Nikki Sixx says it’s time for rockers to act their age

Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx discussed how his creative process has evolved over the band’s four and a half decades of existence in a recent interview with Dustin Grove, a news anchor and reporter at WTHR-TV, Channel 13, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Here’s his side of the story, as reported by blabbermouth.net.

You evolve as a person, as a lyricist. My evolution as a lyricist, it goes from the rawest of the raw to the most heartfelt. And that’s just as I grew as a man and my interests evolved. That changes the lyrics, but then that changes the idea of the song. The lyrics to ‘Home Sweet Home’ is way different than the lyrics to ‘Shout At The Devil’. And so as we go, we just keep evolving. And you might stumble upon some different ways of writing. I guess you just keep kind of chipping away at the stone, so to speak.

He also spoke about the duality of creating and touring.

We’re not in a rush ever. We don’t have to be in a rush. In my case, I’ve got a six-and-a-half-year-old [daughter] who’s amazing. And so I wanna not be in a rush to work constantly so I can enjoy that part of it and then go out there and play for the fans. It’s about balance. Life changes, man. It’s cool that it changes. The thing that I don’t like is when I see artists that are still trying to act 25 and they’re 65. I don’t think that’s cool for the fans. Evolution is evolution. We all age, we all change, we have different interests, and Mötley Crüe seems to have ridden that wave pretty good, just letting it be real.

Like us or hate us, one thing about Mötley Crüe is we have so many people that we just really piss them off, and other people that they say we’ve changed their lives. So I guess if you’re gonna operate the way we operate and say it and do it the way you wanna do it, not like anybody else, you’re gonna probably draw both extremes of types of reactions. And that’s kind of also been accidentally the magic of Mötley Crüe. We put out ‘Shout At The Devil’ and it was, like, ‘I keep saying, ‘But it said ‘Shout At The Devil’, not ‘With The Devil’.’ [There were] Christian groups outside the concerts, [accusing us of being] devil worshipers. And at the same time, the arenas were full. So there are bands out there like that, that are polarizing. And I think that’s kind of exciting. All genres have that — we’ve got our hip-hop guys, our country guys, our rock guys. So it’s about being authentic and being able to take some bricks in the face if you have to.

Upcoming shows:

7/17 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
7/18 Buffalo, NY Darien Lake Amphitheater
7/20 Clarkson, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
7/22 Toronto, ON RBC Amphitheatre
7/24 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion
7/25 Bangor, ME Maine Savings Amphitheater
7/27 Camden, NJ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
7/29 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
7/31 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
8/1 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
8/3 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
8/12 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
8/14 West Palm Beach, FL iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
8/15 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
8/17 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
8/19 St Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
8/21 Shakopee, MN Mystic Lake Amphitheater
8/22 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
8/24 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
8/25 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
8/27 Grand Rapids, MI Acrisure Amphitheater
8/28 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
9/8 Kansas City, MO Morton Amphitheater
9/10 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
9/11 Houston, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/13 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
9/16 Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9/18 Chula Vista, CA North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
9/19 Long Beach, CA Long Beach Amphitheater
9/21 Salt Lake City, UT Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
9/23 Wheatland, CA Toyota Amphitheatre
9/24 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheater
9/26 Ridgefield, WA Cascades Amphitheater