NIKKI SIXX Blasts KISS For Using MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'Shtick': 'I Just Think It's Uncool'

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has clarified his comments about KISS's current "End Of The Road" tour, saying that he was "disappointed" by the latter band's decision to replicate CRÜE's production.

Sixx made headlines on social media last week by criticizing the Paul Stanley-fronted outfit for allegedly using the same onstage mechanics as CRÜE's final tour.

Just hours before KISS was scheduled to take the stage at the Forum in Los Angeles, Sixx posted two Instagram photos of the CRÜE's "The Final Tour" stage set in which he and singer Vince Neil are carried by two gigantic cranes over the entire arena floor. Sixx wrote in a caption, "If ya wanna see an exact reenactment of this just go to the #LosAngeles Forum tonight."

Kerrang! caught up with Nikki and asked him to clarify exactly what he meant.

"I didn't go to see KISS at the Forum [in Los Angeles]," he said. "First of all, I have to say that I really like KISS's earlier songwriting; when I was a little kid who was learning to play music, they were a huge band. AEROSMITH was always my favorite, but you can't argue with simplicity of songs like 'Deuce' and 'Black Diamond' and 'Strutter' and 'Parasite'. In terms of my songwriting influences, they go into the same category as SLADE or CHEAP TRICK. It's very simple, hooky songwriting.

"But what they did that really bothered me, and my bandmates, is [for CRÜE's farewell tour] we built these giant arms that fitted in the venue's ceilings, that had lights in them, and we developed these things. It was a lot of work and it cost a lot of money. And these things would hide up there and then we'd use the lights to light the show. Then at the end of the set these arms would come down from the ceiling and me and Vince would jump on them and they would take us out over the arena and that was our grand finale.

"But then I saw a video [of KISS] and they were using our arms! It was exactly our shtick! I just think it's uncool. I think it's uncool of the company to make the same thing again for them. I don't know, it just bothers me. It was our last tour on Earth, and something that people have posters of on their walls is now being repeated by KISS. Sure, we all use pyro and stuff, but with this we re-invented an idea. And this was our idea."

Back in 2012, KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE teamed up for "The Tour", a joint summer package that saw each play a full set, with KISS closing every night.

Three years ago, Sixx and Gene Simmons engaged in a war of words over the KISS star's admittedly callous comments regarding Prince's death. Nikki stated at the time that Gene's "heartless and uneducated remarks" about Prince's passing show "why he's not my hero anymore or anybody's. I think that he is an overrated, lucky guy that dresses like a clown. He wrote some good songs, but hasn't in a long time, and loves to brag about himself."