Sixx:A.M.

This is not the Nikki Sixx you think you know – the one who was pronounced dead from a drug overdose and who wrote the Mötley Crüe hit, “ Kickstart My Heart” to memorialize the occasion. This is the Nikki Sixx who continues to sell out venues all over the world with Mötley Crüe and also had the most played roc k track(“ L ife Is Beautiful”) in 2008 with his “other” band, Sixx: A . M and hosts a daily internationally syndicated radio show, Sixx Sense. He’s also a New York Times bestselling author twice over (2007’s The Heroin Diaries and the rock tome defining The Dirt written with his Mötley Crüe bandmates).

As 2011 begins, Sixx finds himself about to release Sixx: A.M.’s 11 track cd, This I s Gonna Hurt (ElevenSeven Music) on May 3 with Dj Ashba and James Michael and the book, This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx (William Morrow) out on April 12 -the next generation of his last groundbreaking book and recording -exploring beauty and how we perceive beauty and how we view ourselves based upon his journals, observations and for the first time in print, his photographs.

Because this is Nikki Sixx, these photographs are a study of a group of subjects who Nikki photographs and probes to tell their stories of being 300 pounds (and photographed naked) or 7 feet tall on stilts or with arms that won’t grow or of not being able to grow. Sixx reports on the revelations of the individuals and combines their stories with his own life and travels through life and around the world on tour. The record is introduced through the telling track, “ Lies of the Beautiful People” in which Sixx: A.M. and Sixx observe others from the outside looking in, a place he’s always felt that he lives, even after selling more than 80 million albums worldwide, being nominated for Grammy’s including the mostrecent for the title track to the last Mötley Crüe album, “Saints of Los A ngeles” and hosting a syndicated radio show on more than 60 stations daily (www.SixxSense.com).

While promoting The Heroin Diaries, Sixx embarked on a tour quite unlike any tour he had been on before. On this book tour, the fans and readers all came and told him their stories of addiction and recovery and of how his honesty and openness helped and supported them. Inspired and determined, Sixx began an interaction and engagement with his fans that grew into a 60 market syndicated radio show –Sixx Sense and The Side Show Countdown With Nikki Sixx runs six days a week at the top of the ratings in mark ets like Los Angeles, Dallas, Detroit and more. For 4 hours a day, Sixx and his co-host Kerri Kasem (daughter of Casey) talk about Sixx’s view of the world and of what is going on that day as well as explore new music and talk to personalities from every walk of life – all of the people Nikki wants to talk to. They also invite people into the sometime humorous and not always glamorous life of a roc k star. Ozzy and Rob Halford joined Nikki to announce the last OZZF est, Tommy Lee and David Johansen came to talk about the upcoming Mötley Crüe summer tour featuring Poison and special guests New York Dolls adding to the show becoming the place to hear it first for guests from all walks of life, including rock royalty, the first man on the moon, authors, actors and everyone in between. His conversation, engagement and sometimes even debates on his Twitter (http://twitter.com/NikkiSixx) and Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nikki-Sixx/96943760335) attest to the personal relationship he has with his fans.

Sixx first picked up a camera in 1989. He had just gotten sober after surviving the grisly addiction he chronicled in The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, and found photography so inspiring that it seemed to become his new addiction — one that was positive and creative. H e began shooting “things other people thought were horrifying and disgusting and weird,” according to his explorations in This Is Gonna Hurt, but he decided he wanted to capture the underlying beauty. In the end, he created something much more than a photo book — it’s a testament to honesty, survival, and pushing oneself to be a better person.

Sixx shares this inspiration with his Sixx: A.M. bandmates Dj Ashba and James Michael and concludes, “The three of us have benefited from adversity, and we’ve benefited from being singled out and pointed at and outcast even though it hurt. Sometimes the listener might not lik e what theyhear about how they’ve judged other people or how they’ve been judged. When Dj and James andI were all sitting down, we were saying, ‘This is gonna hurt. This is not gonna be gentle.’ [Laughs] And acknowledging that was beautiful.”

Sixx has had to acknowledge some of these feelings himself lately. Publications which once denounced Nikki Sixx for his rocker looks and lifestyle have been trying to get the scoop on who he really is, and it’s something the more mature Nikki Sixx is taking with a grain of salt. “ I’ve judged, too,” he says. “ I looked at the golfer and the guy in the Dockers and the business haircut, I looked down my nose at them. I just judge people by who they are now. Who am I to judge? I live in suburbia. Some people laugh at that. [Laughs] I’m a father of four and I drive a ’32 Ford Hotrod and I still carry a switchblade. I wear makeup and ripped-up leather pants, andI want to be the best man I can possibly be. I date women that some would say are the ‘beautiful people’ and others are say are empty-headed and bimbos and I say, ‘ Have you met them yet?’ Because if you believe in me, you should believe that my choices might not be based only on the outside.”

“ I tried like hell to die, and now it’s lik e I’m scratching and clawing to be alive,” Sixx says, talking about his new lease on life. “ I want to be alive. I want to fucking inspire people. The great thing about death is that once you’ve faced it, you’re no longer afraid of it. I’m so inspired to do better with my life and to take on challenges.”

In addition to being an accomplished, Grammy nominated rockicon, radio host, New York Times bestseller (twice – Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt was the first), co owner and clothing designer of Royal Underground ( www.royalunderground.net), philanthropist (www.covenanthouseca.org) and recording artist in two genre defining bands, Sixx is also the father of four.

For a preview of This Is Gonna Hurt:

THIS IS GONNA HURT: THE DOCUMENTARIES FROM NIKKI SIXX AND SIXX:A.M. premiering on Hulu http://www.hulu.com/this-is-gonna-hurt-the-documentaries

Reaction to Nikki’s work from grateful viewers accompany a personal blog post from Nikki on www.hulu.blog.com.