He is one of rock’s most infamous hedonists who once died for two minutes after a heroin overdose.
But nowadays when Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx is on tour, he doesn’t spend his time in lapdance bars or doing drugs.
Ahead of the band’s huge gig at Glasgow Green next month with Def Leppard, Nikki reveals he prefers spending time with his young family, wife Courtney Bingham and daughter, Ruby, three.
But while they have been sightseeing around the world, he admits he prefers graveyards to castles.
Nikki, 64, said: “Having my daughter on this world tour keeps it light. She’s three-and-a-half going on seven.
“Backstage there’s such a nice groove going on with both bands and she keeps it fun.
“Getting dad outside to eat ice cream in front of a castle is not a bad thing.”
Nikki was born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr. and is also dad to Frankie-Jean Mary, 18, Decker Nilsson, 24, Storm Brieann, 25, and Gunner Nicholas, 28.
Speaking backstage before Mötley Crüe’s gig in Poland on Wednesday, he laughed: “I love to go out and take street photography. But because I’ve got my family with me it takes up a little bit more of my time.
“My wife is always like, ‘Here get a picture of us in front of this castle’. I’m like, ‘I need a graveyard, leave me alone’.”
We can contest for that with a photo of Nikki in 2011 at Glasgow’s Necropolis. He’s looking forward to checking out the city once again when the band play Glasgow Green and may swap ice cream for something more Scottish.
Laughing, he said: “Send me to the right place and we’ll try some haggis. My daughter is a world traveller so it could happen. It’s fun having her around.”
It’s changed days for Nikki, who has been clean since 2004 and lives in Wyoming with his model wife, and Ruby.
He and Crüe bandmates Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and former member Mick Mars wrote notorious memoir, The Dirt, about their filthy habits and antics which made into a Netflix film in 2019.
Nikki and Tommy, who married Pamela Anderson, had bets on who could go the longest without showering while still attracting groupies.
Their shared apartment in LA was infamous for its debauchery and the band would use socks and band posters as toilet paper.
Not surprisingly, Nikki isn’t interested about returning to that world.
He said: “Staying sober isn’t difficult. If I use drugs or alcohol, I will lose my family, my band, my house, my financial security.
“If I use drugs or alcohol, I will lose everything, so there’s nothing more important to me.”
Nikki was raised by his grandparents after both parents abandoned him, before leaving Idaho for LA aged 17, legally changing his name and forming Mötley Crüe in 1981 with Tommy and frontman Greg Leon, who was replaced by Vince and Mick. They went on to sell more than 100million albums but are better known for their wild lives and girlfriends.
After looking like they’d decided to call it a day in 2015, they returned to touring in 2018 and, with new guitarist John 5 from Rob Zombie, are still one of the world’s best live acts.
Nikki admitted playing Scotland will be a highlight of the tour. He said: “We’ve been really looking forward to Glasgow. Whenever we play there it’s rowdy, beautiful and inspiring and we are really excited.
“What a great way to end the second leg of the World Tour in Glasgow and in Scotland. Let’s make it a great one.”
As the band’s main lyricist, Nikki is the beating heart of Mötley Crüe. He penned their biggest hits like Girls, Girls, Girls, Wild Side, Kickstart My Heart and Shout at the Devil.
The 1989 album Dr. Feelgood was a high watermark, topping the US charts.
They haven’t released a full studio album since 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, although there were four new tracks on The Dirt soundtrack.
But they are currently writing and recording new music with Bob Rock, who worked with them on Dr. Feelgood, which they plan to release as individual songs rather than an album.
Despite their huge success, Mötley Crüe have never been nominated for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
But Nikki isn’t surprised.
He said: “We’ve been through everything you can imagine and it’s made us stronger. It’s that old cliche – what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
“We’ve always been an underdog. We’ve been an underdog to the industry, the critics and the record companies.
“We don’t really like being told what to do, so we usually don’t do it which doesn’t make us the accepted, popular rock band for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
Asked about his band’s legacy, Nikki reckoned it’s more than the headlines. He said: “There’s always a lot of talk about our lifestyle but the core has always been and always will be, songs.
“When it’s all said and done when you’re in your car and you play a song, either it’s great or it’s not. It either makes you want to drive faster or not.
“I can name 100 songs that do that for me and I hope we are in that same club with Kickstart My Heart, Home Sweet Home and Live Wire.
“All the other stuff that happens – movies, the book – it doesn’t matter if the songs weren’t good.”
He added: “My friends said to me wearing a Mötley T-shirt is like wearing a pirate flag.”
While the band thought their touring days were over at the end of 2015, they now plan to carry on rocking out until one of them dies.
Nikki said: “We love that we are still here and we will continue to keep doing it as long as we love it.
“We are eight years away from the band’s 50th anniversary.
“We might as well ride this dark horse into the sunset. That’s our plan.
“Unless one of us drops and dies, at this point that’s what we are doing.”
Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard: The World Tour is on July 6 at Glasgow Green. Tickets: gigsinscotland.com
