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Look. For all the trash I talk about Mötley Crüe, I would love nothing more than for the band to put out some good new material. Mötley Crüe wins in that their fans are happy, I win because I get to listen to good music, John 5 wins because he gets to show off his insane guitar skills to a new audience, and we’re all happy. But this tweet from Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is… concerning.
According to Sixx, new Mötley Crüe material is right around the corner and it’s being hailed as “a powerful cross between country and hip hop.” Y’know, the two genres you immediately think of when someone mentions Mötley Crüe to you. And who knows! Maybe it’ll be great. But I swear to god, if I have to hear Vince Neil rapping, I will need to go for a walk afterward.
Mötley Crüe was in the studio in 2023 with producer Bob Rock recording their first new material with guitarist John 5. In an interview with the WRIF radio station at the time, John 5 said he’s not sure when the new music is coming out or what format it’ll get released as.
“I don’t know when it’s gonna come out, but everything is a plan,” said John 5. “Everything is mapped out and structured, and everything is, ‘We’re gonna do it here and there,’ and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the songs are recorded, mixed, mastered. And they’re so good. I can’t wait for them to come out. They’re so good. I’m really excited about ’em.”
He added: “Who knows what’s going to happen? I don’t know if we’ll just release singles or an album. It’s up to those guys, so I don’t know. We just record and see what happens. But these songs that we recorded are so good; they’re heavy and the melodies and everybody’s just killing it on these songs.”
John 5 later revealed that he was a part of the writing process alongside bassist Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. Despite having only recently joined the band after the departure of Mick Mars, John 5 contributed writing to three songs on the band’s 2019 soundtrack for The Dirt – “The Dirt (Est. 1981)”, “Ride With The Devil”, and “Crash And Burn”.
“We all sat in a room and did it together,” he said. “‘Cause me and Nikki have written for years and years and years together. So it was nothing new. And me and Tommy worked in the studio together many times as well. So it was nothing new being in the studio, but it was new with Bob Rock.
“What was so wild was we got in a room… It was like total old school, man. You get in the live room and there’s my amp and there’s Nikki‘s amp and there’s Tommy‘s drums, there’s a mic… ‘Cause I’m so used to just playing in the control room. And it’s, like, ‘Oh no, no, no. We’re all gonna get in this room and we’re gonna play.’ And that’s how we recorded. It was incredible. I’ve never recorded that way. And it was maybe one of the best experiences I had recording. It was so fun. It was a blast. I had to, like, make notes and all this stuff, and we just played through it. It was incredible.”
The new material supposedly features a new song called “Dogs Of War” and a cover of Beastie Boys‘ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)”.
