SIXX: What I Love About KEITH RICHARDS And THE ROLLING STONES Is That They Are Aging Gracefully

Amy Harris of Cincinnati, Ohio's CityBeat recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE/SIXX: A.M. bassist Nikki Sixx. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

CityBeat: You said in the book ["This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx"] that you wanted to inspire people. What inspires you to do this?

Nikki: What inspires me? I am so inspired every day. I am inspired by thinkers. I am inspired by rebellion. I am inspired by children. I have been inspired by love. I have been inspired by heartbreak. I try to take everything that comes at me in life. I sometimes go in life, "I am kinda new at this." Then there are times in my life that I didn't handle things… I wasn't very… I didn't handle things right. And even though you stumble, you still kind of get through it. And one thing for me is when people tell me No and tell people No and tell artists that they criticize and judge things and people. And you feel that everybody deserves a chance to take a shot at what they want.

CityBeat: I have been following you on Facebook for a couple weeks and I am amazed that every day when I wake up you are addressing people that are writing to you every single day. And it seems to be very inspiring. You are obviously very inspiring to people. Does that create any type of burden for you? Do you feel a responsibility or weigh on you that people look at you like that?

Nikki: No, I think that it would be a burden if it wasn't honest. And I can honestly tell you that I have been really honest with my feelings and whatever MÖTLEY CRÜE has been to people and through as people has always been really honest. And that is same for me independently and with SIXX: A.M. so as a writer, you just write what you feel and that is what I do every day. I write every single day and I just get it out there. You are not always eloquent with it. I don't think there's an etiquette to what it is that I do with my life. The only thing I can do is be as transparent as possible. I have very few boundaries with things. My boundaries are my family and my home. That's really it. I'm not going to let anybody into my home or my family life or get you deep into that. Or even into my personal relationships and see how deep that goes. But otherwise, I don't feel a responsibility but it seems natural and I just do it. If you go back and look at the lyrics on our first record, our second record, fourth record, read the lyrics and go into the lyrics of SIXX: A.M. You're going to say, "There's a thread. It's there."

CityBeat: I picked up "The Heroin Diaries" probably about nine months ago and I read it on a plane ride. It seemed hard for me to believe that this same person you were with the girls lined up backstage then was the person who wrote that May 21 journal entry to Kat Von D in this new book. Just this outlook toward women and relationships has evolved a lot. I'm sure the drugs and alcohol had a lot to play in that first book but it was interesting to me how the relationships with women in both books seemed to change.

Nikki: I am in a relationship right now. And my girlfriend said to me recently that one of the nicest feelings she has is that I am completely honest with her. I won't cheat on her and I won't lie to her because I have the experience of doing the wrong thing. So there is the whole thing laid out what you just said, "How could it be the same person?" Well, it's the experience. I think if you go and talk to most people who were in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. You are going to interview them and go, "Wow. I was able to go into your family life and I found out in your 20s you aren't the same person you are now." It's when people are the same person or claim they are the same person, I am let down. And I am going to point out artists and musicians who are, "Yeah it's all the same." I just lost respect for you because you lied to me. You can't lie to your audience. You can't lie to your fans. You have to age gracefully. And that's what I love about Keith Richards. That's what I love about THE ROLLING STONES. They are aging gracefully. They are falling apart at the seams right before our eyes and they are doing it gracefully. And that's the most beautiful thing that we can do.

Read the entire interview at CityBeat.