Nikki Sixx

The Mötley Crüe bassist on making new music, replacing Mick Mars, work-life balance, learning when to say no...

- Mick Wall

Nikki Sixx turns 66 this year. Which is amazing when you consider how many times he nearly died of drug overdoses in his twenties. Almost as amazing as the fact that this year it will be 43 years since his band Mötley Crüe released their classic debut album, Too Fast For Love.

In fact, Nikki and the Crüe almost died so many times over the years it's a miracle they are not only still going, but bigger and stronger than ever. Currently touring the US, they recently released the three-track EP Cancelled.

Cancelled is the first new Mötley Crüe music for five years.

Yeah, time just ticks by when you’re not on the old-school grind of you tour for two years, come home burnt out, start working on another album, that takes a year, and then you go back on the road for 18 to 24 months. It’s so nice to be where we’re at now, because we just follow the creativity and then figure out ways to plug it into the band. I told the band about this song I wrote the other day, so maybe in November we’ll demo it and then if [producer] Bob Rock and the band likes the way it turned out, then maybe go in the studio and record it... Could be a year from now though [before it’s released].

It’s a different world to the one you started in, where you needed a new album to tour.

To write thirteen to twenty-five songs and get it down to ten, it’s a lot of melody lines, a lot of chord progressions – a lot of zeroing in on what makes that song special. And it’s a lot of lyrics. If you just do ‘Hey-baby-baby’ it’s a little easier, but as the lyricist for the band I try and try to give us something more.