Motley Crue – Interview [2005]

Coming off the heels of the epic “Red, White and Crue” reunion tour, which turned into one of the biggest concert events of 2005, Motley Crue is poised to continue their assault on North America. Having sold more than 40 million records worldwide and coming off last year’s Pollstar Top 10-grossing extravaganza, expect Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars to continue their domination in the year to come. The brand-new edition of their acclaimed “Carnival of Sins” will be seen by several million people around the country and the world in 2006, as the band performs all its greatest hits, with the spectacular production and pyrotechnics providing that patented Motley mayhem fans have grown to love.

Joining us we talk to Motley Crue members Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, and Mick Mars.

Hip: Vince, there was some sort of erroneous reports that you actually broke your leg or something. I wanted to just get your take on what actually happened on stage there.

Vince Neil: Okay. Well, what happened was that it was – I was just jogging across the stage, just like from one end of the stage to the other and all of a sudden it felt like something hit me like right in the back of my leg, I thought I got hit with something.

And so I had like – I don’t know if you were there but, you know, I had – all the security guys were looking for whatever it was. And then, you know, I tried to get up and my leg just wouldn’t go, so I kind of crawled to the side of the stage. And – but, yeah, I know – I read all kinds of stuff where I fell into the crowd.

Or I broke my leg, I jumped off the drum riser, broke my leg, but it’s basically just kind of like a football injury, you know. And…

Hip: Have you ever had that before?

Vince Neil: No, no, never had it before.

Hip: Wow, how bizarre.

Vince Neil: I talked to some friends of mine who actually worked for sports teams. And what they did was, you know, they said that’s exactly what it feels like. It feels likes somebody punches you right in the back of the leg.

Hip: Were you dehydrated or…

Vince Neil: No, it’s nothing to do with that. It’s just, you know, you just pulled the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Hip: Was the first leg of the tour everything you expected to be?

Nikki Sixx: It was actually more than we expected I believe. You know, we went out with the attitude of, you know, we just wanted to be together as a band and make music and, you know, the turnout was beyond anything that we expected. It was amazing.

Hip: Do you guys plan on releasing a full-length album anytime soon of new materials?

Vince Neil: Yeah, we just got to get it written. Even on stage, you know, I mean every night Nikki, you know, would announce that, you know, this wasn’t a farewell tour and, you know, we’ll definitely going to have another album out and get – do this whole thing over and over again.

Nikki Sixx: Yeah. You know, this was before you got on, I was just talking to Vince about coming up to LA and me going down to Vegas, and me and, you know, him and Mick getting together and writing. And I’ve been talking to Mick about, you know, just starting to get a lot of riffs together and stuff, and everyone has ideas.

Hip: Mick, how are you doing?

Mick Mars: Great.

Hip: Great. I’m – and you health has been fine throughout the tour? I mean this has not been, you know, has it been more difficult than you expected or similar to what you sort of expected it to be?

Mick Mars: Just a little slower. That’s about it. I played better than I ever had. Of course there’s more stuff that I’d like to do but you know, the, you know, like move my head but, you know, I – but, no, I’ve been doing really good, really great. And that’s, you know, I guess I’m like iron man or something, because really it’s like I’m doing pretty good, you know.

Hip: I was wondering if after all these years, if you still get that rush going on stage every night.

Vince Neil: Yeah. I mean that’s, for me I love touring. And then when you get – you can’t not get a rush when you on stage. I mean you got the fans that want to see us, it’s exciting. And then when you’re excited, you know, the fans get more excited and it makes you even play better and, you know, it’s always a great time on stage.

Hip: I’m certain most journalists wish we ever had that experience. I think that’s a great thing to know that you guys are having fun, because it looks like you’re having fun.

Nikki Sixx: Oh absolutely, having a blast. I mean we joke around all the time. Someone is always kind of, you know, tapping someone on the shoulder and giving him a look of like, “Hey, look at that,” or “Check this out,” or, you know, just — me and Vince, like when, you know, Mick’s like doing a solo we’d be like in the back kind of goofing around and, you know, look back, and Tommy is like, “What are you guys doing?” you know, and it’s just fun, you know, we have a great time up on stage.

Hip: Is it a lot different because you have loved ones, I mean do they ever come or is it just – that you got to get used to being away?

Vince Neil: It’s just like any — all through our career, you know, we’ve all been either married or have girlfriends and families, and it’s nothing different. You know, there’s, you know, they come out when they can, you know, basically. But it’s always – it’s great to be home but, you know, they, you know, we had tried – we try, to, you know, make adjustments… and – but that’s just the way your life, you know, our lives have been for the last, you know, 25 years, is making adjustments for family. And you do it, do it the best you can.

Hip: Tell me about the rock star thing now, what does it feel like? What’s the best thing about it?

Vince Neil: Well, you get great dinner reservations.

Nikki Sixx: It’s awesome. But when you buy a car they try to overcharge you.

Vince Neil: Yeah.

Hip: They think you have more money than you got, huh?

Nikki Sixx: Yeah, yeah.

Vince Neil: With the gardeners too.

Nikki Sixx: That’s what I was going to say — gardeners and plumbers, you know… I got like a $1,200 plumbing bill once and I’m like, “What was…

Vince Neil: I just want to put carpet in one room the other day. In the newspaper it was on sale, it was like 560 bucks. They came over to the house and all of a sudden it was 1,400.

Hip: Are you going to Japan and Australia, do you like to do that sort of thing? Is it final — because over there they love you?

Vince Neil: I love it over there, I think everybody in the band likes it over there. The fans are amazing over there in, you know, Japan and Australia. And…

Nikki Sixx: Every time I think of Japan I think of Mick dancing in Lexington Queen with his pants down.

Mick Mars: Crap dancing.

Vince Neil: Yeah, crap dancing with a — what was the mask you had on?

Mick Mars: Godzilla mask.

Vince Neil: He had a Godzilla mask, Mick walking up down the streets with a Godzilla mask on.

Mick Mars: Well, I wasn’t going to hurt anybody.

Vince Neil: No, but you made us laugh.

Mick Mars: Well, that’s the idea when you’re on the road, you got to keep each other entertained.

Hip: What was the first thing you bought when you got rich which you’d always wanted?

Nikki Sixx: Drugs.

Vince Neil: That’s it, drugs.

Hip: What – you’ve touched on, you know, the relationship of the band throughout this call, but can you speak a little bit more about Tommy, because in the beginning of the tour, Tommy goes on “I don’t know if this going to last or how long we can make it go.” Vince you were quoted as saying that, you know, “We could do this for three straight years.” Can you speak about the relationship, and has it been better than any of you expected?

Vince Neil: You’ve got different people saying different stuff on what you’re just talking about. But, you know, I don’t think – nobody wanted to do this unless everybody was 100% in.

And that – that was exact – that was what it was and that’s what it still is. Everybody loves being in this band, everybody is getting along, you know, the press made more out of the little fights than we did. You know, the press looked, you know, tried to look more into it and make more things out of it.

Yeah, the member, you know, like, you know, me and Tommy, we’ve been together – we’ve been friends for almost 30 years. Not too many people have friends for 30 years. And believe me, in 30 years you’re going to fight with somebody you know for 30 years.

The press just likes to write about it and then blow it up and make it all out of proportion and, you know, it’s – we’re the best of friends, man. We have a great time together, you know, on-stage and off-stage.

And – but you’ve got remember, you know, we don’t all live together, you know. You know, everybody has their own separate lives. But everybody in this band, you know, we love each other—all of us.

+ Charlie Craine