RIKKI ROCKETT's stolen POISON drum kits have been recovered
16-12-2024
All of POISON drummer Rikki Rockett‘s stolen drums have been found and have been returned to Donn’s Drum Vault, described as the largest inventory of rare and vintage drums in the world.
On Tuesday (December 10), Donn Bennett, the owner-operator at Donn’s Drum Vault, wrote in a post on the Drummers Of The Pacific Northwest Facebook group: “UPDATE. All of Rikki Rockett‘s POISON stolen drums have been found!!!
“My sincere appreciation to everyone who helped spread the word. My deepest appreciation to our friends at the Tukwilla Guitar Center for their cool and quick action and for keeping the thieves occupied until the police arrived. Also to our new friends at the Burien Sheriff Department for their great police work and for being total pros! Thief was arrested. All of the drums were recovered and returned in perfect condition.
“I feel deeply fortunate to be part of our drum community that watches out for each other like we all do. Keep it up. This is a big win for the good guys!”
Rockett‘s gear was stolen from the Donn’s Drum Vault warehouse in Burien, Washington. Bennett initially posted the following message along with photos of the stolen drums: “Stolen Drums!! Several drum sets from the collection of Rikki Rockett from POISON were stolen from our warehouse in Burien WA. They are all extremely unique and easily identified. Please let me know if you see them anywhere. Thanx!”
On Thursday (December 12), Rockett took to his social media to share the good news that all his stolen drum kits had been recovered.
Among the stolen kits stolen was a DW green-and-gray flamed kit used on POISON‘s 2022 “The Stadium Tour”.
Rikki‘s memoir, “Ghost Notes”, will be released on July 15, 2025 via Rare Bird Books. The book was written with writer duo Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson.
Rikki is the co-founder and drummer for the band POISON, which exploded into the highly competitive Los Angeles music scene in the 1980s, making a name for themselves in the clubs on the Sunset Strip.
POISON has sold over 50 million records worldwide, releasing eight studio albums, four live albums, and four compilations. The band has charted 10 singles on the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and one Hot 100 number-one smash hit, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”.
Relentless from the ground up and forged in the hellfires of the Pennsylvania and Los Angeles club scenes, POISON smashed its way up as an independent band who bet on itself. Selling over three million copies of an independent album which included the big hits “Talk Dirty To Me”, “I Won’t Forget You”, “Cry Tough”, “I Want Action” and the underground smash “Look What The Cat Dragged In”, they were soon picked up by Capitol Records and beat the sophomore jinx by releasing the aforementioned No. 1 smash “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. Written out of emotion by singer/songwriter and frontman Bret Michaels, the song blasted into the charts remaining a top the pop, rock and country genres for threee months consecutively. The album “Open Up And Say…Ahh!” sold eight million copies out of the gate and spawned other hit singles “Fallen Angel”, “Nothin’ But A Good Time” and “Your Mama Don’t Dance”. Followed up by the multi-platinum album “Flesh & Blood”, POISON again lit up the charts with several more smash hit singles, including “Unskinny Bop” and “Something To Believe In”.
POISON‘s reunited original lineup — Rockett, Michaels, bassist Bobby Dall and guitarist C.C. DeVille — completed “The Stadium Tour” with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS in 2022. The trek was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rockett was declared cancer free more in 2016 after undergoing an experimental treatment. He was diagnosed with oral cancer back in 2015.
In October, Rikki announced the launch of a new band called THE ROCKETT MAFIA. Joining him in the group are Brandon Gibbs (DEVIL CITY ANGELS) on vocals and guitar, Mick Sweda (BULLETBOYS) on guitar and backing vocals, and Bryan Kimes on bass and backing vocals.
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