Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee says the band are quitting while they’re on top to keep their legacy intact
AMERICAN hard rock outfit Motley Crue promise their upcoming tour will be their last on Australian soil. For real.
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MOTLEY Crue are in the process of detonating, but they’ve pulled the pin themselves.
The American hard rock band announced their farewell show will take place on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles, going back to where it all began.
They’ll play their final Australian shows ever in May. And unlike other bands who announce a farewell tour, Motley Crue mean it, man.
Charismatic drummer Tommy Lee spoke to News Corp Australia about the band’s looming end.
It’s depressing that Motley Crue had to sign and then publicise a legal contract to prove to people you would not ever reform. The concept ‘farewell’ tour has been devalued these days.
Tommy Lee: When we were discussing how we would exit, we had a band meeting and we knew we couldn’t call this a farewell tour. We had to come up with something that bonds us from ever doing this again otherwise no one would believe us.
So many bands have lied to their fans and carried on and carried on, some are on their fourth farewell tour. That’s not cool to your fans. I feel like we’re doing it the right way.
We all wish our favourite rock stars and athletes and film stars stayed around forever but that’s just not possible. It’s time. Everyone’s ready to stop doing it.
What’s it like playing cities and realising it’s the last time Motley will ever perform as a band there?
TL: For the most part we’re having a blast, the fans are coming out like mad to see us one last time. I don’t really get a chance to take any of the emotions in.
But at the very end of the show when I’m sitting down at the piano I get a second to take it all in and I trip out — this is the last time we’ll play for these people. I don’t feel that the whole night, it just hits home right at the end.
Are grown men crying in the audience?
TL: Let me tell you, there’s been a few times I’ll look over at (singer) Vince (Neil) and we’ll both see each other getting a bit teary. It’s weird dude.
It’s cool because it’s an era coming to an end, there’s a feeling of satisfaction. Everything we set out to do we’ve done and we’ve kicked its ass. There’s not much more for us to do. To go out with all four guys in the band still together is a real accomplishment.
We’ve just celebrated 34 years together. There’s that side of it that it’s coming to an end on such an up, positive note. Then there’s the sad side, the reality that this is the last time. There’ll be more for me personally, I’m not even close to being done.
It’d be sadder if you guys limped on for another 20 years though ...
TL: I’m absolutely in love with the fact we’re going out the way we came in, still kicking ass. We’ve been talking about this for the last six years, trying to plan how we’d exit.
We’ve seen so many of our friends hobbling around with two original band members, or just one original band member, all the rest are hired guns. That’s not Motley style at all. It’s nice to have a plan come together and see it through.
And the contract means you have to say no to big dollars when they’re waved to do one more tour?
TL: Some people think we’re nuts for stopping. We’ve always done things on our own terms. I imagine we could keep playing like this the way the Rolling Stones have, but that’s not what anyone wants to do.
Or the way Kiss have in your genre.
TL: There you go. With all due respect, it’s important to keep the legacy intact. People have enjoyed our 34 years together for the most part. Hopefully we left a big old f---ing dent in the planet.
You do have a cool day job — you get to drum hanging upside down. You’ll miss that ...
TL: I will. We’re bringing the whole production to Australia, I know some bands bring a B version down there. The Cruecifly is crazy. We’ve got Alice Cooper on this tour too. If you think of all the amazing songs he’s got and his crazy theatrics you’re in for a four hour night of Freakshow City between Motley and Coop.
What’s the update on your band biography The Dirt turning into a movie?
TL: They’re supposed to be casting this month. Hopefully they’ll start shooting shortly. Nikki (Sixx) and I sat through a table read of the script and holy sh*t. It’s nuts. It’s so surreal.
I was driving home in shock ‘I just watched 37 years of my life go by in two hours in a movie script’. It’s wild. I’m still wondering how they’ll possibly rate the thing, it’s gnarly.
So they won’t tone it down?
TL: That’s not the plan. You make the movie then you figure out what stays in. The director is gung-ho on it being as real and as badass as possible.
Will you meet the people playing you?
TL: Once they’re cast they’re being sent out on the road with us to hang with each member and really get a feel for how it is up there, who each of us is, how we operate.
They’re basically coming out to study us like a science project.
The guy cast as you will have a few hours in make up getting all the tattoos put on ...
TL: I know, right.
And they’ll be young unknown actors?
TL: Yeah, we made that decision. I think it’d be strange to see someone famous playing us.
Do you think Motley Crue get enough respect for your music when everyone concentrates on the partying, drugs and women?
TL: That will always haunt us. A lot of us don’t get the musician or songwriter respect because of all our antics over the years has overshadowed that. That’s cool, but I consider myself to be a serious musician.
It bums you out a little but I know in my heart what it is that we do. I don’t need a pat on the back or a critic to tell me I’m good at my job.
You were making electronic music in your side projects way before most Americans caught onto it. How do you feel about dance music conquering the US?
TL: A lot of it is cool, a lot of it is garbage but it’s nice to see electronic music become so popular. I get it. It moves you. Some of those sounds that penetrate your body just do not come from electric guitars and acoustic drums and bass.
They come from synthesisers and machines that can’t be simulated. Electronic music is definitely something that moves me tremendously.
You still DJ with DJ Aero but you actually play instruments not just press play on a laptop.
TL: You can quote me on this, in the very near future watching a DJ up there basically just playing CDs or MP3s off his USB stick ain’t going to fly.
The thing that’s missing in that genre is the human element. When you’ve got someone up there actually playing keyboards or drum machines, those human things, those will be the guys that win. It’s hard for people to lose their minds to a CD, they could stay home and do that. That will be the gamechanger, the guys that are actually performing it live not a pre-mixed thing.
Motley Crue, with Alice Cooper. Rod Laver Arena Melbourne May 12, Allphones Arena Sydney May 16, Brisbane Entertainment Centre May 19, Adelaide Entertainment Centre May 21, Perth Arena May 23.
On sale 10am March 2, Ticketek.
Originally published as Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee says the band are quitting while they’re on top to keep their legacy intact
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