Poison drummer Rikki Rockett recently recalled touring under David Lee Roth’s protocol-heavy backstage rules, sharing his memories in an interview with MyGlobalMind.
Rockett discussed the strict rules the band had to follow while on the road with Roth, including clearing the hallways when Roth and his band passed through.
When asked if he had any crazy stories from touring with David Lee Roth that were left out of his book, Rockett shared the details of their tour and their eventual first meeting.
“I’ll tell you what. So, we were touring with him for a period of time,” Rockett said. “I would say we were out like two months and we had never met David Lee Roth. We didn’t meet him.”
He explained that they had to follow specific backstage protocols during the tour.
“Well, we were, you know, we were told to do our show and when he and the band were coming through the hallway, we would clear the hallway,” Rockett continued. “Give them their space, you know, and all that kind of stuff. They just had rules and we agreed to it and we did it right.”
However, after more than two months on the road, the band finally received an invitation to meet Roth in his dressing room, which led to an unusual situation for Rockett.
“But then all of a sudden one night, we got word David would like to see you,” Rockett recalled. “He would like the whole band to come in his dressing room and sit down and have a bite to eat and get to know you guys a little bit. And we said great. So, we had been in the green room hanging out with some fans and there was this—I had this shirt on that was open and this girl decided to be sexy and I said, ‘We’re going to go see David Lee Roth, but we’ll be back in a bit.’ And she goes, ‘Will you come back, sexy?’ And she took her gum and stuck it on my chest. And at the time, I had hair there and it stuck and I couldn’t get it out, right?”
Rockett tried desperately to remove the gum before the meeting, even resorting to an unusual remedy.
“I could not get this freaking—I’m like, ‘This is not sexy. There’s nothing sexy about this,'” Rockett said. “I’m trying to get this freaking gum out and they’re like, ‘Would you hurry up? David Lee Roth wants to meet you guys.’ This is after two and a half months of being on the road. Somebody said, ‘Use peanut butter.’ So, I’m sticking peanut butter. I go to meet David Lee Roth. It didn’t work, by the way.”
When he finally met Roth, Rockett had to explain the mess on his chest, prompting a humorous response from the singer.
“I go to meet David Lee Roth and I have gum and peanut butter stuck on my chest and I’m like, ‘It’s an honor to meet you. Pay no attention. Oh, that’s a great—a girl did this to me,'” Rockett concluded. “He goes, ‘If a girl will do that to you, you should maybe pick a different girl.’ You know, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know that. I probably will.'”
Rockett’s story comes from a period when Poison was expanding its profile on the road. Poison opened for former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth during his 1988 tour.
The tour supported Roth’s Skyscraper album, which followed his successful solo debut, Eat ’Em and Smile. Poison’s appearance on the bill placed the rising glam metal band in front of larger arena audiences during a key period in its career.
A June 24, 1988, show was one of the dates where Poison performed as the opening act. The band’s participation helps place Rockett’s backstage story within Poison’s rapid rise during the late 1980s.
The strict environment Rockett described also reflects the carefully controlled image surrounding Roth’s solo operation at the time. While the drummer did not meet Roth for much of the tour, the eventual invitation to the dressing room made the unusual first encounter even more memorable.
Rockett is now preparing to revisit more of Poison’s history in his first memoir. The book is “his first memoir,” written with Martin Svensson and Leif Eriksson.
Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison is scheduled to arrive through Rare Bird Books on September 15, 2026. The memoir is expected to explore Rockett’s career with Poison and the behind-the-scenes experiences that shaped the band’s journey.
Rockett’s recollections offer a humorous look behind the scenes of one of rock’s most notable tours, while also providing a glimpse into Poison’s place in the late-1980s hard rock scene.
