Tom Werman on Poison's Open Up and Say Ahh, "C.C. (DeVille) was very difficult," Every Rose 

Oh dear god....... Tom Werman was being incredibly nice in this interview. However, the part of the interview describing the Digital punch-ins was 95% because of C.C. Deville. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, as well as not crediting those who are not worthy. The fact of the matter is C.C. Deville could NOT play guitar to save his ass, he played the rock star part well and had the image but struggled tremendously with actually playing his instrument. You can watch many, many, MANY live performances of his to see that, it's anything but a secret. With that being said; I seen a little footage of their recent tour and it seems as though his playing has improved quite a bit. Perhaps his drug use in the early years played a big part in his sloppy playing, as well as other factors. So I will give him credit for taking it more seriously now, but I simply cannot agree about his playing in the eighties and nineties because it was just garbage. I hope he continues to improve and take his playing to another level, but I highly doubt that he will ever be anywhere near Elliot Easton's level.

Wow... CC was a cacophonous mess with a fretboard. Elliot Easton? I'm going to pretend that you didn't compare a clown with greatness. Matt Smith, Poison's original guitarist, was a good player. Better than CC, that's for damn sure. At the end of the day it is all about the songs, not how good you play. But CC was just terrible.

@@kwantoon he wrote some very memorable licks, solos etc. Maybe he was sloppy in the beginning but he was a drugged out mess. Still doesn't take away from the fact he wrote/played those parts. When does your next multi platinum record drop? Oh yeah that's right, it never will bc you're too busy judging people that have already done it. You can call it luck. But luck doesn't strike 3 or 4 times in a row like it did with poison. That's just the facts. Each of their first 3 albums sold more and more as they went on. People like melodies and they have great ones.

I thought his riffs were decent, he wrote some real "ear worms", and some of his solos were good fun. But sometimes he needed better guidance - the solos on the big ballads just didn't fit with the feel of the songs, way too much gain, and sometimes just a cluster of licks with no direction. Technically Richie Kotzen and Blues Saraceno were in a different league. Agree, may well have been the drugs. I gather he auditioned for Stryper before joining Poison and they thought he was a good player, just not the right fit for them.

@@mr.potter4661Yep, people like good melodies, and the WOMEN? BACK when in Poison's heyday? LOVED Poison's "look." Lol...NTM- I've been to literally hundreds of concerts that for me, started in 1986. And? There AIN'T been even one concert I have been to (in comparison), that had as far as probably a 4 to 1 ratio of women over dudes with a HUGE MAJORITY of the women being some of the HOTTEST women I have ever seen 😲🥵 in comparison to the 1990 show I went to with my girlfriend to see who? POISON , that's right! POISON, live.... It's like 😲"WHERE IN TH DID ALL these GORGEOUS women come crawling outta the woodwork in Kansas of ALL places?!?" 🤔🔥🥵" 😆 LOL... And yeah, I'm an old school die hard METALHEAD from way back (and Metal drummer from same era) and I LOVE my METAL music like a mutha STILL at 48 y.o. but..? I also obviously love/appreciate MANY other different styles of music too as well, NO doubt 😎 But yeah. Poison were the kings (or queens? lol.) of what they did with their style of music AND their look. Hailz and as always ,ROCK the funk ON!!! 🤘🔥😡🥁🎸🎉🤘

He is not that good. Very sloppy and not capable of playing the same thing accurately. Maybe it was the drugs- alcohol back then snd he is capable now but back then he was a wreck. Werman doesn’t do digital but had to as he said to get the guitar parts pieced together. That kind of says it all

@@flyingburritobro68 they all were shitty in the studios back then. Only a few sober. I stand by my words.

🤣

@@flyingburritobro68 he was practically never sober when playing live

I actually thought CC had a very lyrical, vocal quality to his solos and was perfect for the band. Poison got so much thrown at them but in reality they wrote some great songs - Talk Dirty To Me, Love On the Rocks, Fallen Angel - if The Sex Pistols wrote those songs critics would say they were some of the best songs ever written. There were plenty of bands (like Danger Danger) who deserved that kind of criticism, but in Poison’s case the critics were shallow, not the fans.

And he's Julliard trained!

ie a button pusher

@@jamesball5743yet that is not definition of a button pusher.

I knew the boys in Syre. We had the same manager and played the same bars. Syre were a great band and great guys.

