KNAC.COM’s Resident Rock Godde

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As you know, I’m always down for a little shot of Poison, so I hooked up with my pal and love-advice show compadre Rikki Rockett, drum-meister of Poison, at the NAMM convention to find out what’s up in the land of glam slam noize. Our conversation follows:

KNAC.COM: Tell me about NAMM. You’ve been doing several different endorsements here. Tell me about those.

RIKKI ROCKETT: Yes I have. I’m kind of a NAMM rat. I know it’s weird, and I should be…you know, I see all these people that just kind of buzz in here real quick, do a signing and leave, and are real “rock star” about it. That’s cool, but I like hanging out. I like seeing stuff, I like seeing the new products, and what everybody’s pushing, and just the whole vibe, you know? This is like the pulse of the music industry in terms of musical instrument merchants. So it’s neat to see, I think. It’s great to see it, a lot of energy.

KNAC.COM: So what has been the best part of being at NAMM so far?

Rikki and Diana

RR: Honestly, there’s some really cool innovative products. For a long time, it seemed like it was just like, either people were trying to reinvent the wheel or they were coming up with really cheesy products just to be different, and now it seems like they’re making cooler innovations out of cooler materials, you know, just like a unique spin stuff that lasts longer, like everyone keeps raising the envelope. People are making stuff out of billet aluminum and titanium and all that stuff and applying it to pedals and drums, and whatever, and it’s awesome to see.

KNAC.COM: I know you’ve been a fan of the titanium drum set. I’ve been hearing so much about that lately

RR: I’m the titanium pimp, you know?

KNAC.COM: Yes! Okay, let’s talk about Poison for a little bit. I know you’ve been in the studio recording. How’s that coming?

RR: It’s going really good. We’re almost done. I’m doing percussion on Monday and backgrounds on Tuesday, and that’s it. I’m done. I did all the drum tracks before the holidays. So it’ll be out like April we’re looking at, and a tour in May, do a summer thing, a summer extravaganza.

KNAC.COM: Great! Do we have a name for the record yet?

RR: No. I personally like Say It, Don’t Spray It, because every time someone goes, “I love Poison,” they spit in my face, so I want to make that message clear (laughs), but I don’t know if we’re going to get to use that title or not. But I want to go on the record that that’s what I want!

Rikki signs autographs at NAMM

KNAC.COM: (laughs) Okay…fair enough. As far as touring goes, any bands mentioned for this year’s lineup?

RR: We’ve thrown around a lot of names, so we’re not sure, I mean everything from bringing Cinderella back to Twisted Sister reforming. I don’t know at this point, I really don’t…with everything in between, so you know, we’ll see what happens. We’re talking about having a really big bill and doing like an Ozzfest vibe. We’re throwing that around, you know, all kinds of ideas, but it’s going to be an all summer thing, and we already have a lot of the stuff already scheduled and that sort of stuff.

KNAC.COM: So it might be more of the Memorial Day thing in Texas where there were seven bands on the bill?

” I’m kind of a NAMM rat. I’m the titanium pimp.”

RR: We’re thinking about it. We’re thinking about logistically how to make that happen. Because that’s a lot of work and it’s a different vibe. It’s a different kind of way of promoting it and stuff. But I think it’d be cool for us to do that and I think it’d be cool to get people to be a part of that. People really like summer packages like that, because in the summer, you want events. I think the days of just going to one show, paying a bunch of money and getting herded all over the place, it’s not so cool anymore. It’s more fun to make a day of it and really make a whole thing, really get your money’s worth. I think it’s a really cool idea. There is something cool about the intimacy of an indoor gig and all that stuff, and I miss a lot of that. We’ve done a few of those too, but this whole idea of bringing a bunch of acts together to make it a festival thing is sort of like a 60’s idea in a way, but it’s like today, so you know, it’s great, because you get more exposure for other artists and stuff as well. A traveling on-the-road community.

KNAC.COM: Do you think that will present more of a logistical nightmare as far as scheduling and all that sort of thing?

RR: It will, because certain stages are really difficult to get that many acts off and on in an allotted amount of time. That’s what it is, it’s the changeovers that are hard. But we want everybody to do their show. We’ve always been that kind of band. So that’s the only logistic thing. As far as the traveling, not at all. We’ll do all fifty states like we always do and Canada and everything.

KNAC.COM: Wonderful…looking forward to it. And one last question that everyone wants to know including myself: Will Dr. Rockett return to the airwaves on KNAC.COM?

RR: Yes, we must return to the airwaves! Absolutely. But I think it’s going to be hard to make a continuous schedule because of everything I’m doing right now. So I think just like a couple of weeks in advance, promote it, come in, do it, have fun with it, make it a big day, so yeah I totally want to do it. Are you down with it?

KNAC.COM: I am down with it.

RR: Okay cool. Intern Lori is down with it? (Lori in background agrees).

KNAC.COM: We’re down with the program. Hey we’re set.

RR: In fact, I had a girl come up to me today and say, “I have a problem. I can’t wait til you get back on the air.” I said, “Well tell me now,” and she said, “Nope. I’m saving it.” I’m like well okay. So everyone save your problems, don’t move, live in limbo (laughs) and do not move on with your life until I come back on the air, okay?

KNAC.COM: So there is, the official prescription from Dr. Rockett!

For more information on Poison and Rikki, check out www.poisonweb.com and www.rikkirockett.com!

Top photo of Rikki by Photo by Garber/Rockett