Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe and Sixx: A.M.: ‘The Thunderbird is Me’ – Gibson.com
‘Nikki Sixx, bass player for Los Angeles heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, says years of touring and recording music hasn’t taken a toll on the guys: It’s made them stronger.
“We’re like soldiers, man – you can’t take us out now,” Sixx told Washington D.C.’s Fox 5. “You do it long enough and you realize that you just get stronger and you get better – you’re a better player, better singer, better performer, and you just go. You’re like a war machine, to be honest with you.
“The longer you’ve been around, the better you get. And if there’s anything that young musicians [should] take away from this, you can’t look like a roadie and be in a … band. You’ve gotta be in a band. You’ve gotta be a rock star. You’ve gotta dress like a rock star, you’ve gotta play music that’s important, you’ve gotta put a hundred percent into your lyrics, a hundred percent into your songs, a hundred percent into your show, your packaging, your marketing, and do it…”
Sixx has thrilled fist-pumping metal fans since the ’80s, but he became a champion all over again with his high-octane, modern rock band, Sixx: A.M., which formed in 2007. Add to that Mötley Crüe’s recent reunion and Sixx’s popular syndicated radio show, Sixx Sense, and it becomes obvious Sixx is a force of nature.
In the following quotes, the Thunderbird originator chats about his lengthy history playing Gibsons and why writing great songs is about being as “honest as possible.”’
