Nikki Sixx feels music fans today “are not as in love with the artist”.
The Mötley Crüe bassist, 65, believes that young people are all about the music and not the person making the art, revealing his five-year-old daughter Ruby – whom he has with third wife Courtney Bingham – is crazy about pop star Dua Lipa’s hit song ‘Dance The Night’ but doesn’t “know anything” about the 29-year-old singer.
He told the latest issue of Classic Rock magazine: “My kids are, let me see… 33, 30, 28 and 22. As well I have a five-year-old daughter. So I’m listening to everything from turning my oldest son on to the Sex Pistols and him being turned on to stuff like Prince and Led Zeppelin and all kinds of new wave stuff, all the way down to my [youngest] who I’m listening to Dua Lipa and Dance The Night with every day. And I’m seeing the same reaction from a five-year-old to when my [eldest] son was young. It’s just a different way of consuming it. My daughter doesn’t know anything about Dua Lipa other than she likes the song.
I don’t know what it’s like to be a brand new band and feel somewhat one-dimensional. Okay, I make music, but fans don’t know everything about the lead singer or how the band got together. They’re not as in love with the artist.”
Nikki is father to Gunner, 33, Storm, 30, and Decker, 28, whom he has with first wife Brandi Brant, as well as Frankie-Jean, 22, with second wife Donna D’Errico.
The ‘Girls Girls Girls’ hitmakers released their first new music for five years, the EP ‘Cancelled’, this month, the first with new guitarist John 5 following the departure of Mick Mars in 2022.
And Nikki admitted the band will “go at our own pace” when it comes to releasing new music and refuse to put any old thing out just to keep up with the fast-paced streaming market.
He said: “You’ve got to follow the creativity, and the creativity has to follow inspiration. If you’re trying to do something you’re not inspired by, the audience can smell it and feel it. Following the creativity is also a way of throwing yourself into your addiction, whether it’s songwriting or creating stage shows or artwork, merchandise, it’s all part of it. But we just go at our own pace.”