought eleven episodes. It's off the charts. That's all I can tell you. You'll know what I mean here fairly soon. It was really bizarre for me to do but at the same time it rocked. It's pretty off the wall.

The Culture Shock: How did you get involved with that? Did they approach you?

Bret: I have two daughters and I was newly single and I told 'em straight up. They came after me and they said, "Look, Bret, you've never done a reality show," which I hadn't. I'd done "Bashful Star" where I was a judge, but I'd never done a dating reality show and they asked me year after year to do these different things and I was like, "No I'm in a relationship," or "I'm in this," or "I'm touring," or "It's just not for me," and they said, "Here's how it works. There's 25 girls, they're all rock girls. They don't know you, but they've been to your concerts. They are all very different and you're gonna be in one house." They wanted to shoot it at my house, but I said "No." I said, "It's the wrong situation." I said, "I don't know 'em." I don't want 'em to be … what if they're all insane? (laughs) You know what I mean? So, we leased a house in Beverly Hills and went in and I did everything I wanted to do. Motocross. I got to do football. We played mud football, full-on tackle and whatever team won got to go on a date. It was pretty out there. It was pretty out there. It was really fun for me to do and hopefully, I know this, it will be very entertaining and hopefully it will be a success for them. Wait 'til you see it. When I say it's off the hook, you'll know what it means (laughs).

Read the entire interview at www.thecultureshock.com.