Michael Christopher of The Boston Phoenix recently caught up with Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx to talk about the state of Motley Crue on their current tour with Poison and New York Dolls. You can read a couple of excerpts from the chat below.
Q: You get recognized by many as the leader of Motley Crue. Do you look at it as your baby or like your family you're trying to keep together?
A: No, we're a band. Like all families, we each have a role, and I don't think it works without all the family members. I definitely have a role, but so does Vince [Neil, vocals], so does Tommy [Lee, drums] and so does Mick [Mars, guitar]. A lot of times people will go to different band members for different sources of energy and sources of information. If you hate us it's okay. I get to be in a band with Mick Mars, Tommy Lee, and Vince Neil; it's kind of amazing. I'm the pretty solid rock guy and that's because I've worked on that — I wasn't always like that. "Nikki always returns our calls, he always gets back to us, he's always available for conversations and stuff and he'll always go and talk with the band." But at the same time, I am the fucking broodiest, moodiest, crankiest . . . I am a fucking rock and roll snob. So they might have to go to Vince and say, "Hey man, we want to do this tie-in with this company, and Nikki is just like, doesn't want fuckin' nothin' to do with it because he don't think it's cool." And Vince is like, "Yeah, I can see where he's coming from, but let me go and talk to him." And Tommy will want to do this crazy energy thing . . . and we all just feed off each other. We all are a rock to the band in one way or another and we all are the downfall of the band in one way or another. I'm just surprised we're even still around.
Q: What's it like onstage these days with the Crue, 30 years in?
A: My friend saw us play the Hollywood Bowl and he said, "Man, we you came out and did 'Wild Side', it was fucking mind-blowing!" And I said, "Oh." And he wanted to know why I said that. Because that's the first song, and I'm trying to see which people I'm gonna douse in blood. And he said, "But you were prowling back and forth, it was so intimidating!" I wasn't "prowling," I was looking for anyone who was cringing. Anyone who is cringing is on my blacklist and looking to get baptized in a bucket of blood. I only think about insulting and assaulting. I want to fuck them hard. I love Tommy, because he's like the clown, he's so happy and brings so much excitement to the show and Vince is like the ringleader and Mick and I are kind of like outcasts of our own band when we're onstage. It's the interaction between the four of us that creates this complete perfect package of energy. The other night there was a moment where I looked at Vince and Vince looked at me and looked at the person in front of me and he just nodded his head with disappointed like, "Go on . . . . " There was this guy in like, a Polo shirt, tucked in and he had like, Dockers on and some really nice shoes on and Vince was just like [lets out a big sigh.]
Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.
