Nikki Sixx talks Mötley Crüe's 40th anniversary, Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame and live return

Mötley Crüe have become the latest big-name act to be inducted into the Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame for their distinguished services to music.

We arranged to have the prestigious award specially flown out to Mötley Crüe bassist and co-founder Nikki Sixx’s home in Wyoming in the United States from where he joined Loz Guest for a chat via the wonders of Zoom.

Alongside accepting Mötley Crüe’s Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame honour, Sixx spoke about the band’s landmark 40th anniversary celebrations in 2021.

Proceedings kicked off last week with a digitally remastered reissue of Mötley Crüe’s multi-million selling 1987 album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’, and on Friday 25th June, 1985’s ‘Theatre of Pain’ gets a remastered re-release.

Commenting on Mötley Crüe’s 40th birthday, Nikki Sixx told Loz: “I don’t think any of us – I don’t think anybody looks that far into the future. But then you start seeing some of the bands that you grew up with hitting their 30th birthday and you're like ‘whoa, these guys have been around 30 years, that's amazing!’ And then it’s 40 years. Bands that meant so much to me growing up like Aerosmith, I think they just hit 50 years. In my head I'm like ‘are they even 50 years old?!’”

He continued: “It used to be young man's game, and now it's a quality game. I really admire Def Leppard in so many ways. I think they have a such a great body of music, and their work ethic is amazing and how they interact with each other. They're able to give generations and generations of people great music - whether it's nostalgic or something new, but they go out and they do these tours.

“You get to a place where going to a Mötley Crüe concert, an Aerosmith concert, a Metallica concert - the list goes on - you know that pretty much from the first song to the last song, you know every single song. And that's a cool place to be for us. It doesn't matter, you can just look at our catalogue and put your finger on it and go, ‘that's the opening song tonight’ and you know that a majority of people are going to have enjoyed it and (it’s) been part of their lives. So that's a fun thing to do for bands and for fans as well. Yeah, 40 years! Whoa! Well, I'm not gonna make 50. I can't make 50. I can't!”

Asked by Loz when he realised he was at the cusp of “something special” with Mötley Crüe, Sixx replied: “It was pretty early for the band. I was in another band, London, and there was Van Halen and they've come and gone. There was Quiet Riot. And at that time, they had a record deal I think in Japan, and I remember that Randy (Rhoads) and Kevin (DuBrow) have asked me to join the band, and they were looking for a new bass player.

“(I was in) London, we weren't anywhere near… Van Halen has already taken off and I just had this idea - I was writing a lot of the songs that would later become ‘Too Fast For Love’. Randy left (Quiet Riot) and did Ozzy (Osbourne’s band), and it was right around that time that London broke up and I did Mötley Crüe. So I was in the scene, I was feeling the energy of what rock and roll was like in Los Angeles at that time coming out of New Wave and punk and stuff, so it felt very fresh.

“When Mötley started very early on, I think a lot of people were drawn to Mötley Crüe because they knew me from London, but it took like one gig and they were like, ‘oh wow, this is like the next better thing!’ There was something magical about the band.

“I remember within a very short amount of time we were playing these auditoriums with 2,500 people, 3,000 people (and) no record deal or anything. I remember then feeling like it's something special. But did I think it was special enough to be like 40 years later?! I think I was just kind of living in the moment - I didn't really think about that.

“It was like, ‘I’m in a f---ing badass rock and roll band.’ I grew up and I had Aerosmith on the turntable, I had Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Stones. It's like, ‘wow!’ It was exciting and the camaraderie was great, and it was a very exciting time. Also, it was kind of us against the world because no one really wanted anything to do with us, besides the fans and that - I think - stayed in our blood system.”

Reflecting upon whether camaraderie has been the key to Mötley Crüe’s longevity, Sixx said: “I think the camaraderie is a big part of it. Also you’ve got to realise that anybody you knew 40 years ago, you go from being kids to young adults, married, kids, buy houses. We were all kind of pretty much living together and then at some point we were going to each other's houses to visit each other and hang out, and you just realise we're all experiencing the same really super cool thing.

“No matter what happened in the band or didn't happen in the band, it all boils down to rehearsal. You're in rehearsal, there's a bunch of open pizza boxes, there's s--- scattered everywhere. Tommy's over there ‘bam bam bam bam’ (on his drums), ‘dude shut up, I'm trying to tune my bass!’ You know, all this noise and energy and then all of a sudden it's like ‘hey, you guys want to run one? And then you run it and it's like magic. So, whatever happens, (it’s) not even the stage, it goes back to rehearsal - that moment because that's when there's nobody there. There's no press, there's no photographers, there's no management, there's nothing, it's just the same four guys.”

Commenting on Mötley Crüe’s four-decade celebrations, Sixx said: “Well, I think the number one thing we wanted to do to celebrate that was to be on tour. I know some bands are gonna go out there and test the water. It's really just been about looking back and spending some time… again, having some time to look at stuff and go ‘what could we do with this for the fans?’ Releasing different versions of stuff for the fans. I'm a fan, that's the stuff that I've always enjoyed getting from the bands that I like.

“So, we're doing a lot of that and trying to reinterpret certain eras and like ‘what could we say with that now? What will we do with that now?’ We’re doing a cassette box set, just cool stuff like that. I don't know if anybody even has a cassette (player) but I want one. I just love the idea.”

Sixx concluded: “We're disappointed that we can't tour but we know that through science, and some version of intelligence on a human level, we will get this thing under control, and we'll be able to go out there. I swear it's got to be like the roaring 20s when we hit the road again, it's going to be so fun.

“People are going to be just excited to get out there and be together and listen to music and sports and travel. So as pinned up and excited as all the musicians are, I think the fans are even more pinned up. They need it - they need a break from all of this. As soon as we get the green light, we'll be back out there. Every day, I’m patiently waiting by the phone.”

You can watch Nikki Sixx’s full interview below where he also reveals what he’s been up to during lockdown and what the Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame award means to him.

Watch Nikki Sixx chat to Kerrang! Radio:

Earlier this week, Nikki Sixx announced that he’s releasing his new autobiography The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx on Tuesday 5th October 2021.

The book focuses on the first 21 years of Sixx’s life – from his upbringing as Franklin Carlton Feranna in Idaho, to moving to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a rock star as Nikki Sixx.

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The real names of famous rock stars, including Mötley Crüe:

Introducing Kerrang! Radio Premium:

Kerrang! Radio Premium is our new subscription service. Listen live with no ad breaks, skip up to 6 tracks per hour and access exclusive on-demand music, shows and specials. Start your 30 day free trial. Find out more here.

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