- On the phone with Philip Anderson - 2000
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- As the leaders of the glam rock scene during the 1980s, Poison both lead the pack and were loved by fans, who appreciated their colorful, bombastic style and performances, and yet were ripped up by many critics who saw them as nothing more than clowns with bad musicianship. Either way you choose to believe the story, Poison kept their name in print and has continued to do so for over fifteen years. Love them or hate them, Poison does not go away and their fans thank them for that.
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- Amongst the foursome who make up Poison, one of the least known personalities, and perhaps misrepresented at times, is drummer Rikki Rockett. Rikki has always been the solid backbeat of the band who attributed to one-fourth of the showmanship, with his stick twirling and performance antics. Perhaps even underrated as a drummer, Rikki has been no slouch to keeping a show with keeping time. Aside from his tenure as a rock 'n' roll drummer however, Rikki is much more than that. There are many different aspects to him that show his true creative side as well as showing someone who has a lot of thought and intelligence behind his choices in life.
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- In mostly non-rocker mannerism, especially for a veteran of the 1980s, Rikki is a vegan, an animal rights activist and someone who out-and-out cares about what goes on around him and in society. His motives have always been pure and unselfish as he, unprovokingly, shows the effects of cruelty to animals in both the food industry as well as "medical" testing. This then leads into his strict veganism in which he enjoys no products made from animals whatsoever (to the best of his abilities). In addition to a career as the skin-pounder for Poison, Rikki eked out his own niche in the comic book market by becoming a publisher and forming No Mercy. With this company, he began a series of comic books that started with the first issue of "Sisters Of Mercy." These were slick titles with brilliant coloring work and exciting stories. For some reason, not everyone has put together two and two to realize that it was "the" Rikki Rockett who was putting these out.
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- At the conclusion of Poison's Power To The People 2000 tour, we had a chance to speak with Rikki about his past and his influences as well as his other projects, lifestyle habits and philosophies in general. As a very articulate, not to mention friendly person, it was great talking with him and picking up tidbits from his vast memory of information. To hear it as Rikki told it to us:
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 K2K: To start with, how long have you and Brett been playing together?
- RR: He actually joined a band that I was in around 1980 or 81. We were like a basement party bar band. It was called Specters. We played a couple of years and did as many shows as we could. We were still starting out. The whole New Wave thing had started to kick in full swing about then. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania wasn't a real hot spot for rock, it was more cover songs and that kind of thing. We started to toy with the idea of renting out our own hall so that we could have all age shows. We were appealing to younger people. We started to rent our own halls, sell our own tickets, build our own stage and do everything ourselves and self-promote. But it was like, Brett and I were doing 90% of the work and it seemed like the other guys were just thankless in everything that we were doing and the direction that we were going. They'd see other bands who were doing cover songs and different types of music and making money, and here we were trying to stick to our guns, not making money, and just trying to do it, and they just got frustrated.
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- K2K: Well, that's what separates the men from the boys.
- RR: Right. So, one day we pulled over in a parking lot and, we were honest with each other, and said, "I just don't think this is going to happen. Let's move on." It was tough because the bass player was a guy who I grew up with. I still don't talk to them. He's still mad about it. (laughs)
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- K2K: Is he mad that he's not in Poison?
- RR: I guess. I don't know. I guess he felt that... I don't know. We've never spoken again. He didn't want to do it the way that we wanted to do it.
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- K2K: Ultimately you went the right course anyway.
- RR: Oh, I think so. I had to give up a friend for that, but maybe he wasn't a friend anyway.
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- K2K: What did you first think of the whole idea of Poison, the way that it was forming?
- RR: The thing is that we wanted to create a band that was everything that we wanted to see in a band. Every time I would go see a band, the guitar player looks cool but the singer looked dumb, or whatever. Or they might look cool but one guy moves and the other guy just stands there. The songs are too long or where is the chorus. We thought about it and thought why is everyone categorized so much when they can take all these things that are bitchin' and put them all together and create this ultimate band. That was our idea. The concept was to be 100% of the image, 100% of the songs - have catchy songs, rock hard - mix punk, glitter and high energy hard rock all together.
