MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX: Our Legacy Is Too Important To Us To Do Things Only For The Money

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has confirmed to Guitar World magazine that fans can expect to hear new music from the band sometime around the launch of CRÜE's "The Final Tour" this summer. "[Guitarist] Mick Mars and I just recently wrote a really cool track that we'll probably release sometime in the near future," Nikki said. "But it's not like, 'Hey, MÖTLEY CRÜE's gonna quit touring and then we're going to start releasing full-length records every two years!' That's not what we're looking to do. Our plan is to cease touring and then see what else is out there. One thing we're going to do is explore different licensing opportunities. But the only way to take advantage of those opportunities is to end things with dignity."

He continued: "If you crumble and you fall apart at the seams and then try to do that stuff, people are like, 'Oh, look, MÖTLEY CRÜE. They were cool once.' But I want the fans to have more than that. I want them to have the pride that they have in certain bands and that I have in certain bands that left at the right time. So it'd be real easy to slap our name on anything and everything that comes our way, but we've always been very careful to not do that."

Asked what would be an example of something MÖTLEY CRÜE wouldn't want to attach their name to, Sixx said: Well, look at the bands who were involved in [the 2012 film] 'Rock Of Ages'. Their people came to us early and they showed us the movie and we said, 'This is a complete farce. It's a cheesy movie. It has nothing to do with rock. This is like 'Mamma Mia!' with pretend guitars.' We said we didn't want to be involved. And then you saw all these other bands line up and do it. They did it for the money. And the thing is, we don't have to do things for the money…. But you know, musicians mishandle their money all the time. And because they don't usually have any kind of financial education or knowledge about how to build security, what they do is they live from album to album. Then when the steam runs out, desperate people do desperate things. And it starts to get a little bit embarrassing. Our legacy is too important to us to let that happen."

Sixx also spoke about whether MÖTLEY CRÜE's reputation for over-the-top antics sometimes overshadowed the band's music. "At times [it did]," he admitted. "But then again, was it also not the spoon that served the oatmeal to your mouth? So all the antics — that was not part of a master plan. We were just out of control and it was a time on Earth where, you know, debauchery was king. And we embraced it. But at the same time, music was everything to us. When we sat in the studio, we didn't talk about how much we drank. We talked about the great bands that came before us. We talked about great songs and great lyrics and great melodies. We talked about wanting to be the biggest band in the world, wanting to be the best band in the world, wanting to have the best songs in the world. Are there things we could have done better? Sure. But I think every artist will look at things they've done and say, 'I think we could have done that better.' But at the time you're doing your best."