MÖTLEY CRÜE's TOMMY LEE Talks About Helicopter Incident, No-Clothes Backstage Rule

Nicole Powers of SuicideGirls.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

SuicideGirls.com: I heard you had a rather scary incident recently in a helicopter. Can you tell me about that?

Tommy: Oh! [laughs] No, there was nothing scary about it. MÖTLEY CRÜE did a show in Palm Springs, out in the desert, and we were flying the helicopter back. This house was on fire about 30 minutes outside of Van Nuys airport, where we were going to land. So there was this house on fire, you could see all this smoke coming up. And I said, "Fuck! Let's go over there and check it out." We flew close to the house to check it out, and apparently we got into the police's airspace. But we were so far away from them. I still don't understand. Like, there was no way we that close.

SuicideGirls.com: So you caused a minor emergency with the police department?

Tommy: Yeah, well, they followed us to where we were landing. We were going to land at my house, but we were running out of fuel, so we landed at the airport to get some fuel. And then we just decided, "Let's get out and we'll just drive home." So we were on the ground, and I had in my backpack a bottle of vodka mixed with lemonade, right?! As soon as we landed my pilot, Dave, said, "Hey! Where's that vodka?" I grabbed it, and he takes two big giant sips straight out of the vodka bottle. Right when he was drinking it the cops walked out and said, "Who's the pilot of that helicopter?" And he's like, "That would be me." So they thought he was drinking. But he doesn't drink and fly — ever. That's stupid. So that's what the whole deal was. They gave him a sobriety test and all that. He's like, "Guys, I just had two shots of vodka after we landed, now it's a little late to be testing me, do you know what I mean?" So that was it. No big deal.

SuicideGirls.com: MÖTLEY CRÜE's new album is called "Saints of Los Angeles" — shouldn't it really be called "Sinners of Los Angeles"?

Tommy: I would personally have to say that I am more of a saint than a sinner.

SuicideGirls.com: I believe that, 'cause you obviously take great pride in being a really great dad.

Tommy: Yeah.

SuicideGirls.com: What other aspects of your life are you most proud of?

Tommy: I think, more than anything, I just treat people like I want to be treated, and at the end of the day, just try to be a good guy, like a nice person. I'm friendly with everybody, and sometimes it gets me into trouble, you know?! I can't say no very often. Sometimes it gets me into trouble, but my attitude in life is just be kind to everybody and karma will be kind back to you, you know!?

SuicideGirls.com: Do you enjoy some of the rumor and misdirection that comes from the Internet? Some of it must be fun to read — the more ridiculous stuff.

Tommy: Yes. Isn't that funny?! I mean, prior to the Internet you had to hear it from your friends or some gossip columnist, or something like that, and now shit's just everywhere. It's unbelievable.

SuicideGirls.com: It's hard to control it, unless you're like Stephen Colbert, who seems like he amends his Wikipedia page on an hourly basis.

Tommy: Oh my god. That's crazy. Yes, it's a double-edged sword, isn't it?!

SuicideGirls.com: Are you big on the Internet? Are you a bit of a geek?

Tommy: Yeah. I'll admit it. I'm definitely a bit of a geek. I love being able to get music when you want it. I just kind of surf around and check out fucking crazy porno or music. I'm a gear-head, I love recording music, so I'm always trying to find the newest, latest, coolest, fastest, badass piece of equipment, so I love it. I'm always on there.

SuicideGirls.com: I understand you have a compulsory strip rule in your backstage area.

Tommy: Yeah. My dressing room has a no-clothes rule. You have to remove one item of clothing that's not your socks to even get in. That's just the way we do it. Actually, the night before last, when we were in Reno, it was fucking awesome. We'd just got off stage, and I dried off for a second, kind of catching my breath, poured a cocktail, and all of a sudden the dressing room door opened, and here come, not with one article of clothing removed, but fucking totally naked just walking into my room. I was like, "God, bless you guys." It was beautiful.

SuicideGirls.com: So how many naked people just randomly walked in?

Tommy: Well, right when the door opened, there was two naked girls that came in, and then there was probably about five or six other people there that were half-naked so it was a nice little party.

SuicideGirls.com: Do you share with your band mates to keep everything cool?

Tommy: Well, you know what, it's kind of strange because Vince [Neil, vocals] is married, Mick's [Mars, guitar] got a girlfriend and Nikki's [Sixx, bass] got a girlfriend, so I'm like the single crazy guy. Everyone comes to my room after the show.

Read the entire interview at SuicideGirls.com.