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- K2K: That's how I always saw you guys but didn't understand why others didn't get it. I always thought that your first album was one of the most quintessential albums in rock for what it offered with its punk and glitter attitude. It should be in any collection.
- RR: I appreciate you saying that. It was an important record. I really would like to think that. I think that record was important because, during that part of the 80s, we were a "glam band," then in 92 we were a "hair band" and now we're "hair metal." It's like there has been a label tagged on us every three to four years or something. We've gone through a few but I still think that we're a glam band. I'm not saying that we created glam or anything, and we didn't create glitter. That's for damn sure. But mixing glitter, punk and hard rock together kind of is glam.
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- K2K: Yeah, but people don't know their history. If I was to compare you to anybody, I would compare you to Sweet.
- RR: Oh, I love Sweet. I cover them in my side project, Glitter For Your Soul. It was a bit more hard-hitting than Sweet. We wanted a Sex Pistols attitude but with a David Lee Roth swagger. A complete dichotomy, at least on the surface.
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- K2K: The Sweet "Desolation Boulevard" would be the closest analogy to the first Poison album. It had the same bite to it.
- RR: We didn't have much of a budget to work with. The concept was to just get in there and make the record party, almost like it's live, because we were not going to have the time to go and do a ridiculous amount of overdubs. We got the bass tracks and drum tracks together on that record. It's almost a live record actually.
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- K2K: Some of the best records were done that way.
- RR: Absolutely. The Van Halen records. Van Halen I. There's not much overdubbed guitar. When Eddie hits a solo, you hear bass and drums and that's it backing him up. There is something so cool about that.
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- K2K: People are missing that these days. Ever since Def Leppard, there has been an over abundance of production. Even the first Def Leppard album seemed so raw.
- RR: Right.
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- K2K: One of the best produced albums were [singer for Kansas] Steve Walsh's Streets albums.
- RR: Absolutely. Aerosmith is another one. Some of those old school producers had a knack for making the song work first and foremost and just having that vibe. That's very, very cool. We try to fix everything in the mix these days. I'm not saying Poison does, but that's how a lot of records are done. On a lot of records, these people don't get together and write songs and rehearse the songs, they are doing pre-production as they are in the studio writing things - going to tape. "Well, that's kind of a cool groove. Let's chop that up and paste it all together. Voila! We've got a song." Well, try to play that song on an acoustic guitar around a campfire sometime. It's nonexistent because they're just selling vibe and that's it. You can't just sell vibe.
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- K2K: Would you ever consider going back and doing an album stripped down like the first one?
- RR: Well, I don't know what's going to happen. We're going to go in and do a record. A lot of it has to do with how the producer operates and all, but it's going to be pretty straight-ahead. No question about that.
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- K2K: What I heard live sounds ballsy.
- RR: Thanks. With "Power To The People," we used Pro-Tools, but we just used that as a medium to get it recorded. We just recorded digitally, that's all.
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- K2K: One song that you played live was real heavy.
- RR: That was "Power To The People," the lead off track. I actually wrote the riff for that.
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- K2K: You guys still have that stigma of being "hair bears" and yet you, for the most part, don't have the hair anymore. Your look is stripped down to the look of today and the sound is what's going on today, I wonder how long before everyone else "gets it."
- RR: I know what you mean. The thing is that we continue to be a glam band even through that. You don't have to have long hair to be a glam band.
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- K2K: If you understand what "glam" means. Most journalists don't.
- RR: Oh, they don't. They think you have to have long hair and tease it and then make-up and tight pants. That's glam to most people. There really only was a couple of glam bands that got out of the chute during the middle 80s. That was us, Hanoi Rocks and Jet Boy, for a short time. Even Faster Pussycat. Even they started to go "Oh no, we're not exactly that." Then everybody wanted to be exactly like us or to disassociate themselves from us. That's why I think that record ["Look What The Cat Dragged In"] was important because it became a benchmark for people would try to do. It's almost like there was so much of a backlash that it was cool. It made us underdogs. By doing that, it made us cool. It went so far the other way it actually became an upswing in the other direction.
