Tuff vocalist Stevie Rachelle has shared a surprising story from the late 2000s — revealing that he was approached to replace Bret Michaels in POISON following a heated onstage altercation between Michaels and bassist Bobby Dall in Atlanta.
Rachelle made the revelation during an appearance on Chris Akin Presents, discussing how the offer came about after a major fallout between the band’s founding members.
The Incident That Sparked the Offer
According to Rachelle, the situation unfolded around 2008–2012, when tensions within POISON reached a breaking point during a live concert.
“I’ve never talked about this publicly, maybe on the message boards, but when Bret Michaels and Bobby Dahl had their dust up in Atlanta, which was 2008, 10, something like that, 12, Bobby Dahl called me,” Rachelle said.
“I was on the phone with Bobby Dahl. I was on the phone with their travel agent, and they were talking to me about possibly coming out to finish out a half a dozen shows in Poison.”
The vocalist said he was stunned to receive the call, as it came unexpectedly and directly from POISON’s inner circle.
A Violent Onstage Clash
Rachelle recounted the now-infamous Atlanta concert incident in vivid detail, describing how the disagreement between Michaels and Dall escalated in front of the audience.
“In Atlanta, 15 or 17 years ago, Bobby and Bret were having an argument on stage. Bobby picked up his bass, threw it at Bret. It hit him in the leg. And Bret says, ‘You might have just saw the last ever Poison show,’” he explained.
“And there was a huge dust up. They left the stage. And the next day, I got a phone call from Kendra Jade, the porn star, who was a friend of mine who I dated previously at some point. She said, ‘hey, Bobby Dahl wants to talk to you. There’s an issue with Bret. They might need you to sing some shows.’”
The call from Kendra Jade led directly to a conversation between Rachelle and Bobby Dall about potentially filling in as POISON’s frontman.
Negotiations and Reaction from the Band
Rachelle said the discussion turned surprisingly practical, with Dall ready to talk business immediately.
“I said to him, I said, ‘what does Rikki and CC think about this?’ I mean, clearly there’s been a longstanding rift between me and Bret, which has long been settled, by the way,” Rachelle noted.
“Bobby goes, ‘they think it’s awesome.’ And I was just like, and I go, ‘well, I could probably sing 10 of your songs tonight. I could play the acoustic on a couple, but this sounds kind of crazy to me.’ And he literally said, ‘what do you want?’ And I told him right then, I said, ‘give me a thousand bucks a show and pay all my expenses.’ And it was gonna be six shows left.”
Rachelle admitted that the offer seemed surreal — a product of years of tension within POISON coming to a boiling point.
Inside POISON’s Ongoing Friction
The Tuff frontman also reflected on POISON’s long history of internal drama, acknowledging that personal rifts have repeatedly affected the band’s touring consistency.
“Some of the long standing feuds that maybe Bret and CC had or Bobby and Bret had and the band in general is probably why you only get a Poison tour every two or three or five years because Bret’s obviously really established himself as a solo artist,” he said.
“Poison can still go out and do those big shows and great numbers but Bret still, you know, he’s clearly went to the mountaintop for this era.”
Rachelle’s comments shed light on the deep-rooted creative and personal differences that have periodically slowed the band’s momentum.
The Replacement That Never Happened
Ultimately, the temporary replacement never materialized, and Bret Michaels continued fronting POISON. Despite the internal clashes, the original lineup — Michaels, Dall, Rikki Rockett, and CC DeVille — eventually reconciled and resumed touring together.
Rachelle emphasized that while his opportunity to step in was brief, it remains one of the more unusual moments in his career. His revelation also highlights just how volatile the dynamics within POISON were during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
A Glimpse Into POISON’s Turbulent Past
The Atlanta altercation and the subsequent replacement talks illustrate the behind-the-scenes tension that has long surrounded POISON — a band known for both its chart-topping glam metal hits and its volatile chemistry.
While those conflicts once threatened to end the band for good, they’ve since managed to overcome them and continue performing for loyal fans around the world.
Stevie Rachelle’s story offers fans a rare look at one of rock’s great “what if” scenarios — a moment when POISON nearly hit the stage without Bret Michaels for the first time in decades.
