MÖTLEY CRÜE's TOMMY LEE: 'By The Time I Get Done After A Two-Hour Show, I'm F***ing Toast'

During an appearance on the Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard podcast, Tommy Lee once again spoke about the physical demands of playing drums for a heavy rock band like MÖTLEY CRÜE. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's crazy, man. It's so physical. By the time I get done after a two-hour show, I'm fucking toast. Between just physically and then your ears. You're just laying in bed hearing [a] just really high-pitched [sound], a little squeal. And you're, like, 'Okay, we're done, right? Stop.' But you don't realize it."

He continued: "Man, I sweat like a motherfucker. I don't really gain any size, like muscle, and I weigh the same I've weighed in high school. Like, what is the fucking deal? What is happening? So I clipped one of those pedometers on my shoe. It tells you how far you go. I was curious. I clipped it on before the show. I take it on after the show, and it said 13.3 miles. And I was, like, 'I just did 13 miles sitting down.' And I was, like, 'Okay, that explains a lot, I guess.' I'm pretty much doing more than my daily aerobics."

Asked if he has had to deal with any repetitive strain injuries due to constant impact and poor ergonomics over the course of the last four and a half decades, Tommy said: "I'm pretty good, man. I had one hand surgery, 'cause I had a... It's called Dupuytren contracture. And it's where the nerves in your hand that you have running through here, over time, they start to pull. And this finger was stuck in this position, and these, both of these. So they had to go in and cut that and get rid of it. That's the only thing that's really physically... And that's a scary one. That's my hands, dude."

Tommy previously spoke about the physical demands of playing drums for MÖTLEY CRÜE last month during an appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. He said in part: "I was, like, 'Okay, how come I've weighed the same weight since fucking high school till today?' And I'm, like, 'That's fucking weird.' And I eat kind of whatever the fuck I wanna eat. I don't diet or have some strict regimented food program. I was, like, 'I gotta see.' I got one of those — this was years ago — it was like a pedometer you clip on to your shoe, like joggers would use it to… There's the old version. You just clipped it on your shoe, and it told you how many miles you did. So I'm, like, I get one, I clip it on. I'm, like, 'I wonder what, how many fucking miles I'm doing after a two-hour show. I don't know. Fuck. Who knows?' I know I'm sweaty as fuck, and after the show, alls I hear is ringing in my ear, and I'm fucking — I'm wrecked; I'm done. And I fucking took it off after the show, and I looked down, and it said 13.3 miles. And I was, like, 'So that's why I'm a skinny fuck.'"

Lee went on to say that playing the drums in a hard rock or heavy metal band is "more like a sport. And you're the fucking heartbeat, man," he explained. "People say your band's only as good as your drummer, and that's really fucking — it's really true, and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm a fucking drummer. But a drummer has a lot of responsibility, man. Everybody, all the people that you see out there that are fucking moving, I'm responsible for a lot of that. And I'm not saying for all of it, but you sort of set the pace and you're making people physically move. That takes a lot of work. The amount of energy you're putting out you're getting back, and you're seeing it, and you're, like, 'Fuck, I'm driving here.' And that's a cool place to be. But it is a responsibility, and it is physical, and it's draining. But it's fucking rad. I live for it."

In a 2011 interview with the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner, Tommy's MÖTLEY CRÜE bandmate, vocalist Vince Neil, talked about the differences between singing for two hours on stage every night and athletes and ordinary people running 26.2 miles for two hours. "Yeah, it's two different kind of marathons," Vince said. "I use a pedometer, and I run just about 10-12 miles a night. It's different, though. One thing that's different is you're singing. And you do stop and talk to the crowd. But what these athletes do, it's amazing."

MÖTLEY CRÜE's recently launched "The Return Of Carnival Of Sins" tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of CRÜE's groundbreaking 2005-2006 "Carnival Of Sins" tour and the 45th anniversary of the band. The 33-city Live Nation-produced trek kicked off on July 17, 2026 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania at the Pavilion at Star Lake and features support acts EXTREME and TESLA.

MÖTLEY CRÜE said that $1 from every ticket sold for "The Return Of Carnival Of Sins" will be donated to ASAP! (After School Arts Program) through the Mötley Crüe Giveback Initiative to fund hands-on arts programs for young people.

With 659 headline reports submitted to Pollstar's Boxoffice since 1999, MÖTLEY CRÜE has sold a total of 6.7 million tickets, grossing $457.1 million. On average, MÖTLEY CRÜE sells 10,239 tickets each night, grossing $721,069 per show, according to Pollstar's Boxoffice.

MÖTLEY CRÜE's Las Vegas residency launched on September 12, 2025 and at Dolby Live at Park MGM and ran through October 3, 2025. The shows had initially been set for spring 2025 but were rescheduled after Neil revealed he had suffered a stroke around Christmas 2024.

In September 2025, Vince revealed that he had actually had a series of strokes before he suffered the "big one" in his sleep 2024 Christmas night, rendering him unable to get out of bed when he woke up the next day.

When MÖTLEY CRÜE originally postponed the Las Vegas residency, the band said it was because Neil needed a "medical procedure," but offered no further details.