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- K2K: The first time I saw you was with Loudness in Santa Monica, I think.
- RR: We were actually opening for Cinderella, opening for Loudness.
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- K2K: The whole reason we went to that show was to catch you guys. It was amazing. I became convinced from then on.
- RR: Thank you.
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- K2K: It was weird to have to try to convince others what was cool about you since you were part of the same scene.
- RR: Sometimes it takes time. Maybe that's why there is some longevity here. People are still just starting to get Aerosmith. "Oh, they're the ones who did that soundtrack thing." They still get that. They lasted and people still don't, 100%, get them. Some people have only listened to the last two records and they haven't gone back to those first records. "Toys In The Attic" is probably one of my all time very favorite albums. It's so important, that album.
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- K2K: How many albums does Poison have out?
- RR: Let me think for a second. (ponders) Seven.
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- K2K: For some reason, I felt that you made fewer albums than I would have expected for the time that you've been around.
- RR: What it is is "Look What The Cat Dragged In," "Open Up And Say Ahh," "Flesh And Blood," then a live record, "Swallow This Live," then "Native Tongue," "Crack A Smile," then a greatest hits, and then now "Power To The People." So it's eight.
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- K2K: How long have you been playing drums?
- RR: Since I was 12.
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- K2K: Who were your influences while growing up?
- RR: You know, it's funny that you would ask me that. I just did this thing for Modern Drummer. They do this thing called "Quick Beats" or something like that. Let me see what I wrote.
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- Influences - Ringo Starr. The first record that I ever had was a Beatles record because my sister gave it to me. She was older. "I have to babysit for you and you're really annoying me because I want to party. Here's my record player and here's two Beatles 45s. Go in your room." (laughs) Man, I learned how to play those songs on a phone book and a bed.
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- Ian Paice from Deep Purple. Deep Purple was the first record that I ever bought with my own money from my allowance. Keith Moon, from The Who, obviously. Tommy Price, who was with Joan Jett and Billy Idol. Clem Burke from Blondie. Jeff Porcaro from Toto. Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick. Dinky Diamond from Sparks. Peter Criss from KISS. Jerry Nolan from New York Dolls. Stewart Copeland from the Police. Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols. Neal Peart from Rush. Bobby Rock. Joey Kramer from Aerosmith. Richard Hughes, who used to be with Johnny Winter. The first concert I ever saw was Johnny Winter with Brownsville Station opening. Their hit was "Smoking In The Boy's Room," at the time.
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- K2K: You know that Cub Coda from Brownsville Station recently passed away.
- RR: You're kidding! Wow. That's a trip.
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- K2K: Now that you've told me those names, I have to say that that is one of the most eclectic lists of names that I've ever heard.
- RR: Well, different things for different reasons.
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- K2K: Well, more especially coming from you. I think that you guys were underrated as a band of musicians.
- RR: Oh definitely. You know what our problem was? We gave in to what they said. You've heard the old adage, "Don't believe your own press." A lot of people believe that that means that you're amazing and that you start to believe that and then get conceited. That's not where it begins and ends. When the critics start to put you down, and they put you down long enough, you start to think that maybe it's true - that maybe the whole thing is a fluke and that maybe you really did hit the lotto, the musical lotto. The thing is is that, at one point, we started not even bother fighting it. "You guys really aren't that good of players." "Well, you know what? Eeh, no, I guess not." Then they go, "Aha! Gotcha!" You see what I'm saying? We never should have given into that and it's the only thing that I regret. I should have just said, "You know what? We are good. F*** you." I wish I would have done that. Instead, because of the kind of people we are, we tried to be more humble and say, "You know, yeah, there are some guys who are a lot better than we are, but we're doing what we do." That's the kind of things that we would say and we never should have been that way.
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- It's not like the fans would have said, "You know what? He's a cocky f***. F*** him." I don't think they would have anyway, but we were afraid of that. We were like, "I don't want to come off like that." There were so many rumors about our band at the beginning. We were put together by the record company and such. Not cool rumors. Not like Manson where he got a rib removed or Alice who was sleeping in a coffin. It was like, we were put together and we don't play on the record. We really are another version of Milli Vanilli and what's going to happen when they try and tour. There was articles about that.
