POISON's RIKKI ROCKETT Says He Has Been In Direct Contact BRET MICHAELS: 'We're Gonna Do Something In 2027'

During an appearance on the January 29 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", POISON drummer Rikki Rockett expressed optimism that the band will hit the road in 2027 to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the band's debut album, 1986's "Look What the Cat Dragged In".

Earlier this month, Rockett told Page Six that POISON's previously proposed 2026 tour to commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Look What the Cat Dragged In" was no longer happening after singer Bret Michaels allegedly demanded to earn $6 for every dollar his each of his bandmates stood to make from the shows. But Bret has since denied those claims, telling 99.1 WPLR's "Chaz & AJ In The Morning" that he and the other members of POISON "never even got to that part of negotiations." Michaels explained that the decision to move the tour to 2027 was actually made "back last summer" due to logistical issues and he emphasized that the four founding members remain friends and urged his bandmates to "call me on the phone" rather than negotiating through the media.

In his latest interview with "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Rikki offered an update on POISON's touring plans, saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You know what?! Bret and I had texted this morning. And by the way, none of this just came from me. It's just I happened to be doing the interview because [I was being inducted into] the Metal Hall Of Fame. So I was doing the interview with New York Post, among many other outlets, but they're the ones that had asked me about the tour. And so the reason I said what I said is because… All the information I had was the truth, from my standpoint. And a lot of people, they start assuming things. I was seeing stuff on social media: 'Oh, Rikki has cancer again.' Or 'C.C.'s [DeVille, POISON guitarist] off the wagon again' or all these different things. 'Those guys don't really wanna work' and 'Bret wants to work'. And none of those things are true. We do wanna work, all of us do wanna work. C.C.'s sober. I don't have cancer. None of those things are true.

"But Bret's right," Rikki admitted. "We didn't sit down at a negotiating table, really. It never did get that far. It got kiboshed at the very beginning. But I just wanted to put a sensible reason to it so that everybody understands that it wasn't Bobby [Dall, POISON bassist], C.C. or me, any of those rumors you heard, that's not why we weren't touring. And so I have to answer it with something."

Referencing his previous claim that Bret demanded to earn $6 for every dollar his each of his POISON bandmates stood to make from the shows, Rikki added: "I was told what Bret wanted, and when you did the math, that's how the math worked out. And I'm not trying to quarrel with Bret. And I do think that we're gonna do something in '27."

Elaborating on POISON's tentative plans to regroup next year, Rockett said: "That's one of the things, main things, that Bret and I talked about. I think what we want is we wanna celebrate — it'll be 41 years, right? — but we wanna celebrate 40-plus years with the four of us with fans. That's what we wanna do. And it sounds. like a cheesy slogan or something, but honestly, we do. So it's gonna happen for sure at some point. It's not gonna happen in '26 — we just can't make it happen that fast — but it is gonna happen. And there's no more of a headline to stick out there — all the low-hanging-fruit media out there that tries to find a headline — there's nothing there, really. I said what I said, Bret said what he said, but today we're talking about doing something in '27, and I know Bobby wants to do it, I talk to C.C. all the time. We're all on board. So I think it's gonna happen. God forbid — we're all in good health and all that stuff, so I look forward to it."

Asked by host Eddie Trunk if his latest text exchange with Bret was "contentious" or if it was "positive", Rikki said: "It was absolutely positive. We had a good laugh. Of course we talked a little bit. I told him why that information went out, and I just told you. But there's no second shoe to drop. Honestly, we wanna do the tour. It's gonna be delayed now till '27, but I think it's gonna happen in '27, which is perfect POISON. A 41st anniversary is, like, fricking amazing, right? [Laughs]"

In his interview with "Chaz & AJ In The Morning", Bret stated about POISON's 2027 touring plans: "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 was any truth to Rikki's claim that POISON'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. I love C.C.. 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.

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."

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.