I am proud to announce my first signature cymbal. Have a look and a listen at: www.bosphoruscymbals.com
Poison plans summer headlining US tour with "one-off" festival dates abroad. March 22nd marks Poison for their first show of 2008 landing in Wellington, NZ for the Rock 2 Wellington with Ozzy. Poison also headlines night three in Sweden for a festival featuring Ozzy and Kiss as well as many others. Then Poison hits the road in late June for their annual US headlining tour. Particulars to be announced.
I guess we shouldn't be surpised.
Randy surprised us today the way he always does.
You see, Randy would always look to the simplest and most elegant way to do something and surprise us with his innovation.
Randy would impress us and surprise us by making quick work of our problems.
Randy, always there with the surprise answer to the the problem,
Randy, always there with the surprise remark that would make us laugh and always with the surprise talent that we only ever grew to know a little at a time.
Randy, in his Randy way, surprised us as usual today, when he left us forever.
I guess we shouldn't be surpised.
Randy surprised us today the way he always does.
- Rikki
Hey All..
I was just surfing a little bit today, and i always check in at the ROCKETT DRUM WORKS site and happened to find out one of the builders of the Rebel Kit passed a few days ago.
I know Bobby Gibb quite well, but came to find a new family in ROCKETT DRUM WORKS, Rikki, Sean, Brendan and Randy. Those guys put their relationships, sleep and everything else on hold a few nights to say the least to get the Rebel Kit used on the Summer White Lion tour completed. I appreciate the dedication they have to their craft, drums, and their Artists. They pulled out all of the stops to get the kit done, and done right. They treated me the way they would treat themselves as if they were building this kit for "their" tour.
Every night being asked about the drums after a show, I got to share the experience I had with Rockett Drum Works, and the guys and I'll never forget the night it all got done. We were taking pictures sometime after 2 a.m. from what i remember...
So with all of that said, I'm proud to have a kit those guys are proud of, and I know Randy was proud of it too. I know they treat all of their drums that way, but it's nice to know that this was to be one of the 1st RDW kits out on tour, and the 4th kit to come out of the shop, and the 1st kit to be done the way it was done! With some blood, tons of sweat, and now probably some tears.
I'll beat the Rebel Kit extra hard next week in San Bernardino for Randy. I didn't know him well, but I have a connection with him and each one of those guys as that Rebel Kit tells a different story for everyone involved.
Cheers bro
troypatrickfarrell/WHITE LION
www.myspace.com/drummertroy
THE GIFT.......
Randy Roberts....What more can I say? Just the mention of his name, and the room would light up, and anybody that knew him had a hilarious story or two about him...
He was more than just my best friend growing up. He was like the brother I never had.
From the days in that old garage in Mojave, Him, I and our buddy Luke, in our first "band", which we affectionately named Allison Tramp (Randy bashing it out on his pink drumkit, me on my purple BC Rich Warlock, and Luke, with his hair spiked everywhere ala Nikki Sixx, pounding out the bass....those were the days), to our late teenage years, renting a little pink appartment in Mojave (I don't know what his love of Pink was about...LOL), to the here and now, he was always the best friend anybody could ever have. Granted he was ALWAYS busy, ALWAYS trying to keep his friends happy, and usually never having any time to himself, he still always found at least a minute out his 25 hour days to say Hi and catch up a little...
And if you knew him for even a fraction of the time I have, you'd admit he was definitely a very special person. He truly had a Gift. He could literally make his enemies laugh their asses off (if he even had enemies, which I truly doubt he ever did). I'll admit, growing up, I was very envious of him...All the parties, he was the LIFE of them. A real character. I was always jealous of this. But now that we've grown up, I've realized that not everybody can do this, even if they tried. He NEVER tried. Like I said before, it was a Gift. A Gift he never lost, but once realized, was shared with as many as possible. A Gift that will be missed. And even though that Gift was called home to be with the Lord way to prematurely, that Gift will live on in all the hearts and memories of those who had the chance to really know him...I am truly honored to have been witness to that Gift, and truly blessed to have had a best friend like Randy....