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- K2K: I could be wrong about this, but you almost seemed surprised that I commented, backstage, about your drumming abilities. I used to see you guys before but I had not paid the attention to your playing like I did this last time to how hard you hit and how much you were doing with what is around you.
- RR: Thanks. You know what's funny? There are a lot of guitar magazines out there, more than there are drum magazines. They're kind of hip. Yeah, they'll have Joe Satriani on there, but they'll also have Angus Young on occasion. It's kind of appreciated all the way around. "Yeah, I'm into blues. Great." With drum magazines, it's really kind of a snotty community. To be in that Modern Drummer clique, you've got to be a jazz guy, basically. There's very little room for anybody else. Once in a while, Neal Peart will come along, but that's pretty much it. You just don't get kudos. If you're a Clem Burke type player or a Bun E. Carlos type player, which I think I am - I'm definitely not that West Coast style drummer.
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- K2K: Bun E. Carlos has more of a laid back style.
- RR: He's straight ahead. I'm almost closer to Tommy Price. When I say that I'm not a West Coast drummer, I'm not from the West Coast. I didn't grow up doing all these trills and whatnot. There was such an influence from New York City, at that time when I was growing up. It's when punk and glitter and New Wave were all trying to sort themselves out. The one thing that they all had in common was that CBGB influence where you just sit there and lay it down and go. I always had this little bit of punk aspect. Everyone wanted me to play like that, so it became ingrained in me. That's what I turned out to be like.
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- When I got out to the West Coast, everyone was playing different. These huge drum kits and then I thought that I had to do that. I was just a snare, high hat guy. Then playing three other toms, "Maybe I should play these other toms. They're here." I was never that kind of player though, really. It was not my thing.
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- K2K: Simplicity is the key though. Do more with less.
- RR: A drummer told me one time, it's when you're quiet and then get loud is when people take notice. If you're loud all night, people just kind of go, "Ah, whatever." Dynamics are important. The first record we did, the producer did not want me to play dynamic. He kept asking, "Why are you coming down on the vocals?" "Because that's what I do when we rehearse. It's the singer's turn now." He was completely blown away that somebody did that. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? "No. We have mics and we can control that." You have the singer controlling his vocal. The really great singers, the Pavarottis, they use mic control. That doesn't exist in pop anymore. They stick their mic in their mouth and yell and it's up to the soundman or the compressor to go with it.
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- K2K: It's funny to realize that, with your background and knowledge, half the Poison fans - back through the 80s at least - would have no idea what you are now talking about. Yet, half the music audience who does not like Poison, would totally appreciate what you are talking about. If only those people had a clue, you would have an expanded audience.
- RR: Right. You know, we've always been one of the most hated bands, by other musicians. It's just always been that way. Whether it's jealousy - I don't know what all is involved. We've always been pretty decent looking guys, I'm not being cocky, but we put that foot forward throughout our career and that automatically translated to "Hey, they can't play." Now that it's all come out in the wash, years later, at least once a night, after a show, somebody will come up and say, "You're the reason I play drums." That means more than anything to me. I went out and got involved and inspired somebody. That's what all these other people did for me. That is the real gift of music.
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- K2K: I was always playing by the time that you guys came around, but you were a good kick in the ass.
- RR: Good. There is always a band that comes along that kicks you in the ass a little bit.
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- K2K: How hard is it to get your showmanship angle down while still playing so well?
- RR: It's all a timing thing. I didn't understand how to do that s*** either. I look at these guys who would spin sticks and I wouldn't do that between songs because I couldn't do it during songs. I'd f*** up. Chewing gum and skipping rope, I couldn't do it. Then I realized that it was all part of the rhythm. If my left hand wasn't busy and I started playing with a click, and stuff like that, sometimes I would tap in the air for timing. Then I thought, if I can tap in the air, I can spin in the air or whatever. Whatever hand wasn't doing something, I could make it do something. I had to treat it that way. I just started incorporating that into my timing. So now, when I was making this last record, they were laughing at me because I was doing tricks as I was playing. But it was the way I remember timing. I didn't go as crazy as I do onstage. On ballads and stuff like that, it's part of my way of keeping time. So that's kind of what I am and become my thing. It took years to accidentally get there. (laughs)
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- K2K: OK, a couple of off questions. If you were not playing in Poison and had a chance to drum for any band, or musicians, in history - alive or dead - who would it be?
