MAGX: At last years Crüe Fest you stated that the bands that you guys had recruited were kind of like, you know, Motley Crüe’s like mindedness. You know, kind of like snotty lyrics, you know, just fun rock and roll. Was that kind of the same criteria for this year?
NIKKI SIXX: I mean to be honest with you we always pick bands, number one, based on songs, whether they’re metal, more radio friendly, you know, more alternative, more classic. It just doesn’t really matter to me. It’s like when I can hear a band and I go, “Okay, those are all really good songs,” that’s a first criteria. And then we want bands that have exciting live performance. And, you know, of all the bands that we were looking at, we feel that, you know, Godsmack meets that, Theory of a Dead Man, Drowning Pool, and Charm City Devils. And then, you know, it gets into like how does the package feel. You know, how do the bands all feel together and what can we all do to help each other which in the end is like helping the big picture which is keeping rock and roll alive.
MAGX: Can you talk a little bit about what you’re going to be doing with Dr. Feelgood this year as the 20th anniversary? You know, what does the album mean to you and what you’re going to be doing with it on the tour.
NIKKI SIXX: Well I mean it’s the first time we’ve ever, you know, bitten off something like this. So obviously we’re designing the show around performing the album from top to bottom. With that being said, you know, albums are, you know, 50 minutes, 60 minutes long so then we’d have another hour of hits that we got to figure out how to play those as well somehow and make it work time wise.
So it’s going to be a lot of work and a big challenge.
MAGX: Why of all the albums it feels like Dr. Feelgood is the one you’d want to do front to back?
NIKKI SIXX: You know what, initially I had thought of Shout At The Devil because I thought it would be more kind of gutsy and ballsy. And then I kind of went, “Well, maybe Girls, Girls, Girls.” And then we like bounced stuff around. We thought like let’s do more of a kind of a weird, hokey club thing and do Too Fast For Love, and everyone just kind of kept going back to which album it was going to be. And Feelgood just sort of won out.
And then we found out afterwards that it was the 20-year anniversary and it kind of makes us looks like we’re smart, like we had a plan. We had no plan.
MAGX: My question is was there anything that you learned on the road last year that you kept in mind for this tour, any problems you encountered that you didn’t expect, or anything you wanted to tweak this time around to make it bigger and better?
NIKKI SIXX: You know what, it was pretty seamless. I think having musicians that have been around for a long time, been touring makes it a lot easier. Everyone becomes — it’s sort of like a big family out there. That’s pretty cool. That’s the one thing I learned.
And I’ve looked at like Ozzfest and I’ve been to so many Ozzfests, and I always loved how it was like kind of a big community, and barbecues backstage and always trying to break new bands and everybody kind of hangs out together. And we got — we really had that on Crüe Fest 1 and I’m hoping to have more of that.
MAGX: And are there any plans to take this one and broadcast it in theaters and put it on DVD like with Crüe Fest 1?
NIKKI SIXX: I mean we haven’t got that far down the road yet. Maybe.
MAGX: There were rumors before the official announcement about other bands that were going to be on the whole Crüe Fest. Now I remember Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie being on there as well.
NIKKI SIXX: Right.
MAGX: Care to clear up any of those rumors, if that was a possibility or things fell through?
NIKKI SIXX: No. It’s funny because we sat down as a band and we said, “Hey, you know, here’s some bands.” It was Godsmack and Alice was available and Rob Zombie was going to get back to us, didn’t think he could do it this year but was interested in talking about next year.
And so we’re doing all that and then Tommy goes and does an interview and tells everybody what we talked about in our meeting. And I’m like people are calling me going, “No way man, Godsmack’s in? Rob Zombie?” and I’m going “Huh?”
So yeah that’s how that started and, no, we never really got that far down the road. But I mean there was probably 30 bands that we were looking at and, you know, a lot of — like even when we first talked to the Godsmack guys, they were like, “Well man, we’re still working on our record.” You know, it’s like that’s like hard. It’s like people are working on records or people are like — you know, they can’t do the whole tour or some people just got off tour. It’s not like putting together a tour where you grab one band to go out on tour. It’s a lot of planning. Pain in the ass to be honest with you.
