Nikki Sixx Talks Radio Show

Nikki Sixx loves doing radio– almost as much as making music

Thirty years after Nikki Sixx began his career recording albums and becoming a fixture on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip with Mötley Crüe, his head is still exploding with musical ideas. His latest showing, This is Gonna Hurt (out May 3), shows his arena rock style growing more diverse, swelled with strings, epic melodies and his always-fluid, meat-and-potatoes rock bass lines. The release proves Nikki Sixx is getter more creative and skilled as the years roll on, and he’s not even close to stepping away from the limelight.

It was a great honor to talk with Nikki Sixx recently for Gibson, and big thanks to him for doing the interview.

Your CD, This is Gonna Hurt, is a companion to the book. How are the emotions of the book and album intertwined?

Well, the book was originally going be a coffee table book with just the art. Having a huge body of work, I was able to look at it and try to find some consistency in it, to bring it together in one collection. I started writing a passage that would accompany the photography book, and it ended up being almost 500 pages.

It really turned into a breakdown on social commentary on beauty and those messages that have been downloaded into my head and my life, and I was able to find that thread. In that moment of inspiration, the guys in Sixx:A.M. could see it, too. We had that moment where we sat together as a band and talked and they were like, “Dude, I relate to this,” or “I felt like that, as well.” So we started writing music, and that started to push me more as a photographer. It really became like one in itself.

You also host a nationally syndicated rock radio show, Sixx Sense. How do you do it all?

Radio is an opportunity to say something into a microphone, and whether you play a song or say something provocative or funny, it makes people have an emotional reaction. They feel something. They feel good. They feel bad. They feel angry. They feel disappointed. You have an opportunity to change something, and for me, that’s where radio has always been a bit like magic.

Nikki Sixx has released the second single off Sixx: AM’s current album, This Is Gonna Hurt, and the title track is classic Nikki Sixx, with painfully personal, unburdening lyrics.

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.