INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Poison, Ratt
Tuesday, Aug. 21, 7 p.m., $21-$46, all-ages
If Bret Michaels had gotten his way, it’s possible Poison would be touring this summer behind a new studio CD of original material. Instead, the band is on the road behind Poison’d, a covers album featuring the band’s versions of some of its favorite songs.
“If it would’ve been up to me, I would have rather made an original album,” Michaels says. “I made that very vocal, but having said that, the other guys were excited to do a covers record.”
Michaels says he went along with the record partly because of an on-stage fight he had last summer with bassist Bobby Dall.
“I just don’t think anyone wanted to rush in and start our album out by immediately fighting over original material,” Michaels says.
As far as he is concerned, the incident with Dall is in the past.
“This fight was actually over our set list that we were going to play in Nashville and just changing music around,” Michaels says. “And one of the cool things about it [is] that we still care. We handled it poorly. We got on stage. He said a few things. I said a few things, and the next thing you know, we just had a knockdown, drag-out fight. And then he threw — I always laugh, and say, ‘Bobby, you threw the heaviest and sharpest of basses at my knee.’ They stitched me up, put on the leg brace and it was off to the Memphis show the next day. We kind of laughed about it and went on and played. And that’s what we do.”
The Michaels-Dall fight was nothing new for Poison, which has had its share of tension since forming in 1983, most notably between Michaels and guitarist C.C. DeVille, who engaged in an infamous backstage brawl at the 1991 MTV Music Awards.
But Michaels says the band (which also includes drummer Rikki Rocket) is doing fine now, and this summer has put some new twists into its live show.
“Besides obviously diving into the hits, this year we’re going to dive into some of the cover stuff off of the new covers album,” Michaels says. “We’re [also] going to do what I call the album cuts from Poison.”