/ 7 December 2004

Old rockers never die

The original members of the 1980s glam metal band Motley Crue made hard living and wild sexcapades a centerpiece of their music and their lives, selling millions of albums along the way.

Now, after a five-year hiatus from performing together, the big-haired, leather-clad Crue members are eager to slip back into the music, if not the lifestyle depicted in hit rockers like Girls, Girls, Girls and Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room.

The band arrived at the Hollywood Palladium in a hearse on Monday evening.

Thousands of fans were already on hand, awaiting a performance following a news conference.

With support from the cable television music network VH1, the band — vocalist Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, guitarist Mick Mars and bass player Nikki Sixx — plan a world tour beginning in February in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band is also releasing a double-CD greatest hits compilation with three new songs.

The band, which originally formed in 1981, regrouped a few months ago.

”There were definitely issues to be worked out,” Sixx said of the bad blood between his band mates.

”We got in and we were like, ‘Wow. Where’s the problem here? Did we make a mountain out of a mole hill?”’ Sixx said in an interview before the reunion event.

”We’re a dysfunctional band, that is driven by drama and we are always on the fringe of something going wrong.”

Although Neil and Lee have dabbled in reality television, the band members have been known less in recent years for their music and more for their personal troubles. Lee in particular. He has been in and out of probation for years stemming from charges in 1998 that he abused ex-wife actress Pamela Anderson, with whom he has two children. He also faced charges of child abuse and a firearms violation.

In 1989, Sixx nearly died from a heroin overdose. Mars is recovering from hip replacement surgery to treat a degenerative illness.

”People progress and they grow,” Sixx said. ”Each guy has individually their own demons that they’ve had to deal with … a lot of pain and torture, personal torture, that they’ve either put themselves through or somehow has been inflicted upon them.”

Sixx said Mars is ready to play, despite the surgery.

”He’s in rehearsal. He’s standing up. He’s playing his guitar. He’s shredding. He’s been through hell,” Sixx said. ”Here we stand together ready to wave the flag for rock ‘n’ roll.”

Sixx said he hopes the band can match the success veteran acts like U2, Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones have had in gaining younger fans.

”We’re making new music. We’re taking chances musically. It’s a really cool thing,” Sixx said. – Sapa-AP