MAGX: May I ask a bit about what the set’s going to look like or the stage show?
NIKKI SIXX: We can’t say that. That would like just blow — it’s bad enough that the Internet the first night of the tour — I got to tell you it’s like — that was — when I was a kid like, you know, a band would go on tour and I’d be like dying to get my hands on Circus Magazine so I could just get a glimpse of what it was going to be like, you know, whatever it was. And now, you know, the first night everybody knows your set list, everybody knows like everything. And it kind of takes the surprise out of it. It’s like, you know, if I told you the ending of a movie.
MAGX: All right.
NIKKI SIXX: I know – what a dick, right?
MAGX: No, well — that was well spoken man. Well spoken.
NIKKI SIXX: Haha, In other words – fuck no.
NEXT QUESTION!
MAGX: Before you guys begin touring for Crüe Fest, Nikki, you actually have a major spot at Rock on the Range which is a major two-day event in Columbus, Ohio. And I guess my question is you guys played for a variety of people. Did you ever think that one day you would be so successful that you’d be playing for the children and grandchildren of your fans that you formed in the 80s?
NIKKI SIXX: We’ll have grandchildren too? Awesome. For some reason when you just say that, I just like – I feel like I’ve got to get a cane out or something.
I don’t know. It’s like we just played some shows — well it was actually a year ago with the Stones and it was really exciting to see exactly what you’re talking about and seeing this – huge like families coming to see this band and me being a fan of them and seeing the history that they have and, you know, everything from the beginning to now and they’re still doing it. I think it’s pretty much a dream for all of us musicians.
You know, there’s kind of that old like 50s thing, you know, the Idol Maker and, you know, you’re over — when you hit 21, you’re done? It’s almost the way Disney does it, right? And it’s not really reality. The reality is you can play drums, bass, guitar, sing as long as you want. You can make music the rest of the your life and it’s kind of cool when you can be up there with, you know, with your buds and other bands you respect and maybe even some you hate and be playing your music.
MAGX: A couple of live show recordings have shown Vince to be struggling a bit wth his voice. Is everything ok?
NIKKI SIXX: No I think his voice is stronger than it’s ever been. I mean when you’re singing night after night after night, singers don’t get a chance to recuperate very often. You know, they don’t get a chance – if they get a cold, I mean it’s messed up. Everybody — all the other guys in the — on the phone that are in the bands, like we get sick on the road. I mean we’re just human beings. You get run down. You know, anything from a hangover to the flu can really knock a musician out. But when you’re the singer, what are you supposed to do?
MAGX: Any plans for the Crüe’s next studio album or if there’s going to be — or if and when there’s going to be a next Sixx A.M.
NIKKI SIXX: We’re working on a 6:00 AM record now. I’m actually leaving here in a few minutes to go in the studio. And, you know, a Crüe record, obviously down the road here. We’ve got a little bit of touring to do. And, you know, I mean it’s hard. For me it’s a balance because personally it’s family comes first, career comes second.
So it’s always trying to find that balance where I’m not working too much but at the same time, you know, you got to work and want to make music. So it’s a balance that we’ve been doing a lot here in the last couple years. And might be getting to a place where it might be time to take a little break here. And taking a break means writing songs of course.
MAGX: Right, yeah, mine too man. Very excited for it. And another question I had is I heard a rumor actually when I read your book which I thought was phenomenal was that they were making The Dirt into a movie possibly. Is there some truth behind that?
NIKKI SIXX: Yeah we’ve been wrestling with that for a while. Let’s just say that all good things come to those who wait.
MAGX: Okay. All right, very cool man.
NIKKI SIXX: …Evasive answer.
MAGX: Thanks for your time Nikki.
NIKKI SIXX: No problem, no more questions! haha
