Currently on the road with Poison on the Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour, drummer Rikki Rockett spoke with Icon Vs. Icon. Following is an excerpt from the career-spanning interview.

Icon Vs. Icon: I'm sure Poison experienced trials and tribulations through the years. What are some lessons learned early on that impacted your career?

Rikki Rockett: "I think being honest with our fans was one of the most important things, literally. Being an artist really is about coming from a personal place and in everything you do. It's not about trying to second-guess what the market wants and all that kind of stuff. That stuff is very fragile, and it doesn't work in the long run. I think that's why a lot of artists don't last now. Someone will come out and they are the shit for a while and you can't get away from it. Then, all of a sudden, a few years later, you are, like, 'What happened to them?' I think a lot of that comes from people getting in their heads and saying, 'Oh, I need you to do this for social media… ' or whatever. It's stuff that they didn't want to do. You can see that it's frail; you can see right through it. You go, 'That person isn't doing what they set out to do in the first place.' All this is unspoken, of course, and, eventually you just see it for what it is. We just always done what we've done. We didn't care that there was grunge or hip-hop. All that is fantastic, it's great, but this is what we do."

Icon Vs. Icon: 2018 brings the 30th Anniversary of Open Up And Say...Ahh. What springs to mind when you think back on that record?

Rikki Rockett: "That was a pivotal record for us because, in a way, it was our first real record. I'm not saying that Look What The Cat Dragged In wasn't a real record, but it almost felt like it was a glorified demo. There is something very cool and special about that because it's immediate and raw. I think with our second record we were able to spend a little bit more time examining those songs, what we were going to play in them and all that stuff. With Look What The Cat Dragged In, it was almost like 'Ready set, go! Dazzle me! Okay, that's good enough! We've got to move on!' (laughs). That's where that record was going."

Read the complete interview here.

Music fans wanting a little variety with their summer tour package will get that very thing with the Poison…Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour. Iconic rock band Poison, with all original members, are joined by Cheap Trick and Pop Evil on its trek across North America this summer.

Check out the Poison…Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour at any of the stops listed below.

June
12 - Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center *
13 - Syracuse, NY - Lakeview Amphitheatre
14 - Hartford, CT - The Xfinity Theatre
15 - Gilford, NH - Bank of NH Pavilion
17 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live *
19 - Toronto, ON - The Budweiser Stage
21 - Wantagh, NY - Northwell Health at Jones Beach *
22 - Bethel, NY - Bethel Woods Center for the Art
23 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center *
24 - Allentown, PA - PPL Center

* Poison, Cheap Trick, to be announced