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NEWS : STORIES
If Behind the Music hadn't already existed, it might have been specifically created to tell the story of L.A. maniacs Motley Crue. In their 1980s prime, singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars were so
This is the band that checked all the boxes on the heavy metal highlight reel: 1) dating/marrying strippers/actresses (Neil, Sixx, Lee) 2) overdosing, dying and then coming back to rock again (Sixx) 3) having a hip replaced (Mars) 4) drinking and drugging beyond all reason (all) 5) shagging every groupie in sight (see above) 6) scoring a reality show (Lee, Neil) 7) and, for bonus points, crashing your car in an alcoholic haze and losing a pal in the process (Neil). Now, after six years apart, the boys are saddling up again for the "Red, White and Crue" reunion tour, which they kicked off with tonight's announcement in front of the Whiskey A Go Go on Sunset Strip. "I don't have any idea what makes it work," says the 46-year-old Sixx about the magic the group have recaptured in recent rehearsals. "I've tried to explain it to people and I can't. Somehow, when all four of us get together, something unique happens." Due Feb. 1, the career-spanning compilation Red, White and Crue career overview disc will get the party started by including a few new songs, including the single "If I Die Tomorrow." The album will also include a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." The U.S. leg of the tour kicks off on February 17 in Ft. Lauderdale and runs through April. Sixx says it will be just like the old days ... sort of. While the clean and sober bassist won't be carrying on like he used to, he tells VH1 why getting laid at a Crue show is a sure thing. Giving a shout out to the band's gun-toting, mullet-tressed fans, and revealing that hip replacement is the new coke nose, he explains the might of being Motley. VH1: What did it take to make this reunion happen? Sixx: It hasn't been easy to get everyone on the same page. We hadn't been in the same room together for six years. That's because this band is dysfunctional and we've put each other through hell. In the end, it's about the music. Once you all get on that page, it falls together. VH1: So who sucked it up and suggested it? Sixx: It started with a promoter in the UK who was talking to ticket agents about a year ago. They wanted to know who the hot new band was, and they all kept saying Motley Crue! That's the group everyone wants to see. VH1: C'mon, really? Sixx: This is a dysfunctional train wreck that everyone is in love with. It's like going to a car race and the one guy you like to see is always out of control and you never know if there will be another race because the guy might die every time. VH1: Were there any obstacles? Sixx: Tommy and Neil were doing their thing and Mick was unhealthy. Vince said he was having fun touring and didn't know if he wanted to put up with the Motley drama. Mick's got a degenerative bone disease and he said, "I can play, but I can't walk." His bones were fused together and it was wearing a hole in his hip. He said, "I'll f*cking get a hip replacement because I want to f*cking rock!" VH1: Eddie Van Halen and Paul Stanley had them, too. Are hip replacements the new blood transfusion? Sixx: We used to have deviated septums [from cocaine], now it's the hip. VH1: How much money were you offered to reunite? Sixx: It's not about someone saying, "I'll give you a bazillion dollars." VH1: Then what motivated you? Sixx: We needed to make new music. That drove everything. While we were getting over our differences, it kept glaring in our faces that it's not about us, it's about the fans. We just realized how lucky we were to have such a great opportunity and that made us get over it. VH1: How will things be different backstage this time around? Sixx: I'm clean. I probably had the worst drug problem. But if you look at any band that's been around for a long time, they can't go on like that. Keith Richards isn't sitting in corner shooting up, but he's still Keith Richards. Tommy Lee is Tommy Lee, whether he's doing what he used to do or not. When you come to our show, it's impossible for me not to be me, but I don't think I have do a shot Of whiskey to be that guy [I used to be]. This time around it has to be about internal danger and dysfunction and fire - nothing else. We don't "party" like, [frat boy voice] "Hey, dude let's party!" It is a hardcore band - in my case so hardcore that it equals death. It's not fun like college kids getting drunk. It's a serious affliction we need not revisit to make people feel like living those days again. If you want to see the band, you will have your socks knocked off. VH1: So backstage will be candles and throat-coat tea and playrooms for the kids? Sixx: I don't know about drugs, alcohol and chicks. Internally, the fire in this band is like a pissed off, rowdy animal. When all four of us get together the concept is how do we outdo not only what we've done, but what anyone else has done? VH1: What are the rehearsals like? Is it hard for you guys to play these songs sober? Sixx: We've only been doing it for a few days, but it's like riding a bicycle. It's really bizarre. We hadn't played 'Girls, Girls, Girls' in years and Tommy counted it off and all of a sudden we were in the pocket and the bass line was sliding around the kick drum. We looked at each other and went, "Wow!" Anyone can play it, it's just a rock song, but for some reason we were like, "We're Motley Crue and that's kind of cool." We played Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith songs and it sounded like Motley Crue. VH1: Half of the band members have their own reality shows; where's yours? Sixx: When the reality show thing first started, companies came to me and [wife and former Baywatch star] Donna [D'errico] and said they wanted to give us a boatload of money to do one. But I didn't want to let them take the one place in my life that's none of their business. I wouldn't do it to my kids, not even to my f*cking dog. VH1: How have reality shows changed Vince and Tommy? Sixx: It continues to introduce us to all different demographics. Everything from goth kids to the guy with a mullet and gun rack who voted for Bush. VH1: You're 45, so won't the groupies be, like, 40 years old now? Won't that scare you? Sixx: Have you ever seen the girls at a Motley Crue concert? If you're single, go to a Motley Crue concert and you'll definitely get laid. They're not soccer moms. VH1: Metallica famously benefited from some group therapy. Has Motley gone that direction? Sixx: We've done it. Hell yeah. Communication is king. But I couldn't tell my 22-year-old self that. VH1: The video for the new single, "If I Die Tomorrow," sounds very autobiographical. Sixx: The question we're asking is, "If I die tomorrow, have I said what I could say?" The video is about all the crosses we've had to bear: Mick's health, Vince being remorseful about the car crash [that killed Hanoi Rocks member Razzle], Tommy being locked in jail as a turning point and for me surviving drugs. If I die tomorrow, I want to make sure I've told everyone that I love them and that everyone whose ass I want to kick, I've kicked. Motley Crue doesn't wait around for death.
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