After an unexpected pause this year, Mötley Crüe has kickstarted its art, and heart, this month — in Las Vegas.
You might remember that the glammy veteran hard rock act from Los Angeles did say farewell when its 17 month The Final Tour wrapped up on New Year’s Eve 2015 in its hometown. But seven years later it was back playing stadiums, and recently it began its third residence in Las Vegas, with 10 dates booked through Oct. 3 at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
As frontman Vince Neil explained last year, the 2019 Netflix biopic “The Dirt” “got us so many new fans, a whole new generation of fans that hadn’t seen Mötley Crüe. That brought us back to want to play again and … keep making new music.”
That, in turn, led to the 2024 EP “Cancelled,” which featured the new title track and “Dogs of War,” while the compilation album “From the Beginning” — for which Dolly Parton added fresh vocals to the 40-year-old hit “Home Sweet Home” — came out in conjunction with the new Vegas residency.
But it wouldn’t be Mötley without some drama, and there’s been no shortage of that during the past few years. Original guitarist Mick Mars’ supposed retirement from touring in 2022 — replaced by John 5 (Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, David Lee Roth) — has turned into still-pending lawsuits between him and the band. And prior to the current residency, Neil told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he suffered a stroke last Dec. 26 and had to undergo rehabilitation to walk and sing again; that forced the band to postpone the residency, originally scheduled for spring, and to sit out July’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
So it hasn’t exactly been the same ol’ situation for Mötley Crüe, but the band is back to shouting at the devil, and the group’s Nikki Sixx sounded like a regular Dr. Feelgood when he checked in just before the Vegas run.
Motley spent 2022 and 2023 back on tour, with Def Leppard and on your own — and a lot of it in stadiums. What appeals to you about sitting down in one place for a residency like this?
Sixx: When you do these types of shows there’s a lot of things you can do that you can’t do, or it’s not as easy to do, with touring. There’s a lot of lighting things we can do. That’s exciting. The really exciting part is you don’t have to tear the whole show down and set it up again; that can limit you, sometimes, so in this case it’s wide open again. And this place, it’s a really super-wide stage, so it kind of gave us the opportunity to do things with set design that are really cool.
You’re playing 13 songs at these shows, including a medley of covers. How do you go about making the set list?
Sixx: I’ve talked to a lot of my friends and my peers in successful bands, and we all get in an interesting place. They want us to play about 90 minutes, and there’s a contract that says that and there’s a lot of reasons for that that fans don’t understand … So it has to be very, “THIS is our set.” And when you have a large catalog like we do there are these songs you have to play because they mean so much to people. We understand that there are those certain fans who only want deep tracks and there’s certain fans who just come to hear the hits and have a good time, and we try to balance it out. It’s a challenge. I know with some of my favorite bands I’ll go and be like, “What song are you playing? I don’t even know what song that is” and they’re like, “This is something from 1964” and I’m like, “OK — I was four years old. I don’t know that song.” Then they play their big hit and you’re excited. So we get it. It’s not frustrating, but it’s a challenge.
What kind of requests do you get that surprise you?
Sixx: Some people are like, “Man, I wish you’d play “Stick to Your Guns” and I’m like, “How do you even know what that is?! That was a demo that ended up on the first version of “Too Fast For Love,” and when we signed with Elektra they were like, “Look, you need to lose a song ‘cause it’s affecting the sound of the vinyl, so “Stick to Your Guns” didn’t end up making that record and fans will come up asking for it and I’m like, “What do we take out, ‘Kickstart My Heart?’”
What would be your choice for a deep cut from the Motley catalog?
Sixx: One of my favorite songs to play live, and we haven’t played it in a while, is “Piece of Your Action” from “Too Fast For Love.” I love “Knock ’em Dead Kid,” too. There’s some really interesting, cool songs we’ve talked about, like from “Generation Swine;” there’s a song called “A Rat Like Me” and the song “Generation Swine” — those are song that haven’t seen the light of day in years. When that album came out it didn’t get rave reviews because we used a lot of technology and were experimenting, and now for some reason it’s become a fan favorite.
There have been quite a few Mötley compilations over the years. What was the impetus for “From the Beginning?”
Sixx: One of the reasons we sold our catalog to BMG is they have such a great track record, and in spending a lot of time with them we knew they were gonna treat our catalog correctly. And they have. So this “From the Beginning” is something they felt was a really nice way to introduce younger fans without really being like, “This is the greatest hits.” It isn’t a greatest hits record, even though it’s loaded with hits. It’s got a lot of really cool tracks on it I’m excited about. But it’s important that you keep new fans interested in the band, and for them to go, like, “Wow, I didn’t know that was a Mötley Crüe song” or “Omigod, I love that song!” For a band that’s been around, gawd, 43 years or something, you’re always looking at a way to kind of — not to throw a pun at you — but to kind of kick start a new generation of people and keep the band’s name out there and educate the new fans as they come along.
Did you invite Dolly to sing “Home Sweet Home” during your residency? She’s got one of her own coming up in Vegas later this year.
Sixx: Y’know, we got to know Dolly, and we talked a lot and she would tell me stories. She’s just a wonderful, wonderful woman. She loves that song and her husband loved that song, so I might have done a little nudge, nudge, nudge, like, “Hey, would you have this little ratty, tattooed guy with black hair maybe come on stage with you?” I’m nudging. I’m pushing. I’m hunting. I’m not saying it’s gonna happen, but why not ask?
Motley released a couple of brand new songs last year. Will there be more coming?
Sixx: That was a lot of fun, but…we’re kind of in this not-in-rush mode. In the old days, the treadmill was you do an album, you go on the road for two years then you write another album and you go back out on the road and then you come home and you’re immediately into writing and then into the recording studio, and then they put you back on the road. That’s a real burn, but when you’re younger and don’t have a family and you’re getting to live your dream, you do it. But spending too much time on the road doesn’t work for me anymore ‘cause I have a family. I spent Christmases in hotels, along, maybe meet the band at the bar for a drink and a drumstick to feel like it was a holiday. That’s not what I want to do anymore.
Is the creative drive different now?
Sixx: We only work on music when something inspiring comes along, so we’re not on a schedule. And I don’t find full-length albums inspirational anymore. With the way people consume music now, you can spend so much of your time and your life and your passion to do 11, 12, 15 songs and only have one or two really cut through. So we would rather do two or three and get them out, and then when we feel inspired do another three or four. That’s kind of the path we`re on now. That just feels natural.
Were you guys sorry to have to miss the Back to the Beginning show in July?
Sixx: It was something we were unable to do because (Neil’s) health issue. We had to reschedule our residency. It was something we couldn’t do even if we wanted to. I did watch it, and I thought it was great, and everybody showed up because they loved him and supported him. But, man, I gotta tell ya, I’m like, “Go Ozzy! Way to (expletive) go out with a band, man!” He really did it. We don’t have him anymore, but one of the greatest rock stars of all time came while we were here on this planet and went back to the (expletive) stars, man. He’s like, “I came down there and I kicked some (expletive) ass!” You can’t beat that.
A lot of Mötley’s reputation was established during your tour opening for Ozzy back in 1984, too.