Nikki Sixx: "This Album Comes From Our Demented Souls"

Yeah. But the truth is bands run in cycles, and you have highs, and you have lows. And I think that was the beginning of a high. I think that we will be running on full tilt here for a while, because it feels so good. It's nice to have that catalogue of music, and it's nice to have the legacy. I think rock and roll is gonna be back in a big fucking way here. You have so many options out there, from video games to the Internet. You're on your iPhone, and you're watching YouTube videos. What's going to make someone go out and go to a show? It takes a lot to get me to leave my house to go see something. But if you have to give 100 percent, like with Alice Cooper and Bowie and Slade — those fucking bands gave 150 percent. It was about fashion, it was about music, it was about pushing the envelope. You got to give people a lot to make them really want to come out and see you and buy your records and say, "I fucking dig this band because they give me something."

Do you feel any pressure because it's the first record with the original lineup in ten years?

You know what? I never even thought about that until this interview. But you don't even think about it because we've been making music and going on tour and writing songs and doing shows. I guess it would seem like it would create pressure, but it doesn't really.

Just to dispel all the rumors: Tommy Lee is back in the band?

Yeah, Tommy's in the band. It's the original band and we got rid of the external problems. Now the band is a band, and we don't have outside problems.

Are you guys getting along well?

Yeah, we always get along when we don't have all those fucking people from the outside trying to push and pull and do the things they do.

What's the tone of the record? Are you laughing at your past or is it more a cautionary tale?

It's a very light record in the sense that it's not heavy subject matter, but that comes from demented souls, you know? We think that the stuff we did is dark, so it'll come across like that on the record.

I think Mötley Crüe is entering a period where they are now a classic band. Do you agree?

I'm seeing it. I think we're still like a band that goes out and tears it up and I don't really pay attention. That's my fucking problem. Someone goes to me the other day, "I don?t think you've realized what you've done" and I go, "What do you mean?" and he says "Well, you just walk around the streets like you're just some guy" and I say, "Well I am some guy!" and he goes "No dude, you don't understand. You guys are becoming those guys that you grew up with!" And I'm like, "Oh! Well that's kind of cool." So yeah, it's kind of cool.