MOTLEY CRUE’S NIKKI SIXX DISCUSSES THE BAND’S FUTURE FAREWELL TOUR

Steve Baltin of Rolling Stone spoke with bassist Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue, Sixx A.M.). Portions of the interview appear below.

Rolling Stone: Will the next tour be the farewell tour, as Vince said?

Sixx We haven’t decided when that is, we’re talking about that. It’ll happen, but we don’t know when it will happen. The most important thing about a farewell tour is that the band doesn’t lie to the fans, and the band doesn’t tour and then come back years later. That’s what’s important for us, planning what’s the right time to go out. We have a great fan base, we have original fans all the way down to teenagers, and we really feel grateful to that and we continue to reinvent ourselves over the years. People always tried to make us an unimportant part of rock history and that doesn’t really affect us because it’s always been that way. Critics have always snubbed us. The thing about Mötley Crüe is we are a people’s band, we don’t kiss ass to the industry. We believe artists should be in control of their own destiny and that destiny also includes when it should be done so that their fans can forever be proud. It’s not one or two band members up there dragging the band name around. It’s a band for a reason, it works for a reason. We’re really proud of that. I think that’s why, when the day does come, we want to be proud of our band and what we’ve achieved.

Someone said to me the other day, “Won’t you be sad?” I go, “No, I’d be sad if we were playing half-full theaters and only two band members were in the band.” That would be sad. Sad is not taking your final bow in Los Angeles all together as four brothers. I talked to a friend the other day and they were talking about a friend of theirs who passed away. And after the funeral, they had this huge party and everybody was celebrating, drinking and telling stories about this guy and how fun he was and how much joy he gave everybody in life. That’s how I feel about Mötley Crüe. When that day comes, that’s what I want: one big fucking huge party to celebrate what we’ve done, all the good, all the bad, all the in-between. There it is, one big party, one final bow. It’s gonna be fucking rad, but we’re not there yet. Right now, we got three shows left in Vegas and then we’re gonna start looking forward to when we tour next.

Rolling Stone: Could there be multiple tours, or is the next one the finale?

Sixx: We don’t know right now. We said as brothers and a band, that’s something we plan on doing sometime in the future, but we’re not there yet, so we don’t have any idea when. We’re not sitting down right now planning on that.

Rolling Stone: You mention listening to Bruno Mars. Does the Sixx A.M. album cross a wide variety of genres?

Sixx: I’ve always listened to so many different genres of music. Growing up in Idaho, there was country radio, then discovering rock radio that was piped in from Boise – we were in Jerome, Idaho – that got me discovering the little mom and pop record store in town. I got my Harry Nilsson and Deep Purple albums. I’d be listening to funk, metal, rock, Beatles, Stones, Elton John, Queen, then discovering T Rex, Bowie, Slade. Those bands are all song-oriented. So, to me, if you’re listening to an artist, whether it’s thrash or pop, it’s how good the song is. I just interviewed Paul McCartney for my radio show, Sixx Sense, last week and I got to spend a lot of time with his new record. When we talked, that was so important to him that I listened to his record, I knew the songs.

Read more at Rolling Stone.

source: rollingstone.com