SIXX: A.M.'s DJ ASHBA On 'Modern Vintage': We Wanted To 'Make A Record Like The Ones We Used To Grow Up On'

BackstageAxxess.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist DJ Ashba of SIXX: A.M. and GUNS N' ROSES. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On SIXX: A.M.'s new album, "Modern Vintage", drawing influences from a variety of '70s rock powerhouses:

Ashba: "That was kind of the whole theme and concept of this album. The whole inspiration was to go back and really dig into our past and the music collection and albums and bands we used to growing up as kids and, kind of, try to get inspired — re-inspired, I should say — by the spirit of what they were doing back then. Because when people like QUEEN and ELO and DAVID BOWIE made albums back then, they were epic, they were journeys, they were so incredible diverse. You look at them nowadays as rock records, but if you go back and really listen to them, they were more like… almost like operas. They really set you on such a crazy journey, and not one song was ever the same. So we really wanted to capture that spirit on 'Modern Vintage' and make a record like the ones we used to grow up on."

On "Modern Vintage" coming across as a more positive and upbeat album than the previous two:

Ashba: "The main thing is we didn't wanna make the same album twice, and we believe we've made three completely different albums. 'The Heroin Diaries' was very, very dark, lyrically and musically — a very dark album — whereas 'This Is Gonna Hurt' [was] super dark, but it was very aggressive; like, the way I approached all the guitar work, it was a very heavy, guitar-driven album. And this one is much more of a celebration. Although the underlying lyrical content is very dark still, we wanted to really venture into not only different bands that inspired us, but different genres of music that inspired us, such as ragtime and disco, and different things pulling from our past."

SIXX: A.M., which also features MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx and vocalist James Michael, released "Modern Vintage" on October 7 via Eleven Seven Music. SIXX: A.M. celebrated the CD release by playing its first full live show since 2009 the same night. The performance took place at the iHeart Theater in Burbank, California. The show, as well as a question-and-answer session with the band about the new album, its influences and the band's future plans was broadcast exclusively live on iHeartRadio and select Clear Channel radio stations.

SIXX: A.M. will embark on its first-ever headline tour in 2015, playing a limited number of dates across North America with special guest APOCALYPTICA.

Joining Sixx, Ashba and Michael on the road will be drummer Jeff Fabb (IN THIS MOMENT, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, FILTER),who also played on "Modern Vintage".