NIKKI SIXX On SIXX: A.M. Debut: 'It Wasn't About Us; It Was About The Song, The Journey'

JuicyBands.com recently conducted an interview with MTLEY CRE/SIXX: A.M. bassist Nikki Sixx. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

JuicyBands.com: [SIXX: A.M.'s] "Life Is Beautiful" was a huge hit and lately "Pray For Me" has been getting a lot of radio and video airplay, since you guys didn't really promote the album or have a desire to do so, how did that come about?

Nikki Sixx: It was a very enjoyable process. A lot of times you have a band, you have a tour, you have an album, you have a single, you work radio, you work press. It's all very planned. But in this case we made a record and leaked the song out through MySpace. It started to pick up momentum and radio picked up on it. Then we took it to radio and it ended up being the most added song in the country and then climbed the charts. We said "Why?" They said, "It's moving, people like it, it's a great piece of music." We just formed the band SIXX: A.M. because people had to go buy the album by somebody. It's not me, and it's not James [Michael] and it's not D.J. [Ashba], it's all of us as producers and songwriters. I was driving down the road yesterday and looked down at my Sirius radio, and it said SIXX: A.M., "Life Is Beautiful". I said, "How is that possible?"

JuicyBands.com: Before SIXX: A.M., I've never in my life heard James sing before, but he's definitely got an amazing voice on him. I know he's done a lot of producing and behind-the-scenes stuff for a lot of different artists, so how'd you bring out the singer in him and actually get him to join in the band?

Nikki Sixx: He does do a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. He's a phenomenal writer, a phenomenal producer, an amazing engineer. D.J. is equally talented as a writer and guitar player and producer. It was effortless. It wasn't about us; it was about the song, the journey. It's so exciting, so free. We've all known each other for years, we had an amazing time, and planned on doing it again because it was so fun and we just formed together and gave it all we got.

JuicyBands.com: So a while back I was hearing that SIXX: A.M. wasn't planning on touring but now you guys are actually planning a tour starting in July so I'm excited about that, how'd that come about?

Nikki Sixx: When we formed the band, we didn't plan on being on the radio, didn't plan on touring, it just wasn't an interest to us, but the demand was high so we thought we would give it a shot. Nothing to major just a little here and there with some good bands, a simple one month tour and that's that. We are planning on playing some television shows and maybe doing some other small stuff as well.

JuicyBands.com: How did the idea of turning your diaries into a book come about?

Nikki Sixx: It was a long process because the original feeling was to publish those diaries based on my belief that I could raise awareness of this global epidemic and what it's like, whether you're down in the streets or in a private jet. It's an epidemic and a problem. I wanted to share my experience, and by getting through that experience share a little hope, a little faith that people can get out of it. That's where it started and it just went from there.

Read the entire interview at JuicyBands.com.