M"tley Crüe hits Jones Beach to back new CD

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

July 3, 2008

Motley Crue band members, left ot right, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Tommy Lee. (Handout)

After nearly a decade of turbulent breakups and makeups, M"tley Crüe - singer Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee - are back together with a new album, "Saints of Los Angeles," and a big new package tour. Mars and Sixx took a break from rehearsals to talk about the current state of the Crüe and Crüe Fest, which includes their pals Buckcherry; Sixx's side project Sixx: A.M.;

Papa Roach and Trapt.

On Crüe Fest:

Sixx: We've wanted to do a festival for a long time. Rather than just doing it, we always said we would wait for the right time and something that we would feel would be a celebration around it as well as the festival itself. We said, "This is our first full-length record in 10 years," and that felt like a really important time for us. The band has been sort of re-embraced by the public. ... Our demographic is anywhere from teenagers to 40-year-olds, so what a perfect time to do a festival.

On returning:

Sixx: The album is loosely based - I say loosely based because it's not really a concept record - but you can plug in the story into the M"tley Crüe book "The Dirt." It starts when we formed the band, and it ends where we're at right now, which is obviously not the end of the story. "Saints of Los Angeles" is kind of the time in the story when we signed our life away to the record company and were willing to do anything to get out of here, get out of Los Angeles, because we were the big fish in a small pond. We wanted to take over the world.

On the new album:

Mars: It's a really diverse album, everything from radio-friendly to just a full-on shred, kicking-butt kind of an album. It's old-school M"tley, but modern.

Sixx: Anybody I've played it for has gone, "Wow! M"tley's back! But it doesn't sound dated." I don't know what that means, but that's what it sounds like. The guitar tones are heavy, the drums are thick, the bass is aggressive and the vocals are right up front. ... The lyrics are good. Some are funny. Some are serious. Some are just in-your-face.

WHAT Crüe Fest featuring M"tley Crüe

WHEN|WHERE 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

INFO $56-$99 through Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000