Tommy Lee |
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Thu. May 23.2002 12:35 PM EDT |
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Tommy Lee: Mayhem as Usualby C. Bottomley |
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Tommy Lee ( ) |
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Ex-Mötley Crüe drummer and National Enquirer poster boy Tommy Lee calls his new album Never a Dull Moment. And dull it is not. Combining roaring guitars with his patented drum abuse, Lee comes up with a convincing modern rock
VH1: Going to prison was the catalyst for the songs on your 1999 Methods of Mayhem album. What was the catalyst for the songs on Never a Dull Moment? Tommy Lee: I'm never at a loss for stuff to write about - ever! Even though I wasn't in jail, I was going through probation, drug testing, all the repercussions of all that. I tend to write about things that I've experienced. I don't write about things I don't know about. That's not being very honest. VH1: You play all the instruments on this record. It's probably the first time your fans will realize you can play guitar and piano as well as drums. Lee: When I was in Mötley Crüe, I made full-blown demos where I sang, played guitar, bass, and drums. Fans never see that. They just hear the finished product, where Vince would sing the vocals and everything would be redone. I actually have to thank those guys. If it wasn't for the lack of interest they sometimes had in writing music, I never would have done it on my own. I would be like, "Dudes, come on over and let's work on some music!" They would be like, "Uh, I can't. I got something going on today." So I taught myself how to do everything on my own, including engineering, programming the computer, and recording. It's cool that they had other things that were more of a priority. That just made me work harder at it. VH1: Brandon and Mike from Incubus both appear on the ballad "Blue." How did you hook up with those guys? Lee: Incubus were recording in Malibu, where I live. I invited Mike and Brandon around for a beer. They played me their new songs, and they heard some new stuff that I was working on. When they both heard "Blue," they were like, "That song's amazing." Within five minutes Brandon had the headphones on and we were working on it together. He just started singing the chorus background parts. It sounded awesome. [Watch Clip] VH1: Why did you cover David Bowie's "Fame"? Lee: My favorite David Bowie album is Ziggy Stardust, but "Fame" is one of my favorite Bowie songs. I love that he kept changing during his career. I knew I could do a good version of it. My voice has a lower register like his, so when I started playing around with it I was like, "Wow, this sounds really cool. It sounds very close to the original." I thought, "Let's do it." VH1: The lyrics of "Fame" must have struck a chord. Do you think you could ever turn your back on fame and step out of the spotlight? Lee: Sometimes I can. My celebrity tends to overshadow the music. That burns me up. I just want to play music. That's what I live for. At the end of the day, when you ask somebody "Who's Tommy Lee?" I want them to say, "That guy's really talented! He produces, he writes, he sings, he plays drums, he plays guitar ..." instead of, "Wasn't he married to so-and-so?" That's what happens when you marry famous people. It's going to take a little more time to separate Tommy Lee the celebrity and Tommy Lee the musician, but I'm getting better with it. VH1: But aren't you flirting with your own notoriety on a song like "Face to Face?" You sing, "Don't call yourself my friend boy/ You best be stepping way back / How about a bitch slap," and regardless of what you intended, people are going to think you're referring to Kid Rock stealing Pam Anderson. Lee: I know. Sometimes I can't understand why, when people listen to music, they immediately think, "Oh, that's personal! It's about this time or that time in his life!" That song is just about some really egotistical people that I've met in this business that I f*cking hate. It's my way of venting. I listen to it and I laugh my ass off. I think if somebody out there knows some people that they don't really care for, it might be their new theme song. VH1: One of your sons sings on the beginning of "People Are Strange." Are your kids musically inclined? Lee: I'm not sure yet! I've supplied them with everything they could want. They've got a little acoustic drum set, little synthesizers, guitars and amps. But they're only five and six years old, so they haven't gotten to the stage where they're saying, "This is my favorite thing to play." We jam together. It's so cute. They were both playing guitar and I was playing drums. At the end, they took their guitars off, threw them across the room and were like, "Thank you! Good night!" Dude, I almost started crying! My oldest boy said, "Can I take the videotape of us jamming to school? Can I show everyone our new band?" He's so cute: "This is our new little band." It's awesome, man. [Watch Clip] VH1: The video for "Hold Me Down" features Cirque du Soleil acrobats flying around you. You used to play your drum solos suspended above the audience. Did you share any tips with them about what to do when you're 50 feet above the ground? Lee: It was fun. I jumped in one of their rigs for a minute. It's like a harness that connects to your waist. It looks like it's easy to just fly on their wires, but it's not. It's very difficult to flip your body all that way around. They make it look so graceful and beautiful. One of the ladies was from the De La Guarda group here in New York. You can really appreciate when you see their show how much work went into it. VH1: The Mötley Crüe tell-all autobiography The Dirt was pretty candid. Did sharing your past exploits with the world change the way people perceive you? Lee: I have mixed emotions about the book. Sometimes I think, "You know what? It's real. It's honest." It's called The Dirt. What are you going to do? Sit there and pull punches? The more insecure part of me thinks, "Maybe that was a little bit too much." I go back and forth on it. Maybe someone who reads the book is going through the same things I went through. If they learned something and it helped them through my honesty, then at the end of the day, that's cool. VH1: Your friend Ozzy Osbourne has managed to reinvent himself with The Osbournes, but has he gone from being a rock god to something of a joke? Lee: I've known Ozzy and his family for a while, so I've seen the show before - even before it aired! They're very funny. But part of me thinks, "Damn! Now everybody's going to know exactly how Ozzy is in his personal life. Is some of the mystique lost?" He's shaky and he kind of stutters, but he's been that way ever since I've known him. [Watch Clip] VH1: Do you have any new tattoos? Lee: I have a set of lips on my neck - my girlfriend Mayte's lips. She's Puerto Rican, and she's got these beautiful, big, yummy lips. That's probably the newest. I'm running out of room! I think I've got to start on the legs. I have a giant phoenix and some tribal stuff from Tahiti on my leg, but there's some blank space left. The human canvas is about complete! VH1: At the end of The Dirt you said you were going to make sure you met your next girlfriend's mom, since all your girlfriends turned out exactly like their mothers. Have you met Mayte's mom? Lee: I met her mom and she's sweet, awesome and still gorgeous. They're Puerto Rican, so they're serious about their family and their get-togethers. The great thing about Mayte is she's not famous. She was married to Prince, but she's not famous. I love that. It's a nice change. |
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