Listen To MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'Live Wire' Turned Into Soft Ballad By NIKKI SIXX's SIXX:A.M.

SIXX:A.M. , the band featuring MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx alongside guitarist DJ Ashba and vocalist James Michael, performed a surprise acoustic version of the CRÜE classic "Live Wire" during their June 1 appearance on the "La Bande Originale de Nagui" radio show hosted by French TV superstar Nagui and broadcasted on French national station France Inter. You can now listen to SIXX:A.M.'s rendition below.

Sixx told RiffYou.com last year that he has always seen SIXX:A.M. as "totally separate" from MÖTLEY CRÜE, explaining that he wanted to make a clean break from touring with CRÜE out of the deep respect he had for all he had accomplished with his bandmates, and an unwillingness to trade on that legacy as focused completely on SIXX:A.M.

"A lot of times, I see people try and do 'the next thing' and it's just kind of the same as the other," he said. "[If that were me] I'd think, 'Well, why not just do MÖTLEY CRÜE?' But why would I do another version of MÖTLEY CRÜE? SIXX:A.M. is completely different musically, spiritually, emotionally, visually … and that gives me pride. The people who are coming to see us, are coming to see SIXX:A.M. We don't play MÖTLEY CRÜE music and we never will play MÖTLEY CRÜE music. The day MÖTLEY CRÜE plays its last show, I will never play another MÖTLEY CRÜE song again … even if it's one I wrote."

Sixx echoed those same sentiments in an August 2015 interview with Ottawa Citizen. He said: "For me, it's very cut and dry. When MÖTLEY CRÜE is done, it will be the greatest experience of my life, but it's the closing of that chapter. I will never play MÖTLEY CRÜE music in SIXX:A.M. That is MÖTLEY CRÜE's music. Even if I wrote them, I won't play them, because I don't believe I should do that in another band. We should each do what we already know how to do, which is create great music."

Four months later, while speaking with RockSverige.se, Sixx appeared to backtrack on his earlier comments about never playing CRÜE songs again after the band's "The Final Tour". He explained: "I said, 'I will never play MÖTLEY CRÜE music again,' because I wanted people to hear me. I wanted them to hear that we [SIXX:A.M.] have five hit singles right now, we have a double record coming out, we've got two years of touring. It's really not part of the plan. After seeing my own words in the press, I was, like, who knows? Maybe four or five years down the road, maybe we'll do an acoustic version of 'Live Wire' or do some interesting… But you will never see this band [SIXX:A.M.] lean on MÖTLEY CRÜE, because I don't think that's fair. I wrote the songs, so I guess I'm entitled to play them if I want. I just want some distance."

The first volume of "Prayers For The Damned", the new double album from SIXX:A.M., was released on April 29 via Eleven Seven Music.