Zap2it Interview with 2.13's musical guest star
January 28, 2014 | Zap2it.com
In the next episode of "Revolution," "Happy Endings," there's a very special guest playing, of all people, himself.[Spoiler (click to open)]Bret Michaels will appear in a cameo, performing his Poison hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."
Before the episode airs, Michaels talks to Zap2it about how he found himself with a role on the show and exactly what surviving a post-apocalyptic world would be like for the diabetic rocker. Spoilers: The bandanna wouldn't be going anywhere.
Light 2.13 spoilers below.
'Revolution': Bret Michaels could 'definitely survive' after the apocalypse, thanks to music
Zap2it: It's pretty cool to see you popping up in this world.
Bret Michaels: Thank you very much. First of all it's an awesome show and to be able to go on and do that, it was a lot of fun for me. And the truth is, I like Austin, Texas a lot, where we shot, even though technically I'm in New Vegas. It happened to be a good night, the weather was good and it was right before that big ice storm came in. It's interesting, the twist on the show of having no electricity and everything just having that raw feel. To be able to play that, especially with my real life with the brain hemorrhage and I've been diabetic for 44 years now, type 1 with five shots a day ... It's nice to know I survived into the future, even if it's only a fantasy.
How did you end up on the show?
A lot of the show itself is pretty music-driven and they had called me and asked about coming in and doing either "Nothing but a Good Time" or "Every Rose" and I think Eric [Kripke], the creator, and myself hit it off really well and just started talking about some ideas. I said "My acting skills are very limited." They had a couple lines and I said, "If it's reality I could probably nail this thing." If they put me up there playing a song and having a good time though, I can nail it.
In the "Revolution" world, the power has been off for so long, what has that Bret Michael been up to all these years?
For me, in a real world as a diabetic, it would be sustaining life by finding insulin and burying it in as many cool places in the ground as I can find and that's the truth. So I would be scavenging, finding food. I'd need my acoustic guitar to keep me sane, it's my therapy and my passion. But honestly, just finding places to survive and finding insulin. Plus having kids, having daughters, I'd find a way for my family to survive.
In this world, not only have you survived, but so has "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" has survived. How does that feel?
That is a good day, right there. Collecting royalties in the future will be tough, though. We have truly found out at that point that money had become null and void, replaced by water and sustaining light. So it's nice to know that "Every Rose" can sustain as well.
Even with the world falling apart around him, Bret on "Revolution" stays true to your bandana and cowboy hat look. Would you be able to maintain it in a real world post-apocalyptic event?
It's so simple for me. I feel reinvigorated and in my life I've refreshed my career, but I haven't changed my look a whole lot since the mid-80s. However, if this post-apocalyptic thing were to happen today, I think I might be able to keep the look I have on the show. That part of me hasn't changed in a long time, so I could probably carry it on into the future.
In your role as a headliner in New Vegas, which characters are you interacting with, because they're a bit scattered?
I'm there with David [Lyons] and Tracy [Spiridakos] and it's kind of a nod to each other that we are survivors and fighters. They're passing through in the episode. It's not overdone and that's what makes the scene pretty cool.
Do you think you could survive in a world like this?
I would definitely survive! I've captured a couple of skills over my time. People forget, it's not just the battle of making music but it's the battle of going out there and making sure you can survive not just now, but in a post-apocalyptic future. I think of all the battles I've survived as a musician would help with the future. I've learned how to navigate and make myself get to do what I love, which is playing music, but you have to hone a lot of skills to survive doing this more than a year or two.
Were you a fan of the show going in?
Oh yeah, I knew when we had talked and they called me I was excited. They're so music-driven, so when I went in there it made it a lot of fun for me. This is the truth, when you get on set, and I've done a bunch of guest appearances on thing ... and sometimes it's a really wonderful experience and sometimes it's just business ... but when I got down there on the set, everybody was awesome. We had a great time, had a chance to hangout before and after filming and it was just awesome.
Looking back now on when "Every Rose" was written, in your wildest dreams could you ever have imagined this is where you and the song would end up?
When you're writing it, this is the God's honest truth, I wrote that song in a laundromat in Dallas, Texas over a broken heart. I wrote it waiting for my clothes to dry when we were traveling around the country in a van trying to break big. You write something like that, emotionally you don't think of it as a big hit, you're just writing it to be therapeutic. So it's truly an awesome feeling to be sitting here talking with you and, rather than being pushed back in time, I'm being pushed into the future. That's a good day for me.
