Drumming News :
Poison drummer Rikki Rockett is taking readers behind the makeup, leather and arena lights with Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison, a new memoir co-written with Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson and published by Rare Bird Books. The book officially arrives September 15, 2026, promising a candid, darkly funny look at Rockett’s unlikely journey from small-town Pennsylvania to global glam-metal superstardom.
Rather than simply revisiting Poison’s biggest hits and Sunset Strip glory days, Ghost Notes reportedly spends considerable time on the struggle that came before the fame. Rockett reflects on renting VFW halls, working local jobs and scraping together enough money to keep pursuing music. Those early years provide a grounded counterpoint to the excess and spectacle that would eventually define Poison’s rise.
The memoir also ventures into more difficult territory, addressing addiction, fractured family relationships, personal survival and Rockett’s battle with throat cancer. The result is billed as a story that looks beyond the public image of the rock star to examine the experiences, setbacks and private battles that shaped him.
The title itself carries a musical metaphor. In drumming, “ghost notes” are subtle, lightly played notes—sounds that can be felt as much as heard. Rockett uses the concept to represent the quieter moments and hidden experiences behind a very public life, particularly in an era when 1980s rock production often favored rigid, polished click-track precision.
For collectors, Ghost Notes is also being offered in several formats, including standard and signed hardcover editions, a black-vinyl audiobook, and special bundles pairing signed hardcovers with limited-edition ghost-green vinyl.
With its combination of rock history, personal confession and Rockett’s sense of humor, Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison aims to tell a different kind of glam-metal story—one that remembers the arena lights but doesn’t ignore the long, messy road it took to get there.
Get more information and/or order your copy HERE
