POISON MAY HAVE STOLEN SOME OF THEIR SONGS AFTER ALL
Last month, Billy McCarthy and James Stonich, from the Chicago band Kid Rocker, brought a lawsuit against Poison, Capital Records, and EMI Music, claiming that they were owed money because Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille stole some songs from them, including ”Talk Dirty To Me,” “I Won’t Forget You,” “Fallen Angel” and “Ride the Wind.” At the time, The Hollywood Reporter was, uh, y’know, reporting that “before… [DeVille] joined Poison, he auditioned for Kid Rocker.” The fact that DeVille’s relationship with McCarthy and Stonich was so tenuous, combined with the fact that it had inexplicably taken these men more than two decades to bring the lawsuit against Poison, made the whole thing feel, well, bullshitty.
But it might not be so bullshitty after all. McCarthy and Stonich’s lawyer is now claiming to have a recording of a 1994 radio interview in which DeVille admits that he was in a band called Screamin’ Mimis with with McCarthy (who our pal Mick Stingley tells me was also in D’Molls), before telling McCarthy that “for that first album, you should have made some money,” and “we have video tapes of us doing ‘Talk Dirty To Me’.” And now Metal Insider has dug up that video, which does, indeed, show DeVille with McCarthy and Stonich, performing “Talk Dirty to Me.” Check it out:
Now, Poison’s lawyer might be able to argue that DeVille wrote the song for Screamin’ Mimis by himself so he’s allowed to use it for Poison, and that the phrase “you should have made some money” wasn’t meant literally. It’s also worth noting that in 1994, when DeVille gave that interview, he was a) high on who knows what substances, and b) not in Poison (he split with the band from 1991-1996)… I don’t know if that will actually have any bearings on the case, but, like I said, it seems worth noting.
Still, the news that DeVille didn’t just audition to be in a band with McCarthy and Stonich, but actually was in a band with those guys, and, furthermore, that he DID perform “Talk Dirty to Me” with them in the old days, well… suddenly, McCarthy and Stonich’s case seems a lot more legit, doesn’t it?
More news as we get it.
-AR
