MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX: VINCE NEIL Is 'One Of The Greatest Frontmen Of All Time'

Revolver magazine recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE/SIXX: A.M. bassist Nikki Sixx for a cover story in its March/April 2011 issue. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Revolver: You're very candid in the ["This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx"] book about how you feel about the guys in CRÜE: You love them, but you don't hang out the way you once did. You guys have never even been to each other's current homes. Was the book a way to restart a conversation, or is this something you've told them already?

Sixx: I've talked — we talk to each other. I thought it was interesting because Vince [Neil, CRÜE vocalist] put out a book ["Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen"] recently. He had a ghostwriter, and the guy called me up and said, "You wanna talk about Vince?" So I told him my feelings about Vince: I really feel he's one of the greatest frontmen of all time and has such a unique sound, and I feel so blessed to have him in my life, and I don't think he understands how much I actually love him. The guy was like, "Thank you," and then — and it's the last thing he said — he goes, "You know, Vince didn't say those things about you." And I was like, "Oh, well, that's his right to do that." He goes, "Is there anything else you wanna say?" I said, "Oh, you want me to say something mean because he said something mean? I don't have anything mean to say."

My book, it's very honest about where we're at at our age and where we've been. But we've had other documentation earlier in our life, you know, and this is about what's going on right now. I guess everyone has that right when they write a memoir. But I think that we have an opportunity and a responsibility when we do books for complete honesty. So in his case, he might have been being completely honest.

[On page 78 of Vince's autobiography, excerpts from which are available on the Hachette Book Group web site, Neil writes, "I don't think Nikki has changed much over the years. He still likes to portray himself as the Messiah. Everything is his. Everything is his idea. I'll look at him and think, 'Fuck! He just loves playing that persona.' And my sentiment is: 'I don't really care one way or the other. If he wants to be that, fine.' I do my job, and I fucking have fun. But in Nikki's world, he has to be known as the 'thinker,' or the 'creator;' He needs to be seen as Mr. All-Important. Nikki Sixx, tortured soul. Just like Tommy [Lee, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer], he's another one of those guys who just love the whole fame thing. He wouldn't have been with the tattoo artist Kat Von D if she wasn't famous. And [former 'Baywatch' actress] Donna D'Errico before her; she was a huge star at the time he married her. He just really likes to see his face in the paper. He likes the press buzz. He likes being that guy from the band with famous girlfriends.

"I mean, you should read the e-mails [Nikki] sends about MÖTLEY. He goes, 'I've crunched the numbers, and we should do this...' And I'm like, 'What? Is he my fucking accountant now? I mean, what the fuck?' He makes these decisions for MÖTLEY CRÜE that I think are just stupid. I call him up and I'll be like, 'You're the worst businessman in the fucking world. You're a fucking idiot!' And he'll be like, 'How can you say that?' And I'll be like, 'Because you are a fucking idiot.' Just because something looks good on paper with your name on it doesn't mean it's going to work."]

Revolver: Speaking of honest, the guys in GODSMACK wrote "Cryin' Like A Bitch" about you...

Sixx: Made me laugh so hard.

Revolver: You allude to the song in the book. You said when you were younger, you probably would have done something, but now you just laugh it off.

Sixx: It was funny because it made me laugh. Everybody that I know would call me or send emails and laugh at the song, saying, "How can you be saying someone's crying like a bitch when you're the only crying?" And that's the stuff that makes me laugh. I don't get mad, I actually laugh. And I played the song on my radio show ["Sixx Sense"] and then I asked the band to come do an interview with me. And they wouldn't do it.

They were doing something down at some studio, but I heard, "You know, the guys are really nervous, like, you were gonna come over and start a fight." And I go, "About what?" I just thought it was funny — it was like a 14-year-old mentality. Come on. If you're gonna hit somebody, dude, hit them with a 2x4, not with a toothpick. I mean, fucking do it. "Cryin' Like A Bitch"? Really? Come on, let's go big.

Revolver: In terms of just a song, did you like it?

Sixx: It was just GODSMACK — it was OK. I mean, they're not THE ROLLING STONES.

To purchase the March/April 2011 issue of Revolver magazine containing the entire Nikki Sixx interview, visit RevolverMag.com.