- RR: Stomp.
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- K2K: The theatric production?
- RR: Absolutely. If I was not in Poison, I would want to be in Stomp. I'm not kidding. In big, f***ing combat and bashing on trash cans is so cool. (laughs) It's on DVD. Rent it. You will be so inspired. It's so cool. It's amazing.
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- K2K: If you could put together your own ultimate band of musicians, who would be included?
- RR: There's a lot of dead guys here. Definitely have Johnny Thunders on guitar.
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 K2K: Sober - or the way he was?
- RR: I don't know what he would be like sober. (laughs) I'd have to think about all that.
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- K2K: I stumped you.
- RR: You did. Geez. You know, singers are always the tough ones. As far as just vocal ability, Paul Rodgers of Bad Company. Could you imagine that combo so far? Rikki Rockett, Johnny Thunders and Paul Rodgers? That would rock! (laughs)
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- K2K: Who on bass?
- RR: Probably Gary Thain of Uriah Heep.
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- K2K: That is the oddest choice of musicians.
- RR: People would be like, "What?!"
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- K2K: I do have to question Jerry Nolan and Peter Criss as your influences. Although they were well known, they were not known always for the best playing.
- RR: Well, neither was Ringo Starr. Peter Criss is a fine player. He really is. He has inspired more people to pick up drum sticks than anyone else in history. That is important. He's solid. He's right on. Is he turning over seven? No. So what? Jerry Nolan. Who else could have played for the Dolls. Anyone else would have f***ed that up. He was just so raw. He was like Paul Cook. They were like, "We need this guy who doesn't care."
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- K2K: I think I almost give more respect to Paul Cook's playing.
- RR: They thing is that what we have that the Dolls have, and this is what makes it a glam record, is that it feels like it's on the edge of falling off the track all the time. It's reckless. A lot of people say, "Well, Nirvana brought down the 80s." or "No, it's because Warrant was so stupid." or whatever. None of those things brought down the 80s. What brought down the 80s was these guys, these noodle-meisters, that would come out and try to play every f***ing lick under the sun so precisely that they completely forgot about the song and everything that made rock.
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- K2K: The speed-freak guitar players.
- RR: The whole musical combos that started to come around. It's like, "We're going to try to be so much not like Poison and Bon Jovi, that we're going to go completely the other way." and it almost became progressive rock or something. The Yngwie Malmsteen's and whatever. More power to whatever. When you do it just to do it, it starts to get ridiculous because, look what happens. All these bands started to think that they needed a guy like that.
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- K2K: Something else that I wanted to talk about that you're into is vegetarianism. Are you vegan?
- RR: Yes I am, actually. Completely. It's one of those things where you're hoping that the cookie that you're having doesn't have shortening or something. I'm not that freaky about it, but I buy vegan cookies. I get everything as vegan as I can. Occasionally there's going to be something. Yes, there is rubber on my tires. (laughs)
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- K2K: To explain to those who have arguments against vegans or vegetarians. What is the biggest difference between killing plants and animals?
- RR: It is true, where do you draw the line. Plants don't have a central nervous system. They don't see and feel and all that. Yes, there is some scientific argument to that. When you talk to your plant, well that's just carbon monoxide. You know what I mean. I think animals and humans are very similar in the sense that they feel pain and loneliness and that sort of stuff. Sure, I draw the line at plants. The real difference is - What's the difference between your dog and a cow?
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- K2K: In Vietnam, I guess there's none. In India there is.
- RR: (laughs) That may not be your dog.
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- K2K: Have you ever heard of breatharians? They don't believe in killing plants or animals. They claim to get everything from dirt, for minerals, and oxygen.