In the next episode of "Revolution," "Happy Endings," there's a very special guest playing, of all people, himself.[Spoiler (click to open)]Bret Michaels will appear in a cameo, performing his Poison hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."
Before the episode airs, Michaels talks to Zap2it about how he found himself with a role on the show and exactly what surviving a post-apocalyptic world would be like for the diabetic rocker. Spoilers: The bandanna wouldn't be going anywhere.
Light 2.13 spoilers below.
'Revolution': Bret Michaels could 'definitely survive' after the apocalypse, thanks to music
Zap2it: It's pretty cool to see you popping up in this world.
Bret Michaels: Thank you very much. First of all it's an awesome show and to be able to go on and do that, it was a lot of fun for me. And the truth is, I like Austin, Texas a lot, where we shot, even though technically I'm in New Vegas. It happened to be a good night, the weather was good and it was right before that big ice storm came in. It's interesting, the twist on the show of having no electricity and everything just having that raw feel. To be able to play that, especially with my real life with the brain hemorrhage and I've been diabetic for 44 years now, type 1 with five shots a day ... It's nice to know I survived into the future, even if it's only a fantasy.
How did you end up on the show?
A lot of the show itself is pretty music-driven and they had called me and asked about coming in and doing either "Nothing but a Good Time" or "Every Rose" and I think Eric [Kripke], the creator, and myself hit it off really well and just started talking about some ideas. I said "My acting skills are very limited." They had a couple lines and I said, "If it's reality I could probably nail this thing." If they put me up there playing a song and having a good time though, I can nail it.
In the "Revolution" world, the power has been off for so long, what has that Bret Michael been up to all these years?
For me, in a real world as a diabetic, it would be sustaining life by finding insulin and burying it in as many cool places in the ground as I can find and that's the truth. So I would be scavenging, finding food. I'd need my acoustic guitar to keep me sane, it's my therapy and my passion. But honestly, just finding places to survive and finding insulin. Plus having kids, having daughters, I'd find a way for my family to survive.
In this world, not only have you survived, but so has "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" has survived. How does that feel?
That is a good day, right there. Collecting royalties in the future will be tough, though. We have truly found out at that point that money had become null and void, replaced by water and sustaining light. So it's nice to know that "Every Rose" can sustain as well.
Even with the world falling apart around him, Bret on "Revolution" stays true to your bandana and cowboy hat look. Would you be able to maintain it in a real world post-apocalyptic event?
It's so simple for me. I feel reinvigorated and in my life I've refreshed my career, but I haven't changed my look a whole lot since the mid-80s. However, if this post-apocalyptic thing were to happen today, I think I might be able to keep the look I have on the show. That part of me hasn't changed in a long time, so I could probably carry it on into the future.
In your role as a headliner in New Vegas, which characters are you interacting with, because they're a bit scattered?
I'm there with David [Lyons] and Tracy [Spiridakos] and it's kind of a nod to each other that we are survivors and fighters. They're passing through in the episode. It's not overdone and that's what makes the scene pretty cool.
Do you think you could survive in a world like this?
I would definitely survive! I've captured a couple of skills over my time. People forget, it's not just the battle of making music but it's the battle of going out there and making sure you can survive not just now, but in a post-apocalyptic future. I think of all the battles I've survived as a musician would help with the future. I've learned how to navigate and make myself get to do what I love, which is playing music, but you have to hone a lot of skills to survive doing this more than a year or two.
Were you a fan of the show going in?
Oh yeah, I knew when we had talked and they called me I was excited. They're so music-driven, so when I went in there it made it a lot of fun for me. This is the truth, when you get on set, and I've done a bunch of guest appearances on thing ... and sometimes it's a really wonderful experience and sometimes it's just business ... but when I got down there on the set, everybody was awesome. We had a great time, had a chance to hangout before and after filming and it was just awesome.
Looking back now on when "Every Rose" was written, in your wildest dreams could you ever have imagined this is where you and the song would end up?
When you're writing it, this is the God's honest truth, I wrote that song in a laundromat in Dallas, Texas over a broken heart. I wrote it waiting for my clothes to dry when we were traveling around the country in a van trying to break big. You write something like that, emotionally you don't think of it as a big hit, you're just writing it to be therapeutic. So it's truly an awesome feeling to be sitting here talking with you and, rather than being pushed back in time, I'm being pushed into the future. That's a good day for me.