Bret Michaels Reveals Poison's Best Decision

December 14, 2022

(SpinLab) Poison frontman Bret Michaels stopped by SiriusXM's Hair Nation recently to chat with host Tommy London about his summer 2023 Parti Gras Tour plans and we were sent the following details:

During the in-depth conversation, Bret shared stories about how music was his salvation during "a crazy time" in his life, helping him through his parents' divorce and living as a teen with Type 1 diabetes.

He also told Tommy about Poison's early days - how one of their first touring vehicles was actually an ambulance, how the band routinely snuck around Los Angeles late at night to hang flyers for their shows, and how they self-funded their first album.

And, Bret revealed that Poison made a business decision early on that turned out to be "the gem" for them - they retained control of their publishing.

"It was hustle," Bret said of Poison's early drive to find success. "There's this thing inside you that you find. There are so many talented bands. You know what stops a lot of people? I call it the wall. You hit that wall or that door and every time we hit a door or wall, we either climbed over it, punched our way through it, kicked a door open.

"And we found a way. It was never exactly like you wanted it to be, but you found a way to get it done. Like raising the money, convincing people we were gonna have a hit record. We had to believe it before they were gonna believe it. And I always told people, no matter what it is you want to do in life, bet on yourself. You gotta. I have to bet on me before anyone else is gonna bet.

"So what happened is we go in to do this album [Look What the Cat Dragged In] and we had hit so many walls that we just decided we were gonna make this happen.

"One of the biggest blessings that came from that is we held all of our publishing. I didn't know that was the gem. We had been offered these really small offers and we're like, 'We're already poor. Let's just stay here and just hold on to controlling our career.' I go back to this now and that ended up being the biggest gem for Poison is we kept all the publishing and just did an administration deal."

The Parti Gras Tour with special guests Night Ranger and Jefferson Starship with special appearances from Steve Augeri (former lead singer of Journey) and Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), plus a nightly surprise guest, kicks off July 13th in Clarkston, MI.

Fans can hear the entire interview with Bret Michaels exclusively on the SiriusXM app on Hair Nation. Watch a clip below: