POISON's BRET MICHAELS Denies He Demanded Six Times Pay Of His Bandmates, Claims Tour Was Moved To 2027 Last Summer

In a new interview with "Chaz & AJ In The Morning", a morning radio talk show program on 99.1 WPLR, a rock radio station broadcasting from New Haven, Connecticut, POISON frontman Bret Michaels was asked if fans can expect to see tour to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the band's debut album, 1986's "Look What the Cat Dragged In", in 2027. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're just gonna call it hopefully '40 Plus One'." Referencing the fact that the proposed "Look What the Cat Dragged In" 40th-anniversary tour won't materialize in 2026, Bret added: "But I can tell you this — as this thing got further down the road… Remember, when you're booking stuff, we're already booking stuff solo into '27. So this just got backed up. And I'm hoping that, as a founding member, obviously that would be a great day, and I'm positive we can make that happen in '27."

Asked if there is any truth to POISON drummer Rikki Rockett's recent claim that the band's 2026 tour was no longer happening after Bret allegedly demanded to earn $6 for every dollar each of his bandmates stood to make from the shows, Michaels responded: "Well, I'm gonna answer that honestly. It never happened. We never got to that part of negotiations. What happens — when you start this, they ask me to put together solo numbers and an average, and that's the first part we turn in. We ask what the stage is gonna look like, where do we start the tour? I even got into where we're starting the dates, and then all of a sudden, '26, the shows in '26 wanted solo answers, so we moved this to '27 back last summer. The reason it's come up for the third time — no one, even the other members haven't commented. They're, like, 'I thought this is going in '27 now.'"

Bret added: "We're all friends. And if you wanna discuss something, we have each other's phone number for the last 45 years. Just call me. No offense. I love Rikki. I love Bobby [Dall, POISON bassist]. I love C.C. [DeVille, POISON guitarist]. Don't negotiate on the air [during an interview]. Just call me on the phone, and we'll work out what[ever needs to be worked out]. We've worked it out for 40 other years. Let's work out what we need to work out."

When the interviewer noted that he didn't think anyone would blink if Bret asked for more money, Michaels clarified: "Again, I wanna go into this. That never came up on the table. What comes up on the table is, what's people making solo? What are we doing? You throw it out there. And it's not their fault either. It never finished, the negotiations, on everything. Where's the tour start? Who's opening for us? What lights, what sound, what's the stage look like?

"It's hard to explain to everybody how much goes into making a show great," Bret continued. "And with me, when I'm solo. I could make this decision on the bum runners. If I'm out with POISON, we're four founding members. And rightfully so for that situation. So I wanna make sure the fans hear the truth. It should be a four-way discussion. That's what POISON's meant to be."

Bret added: "I love Rikki. He's my brother. We've been through a lot together. I love Bobby, I love C.C., and I appreciate C.C. and Bobby staying out in the middle. They didn't make any comments. I truly believe, 'cause we already knew last summer it was moving to '27."

Earlier this week, Rikki elaborated on his recent claim that POISON's previously proposed 2026 tour to commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Look What the Cat Dragged In" was no longer happening after Bret allegedly demanded to earn $6 for every dollar each of his bandmates stood to make from the shows. He said during a question-and-answer session with Drum Talk TV: "You know what?! I really have said everything I feel like I should say about it at this point. I don't wanna beat it into the ground.

"I was promoting the Metal Hall Of Fame, and one of the interviews was the New York Post, Page Six," Rikki explained. "And they asked me about it: 'Why aren't you touring?' And I told them the truth. I said, 'This is the truth.' And the reason I told them is not to open up the personal finances of POISON. That's not what it is. I didn't do it for that reason. And the thing is, is that in the past when something has gone sideways, people just start assuming: 'Oh, well, C.C.'s back on the sauce.' Or 'Bobby opened another restaurant,' or whatever. Or I have cancer again. There's all this stuff, or we just don't wanna do it. And it's none of that. We always wanna play. So I just decided, 'I'm gonna tell the real reason. This is it. We can't figure it out financially.' So that was the long and the short of it. There's really no second shoe to drop or anything like that."

Regarding his previous comment that it was "not out of the question" for him, DeVille and Dall to hire a new lead singer for POISON if they couldn't come to an agreement with Bret about returning to the road. Rikki clarified: "We're not out looking for a singer right now. I'm seeing some of these headlines. We're not sitting around, talking about getting another singer. We're hoping that something will come together. But I was asked if that was out of the question, and I'm, like, well, I guess nothing's out of the question, really. Would we tour Russia? Well, it's not out of the question, but it's not on the table."

