Holy crap summers over and its back to school. Great...now we have to watch out for school buses while we ride. Keep an eye out for the kids too. August was a great month for riding and parties. A big congratulations and thanks to Greg and Lee for five years of service to the motorcycle community. This time around an interview I did with a metal icon.

On August 15th I had the great pleasure to interview Motley Crue bassist and founder Nikki Sixx. But not as much about Motley Crue but more so about his life from December of 1986 to his eventual overdose a year later. True it inspired the song “Kick Start my Heart” but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Nikki kept a diary, several of them, of the wild and tragic life he lived in that 12 months. As life moved on so did Nikki and he rocked and rolled with the Crue all over the world some more. After twenty-five years and 40 million plus albums sold along with two solo projects and numerous song collaborations and co writing “Dirt” the history of Motley Crue, he came upon the diaries. He decided to publish them. The book “The Heroin Diaries, A year in the life of a shattered rock star” hit stores September 18th. The excerpts alone will chill you. I advise you visit theheroindiaries.net and read them. Here is a taste...

“Merry Christmas, well that's what people say at Christmas right? Except normally they have somebody to say it to. They have their friends and family all around them, They haven't been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like and insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys” “They're not out of their minds and writing in a diary and they're not watching their holiday spirit coagulating in a spoon. I didn't speak to a single person today...” This is the chilling opening of the album as well.

After showing the diaries to... 

guitarist DJ Ashba and singer James Michael the three embark on a musical endeavor that culminates in the band SixxAM that produces the “Heroin Diaries” soundtrack. And it is brilliant. Let me say upfront that I could see this book soundtrack combo being turned into a huge Broadway spectacle that would set theater on its ear and ass leaving it spinning. The music that traverses the album is varied and never bored me. And with parts of the diaries read by Nikki interlacing the tunes the album flows much like Pink Floyd's “The Wall” meets The Who's “Quadrophenia”. Songs like “Life is beautiful” show off the amazing guitar work while “Dead Man's Ballet” gives you a musical and lyrical roller coaster ride. Meanwhile “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” and “Accidents Can Happen” may send chills down your spine. The album wraps up with a message of hope and some kick ass guitar on “Life After Death”

Nikki's hope is to help others not follow his path. Not in a soapbox or evangelistic way but by simply sharing his experience strength and hope in a unique way. He also gives back by giving proceeds to Covenant House and Running Wild In The Night the later being a musical program inside of Covenant House that Sixx started by auctioning off a custom personalized Harley-Davidson. Both charities help troubled and homeless youth off the street. Check out the interview at WBAB.COM's more Fingers page and visit sixxammusic.com and theheroindiaries.net or the myspace pages of both. Better yet go buy the album and book and experience them for yourself. Thanks Nikki for years of great music great shows, your honesty and proving there is “life after death”.

On the air and in the wind, Fingers