Rikki Rockett: Green Bay like 'home away from home'
When Devil City Angels descend on Green Bay for the first time this weekend, count on their drummer to be able to show the rest of the band around.
Rikki Rockett spent his share of time in Titletown in the late '80s and early '90s when Poison routinely rehearsed for and launched national headlining tours from Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. He and his Poison bandmates, Bret Michaels, Bobby Dall and C.C. DeVille, often spent weeks at a time in the city, with rock star sightings at record stores, Lambeau Field, strip clubs and Henri's Music.
For fans who can't remember how long ago the "Open Up and Say Ahh!'' and "Flesh & Blood'' tours were, the days of Green Bay Packers quarterback Don Majkowski dueting — badly, by most accounts — on "Every Rose Has Its Thorn'' with Michaels in a sold-out, $15-a-ticket Brown County Arena, Rockett offers his own time capsule.
"There were a lot of people running around with those (Poison) trading cards that they did, and there's a picture of me on a skateboard and that was actually in front of the venue in Green Bay,'' he said by phone. "We did all kinds of stuff there. It was like a home away from home, you know. Sometimes we'd be there two weeks getting ready for a tour.''
Rockett, who still drums for Poison (when they tour), has an excuse to come back and check out his old stomping grounds when Devil City Angels play Saturday night at Green Bay Distillery. He's among the familiar faces in a group formed in June with lead guitarist Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), bassist Eric Brittingham (Cinderella) and singer/guitarist Brandon Gibbs (Gibbs Brothers, Cheap Thrill). With hits like "Unskinny Bop,'' "Nobody's Fool'' and "Sex Action'' in their combined catalog, you could call it a Sunset Strip-era rock supergroup. Or you could just go with Rockett's more humble description: "I like to call it a camping trip where we stop and play some shows.''
The band was born out of a tribute show for The Who, in which longtime friends Rockett and Guns did three songs together.
"Somebody grabbed us and said, 'Hey, can we grab Guns and Rockett for an interview?' And somebody said, 'Is that really a band?' We looked at each other and went, 'That's not a bad idea!'''
When it came time to get serious about assembling a lineup, Brittingham was "a natural choice,'' Rockett said. Poison has known Cinderella, a fellow Pennsylvania rock export, for decades. Rockett first heard Gibbs perform when he and his brother opened for Poison at Steamboat Days in Burlington, Iowa, 11 years ago. Rockett and Gibbs had stayed in touch, and Devil City tapped him to be the group's voice.
The band is the first real side project Rockett has taken on since he sat down behind the Poison drumkit in 1982. He liked the idea of creating "pure fun rock'' with veteran players.
"It's easier to work with somebody you share a common history with. Like for me to work with someone who has never been on the road, never really cut an album, maybe only did demos and played weekend gigs, it's hard for them to relate. It's almost like you have to teach them how to do this then,'' he said. "At this point in in my career and my life, I don't really want to do that.''
That familiarity and shared history has made the creative process easier, but it doesn't mean creating a new band is effortless. Take four musicians with established careers of their own and there are egos, Rockett said.
"Most musicians grow up not as team players. They grow up as individuals working on an instrument expressing themselves, so when you get together with a few other guys all of a sudden you have to be a team. You have to learn how to do that,'' he said. "It's the same way with people who get married at an older age. They get into their own groove. So there's definitely some caveats to it, but the good part is you have this huge library of stuff under your belt to pick from.''
Devil City Angels has laid down four tracks so far, with plans for an album next year. They mix their originals with three songs from each member's respective bands for the live shows. Rockett says it isn't even a fully formed tour yet.
"We pick a bunch of places we can go play and bring up the bus and the trailer, and we're just going out and becoming a band and learning how to work with each other on stage in these smaller environments,'' he said.
With minimal rehearsal time before the first show, there were some nerves, especially from old pros Rockett and Guns.
"We were tense, and then the first show everything just gelled. It was almost like we had to have the pressure. It was like, 'Ah-ha, that's why we're out here. That's why we're doing this.' Because that's what makes you a band is that pressure of the crowd, and it worked,'' Rockett said.
Individual track records aside, they all felt like they had something to prove together.
"All eyes are on us going, 'What are you really going to do? What are you really made of?' ... You don't have the song restriction you had with Poison, so can you really lay it down. Tracii is known as a really good player. He's no joke. So some of this material is trickier than the Poison stuff, honestly, on a few different levels. But for some reason it's just working really, really well for us.''
In many ways, it's a throwback to the kind of bands they cut their teeth on — before the Internet and Pro Tools and sending music files back and forth.
"What we do is very organic. The bands I grew up with were basement bands. Poison was born out of a basement. We got together and we all set up like we were playing live and everybody would come up with different ideas and riffs and we'd slam it all together until we formed it into a song,'' Rockett said. "And that's kind of how we did it with this band, very organically like that. And that's why I think it's a little more pure.''
When Rockett might get back to Green Bay with Poison, which was last here in 2006 for a 20th anniversary tour at Oneida Casino's Pavilion Nights tent, is anybody's guess — including his.
Poison played a private gig earlier this month and has another in January, but "as for Poison touring next summer, next spring, I don't know that answer,'' he said. "It's that simple. I just don't know the answer. There isn't a booked tour at this point in time.''
But he added: "There's a lot of time between now and then.''
He sees the Poison faithful turn out at the Devil City shows. They're easy to spot in their T-shirts or entire sleeves of Poison tattoos. The guys in the band knew they'd get fans from their respective bands coming out, as well as curiosity seekers, and they're thrilled with either.
"That's kind of the idea of Devil City. Devil City is a place you can let your hair down. It's not a pretentious place. It's a place to just come and rock out and enjoy yourselves and just be part of the rock lifestyle with us,'' Rockett said. "We're not picking our audience. It's like everybody's invited. If you like what we're doing, come on out.''
— kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.
CATCHING UP WITH RIKKI
» He and wife Melanie are parents to two young children, 19-month-old Lucy Sky and 5-year-old Jude. "They definitely keep me busy when I'm home. There's no question about it.''
» He's the owner of Rockett Drum Works, a 7-year-old custom drum company he describes as "very boutique, everything American-made'' that is slowly growing. "I'll probably have that forever, because it's something I really, really enjoy doing.''
» He recently shot a pitch reel with Joel Patterson, producer of TV's "Counting Cars'' and "Pawn Stars,'' for a reality show based on Rockett Drum Works that is being shopped around. "That could be interesting if that actually works. I've got my fingers crossed on that one.''
» He remains a passionate animal rights activist, but admits he had less time this year to attend events like the annual Puppy Mill Awareness Day in Austin, Texas. "There's a few things I've missed this year, and I'm sad about it, because I'm pretty diligent about it, but I still live my vegetarian lifestyle.''
DO IT
Who: Devil City Angels, with Head Games and Mad Racket
When: Doors at 8 p.m., show at 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Green Bay Distillery, 835 Potts Ave., Ashwaubenon
Tickets: $20 advance at Distillery, Rock N Roll Land and rockerchix-promoters.com