Was it easier to work with James Michael as opposed to working with a Bob Rock, whom you’ve worked with in the past?
Bob is a good producer. He’s a little too strict. He doesn’t think too much out of the box, and not to say anything bad because I like Bob, but James is like a younger kind of a guy that just says, ‘Go!’ and then you play. To me, there was no pressure on this record at all. I just played whatever I wanted, and James would say, ‘I could sit here and listen to you play for hours!’ Whereas Bob would say, ‘Hey, you missed that one punch right there!’ (laughs) He’s a little regimented, but a good producer. I would not say anything bad about Bob.
Everyone in Mötley Crüe seems to be working on side projects, but we never hear about your side projects. Then I read that you were working with a Swedish band called Crashdïet?
Yeah, I already did that one as a songwriter, but I did play on the couple songs that I did write on their album. I’ve done other things too! I did some stuff with DMC from Run DMC. I did some stuff with Hinder and Dilana Robichaux from that Rockstar: Supernova show. And just about a week ago or so, Papa Roach was finishing up their latest CD and they asked me to record some solos for them on one song.
That’s awesome! So, I guess that this tour is also bringing on some pretty cool collaborations, as well?
Yeah, in fact, when we do ‘Saints Of Los Angeles’ live, all of the singers from the bands that are on tour with us jump on stage and sing the chorus with us. It’s cool and the crowd seems to really like it a lot.
How have the crowds been for CrüeFest so far?
Sometimes we play at smaller places or out of the way places that only hold like seven or eight thousand people. Like last night, when we had over 12,000, and it’s like they’re all crazy and stuff, but if you went on tour with a band, you’d find certain spots where people are over-the-top crazy, and then they’re kind of reserved in others. So, it’s cool, and the numbers of people coming in and getting tickets is really good and really consistent in the areas that you play. I’m not sure if that makes any sense, but it’s kind of hard to explain.
