Mötley Crüe fans, rejoice. Rock’s most notorious bad boys are back, and in a big way. The band’s new album,
Saints of Los Angeles, reconnects with the group’s ’80s glory days in a way few could have imagined, especially considering it’s the first disc in more than a decade to feature all four original members. The massive “Crüefest” tour gets underway July 1, kicking off in West Palm Beach and wrapping up in Pittsburgh on August 31. Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is ready to get the show on the road.
What was the vibe like on the last Mötley Crüe tour?We probably laughed more than we have in years.
Do you share the same tour bus?No. We each have our own tour bus, and our own dressing room. We hang out, and sometimes we ride on each other’s bus, but we have very different lifestyles. Tommy listens to loud “house music” and hip-hop, 24 hours a day. It’s very fatiguing. He’s high energy, God bless him. Whereas I listen to a wider variety of music, and not at the same volume as he does. I read a lot, I write a lot, I do a lot of photography, and I do a lot of business. As much as we love each other, it’s best that we’re not in a tour bus together.
And Vince and Mick?Vince is a movie buff. He’s a much more chill California-type guy. And Mick listens to the blues and plays his guitar all day long. We would begin to rub against one another if we were on the same tour bus. I mean, I don’t live in Vince’s guestroom, and he doesn’t live in Tommy’s guestroom. It’s more or less the same thing when you’re touring. We’ve been doing this for 27 years, and I think that’s a perk you get when you started out in a station wagon, sleeping in the same room, flipping a coin to determine who gets to sleep on a bed and who has to sleep on the floor. It’s because we love each other that things are arranged the way they are.
In your book The Heroin Diaries, you detailed your experiences with addiction. How did addiction affect your songwriting?I’ll never know. I do know I write better music when I’m sober. A lot of my friends have told me they don’t know how to write when they’re sober. For me, the addiction had to do with running from my past, and not living in the present. When you’re writing music, you need to live in the present. The music wasn’t getting the attention it should have gotten, during that period.
Didn’t you write the songs for Dr. Feelgood while you were coming out of addiction?That’s right, when I was first sober. It was a wonderful time. It was like being reborn, emotionally. The music just came out, and flowed easily. That was very much the case with the
Heroin Diaries CD, as well. Although I’ve been sober for years, it was cathartic. There weren’t any rules. That was very freeing.
Are you saying there are rules in Mötley Crüe?We say there aren’t rules, but let’s face it: if Mötley Crüe came out with, say, an R&B record, everybody would scratch their heads. That doesn’t mean we can’t do that. It just means that at some point you have a demographic of people who are excited about a Mötley Crüe record, and they want to immerse themselves in the lifestyle and have a great time. But we enjoy writing music that’s fun.
Mötley Crüe formed at roughly the same time as MTV. In retrospect, do you feel that was crucial to the band’s success?Yes. That was the first time the scab was pulled off the wound. Before then you might pick up a rock magazine and see Steven Tyler sitting on a road case, and that might be as close as you got to seeing a concert. Or a concert might be coming to your hometown in six months, and meanwhile you were just losing it with anticipation. With MTV, it became like, “Oh my God. I can see them doing their thing, and see interviews, and get updates.” It was addictive. Of course it’s changed with the new generation. I feel blessed to have been there at the beginning. It was like Don Kirschner’s “Rock Concert,” all the time.
Let’s talk a bit about bass playing. Who are some of your favorite players?I’ve always identified with bands. I’ve never been someone who sits and listens specifically to the bass lines. It’s more about what the bass is doing against the guitar, and what’s happening with the backbeat as the melody goes over it. When people ask me, “Who’s your favorite bass player?”, I tend to say something like
Mott the Hoople or T. Rex. It’s all about the band, and the song.
AC/DC influenced me with their directness and their simplicity. Aerosmith influenced me with their swagger. I can’t tell you Geezer Butler was my favorite bass player, but I can say I love
Black Sabbath. I listen to everything from reggae to country to pop to metal. I was with some friends recently, listening to Bob Marley and the Wailers, and someone said, “It’s weird that you listen to reggae. You don’t play bass like that.” But I’m just listening to the song.
Do you feel part of that is connected to the fact that you’re a songwriter as well?It obviously is. I don’t sit and think, “This bass line makes me look really good.” Instead I might think, “This song is really good, and the bass just needs to play the root note. Except for the bridge, where it needs to move around a bit, because the guitar is doing less.” I never want to get in the way of the guitar or the vocals.
What first attracted you to the bass?The simplicity of it, and the directness of its message. It’s low and it’s sexual and it’s sort of imposing. It’s right in the pocket―a wonderful instrument.
How much guitar did you play before moving to bass?Just a bit. A couple of years.
Do you ever write directly on bass?I write on whatever instrument happens to be around. It’s all about the root note, the melody, and the rhythm. And the cream of it all is the lyric. “Wild Side” connected with people because of the lyrics. A lyric can be about one thing, on the surface, but it helps to connect on a secondary level. “Girls, Girls, Girls” is another example. That song is about girls, but more importantly it’s about lifestyle. “
Friday night and I need a fight / I’ve got a motorcycle and a switchblade knife.” It’s about guys going out looking for girls, and being willing to rumble in the streets. It’s not unlike a song from the ’50s. There are bands who are so simple that I just love. AC/DC’s songs, during the Bon Scott years, are clever and sarcastic and fun. Things like “Shot Down in Flames.” Those kinds of songs move you physically and also make you laugh.
T. Rex is another example. The songwriting on
Electric Warrior and
The Slider is incredible.
Melody seems very important to you.That’s true. That’s why I listen to country music. Country songwriters are the best melody writers out there. And that’s probably why I don’t listen to hip-hop. There’s not a lot of melody there, although there is a lot of rhythm.
What’s your main bass today?For live performance it’s
the Gibson Thunderbird, the bass I’ve been playing for years. I love the Thunderbird. When you’re on-stage, it’s all about full frontal assault. The Thunderbird is an assault vehicle. It’s not an animal for finesse. It’s built to agitate.
One last question about addiction: You once said if Keith Richards had put your book in your hands, before you became addicted, you would never have put a needle in your arm. Do you consider The Heroin Diaries a warning against drugs?Absolutely, 100 percent. I want people to read it and think, “This guy’s sober, he looks cool, he’s an artist, and he has something to live for.” I would rather people look up to that than to a dead rock star. I would rather be Nikki Sixx than Johnny Thunders.