Motley Crue Tune Up for Summer Tour

About an hour before showtime, here's how the four members of Mötley Crüe spend their time: Singer Vince Neil lifts weights. Bassist Nikki Sixx plays loud music. Drummer Tommy Lee plays unbelievably loud music. "The music is on 'stun,' " Lee brags. And guitarist Mick Mars meditates as far away from Lee as possible. "When we all shared dressing rooms, I was a wreck," Mars says. " 'Dude, do you have to beat on the trash can? Let's save the mayhem for the stage.' "

As younger men, Mötley Crüe indulged in so much excessive behavior as to be the stuff of legend (and inspire some of the autobiographical songs on their new record Saints of Los Angeles, such as "Down at the Whiskey"). But now, in the band's 28th year, three of the four members are clean and sober. "Getting into your 40s is like natural Zoloft," Sixx says, in a rehearsal studio near the Burbank airport, where the Crüe have gathered to prepare for their summer tour. "It just balances you out."

The band's sole imbiber is the irrepressible Lee. "I'm the Lone Ranger, man," he says. "I travel with a Jägermeister machine. I'm flying the fuckin' flag until the wheels fall off this bitch." This summer, that means headlining the inaugural Crüe Fest, with Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Trapt and Sixx's side project Sixx: A.M. The tour runs from July 1st to August 31st; tickets range from $30 to $99. "Our production is sick, dude," promises Lee. "There's nothing worse than going to watch a band and the light guys are all stoned."

"Maybe Crüe Fest is about a lifestyle," Neil says. And what is the Crüe lifestyle in 2008? "Sex, sex and rock & roll!"

In the rehearsal studio, Lee is in a chipper mood; his ex-wife Pamela Anderson has moved back into his home with their two sons. He sits with Neil, who is wearing a diamond watch and flip-flops, explaining how to use the sound system in Neil's brand-new Lamborghini. Mars sits to one side, quietly noodling on his guitar.

Lee asks, "Where's Sixx?"

"He was talking to his computer," Neil says. "I don't know if he's gone crazy or if it's some new technology."

Sixx arrives. The tattoos on his arms are looking sharp — his girlfriend, tattoo artist Kat Von D, has been touching up the faded, decades-old ink. Sixx pulls on his bass with the fucker strap and consults the set list (which includes a Titty Cam interlude), and the Crüe launch into "Saints of Los Angeles" at eardrum-destroying volume. Even though they're playing to a click track in a rehearsal space, they sound like they're rocking an arena. "At the end of the day, we're just like a couple of old ladies with a tight bra," Lee says later. "We can be naggy little bitches. But you know what? When we all get in a room together, there's something real magical that the four of us do that nobody else does."

[From Issue 1056-1057 — July 10, 2008]