Tommy Lee
I threw my son, Brandon, a rave for his birthday and I fully set it up like a crazy rave with lights and sound, me and my partner DJ'd - I got Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys to come DJ for a bit.Collection: Birthday
I'm really a cool, mellow guy. I'm not as crazy as everybody thinks.Collection: Cool
When you're playing upside down, it takes twice the strength.Collection: Strength
No one really buys records anymore. You can look at sales and do that math real quick. Unfortunately, it's fast food in the music industry. People don't ingest full records anymore.Collection: Food
I don't think anybody should ever touch anybody in anger, ever.Collection: Anger
I am such a gearhead. In my recording studio, I personally engineer and edit everything on computers.Collection: Computers
Why is it that the hot chicks never can sing?
The Radiohead record, The Bends is my all-time favorite record on the planet.
Drumming's pretty physical. We sit at the back of the stage getting beat up like a workhorse.
I'm always getting injuries like bruised and bloody knuckles from catching a cymbal or the edge of a drum.
My father lived by the philosophy, 'Be yourself, because everyone else is taken,' and he made sure I did, too. Whatever I wanted to do, he supported me. I don't mean that I was spoilt - he didn't believe in material gifts - but he watched my back while I worked to achieve things.
Sometimes when you have children they're the opposites of you.
I'm constantly evolving as a musician.
I love touring Canada, and our Calgary fans are among the roughest and toughest.
The horses forced into the chuckwagon races die of heart attacks, broken necks, broken legs, and other injuries. It'd be easy to get off on western tradition without this bloody spectacle. Dude, it's the Old West, not ancient Rome!
I was always impressed by some of the progressive styles of guys like Neil Peart.
The older I get, the more I don't care what people think or what people say. I just do what moves me.
If Trent Reznor calls and says he needs a drummer for his tour... I'm there.
It sounds kind of strange, but Jail time was almost a good experience for me.
One of my favorite things in the world is to be seeing two people that are really old, still holding hands, still kissing.
Phil Rudd from AC/DC was someone I really liked a lot... Not because I was dazzled by his playing ability - he was just a rock, y'know?
Nikki lives around the corner from me and I see him all the time. We talk a lot, and of course we're still friends. That was our baby, Motley Crue, we put that band together.
You never know what's going to happen sometimes, or what you think's going to happen never happens, or when you least expect it, the Santana record comes along and just blows up.
There's no new news.
Getting married in four days was the biggest... mistake I've ever made. I have two beautiful kids, but... how can you know somebody in four days? Bonehead.
You know what's weird, I just write to write, with no intention, I just write.
Being married to two extremely high profile, you know, actresses, and being sort of chased by, you know, paparazzi and people, it's a whole different dynamic happens to a relationship when that happens. All of a sudden, things get a little crazy, a little crazy.
I don't have a problem with my temper.
It's always interesting to me that we all hear music differently. It's an awesome experience to hear what other people hear.
Aerosmith's 'Rocks' is on the list of my top favorite albums of all time.
When I'm single, I'm one guy, and when I'm in a relationship I'm totally another. They're both a good time.
I've always loved the mixture of crushing live drums with a programmed groove, that really cool blend, like in the verse there's a really funky drum beat that is programmed then it comes in to the chorus; you've got that enormous human feel where the band kicks in.
I don't listen to anybody's full record anymore and when I did, I don't think I listened to the whole record. I'm sorry, and I don't care who it is, if it's the Beatles, I can't listen to an hour and a half of anybody straight so I guess that's just my personal preference.
My house is really clean. It's a really big house so I have three ladies who come in and clean it twice a week, but let's just say that, in between times, maybe it's not quite so clean.
The best thing about being rich is the freedom; freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. It doesn't suck.
One day I would love to do rock a gig on the moon - how rad would that be? Isn't Richard Branson flying planes to outer space? Motley Crue could be the first band to play on the moon.
I did the marching band all throughout junior high and high school. Music was one of my favorite things in school.
The quad toms are a completely different animal than the standard drum set/trap kit. Playing wise and stylistically, they are two different beasts.
At 17, I signed a recording contract right out of high school, so I started touring and traveling the world. I sort of missed out on the college experience.
A lot of hip-hop artists wear fur, and they think it's a status symbol. That doesn't register for me; I just see dead animals.
Single's fun - you don't have to check in with your girl, but it's not easy. I do get lonely.
I'll never forget when I was, like, 17, and 'Highway to Hell' came on the radio, and I was like, 'Dude, listen to that guy's voice!'
I guess I always think the people that know me or fans that have followed me and know my solo work would know that I've always had really eclectic tastes - even in Motley, dude.
My oldest boy is 14, and he's not in that kind of awkward stage where, when we talk about girls, or there's a hot girl walking by - they're just so shy; it's weird.
Being a drummer, I'm always like, 'Oh, that's got a funky beat. That's cool,' and I like to dance.
I've always gravitated towards the beats, obviously. And when I was growing up, I always loved funk music or even - dare I say it - disco.
Every tour we do, everybody's always wondering, 'What's Tommy Lee going to do next? What new, wild and crazy thing is he going to come up with?'
Playing upside down is insane. It's two or three times more difficult than what's normal. Your feet want to come off the pedals, your arms want to drop down - all of your body is fighting gravity.
Whether I'm writing solo stuff, electronic stuff, or material for Motley, I just write to write. I come up with it and put things in different piles.
I don't specifically sit down to write a Motley Crue song, so for me, that's how it works. The things that sound like they might be Crue, I put aside on my hard drive and keep them in that pile.