Rikki Rockett Guesses Bret Michaels Would ‘Prefer Not to Deal With’ the Other Members of Poison

Poison drummer Ricki Rockett says singer Bret Michaels is the reason for the band's prolonged hiatus — and he claims not to have a clue as to what Michaels' problem is.

"I don't know for sure, actually. I haven't spoken with Bret in months and months. I just think that at this point in time, he just prefers to do his own thing," Rockett told Sleaze Roxx. "Bret has his own way of doing things and I'm getting the feeling that he'd prefer not to deal with the three of us if he can avoid it. Look, I'm making that up in my head. I can't think of any other reason."

Rockett indirectly credited Michaels with the formation of his new group the Special Guests, which brings his Poison bandmates Bobby Dall and C.C. DeVille together with Brandon Gibbs, who sings and plays rhythm guitar with Rockett's other band, Devil City Angels.

"When I was out touring with Devil City Angels, Bobby Dall came to one of the shows we played in Florida and jammed with us," recalled Rockett. "He got the chance to get to know Brandon a little bit. We got offered some shows that Bret either really wasn't interested in doing or if he had shows of his own scheduled — I can't recall exactly. In any event, Bobby and I looked at each other and said, 'Why don't we just get Brandon to do them?'"

While he quickly stressed that he had no plans to ask Gibbs to replace Michaels in Poison, Rockett did hint at a busier future for the Special Guests. "Now we'd never call it Poison, but we did think it was good to offer the promoters a chance to work with the three of us with Brandon fronting the band. They took it — we did it and the response was amazing. It makes you really think. Is this something that we could do moving forward? I think we could."

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