’80s Rocker Announces Memoir Packed With ‘Cinematic’ Stories

2024-11-01

Poison

Rock stars undoubtedly have a lot of stories to tell, and a new memoir promises to cover the beginnings of one of the Sunset Strip’s biggest bands. – Author Charles Ken, Photo via Mark Weiss

Rock stars undoubtedly have a lot of stories to tell, and a new memoir promises to cover the beginnings of one of the Sunset Strip’s biggest bands.

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett will release a new memoir on July 15, 2025, called “Ghost Notes.” The book will mark a collaboration with writers Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson.

Poison Drummer Rikki Rockett to Release ‘Ghost Notes’ Memoir

Rockett talked about the book during an interview Thursday, October 31, on “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk.”

“I was working on it all year last year,” Rockett said in the chat per Blabbermouth. “I was gonna launch it at the same time as the [Poison 2025] tour, but the tour is not gonna happen [in 2025]. So we’re gonna launch anyway.”

Rockett talked about the meaning of the title, “Ghost Notes.”

“The first chunk of our career, like ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In,’ ‘Open Up And Say … Ahh!,’ all those records, even most of Flesh & Blood, the way they were producing records at that time, they did not want drummers playing ghost notes,” he said. “If you know what ghost notes are … it’s kind of like a lighter tap on the snare drum, for example, the kind of the notes in between the notes that are not fully pronounced, I guess would be the best way to explain it in layman’s terms. And so a lot of times it gives it that little bit of swing groove to it.”

He added of the memoir, “Producers did not want that in the early ’80s. They just wanted straight drums, almost machine-like and heavy and loud and detuned snare drums and all that kind of stuff. And it wasn’t really until Flesh & Blood, but even more Native Tongue, where I was able to really play the way I wanted to play.”

He continued, “I think a lot of other drummers dealt with that. I know I talked to various drummers about their frustration back then. So I decided to name it. I finally was able to play however I wanted. And all those little notes between the notes are kind of what I’m talking about in my life. Instead of just the highlights that you always hear about, you know, ‘Poison did this’ or ‘Rikki Rockett did this’ or ‘Rikki got arrested for this’ or whatever, these are like all the stuff in between.”

So, what should ’80s fans expect from the new book? According to Rockett, “Ghost Notes” will cover Poison stories from the group’s early years in Pennsylvania.

“That stuff, to me, is more cinematic, if you will, than, ‘Oh, yeah, they played the Troubadour and the Strip and they hung up flyers.’ I mean, we’ve all heard those stories,” Rockett said regarding the music memoir. “But it’s the other stuff, like trying to hold jobs down and renting VFW halls and renting vans and trying to scrape enough money to get to the next gig and all that stuff. That was really the meat of our struggle, I think.”

Audio Ink Radio caught up with Rockett back in 2018 to talk about the band’s tour at the time with Cheap Trick.

“On a very simple level, I think it’s awesome that a fan can come and see all those songs and hear all those hits being performed live by the people who wrote them and performed them on the record, and I think that’s super important,” he said.

Charles Ken
Latest posts by Charles Ken (see all)
Posted by Charles Ken | Music, Rock, Rock News

Related Posts