I hated that song. Still do.

@@loungedweller yes…and Bret and Rikki pointedly said to them ‘What a great idea to cover that song!’ As in, they never thought of it before. And then DID on their next album. Kind of my whole point.

@@readmore4178 my condolences…lol. Joke aside, we were a Seip band for a bit too.

Emphasizing the ‘little bit’ part 🙄😂

Too many people admire musicians and actors for something other than what they do professionally. These people aren't leaders. Many are misfits who are doing the only thing they can do that doesn't put them either on the street or in prison. Hero worship is a serious problem in American culture, and it shouldn't be.

You're only talking about the one's who made it like Nikki, CC, Steven Adler. You're not mentioning Derek Frigo, Todd Crew, Robin Crosby, Jeff Labar etc..who ultimately died as a result of that lifestyle.

@@alanndrake2619 You are right. Many of them don't make it out, either.

@@alanndrake2619 I guess it was best summed up by AC/DC. Many are on the "Highway to Hell." And some don't seem to be trying to hard to find an exit ramp.

Hahaha... Just WHAT IS "FAIR" in this thing we call L.I.F.E. , anyways?.....I had and STILL have some of my rock hero worships but yeah, I was always able to separate the reality vs. "the show" that them guys put on. NO doubts that most those guys DID party HARD obviously but, IF they truly did as MUCH as "the images" they all portrayed, were as dumb as they came off??? (OZZY 🙄 -probably the biggest example) EVERYONE would of been LONG SINCE DEAD, loooonnng ago Lol..... It's ALL about "the show maaan!"" And nuttin else....😎 ROCK the funk ON!!!🤘🔥🥁🎸🤘

Why is that?

It was ether based ...awesome

It wasss.

I can taste the drip in the back of my throat when I listen to this album

Because he's right. That's the role of a producer. He's not there to just press record

This guy produced Cheap Trick. The LA glam bands were complete shit compared to them. If anything, I would be ok let's get this over with...

Producers are what take a band's ideas and make them sound great. He should be crediting himself.

Werman didn't do shit...he hired a team to do everything, and took the credit. Lol

He's a great musician. It was probably like going back to kindergarten.😅

I still have my CD with the tongue. Most I have come across has the censoring.

@@thomascaddy4529 even bon jovi slippery when wet was a different cover the original had a girl in a yellow wet t shirt and the scorpions had many i think the last one was love at first sting

I bought their FIRST album when it came out. I honestly thought that they were this girl band called the Poison Dollys that was being played on my local college station. I figured maybe they shortened their name. I had never seen pictures of them but I liked the music. I got this pile of shit home and it wasn't them , it was these clowns. Absolutely hands down the worst album I had ever heard up until that point.

Other songs he produced that he knew would be hits.

Scorpions’ Love at First Sting, recorded in 1983 & 1984 was recorded digitally. It sounds fantastic still.

I'm not sure what you're implying but Tom was referring to what **he** has recorded over his entire career. @0:27 ""I recorded it digitally, it's the only album **I ever did** digitally..."

Rush "Moving Pictures."

Ry Cooder was the first with Bop till you drop in 81?

@@heathwatsonguitar not sure if that's entirely true. They've had digital recording before people even realize that but they mixed in analog

Hmmm let's see. We see Bret when they talk about the topic and Werman said he wanted that guy to play rythmn guitar on it. If it were CC, do you think he would ask him to play rythmn guitar?

Bret

@@JK-nd1oo Why, TY sir, for the response and info 😎 AND...?. WITHOUT the need to talk shyt in return reply/ response and be condescending like some other "individuals" out there on the w.w.web 😒. Jeezus 🙄 Lol. ROCK the funk ON!!! 🤘🥁🎸🔥😡🤘

Bret wrote it 100%

@@markherring3513 Even the infamous guitar 🎸 solo? 🤔.... I'd be willing to bet C.C. had a MAJOR hand in that though...I COULD be wrong though. (Not the 1st or last time 😁) Bret Michaels is liable to be some guitar playin/lead playing 🎸 virtuoso in his "off time" Lol.... LOTTA musicians that play other instruments and OR write music for their bands etc that are known for playing something else "in the spotlight" per say. It always amazes me with such. Like, I am a Rock/ Metal drummer myself for over 30 years and never could really pick up on the guitar 🎸 to save my life lol. But yeah, LOTTA talented musicians out there. And though, not a huge fan of Poison? I definitely have lotta respect for what they did. ROCK the funk ON!!!🤘😡🔥🥁🎸🎉😎🤘

That is the funniest comment I have ever read. Poison could barely play their instruments, and Bret Michaels had the most limited range of any of the Hair Metal singers. If they looked like AC/DC they would have never had a music career.