When the interviewer noted that fans "would love to see" POISON celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Look What the Cat Dragged In" with some live shows, Rikki said: "Well, I have a lot of thoughts about that. No, I don't see it happening this year because in order to put a tour together, it's months and months of work in advance. And we've missed that window, pretty much. On a smaller scale, I can take [my other band] ROCKETT MAFIA out and do the first and second side of 'Look What The Cat Dragged In' and have a good time doing that. There's a lot of shows that pop up. That's a different kind of touring. We're flying in and doing two, three dates and then coming home. But to do a full-scale tour where you piece together dates and you're not going from, let's say, Maine all the way down to Florida and then back again to Buffalo. You can't hodgepodge like that. You gotta have a way of doing it. And it takes tons of preparation. It's a lot of work. I mean, there's a lot of pieces that have to come together. And we missed that opportunity for that. That doesn't mean we couldn't do a 41st-anniversary [tour]. And that would be so POISON to do that."

POISON last hit the road in 2022 when it supported MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD on a massive stadium tour. After that tour ended, Michaels went back to performing sporadic shows — consisting almost entirely of POISON hits — with his solo band.

Earlier this month, Rockett told Page Six that POISON's previously proposed 2026 tour to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the band's debut album, 1986's "Look What the Cat Dragged In" was no longer happening after Bret allegedly demanded to earn $6 for every dollar his each of his bandmates stood to make from the shows.

"We had a great offer [for a tour this year], I thought. But we left the table," Rockett revealed to Page Six. "It didn't work.”

"Really what it came to was 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," Rockett explained. "It's like $6 to every one of our dollars. You just can't work that way."

"I don't do this just for the money," Rikki continued. "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."

Although he admitted that he was disappointed that POISON wouldn't tour again this year, Rockett said he didn't harbor any resentment toward his bandmates. "Every member of this band has given me so much privilege in life," he said. "It's like hating your parents."

As for the possibility of Rockett, DeVille and Dall touring with a different singer, Rikki said: "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."

Three days after Page Six published Rikki's comments, Bret indirectly responded to the drummer, writing in a Facebook post: "As always, I consider POISON to be Bobby, C.C., Rikki and myself. I also make no bones about loving the BMB [BRET MICHAELS BAND] 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."

Last November, Rikki was asked by Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru if he still talked to Bret regularly. Rikki, who had spent a few months playing sporadic shows with his new band THE ROCKETT MAFIA, said: "We don't [talk to each other] too much. We're cordial. We've had some road crew guys pass away, different friends pass away or some developing thing in our lives, and we'll exchange texts and say, 'Hey, did you know this happened to so and so?' Or there's been, unfortunately, a couple of tragedies have brought us together a few times. But C.C. I talk to all the time. But you have to realize that C.C.'s mom and my mom were best friends. They talked twice a week at minimum, sometimes every day, and they helped each other through cancer and different things. And C.C.'s fairly close — I mean, he's in Orange County; it's an hour — but he's shown up. He showed up to the BLUE ÖYSTER CULT [November 1] gig [in Anaheim where THE ROCKETT MAFIA was the support act]. He wanted to play. But he's got this hammer finger thing going on, which should be cleared up in a few weeks. But he couldn't play."

Regarding why he couldn't just text Bret directly and try to get him to give a final answer regarding touring with POISON in 2026, Rikki said: "I have thrown out a text to all four members and said, 'Hey, let's figure this out. Let's do it.' And it was tumbleweeds. That's the kind of thing that is much bigger than just me throwing it out there on a text, 'cause there's a lot of money involved and stuff. And I think the reason he doesn't wanna talk to me is because he knows I'll probably bring it up and say, 'Hey, what's up?', because we have been friends for so long. If anybody's gonna say it to him, it's gonna be me. A lot of the people that he has around him may not say things like that. And I don't go outta my way to be — I mean, I'm a nice guy too, but I have boundaries. So, there's nothing super… Uh, how can I say it? There's not all this hate going around POISON; it's not that. It's frustration. 'Hey, we wanna do this.' 'You wanna do this then.' 'You wanna this now.' It's that kind of stuff. But on the flipside, if we go back to earlier in the conversation, when you do commit to a tour, three months, you are taking that summer and that is a touring period of time— the spring and summer — that will take your spring and summer, and it's gone. Not to say you couldn't do other shows on the third and fourth quarter, but they're not as big. So, I get that. And it is a commitment, when you make that commitment. And it is harder, because every night you have to be up there doing it. On [2022's] 'The Stadium Tour', not one of us ever went out there half-assed; we always went out there a hundred percent. We get together. It doesn't matter, with our band, no matter how upset or weird something might be, when it comes to that 15 minutes before we're supposed to go on, we get together, we connect, we make sure everything's good, we go out there and we do the very best we can for the fans, give it every bit of energy that we have, and that's always been our commitment. So that's what keeps this band relevant in the, in the rock world, is that when you do get us, at least you get a hundred percent. And one day that a hundred percent might be me coming out with a cane. You know what I mean? But I'll still give you that a hundred percent. [Laughs]"

On the topic of whether there was a point where he thought a POISON tour for 2026 was "close" to becoming a reality, Rikki said: "I thought it was a done deal. Seriously, I was just waiting for the contract to come to me and say, 'Hey, sign on the dotted line. Let's start putting it together.' And that day has not come. And I would love to get out there. I have a blast on tour. I'm not one of these people, like, 'Oh, God, the road.' I really enjoy it. Of course I miss my family, but I fly 'em out. I could tour every year, many months out of the year, as long as I could see my family, because it's so ingrained in me after 40 years. To this point, it's hard to understand myself without that."

