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Bret Michaels Interview

© Chad Bowar

Poison frontman Bret Michaels will release his first solo album, Songs of Life, on his own Poor Boy Records on May 20th, 2003. All 14 songs on the album were inspired by events in his life. Songs of Life will be an enhanced CD, with the video for the first single "Raine" containing exclusive footage not shown on the TV version.

In addition to selling over 20 million records with Poison, Michaels wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed movie "Letter From Death Row", which also starred Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen. He's also appeared on many TV shows, including The Chris Isaak Show, VH1's I Love the 80s, MTV Cribs, and many more. 2003 will be an extremely busy year for Michaels with a Poison summer tour, a TV show in development, a solo tour, and another movie. I recently spoke with Bret about these and many other subjects:

Chad Bowar: I'm in Rapid City, SD, which is right down the road from Sturgis, home of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of your favorite places, and a place Poison played last year.

Bret Michaels: Last year was one of the most awesome feelings. Although we've been through there many times, last year was the first time we got to headline the Buffalo Chip (the main venue) on the main night. What an experience. The crowd was insane. It was really, really a packed show, and it was weird because it had gotten really ugly and rained all day, and then it just got awesome. We put the full on Poison show up there, and we actually added a couple of songs. I love it when everybody revs up the engines. Half is applause and half is engines just going crazy.

You've gone to Sturgis on your own in the past, even when the band wasn't playing, right?

Absolutely. I've got a couple Harleys, and I'm a big motorcycle enthusiast. I also have a bunch of dirt bikes.

Why was this the right time for you to release a solo album?

I'm never sure what the right time is, I just know that I felt pretty good with all the songs that I wrote. I think Songs of Life has no time frame and no time limit on it. All the songs have a slightly different feel, they talk about different points in my life. The first single, "Raine", I wrote after the birth of my daughter, and the video has been getting a lot of great play on VH1 and VH1 Classic. I don't know if there's ever a right time, I just think that now felt like a good time to put the record out.

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