Randy, I will truly miss you, bro....RIP my friend.....
Send you dedications here and we'll post them. rockett@rockettdrumworks.com
Rikki Rockett signs deal with Aquarian Drum Heads!
Rikki Rockett of Poison has decided to switch over to Aquarian Drum Heads both as an artist and for his company's OEM association. After many, many years with drum head giant, Remo, "The move", says Rockett, was not one of dismay for Remo, but more of a logical step for me and my company." Rockett, who also owns and operates his own custom drum company, Rockett Drum Works, Inc. will be using the heads as their factory OEM heads. "Aquarian's legendary tap test got me! Say's Rockett, These heads sound great before they are even put on the drum! They flat out rock!"
"Remo has always treated me great. I have a long history with them and like the people there as well. Rockett went on, But, we deal with customers who expect quality from smaller, more hands on and less corporate associations and vendors." Rockett went on, "From a personal perspective, I have been a Roy Burns fan since I was 14 years old, reading his columns in Modern Drummer Magazine and being inspired. Now his company makes my drum heads! How cool is that?!"
For more information about Aquarian Drum Heads see: http://www.aquariandrumheads.com
The Rockett Drum Works Custom Killer Klown Kit was featured at the Guitar Hero III launch party.
Take a look at this amazing kit and you will know what all of the hype is about.
View the Kit Here
Hello Fellow drum addicts!
It's me, Rikki, happily returning on a flight back to So Cal from Poison's final tour date ending in Atlanta,. Now, "happily returning" isn't to say I haven't enjoyed myself the last few months. I'm just excited about some stuff that we are building. I'll get to that in a sec. The "Poison'd" tour, as it was dubbed because of the new EMI released Poison CD, "Poison'd", was a success with an increase of 20% to 30% more tickets than last year's, "20 years of Rock and Ruin" tour. I guess 21 is better than 20? We also were the "Big swingin' dicks" at the "Rocklahoma" festival according to "Spin" Magazine. I guess that's a compliment?
I used two different kits on tour. For the first half of the tour I used an acrylic clear and silver sparkle kit with green stars that we build in conjunction with RCI Starlite. The second half of the tour was an all maple kit painted with hot rod "Rat Fink" green flake by Bob Spina and then we pinstriped and built day of the show it at the Sturgis Motorcycle rally. See video of this escapade here: www.RockettDrumWorks.com/
While I'm mainly looking forward to living in a house rather than a tour bus for the first time in three and half months, I am also excited to get back to work on a fleet of new designs, some of which are secrets and others I will reveal now. This new gathering of drums will be our "Collector Geek" designs. I'm a collector geek and most of our crew is as well, so we figured we'd fire off a few geeked out designs for the upcoming months. After all, that's what we do!
October will mark the release of the Rockett Drum Works "Lucky 13" snare drum. Get this, 13 ply maple, 13" inch x 6" inch deep, with 10 lug, (yes, ten lug hoops) with aircraft aluminum ace of spades shaped lugs, single mounted with tubes! Ahhh, and there is more... Trick throw off and Puresound custom snares. Colors: Black with white hardware and white with black hardware. Special edition of the "Lucky 13" will be a Halloween Orange with black hardware edition. Of course, only 13 of the Orange will be made. All snares will be numbered.
Next on tap will be the "High on Hybrids" snare drum. In conjunction with RCI Starlite, Rockett Drum Works will offer this fine percussive instrument. The "High on Hybrids" snare drum will offer a 15 ply maple center, 7/8 inch acrylic top and bottom, beautiful tube lugs will stab through our Rockett Drum Works proprietary mag wheel lugs. Your choice of 6" and 7" inch deep by 14" inch. Dunnett or Trick throw off available. wood center can be a wrap, a stain or painted to suit your finish fetish. Now, if that ain't enough, we will also be offering in conjunction with "Mental Case" a wood/acrilic case for this fine instrument. Yes, you can see your see through drum through the see through case! Limited numbers available.