Firehouse and Kix blow them away musically

lol. sure. are you actually saying ; that CC deville is a better guitar player than George Lynch? Warren demartini ? mick mars ? hell no . they were ok . I have their albums but I wouldn't say they're the best band ever by any means

I’m reading that as sarcasm.

@@godetonter4764 Kix is still kicking ass . their 2014 album rock your face off rocks no pun intended. Firehouse ok band too . but yea they definitely had better sounds songs and playing than Poison

The funny thing is the title of the video. The dude never even said CC was "very difficult;" as a matter of fact he said it was easy and good.

@@markcheetah4960 He literally says it at 0:17

@@handsomerube Thanks... I missed that, lol! I was concentrating on the part around 0:45.

Rikki Rockett was and still is a outstanding drummer.

@@derekgriffith4324, you’re so right! Rikki is cut from the same “drum line” cloth as Tommy Lee, and every stick stroke is always done deliberately. So few people pick up on that (and I’m not even a drummer!).

Bet there wasn’t a second date!

@@shizzle7642 We dated until she moved to a different state.

@@TheNothing6 so she moved the next day?

@@trance9158 You and SHIZZLE are groping with your silly attempted burns. We dated a year and a half. Her Dad is a doctor. He got transferred. She moved. We keep in touch. End of story.

Did he do it?

It was tape...

watch the Sound City doc by Dave Grohl... that'll give you an idea of the early pro-tools/digital elements that were arriving late 80's...

Probably a Sony DASH system. Possibly AKAI A-DAM

@@tjrox It's funny how a post about Poison could lead to such a discussion. lol AKAI took a lot of chances. I also remember recording on a AKAI 12 track analog system when I was a kid. The tape looked just like VHS tapes.

yes RUSH albums are digital ..

He was talking about songs he's produced in the past that he knew all along were going to be big hits, like Cat Scratch Fever, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Girls, Girls, Girls.

I mean, it was great for bringing new girls into the fold. Would you have preferred hard rock remain the sausage party it was in the early 80s?

This guy wipes his ass with paper worth more than you

@@negativeindustrial Not sure what sausage party you are talking about.. The girls we knew were into Maiden, Priest , Sabbath...

@@anti7928 And they weigh 250 pounds.

The millions of Poison fans deserve most of the blame.

Actually he's not

@@markcopeland3892 I worked venues for years . cc is terrible. Rikki is the only talent in the band. His drum solos are actually good. He definitely could have been in a better band. As for deville..no!! Same flat sound..mediocre solos..plays off time..alot! Cookie cutter generic crap.

@@shaunduffy5180 You said horrible.. He's not. Hess pretty decent player when he's sober. Not the best ever but not horrible

@@markcopeland3892 if u fall asleep during a guitar solo....its a pretty good sign that the guitarist is horrible!!

@@shaunduffy5180 Yeah I said "when he's sober"..

So you're a professional studio producer are you?

Werman could take song ideas from below average bands and make them sound huge. A little more than button pusher if you ask me.

rikki is no slouch, come on.

I believe Alesis had their eight track A-Dat recorders back then. You could chain them together to get, I believe 128 tracks in total. It was ground breaking when it first came out.

It was likely one of the Sony Dash systems. Either 24 or 48 tracks on 1/2” tape. The Alesis Adat didn’t debut until 1991.

Yeah those things are known for their hard drives crashing and there's no retrieving tracks back then unless you were a computer wiz.

@@scottharnish Yes, you jogged my memory:) I do remember though, the first time I recorded on those A-Dats, it was in a very small studio in Annapolis. We were so excited to explore the new technology.

@@scottharnish What would the advantages of using digital instead of analog be if it was still using actual tape? I mean regarding the punch in/punch out process (as opposed to overall sound quality)? Thanks

It's not easy polishing a turd. Werman was a wonderworker.

Well said term. Lmfao

An I'm sure CC never gave a shit bout u either