|
 |
Poison to show it's still going strong
Saturday
|
| By: Eric Johnson, of
the Plainsman |
July 31,
2001 |
|
Glam rock, hair band - both common terms to
those of us who grew up listening to the music of the '80s and very
early '90s when rock groups went through more cans of hair spray
than many could count.
Chief among these groups was a quartet
out of Harrisburg, Pa., that came to us known as Poison. That band
will be performing Saturday night's show at the South Dakota State
Fair starting at 8 p.m. |
It's hard to separate Poison's rise from all the other bands
that came out of that era, because their stories were so similar.
Come from a simple garage band, struggle through the early years,
make it big and then fall away - it's a common story with some
differences.
Bret Michaels (vocals, acoustic guitars), Rikki
Rockett (drums, percussion), Bobby Dall (bass) and guitarist Matt
Smith started in the usual way in Harrisburg, playing clubs and
keeping outrageous hours.
"I remember just going, driving
somewhere for two hours, playing a club, tearing down, coming home
at 5 o'clock in the morning, having breakfast, a cup of coffee, a
shower and then going to work," Rockett said in a phone interview.
"We all did that for a couple of years until we moved out to L.A.
and then there was a whole other dynamic of starvation."
The
move to Los Angeles put Poison in the middle of a fledging movement
that was quickly growing amongst club goers. More flamboyant than
the heavy metal stylings of groups like Metallica and edgier than
bands like Duran Duran, groups like Poison gave people the party
they had been craving without the statement that the punk era had
been ripe with.
Soon the "glam" movement took off, with
Poison chief amongst their ranks with new guitarist C.C. DeVille,
the dynamic string-man that replaced Smith who succumbed to the
pressures of the situation and headed back east.
Poison
established itself quickly, selling out the legendary Troubadour
club for two nights, but their struggles weren't over yet. Taking a
$30,000 independent deal from Enigma Records, the group released its
first album, "Look What the Cat Dragged In," a record that had an
ominous start.
"Cry Tough was our first single and it pretty
much flopped," Rockett said. "It gained a little headway and then it
kind of went away. So we were poised to go in and try and make
another record, take another stab at it. Then at the last minute
Capitol (Records) said, 'Wait. You know what, we'll give you a
video, you can try this,' and it took off."
Capitol Records,
which saw Poison's potential, gave Poison a distribution deal, but
up until that time, the group was still relying on its own ability
to get its sound out.
"We would look at a place and say, 'We
have to perform here?' " Rocket said, laughing. "Then we would say,
'Oh, I got to use the bathroom,' and we would go into the girls
restroom and write rumors about ourselves."
That was soon
behind them when the single "Talk Dirty To Me" hit the radio
stations and the still relatively young MTV embraced the song. The
album went on to sell 4 million copies and stardom was finally at
Poison's fingertips.
At that point, Poison was still opening
for other bands and while Rockett said they all knew they would
headline, they didn't just jump into it.
"We definitely hoped
so," he said, but went on to say they didn't take it lightly. "Once
you've tried to headline and you blow it and then you go back to
opening, it's very hard to break out of that again. So you're really
careful."
As Poison continued to grow, so did its members'
excesses, especially for DeVille, whose drug and alcohol habits were
growing increasingly destructive. At the turn of the decade,
DeVille's and Michaels' feuding was getting more and more frequent
until after a performance at the MTV Music Awards the two got into a
fist fight, adding to break-up rumors.
Despite all the
trouble, Rockett still sticks by the work Poison put out during the
time when DeVille left the group and Richie Kotzen joined them for
"Native Tongue."
"We worked with Richie Kotzen on "Native
Tongue" and that was a great record and it met fairly well," he
said. "We were the only band from our genre that was getting MTV
play in 1993; still, people were ready to move on."
Poison
was now in the fussy atmosphere of '90s grunge rock. Heavy tones and
dark subjects replaced the party atmosphere of Poison as the group
continued to move forward, bringing in Blue Sarceno to replace
Kotzen, who had been released. Sarceno was with the group for the
Hollywood Rock concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to over 165,000
people.
Still, the band struggled in the statement-heavy
music of the '90s and while they didn't break up, they pursued other
points of interest. Michaels got into acting - writing, directing
and acting in the 1999 movie, "Letter from Death Row." Rockett, a
voice in the animal rights movement, worked on "Glitter for Your
Soul" while DeVille formed a trio band called Samantha 7.
But
at that point is where bands like Poison are separated from other
bands. The time was right to make another go at it, in a new
millennium with a new focus. DeVille was clean and back and the band
was ready for a fresh start.
"We were giving it a go with the
same attitude that we had when we came together," Rockett said. "We
weren't suddenly trying to make a left turn because another form of
music started to get hot. We've never really been trendy in that
way."
Poison is still a popular force, earning its living
touring while working toward releasing a studio album, its first
since "Native Tongue" in 1993. "Crack a Smile" would have been
released in 1995-96, but Capitol opted to go with the band's
"Greatest Hits" album.
"We're not playing clubs or theaters,"
Rockett said. "We're doing outdoor venues. It's quite amazing. We
did contribute something after all.
"Drawing all these
people, to come out to see us, very loyal people - that is
completely responsible for our existence right now - as a rock band
on the road."
|
| ©Huron
Plainsman 2001 |
|
|
