VINCE NEIL's 'Tattoos & Tequila' Autobiography: More Details Revealed

Grand Central Publishing has set a September 23, 2010 release date for MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil's 320-page hardcover autobiography, "Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen".

Neil's coauthor, Mike Sager, a journalist and novelist who didn't know much about Neil and MÖTLEY CRÜE, told PublishersWeekly.com, "Interestingly, I approached it as a person who has taken up a new area of study . . . [After sitting with him for many interviews], I got to know Vince and his music, and eventually I decided to try to replicate the sound of his voice in the book." Sager also admitted that he referred to "Mötley Crüe: The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band", an oral history of the band compiled by Neil Strauss of The New York Times. "In the end, I was evoking Studs Terkel — placing ancillary interviews, many with conflicting stories, alongside one another," he told PublishersWeekly.com.

Regarding his autobiography, Vince Neil said in a recent interview with Sonic Shocks, "'The Dirt' was written by four guys; this is MY story. I touched a lot of things in 'The Dirt', but I really didn't get into details; me growing up, my neighbourhood... I grew up in Compton and there were murders and such… It's the story of me growing up, getting into rock 'n' roll, the tragedies in my life, things in and out of MÖTLEY, and it's also ten years on so a lot of things happened since then. It's not only my perspective on my life, a lot of other people are in there: my mom and dad, ex-wives, managers, friends, band members from other bands…"

Vince Neil's official description of his autobiography, as released by the publisher:

"So where do we start?

"I remember when we did 'The Dirt', the MÖTLEY CRÜE book, I was interviewed at The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills.

"A lot of people think I didn't get to say much in 'The Dirt'. It's probably true. I didn't read it. I'm not that big a talker. Some people can fuckin' talk ... eat up all the oxygen in a room in no time flat. I don't tend to run my mouth. It's bullshit.

"All those years in rehab and counseling — the talking cure? I can't say I really got that much out of it. All that cure and I should be cured by now, don't you think? All this talking...

"So forgive me if it's a bit hard for me to slice open a vein and let my blood run red all over this page for you. I'll fight you or I'll fuck you but chances are I'll be hard-pressed to sit there and talk to you.

"War stories. War wounds.

"I know, I know.

"Old rock stars fall hard.

"I'm forty-nine years old. I'm five-foot-nine, 170. The spandex is over. I've had three plastic surgeries. Still, who do you think gets laid more, me or you? But time does change a man. I ain't twenty-one anymore.

"It's a miracle we survived at all. A bottle of Jack Daniel's and uncooked hot dogs do not make for a particularly well-balanced diet. We are all very lucky we didn't kill ourselves. It might look like we were trying to do that, but speaking for myself, death was never my intent. I just wanted to feel good, you know? I was just looking for that kick, that high...

"These days I've got businesses to run. I like the action. Something to get your heart pumping. Healthier than a syringe full of cocaine powder like I was doing back in '81 with my girlfriend Lovey, that's for sure...

"But you got to admit...those days are a lot more fun to talk about..."

An excerpt from "Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen" can be found at this location.

Vince's new solo album, "Tattoos & Tequila", sold 7,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 57 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Tattoos & Tequila" was issued in Europe on June 4 via Frontiers Records and was made available in the U.S. on June 22 through Eleven Seven Music.