- RR: Then there's people who won't pull anything from the ground, only what falls to the ground. That I am not. I have no comment about that. It just happens to not be my belief system. I just don't believe in the mass slaughter of animals is what it comes down to. They are treated horribly. If most people saw videos of how they are treated, they would think twice about it.
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- K2K: Would you have a problem with it if they were not treated that way?
- RR: How would they not be? There's three things here: There are ethical reasons, health reasons and, a lot of times, religious beliefs, which probably fall under ethics, and there is also ecological. So the big three are really ethics/religion, whatever you want to call it, environmental, and health. So when you get into a topic of discussion like this, you have to focus in on one of the three, because you can move to any one of the two. A lot of time somebody will ask me something and I'll get them on a health issue but then I'll turn around and say, "But the Bible says..." I can answer questions on any of them quite honestly.
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- K2K: I guess it comes down to the fact of the Bible saying that animals are here to serve us, but then, if you believe that, then you must also believe that women are subservient.
- RR: Right. The Bible doesn't say it exactly like that. What it talks about is what you can eat, in the Bible, in the terms of animals. You have to understand that that was during the time of Noah and the Ark. There was no land. The entire Earth was covered with water. If you look earlier, in the Old Testament, it clearly says things like "A man who kills an ox is the same as a man who kills a man." Things like that in the Old Testament. Later, in the New Testament, it talks about how the seeds will be your meat and stuff like that. Everyone myopically overlooks those entries and go right to the Noah.
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- (After searching for some scriptures, we got onto talking about current trends in slaughterhouses and meat packing.)
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- RR: They make them [cows] cannibals by feeding them dead cows. This is how Mad Cow disease started. They had a downer cow and it's cheaper to sell it to a renderer than to call a vet and find out what happened. And they'll take it. They'll give you $50. - $100. per cow. Then they'll grind it up and make it for all sorts of different reasons. A lot of times, most of the times, it ends up as feed and they feed it back to cows. That is the premise for Mad Cow disease. They're all transmitted that way. It's in the brain. We all know that there is no cure for it. Once you have it, you're gone. In some people, it's almost impossible to tell the difference between that and Parkinson's disease without opening the brain and looking at it.
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- K2K: In regards to the cannibalism thing - Are you aware about pet foods from Mexico? They have pits where they thrown in whatever they have. Cats, dogs, rats, sawdust, dirt, whatever. That's what is in our Purina when we feed our pets.
- RR: Right. Tons of fillers. That turns our dogs into cannibals as well. For instance, without mentioning any names, there is a renderer here who also does cremation for a lot of vet hospitals. This is really sad because you have no idea how many drugs have been fed into that dog prior to its death. Maybe it just got hit by a car and it's one year old or maybe it's fourteen years old and been on cancer medicine and everything else, trying to save it. It's impossible to say. Or even giving them the "purple juice" to put them to sleep. Traces of that stuff will get in. You have to turn it up to 220° F to start to get rid of some of that. I don't know all the specifics of what burns at what degrees.
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- K2K: Are you completely against eating meat or is that primarily why? Is it the meat or how things suffer and die?
- RR: It's both, really. I just think it's a better argument to explain the suffering of it. The fact of the matter is that you have to kill something. I always give people this scenario - You're walking down the street and you see a dog tied to a tree and you see some guy beating it. Most people will either get involved, say something to the guy, call the police or do something. I think in human nature that people think that that animal has an inalienable right not to be killed or hurt or beaten. I don't know why that line gets drawn with farm animals.
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- K2K: Well, dammit. I wish you wouldn't have said that. Now I'm going to feel guilty every time.
- RR: (laughs) You don't have to look at it. You don't look at slaughterhouses. They don't have it on Eyewitness News or even 20/20 or anything, because most of these stations are subsidized by McDonald's or something else. It's all animal by-products. The industry is huge.
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- K2K: Another thing that was in the news. For those who have a fish allergy, McDonald's came out and said publicly that their Chicken McNuggets sometimes have chicken but might sometimes have fish in there. What if someone died?
- RR: McDonald's have 24/7 attorneys working for them. McLibel they call them.