Rockett also addressed a recent comment from Pete Evick, who is best known as music director and guitar player for Michaels's solo band of the last 21 years, where Evick suggested that Bret gets the "lion's share" of the touring revenue from POISON. Rikki said: "The reason that this contract [for a POISON 2026 tour] has not gone through is because Bret wants more than the lion's share. The amount of money he wants would make it where it's pretty much impossible to run the production of the band. And he knows that, and I think the reason he's saying that is because he just simply doesn't wanna tour with us this year. He must have some ideas about what he wants to do with Bret Michaels [solo] band this year. I'm assuming — I don't know, because we don't talk. I would love to talk about it, but at this point in time, it's just not a deal. So we're not gonna do that. I'm not gonna go out there and play for peanuts or wind up upside down, so he can make all this money because he's out playing POISON songs with another band. I mean, really, if you think about it, does any of that make sense? I'm gonna ask for more money because I play POISON songs with other people. That's not carrying the torch [for POISON]."

Asked if there has ever been times where he was really concerned that POISON was over, Rikki said: "Oh, yeah, many times. Yeah, of course. Anytime you get into something like [a heated confrontation], especially if it gets sort of physical. Then, yeah, you cross a line and all that kind of stuff. But we've usually been able to work it out. The thing is, is that we really do love this. Bret and I talked about this a long time ago. A lot of people said, 'Oh, do a farewell tour at some point in time. Talk about when you're gonna retire.' Why ever talk about that? I mean, sure, maybe that could happen, but not for me. I don't see any reason to throw in the towel, just because one day you decide, 'Hey, it's time to throw in the towel.' I'm gonna throw in the towel when I can't do it anymore. That's when to throw in the towel. Or the band's dysfunctional to the point where you can't do it anymore. Otherwise, I don't see any reason. Why would you break up the band? I don't see any reason to do that. And I don't think we're gonna do that."

Rockett previously talked about the status of POISON's 2026 tour earlier in November 2025 in an interview with Robert Edwards of Talkin' Bout Rock. He said at the time: "I'm not trying to bash Bret. I'm not trying to start any fights… But one thing you have to understand is, for instance, the Bret Michaels [solo] band tours very differently from the way POISON tours. POISON tours the way DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE and Luke Bryan or whoever [tours], where we basically kiss our families goodbye for three-plus months, or however long it's gonna be, and go out on a tour bus and trucks, and we're playing five nights a week, sometimes six nights a week. And that's not how Bret tours [with his solo band]. He does weekend-warrior stuff, which there's nothing wrong with that at all. Joan Jett does it — I mean, tons of bands do this. THE ROCKETT MAFIA does it. We can't play in Omaha, Nebraska on a Tuesday night and make any money. We'll be upside down. But at the level we've managed to get to [with POISON], and DEF LEPPARD and bands like this, you can play on a Tuesday night and people will come, at the right time. You still have to manage it correctly."

Asked if POISON's long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS — which was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022 — was a "good experience" for him, Rikki said: "Oh, it was great. Look, it's so funny, because people go, 'Man…' You would think that in these stadiums, there would be so much room to do everything you want. It's weird, because it's set up for sports. It's not set up for a bunch of trucks and buses and all that stuff. So most of the time our bus would be two miles away in a parking lot somewhere and we'd have to take a golf cart or an Uber or a van or something like that to get to the venue. And then you get to the venue and it's, like, MÖTLEY and DEF LEPPARD got all the nice dressing rooms and we're in the electrician's room or something. [Laughs] So from that standpoint, it wasn't as nice as when we headline. But we were playing these massive places for amazing fans. I mean, it was literally a once-in-a lifetime experience.

"We've played some big shows — we've done Donington, we've done a lot of these… Texas Jam, a lot of these things like that — but to do it kind of on that level, or close to that level, for 40 nights, or whatever it was, that was amazing," Rockett added. "And it keeps you on your toes, man. You can't go out there half cocked. I mean, we don't ever do that anyway — I don't think any of us ever go out there on stage nonchalantly. We're a band that pride ourself in giving it everything we got. Even if everything that we have isn't as good as it was the night before, I'm still gonna give it everything that I have, you know what I mean? And I know the rest of the band's like that. Bret's like that, C.C., Bobby, We never half-ass anything."

In 2015, Rockett and his now-THE ROCKETT MAFIA bandmate Brandon Gibbs joined forces with Dall and DeVille to play several shows as THE SPECIAL GUESTS in what was widely perceived as a not-so-subtle message to Michaels that they weren't willing to remain completely inactive while he pursued a solo career.