Rikki Rockett has claimed Slash was "p*****" off when he didn’t get the lead guitarist gig in Poison.
The Guns N’ Roses legend, 51, auditioned to be in the ‘Fallen Angel’ metal band in 1985 – prior to joining the ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ group after he quit Hollywood Rose his band with GN’R frontman Axl Rose – and wasn’t too happy to find out he wasn’t chosen, which caused rivalry between the two bands.
However, the 55-year-old Poison drummer insists they are good pals and Slash holds no grudges against the group.
Speaking on the ‘Decibel Geek’ podcast, Rockett revealed: "Slash we had known.
"’Cause he was in Hollywood Rose … So Bret [Michaels, Poison singer] and I liked him; we all liked him. And he came and worked on some songs with us, but we continued to audition people even though he was a front-runner … We didn’t want, like, a hotshot Yngwie [Malmsteen-type] guy. We didn’t want that. We wanted a rock, East Coast guy. And then C.C. [DeVille, current Poison guitarist] auditioned, and he just made more sense than Slash did. So it was a tough decision, because we all liked Slash. Slash was really p****d off about it. He was pissed. He was, like, ‘What the f**k, you guys?’ … So there was that rivalry between Guns N’ Roses and Poison because of that, I think, for a long time, you know? And that’s long gone. I see Slash and we’re totally cool, you know what I mean? I haven’t seen Axl [Rose, Guns N’ Roses singer] in f***ing 15 years, but I’ve seen the other guys, and [there’s] no problem."
Speaking about the audition in 2010, Slash admitted he didn’t like Poison and that he felt C.C. DeVille, who got the job, was the better fit as he looked the part.
At the time, he said: "I hated Poison but in those days you did whatever you had to do to keep moving. Being very ambitious, as I was, I went and auditioned for Poison. I ended up being one of two guitar players left that they were going to pick from. I remember kicking the sh** out of the songs they had. There was no denying that I could play them but there was an issue about makeup and stuff. Bobby Dall [Poison bassist] asked me what kind of shoes I was going to wear. I was, like, ‘What?’ It was kind of obvious that this was going to go nowhere. As I was walking out of the audition, C.C. DeVille was walking in. He had on pancake makeup and a ton of hairspray. I actually remember thinking right then, ‘That should be the guy.’ The next day I got a call from Bobby and he said, ‘You know, you are great and all but I think we are going to pass on you and go with this other guy.’ It was C.C. and it really did make all the sense in the world. I was in a couple of bands after that and then we started Guns N’ Roses."
Rikki Rockett claims Slash was angry he didn’t land Poison guitarist gig