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- K2K: They admitted this publicly. Don't you think this would be bigger news?
- RR: I would think so. Healthy, lean food is the exception, not the whole in our society. In other words, it is work to try to eat right. It is a pain in the ass.
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- K2K: It is a pain in the ass to do that, and to recycle.
- RR: Yes it is. All that is made very difficult and it's all about money, really.
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- K2K: To make you feel stupid for doing it. "Why am I wasting so much time being a good person when it's so much easier to be a bad person?"
- RR: Right. Right. And people will have you believe that it's really not in our hands individually anyway, but it is.
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- K2K: Do you make others practice veganism?
- RR: I don't make anybody do anything. I try to set an example. I know it's a difficult thing, because we're raised like that. I was raised as a meat-eater because I'm from Pennsylvania, and my parents still do. Maybe they've gotten better and maybe I've planted a seed here and there, but people have always said that we're going to win it with the next generation. I think that's true to a large degree. A lot of younger people are that way now. It's amazing to people. It's tough when you get locked into it. I don't like to point fingers and make it seem like I'm holier than though or something like that. I just like to explain to people that I feel kind of enlightened by something, by the truth, and that we're being kind of brainwashed or snowjobbed about it, and please don't fall for it too. Think about it and listen to your inner self a little bit, after you hear the facts, and maybe you'll decide that you don't want that to be your contribution either.
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- It is very difficult. What's funny is that it's something that really incites arguments. I can sit there and talk about vivisections, animal experimentations and that kind of stuff. Nine times out of ten, it's not that difficult for me to win the argument pretty quickly, unless that person relies on vivisection funding dollars for their survival or something. Most of the time people will get it, especially cosmetic type of things are a slam dunk. When you talk about food choices, that's really hard because... In other words, when I say to you I'm against vivisections, I don't have to do anything about it. I'm just telling you that I'm against it. If I say I'm against eating animals, I had better walk my talk or I'm going to look like a jerk. So, people have to change their lifestyle and people don't want to change their lifestyle.
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- K2K: You've got that right.
- RR: That's the whole thing. They'd rather come up with excuses to not have to deal with that. They'd rather come up with a great excuse and liberate themselves from having to deal with that fight every day.
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- K2K: Do you ever, ever sneak a burger or anything? Even unknowingly?
- RR: No, never. I haven't had a piece of meat in nine years.
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- K2K: That you know of...
- RR: Yes. Well, there was a situation one time when I was at a Denny's and ordered a spaghetti with Marinara. It's got meat sauce and I didn't know it. I took a bite and right at that second I realized it. That was only one time that I know of. I always ask.
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- K2K: I wasn't trying to trick you into an answer, I was just wondering how careful you are.
- RR: Right. No, I don't.
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- K2K: So, you have a dinner party at your house. Do you serve for your guests or do you serve for yourself?
- RR: We don't allow any animal products on our property. It's the same thing when we're recording. I say, "If you guys want to go have a hamburger, stay at the place and eat it. Do not bring it into my studio or into my house."
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- K2K: Really?
- RR: Yeah. It's the same thing if a person said, "I don't want you to smoke in my house." I wouldn't sneak it in there. You know what I mean?
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- K2K: That's cool. That's commendable that you really do stick to your guns like that.
- RR: And it's difficult when you have your girlfriend's father come over for a cookout and he wants to bring stuff. It's like, "Uh... OK." And then you have to use the smoking argument because he won't let me smoke in his house, or whatever. The thing is that I go by, in my mind, the slogan that I'm never going to sell out the animals to make somebody happy. If somebody dislikes me and doesn't want to be my friend anymore because of my feelings, then that's how it's going to be.
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- K2K: That would be shallow though.
- RR: It would be shallow and they wouldn't be much of a friend anyhow.
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- K2K: Right. So who needs them... (laughs)
- RR: Right. Exactly!
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- K2K: Now, I've seen your website, about the animal testing. In itself it's disgusting, and yet very necessary to be shown to people. I guess to get a quick statement out of you - Why hate the fur wearers?
- RR: I don't hate fur wearers. I hate the concept of people wearing fur.
