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By
Wil Forbis
May 15 2001
So you think you know Rikki Rockett? You say he used
bash skins for glam metal band, Poison, back
when MTV was blasting razzle-dazzle videos like "Nothin'
But A Good Time" and "Unskinny Bop" with
twenty four hour rotation. Well, Rikki Rockett may surprise
you. He's still drumming for Poison but has also become
an outspoken advocate for animal rights and the vegetarian
lifestyle. He maintains a radio presence on KNAC in
Los Angeles as "Dr.
Rockett", a self help guru with questionable
credentials and is putting together the glam tribute
album "Glitter
for Your Soul". Recently he took the time to
sit down and discuss his activities with the kindly
folk at Acid Logic.
(Update:
May 2002. I came across
this site which translated this entire interview
into Spanish. Course, if you only speak Spanish, you
probably can't read what I'm saying right now and it's
all worthless.)
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Wil:
I'd like to start off by asking what I think is the
most obvious question that anyone would ask Rikki Rockett,
famous hard rock drummer and vegetarian. How do you
get your protein?
Rikki
Rockett: The same way vegetarian animals like cows
get it, from everything else. The protein myth is a
just that, a myth. It really isn't hard to get enough
protein, and meat certainly isn't the best way. There
is more fat than protein in meat most of the time. If
you ask your doctor who's suffering from the heart attacks,
strokes and cancers, I doubt vegetarians will be at
the top of the list. It's the overweight, feel-like-they-need-to-get-enough-protein
meat eaters!
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Wil:
When I look at Gene Simmons spitting blood, or Ozzy
Osbourne biting off bat heads, it seems like hard rock
is a pretty carnivorous genre. Do you ever find yourself
kind of out of place with your pro animal/vegetarian
beliefs?
Rikki
Rockett: Sure, at times I do, but I'm not all about
myself at the expense of animals being slaughtered.
There are many of us out there: Joan Jett, Paul McCartney,
Prince, Bobby Rock, Chrissie Hynde, Silverchair, Moby,
and many, many more. O.K. they aren't all hard rock
people, but I don't really give a shit.
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Wil:
I guess the inconsistency I can't get away from in the
vegetarian philosophy is the fact that animals eat other
animals. In the right situation a coyote or piranha
would happily gobble me up. How do you rectify that
concept?
Rikki
Rockett: Well, animals smell each others assholes
when they greet each other, should we do that too?
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Wil:
Is there such a thing as a good tasting vegetarian hot
dog? Cuz every one I've tried tasted like smelted tire.
Rikki
Rockett: Yeah, they are much better now, they used
to suck. But still, I'd rather eat a smelted tire than
decaying flesh.
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Wil:
What's your take on the more radical animal rights groups
like the A.L.F. (Animal Liberation Front). How far should
people go to protect animals?
Rikki Rockett: I don't believe in violence or
fire, but other than that, people need to do what they
feel is right to express themselves for the wrongful
treatment of animals. If these were the days of slavery,
I would be in that fight too. Injustice is injustice.
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Wil:
You made an interesting point in an interview last year
when you said: "The hunter as an environmentalist is
a myth." (http://www.animal-lib.org.au/interviews/rikki/)
Can you elaborate on that? What about hunters who follow
the Teddy Roosevelt school of environmental conservation
by supporting National Parks and land subsidies? Or
the archetypical Indian hunter who believes his actions
to be part of a greater spiritual balance?
Rikki
Rockett: What the world was like when Teddy was
around is much different than it is today. Hunters are
responsible for most of the dwindling numbers of rare
animals. Hunters today try and bag the biggest bucks
or whatever that they can find. They are not concerned
about balance like the Indians of yore who killed the
slowest moving buffalo to feed and clothe the tribe.
I am part of a race that has built cities that won't
move, unlike the Indians who would be nomads and leave
the Earth to replenish itself after a while. I am a
white man who has to claim responsibility along with
the rest of us to try and fix what we have broken. Going
out into the woods to blast Bambi in the name of conservation
is silly.
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Wil:
The glam music of artists like T-Rex and Bowie has lately
been the favorite of music critics. But the music press
always kind of lumped Poison in with the hard rock of
Van Halen while discounting your obvious glam roots.
Unfair? We're they only seeing what they wanted to see?
Rikki
Rockett: That's true to a point, but we certainly
haven't been overlooked as being a Glam band. I just
don't like the name Hair Band. That's a stupid attempt
to try and lump bands that don't belong in the same
bracket. These journalists go to school for years and
the best they can come up with is Hair band? Lester
Bangs would roll over in his grave!
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Wil:
What band would you say was more of a forbearer to Poison:
The New York Dolls or AC/DC?
Rikki
Rockett: Both for different reasons. One was Mom
and one was Dad.
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Wil:
What'd you think about the whole nineties punk emergence?
Was it a necessary upheaval to keep music fresh, or
was it another fad created by the record labels?
Rikki Rockett: I just think it was and is a reflection
of musicians trying to reclaim the youthfulness of the
soul of just rockin' out hard and fast. String lyrics
together, make a catchy line, make a point and get the
fuck out.
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Wil:
One of the big things that came out of the "alternative
revolution" was the concept of D.I.Y., of avoiding major
labels cuz they were gonna screw the artists. Poison
however, came from the previous school of thought where
a band worked hard to get that major label deal. Ever
had any regrets with your major label treatment?
Rikki
Rockett: Not really. We were on a small label (Enigma),
everyone seems to forget that. Enigma continued to be
involved for years after we were involved with Capitol.
No one from Capitol ever set foot into our rehearsals
or studios until Native Tongue. We did what we felt
was right. We are admitted, sold out Capitalists with
a capitol "C" and fuckin' proud of it. If you cut a
record deal and a merch deal, you are as sold out as
the next guy even if you run around claiming you have
integrity with a hippie attitude and the clothes to
match. Pop music is a whore. Nothing is worse than whores
running around posing as musicians with integrity. And
damn, there are a lot of them these days.
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Wil:
On your web site, you state "I can't control the press
or people's perceptions about me or Poison." That said,
don't you get kind of pissed when a new music fad rolls
in and suddenly you're the butt of jokes for Courtney
Love?
Rikki
Rockett: Well, if Poison is responsible for alternative
being the adverse reaction, then alternative is now
responsible for Boy bands. Who's the joke now? Besides,
talk about sold out? Courtney is the epitome of sold
out. She knows it and anyone who still thinks people
like her aren't are the real fuckin' jokes. I say right
on to Courtney! She pulled it off.
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Wil:
We keep hearing about the return of hard rock. Is it
actually gonna happen? I know you're poised on a summer
tour with Warrant, Great White and a lot of the classic
hair bands of the eighties...
Rikki Rockett: See, you said it, "Hair Band".
Did you go to college or just read the same article
that some other person read that some other person read
that someone wrote sometime ago?
No,
I don't see a return of rock right now because Poison
is the only band that has the balls to do what we do.
Everyone else is too busy trying to be more angry than
the next band, or too urban. Keep it real? No one has
kept it real since Bob Dylan and I never liked him much
anyway.
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Wil:
If you couldn't be in Poison but could be in any other
band in history, who would it be?
Rikki
Rockett: I'd want to be in "Stomp", the musical.
Playing on trash cans and shit. That's keepin' it real!
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