MÖTLEY CRÜE Drummer On Touring With POISON: 'It's Something That The Fans Have Been Asking For

Rick Florino of ARTISTdirect.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: How did the idea for the MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON tour come together?

Tommy: For awhile, it's something that the fans have been asking for. When promoters and enough people start asking you to do something, you're like, "Ah, okay, cool! Let's go do it!" [Laughs]

ARTISTdirect.com: So was the tour created by that demand?

Tommy: Pretty much! That's definitely how the ball started getting rolling. Then, we started kicking around some band names. The NEW YORK DOLLS came up first, and it was like, "Yeah, that sounds awesome!" That's how it all started.

ARTISTdirect.com: Do you remember the first time you heard POISON?

Tommy: I think the first time I had seen or heard of them was a video. It was "Talk Dirty To Me". I remember seeing them, and I was tripping out, going, "Wow, these guys are kind of like us!" [Laughs] There was something a little different musically, which I remember liking. It was less metal or rock; it was more pop. It was more like CHEAP TRICK. Even in the riffs, you could hear it. I thought the riff in "Talk Dirty To Me" was a bit like a CHEAP TRICK riff. I was a big CHEAP TRICK fan growing up, and that's my first experience of POISON.

ARTISTdirect.com: Is there any chance that you and POISON may share some stage time together?

Tommy: It's still early! Who knows? You never know with that kind of stuff. We'll see what happens.

ARTISTdirect.com: Are you working on new music?

Tommy: We haven't started yet. Nikki [Sixx, bass] and I have both been busy making music for other projects. Everybody has been doing his thing. A lot of times, we write shit during soundcheck. Someone will bang out a drum beat or a bass or guitar riff, and we'll say, "Fuck, someone record this really quick! This is dope!" It's rare that all four of us are together unless we're on tour. That's always a good place to start stockpiling some ideas. I have a studio on my bus too. I'm sure this summer we'll end up throwing some shit down. We'll see what happens as far as new music goes.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.com.