Now, here is a nice Christmas gift for you or your loved one and a delicious fetish for the geeked out drum hed. Girls think it's pretty, guys think it kicks ass... The Rockett Drum Works, "White On Rice". Solid maple shell, white paint with white powder coated hardware. Standard or Die cast hoops, single point Rockett Drum Works proprietary mag wheel lugs and a dashing Trick throw off complete with custom Puresound snares. Yummy! The crack on this is outstanding! If you don't own ear plugs, we'll send ya a pair before ya play this MOFO just to ward off lawsuits! Jackie from Veins Of Jenna has been using the prototype all summer. I asked him if he liked it, I got a smile and a horns up sign! Must be some kind of Sweedish sign language.
All this and more, coming your way from Rockett Drum Works in the coming months. Pre-order yours today!
Cheers,
Rikki Rockett (President)
Rockett Drum Works official Swag is here!
Get in style with our new line of shirts and hats.
View all Merchandise Here
Here the audio interview with Rikki here.
Rikki Rockett debuts his starship kit on Live Webcast and on "The Late Late Show iwth Craig Ferguson".
New CD from Poison entitled "Poison'd" is released. Check it out here.
See Jacki's outrageous red, white and blue acrylic kit on the Poison/Ratt/Vains Of Jenna summer tour.
2-piece acrylic with powdercoated counter hoops, polished off-set star lugs and R.I.M.S.
Rockett Drum Works, a custom drum company (Owned by Poison drummer, Rikki Rockett) plans to team with legendary American Icon, Airstream for the Poison 2007 summer tour. The Airstream "Basecamp" trailer will travel behind Rikki's tour bus on the Poison Summer tour and provide a space for Rockett and company to continue building custom drums on the road between shows. Rockett also hopes that the trailer will work out as a part of a reality show that he and the producers of "Pimp My Ride" are pitching to several networks. "We shot our pitch reel which shows how mad it can get building custom drums in our shop, says Rockett, doing it on the road will be off the hook!"
The Airstream Basecamp is an exciting addition to the Legendary American company's line. Part Toy Hauler and part new generation tent camper , the Basecamp is aimed at active campers who generally need room to carry their motorcycles, small boats, rock climbing gear and other out door sports gear. "We saw the potential for another use, enthused Rockett, a long time Airstream fan and owner, The chance to be involved with Airstream is like a race fan getting to involved with NASCAR!" We initially ran the idea by David Winick, designer of Airstream’s over the top 75th Anniverary Bambi. His support led us to contacting Airstream and our partnership.
" The first priority on the road are the shows", says Rockett, who has been traveling on the road for over twenty years as Poison's original drummer. "However, there is a lot of down time during the day that I can use to my advantage." Rockett also plans to carry his Triumph motorcycle with him in the trailer as well. "This will show just how versatile the "Basecamp" can really be". Rockett said, "My partner Bobby Gibb, my tech Sean Topham and I think we can build tons of snare drums and even do entire drum kits if we want to! We plan to use the Basecamp at several conventions as well. During the tour, we have the rest of our team back in Cali holdin' down the fort."
Poison is releasing their latest recording and video "Poison'd" on June, 5th on Capitol/EMI records. The recording was produced by legendary producer Don Was and is a collection of cover tunes Poison'd by Poison. Poison begins their summer long tour on June, 13th in Greenville, South Carolina.
Check out: www.poisonweb.com for details.
Check out Airstream's Basecamp and their entire line of timeless trailers, RV's and their 75th Anniversary Bambi models at: www.airstream.com
The coolest custom Airstream trailers on the planet. Check out www.vintagetrailering.com
Troy Patrick Farrel of White Lion joins the Rockett Drum Works roster.
Check Troy out at My Space