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- K2K: Are you one of those who has gone out to spray fur wearers?
- RR: No. No, I've never done that. I've gone to a lot of Fur-Free Fridays and different protests and stuff like that. I've even done passive resistance and all that kind of stuff, but no, I've never sprayed. You know, incidentally, one even that happened in Florida, that's not the normal fare for normal Anti-Fur people to do... that got blown way out of proportion. I think that some of the people who were pushing that message, at that particular point in time, didn't mind that it got blown out because at least they got to talk about it. And that's really what it is. I've seen some of these situations where they've thrown a tofu pie in somebody's face and stuff like that. You know, it's just really Vaudeville more than anything else. It's nothing really... They try to make it out like they're terrorists or something. The problem with the media is that nobody wants to talk to you unless something outlandish happens. I don't think that true animal rights activists are bombers. I don't think that they are out bombing clinics and things. I mean, there is an aspect of the movement...
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- K2K: It's not the groups though, there is always a lone nut out there somewhere at times...
- RR: I happen to believe, in my heart, that there has been situations where things have been burnt to the ground, insurance has been collected and I think the opposition did it and blamed it on the Animal Opposition Front.
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- K2K: Well, of course. That seems obvious. Why not? What can one say, it never happens?
- RR: And every time that there is a lab break-in, there's a release, anything like that, usually they will go to the press and say that they found hundreds of animals already dead, or "They left these animals dead and broken." It's utter bulls***. Since the AOF is underground, they can't sue because they don't really exist. They don't want to exist above ground and not really make a stance. It's tough to inform people about that. It becomes "he said, she said."
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- K2K: It's nice for them because then it's in the media making people believe that anyone into animal rights is a nut case. Then it doesn't matter if you have a valid point, someone will think you are loony.
- RR: Right. I'll give you an example. There's a girl who works for ADL Los Angeles. She's a good activist. She went to a circus and stood on a podium with one of the hooks that they use to jab the elephants with for training. She got tackled by three security guys and arrested for the possession of a deadly weapon. She was caged for it. It kind of speaks for itself. The judge ruled in the oppositions' favor. It's a war out there, it really is.
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- K2K: Where did she get the hook?
- RR: I don't know actually. Probably from a former elephant trainer. You can buy that stuff.
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- K2K: Since when is it illegal to brandish a deadly weapon?
- RR: It's hard to say. Is it a deadly weapon and did the elephant trainer have a permit to carry it? You know what I'm saying? It should be retried and looked into. I think it was poor representation and I can't believe she got hung for it.
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- K2K: It sounds like the wrong question was asked in court and her lawyer didn't really know how to switch it back to what the real case was.
- RR: Right. I agree.
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- K2K: If it was a deadly weapon and all agree, then the circus must be fined as well, for cruelty to animals.
- RR: That's right. The problem is that the media wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. It's unbelievable. They don't even care about it. I don't happen to be a member of PETA, but PETA has spent tons of money on publicity stunts and advertising. I know the guy who was just diagnosed with colon cancer, they just did a "Got Milk?" thing and got sued for it. They were pointing out the fact that milk can cause colon cancer, or contribute to it anyway. That information came from the Positions Committee for Responsible Medicine. The whole world is Wall Street happy and media happy. We live in a tabloid society. Some of this stuff might seem crazy when someone tries to pull it off.
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- When a celebrity tries to do something weird - when Angelia Jolie kisses her brother at the Oscars - then "She's a crazy actress," but when somebody tofu pies somebody who is going to make some kind of animal abuse legal or whatnot, then suddenly they're a terrorist. It's very unfair and very biased stuff that's going on here. At some point in time I would like to do nothing but media for animal rights. I've already named my group. It's called Friendly Fire. It would do nothing but publicity for stuff like that. Down the road, I want to do that. Right now I'm doing a website called KillDay.com. It's going to count down the hours until the animals at a particular kill shelter are put to sleep. You will get to see it live on the internet. It teaches the lesson that if you want to see the miracle of birth, you also have to deal with the fact and reality that if you are going to let these puppies spawn all over the place, that there will not be enough homes for them and they are going to die.
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