What makes being a label president appealing to you?

Nikki Sixx: They say the music you listen to in your formative years stays with you and leaves an impression for the rest of your life. For me, the things that I fell in love with happened in the '70s, when artists were nurtured by record companies and it wasn't about singles. It was about bodies of work, an album. If you go back and look at it, artists would break on, like, the second single, third album. Bands don't have that opportunity now. You're dropped, bro. You're done by your second single, if you even make it to the second single. I understand quarterly billing, how the record companies run. I see models that are successful, and how you market the product to the fans. That's what I love about Eleven Seven [and] that's what I love about [Eleven Seven founder] Allen Kovac. It's the community of artists that work together, whether they work with the president or with each other.

It's about Buckcherry working with Marion Raven [and] having DJ Ashba working with me and James Michael and Mick Mars for stuff with Motley Crue. Me and DJ getting together with the guys in Drowning Pool or re-mixing the Trapt single. Taking the band out to dinner and saying, 'This is what I see with you guys. What if you went here?,' and then they come back excited.

Does input with bands have more credibility with artists when it's coming from an artist such as yourself?

With younger artists, it's definitely going to be an asset. Younger artists don't understand the business and when people don't understand something, they're sometimes fearful of it or overly trusting, and those are two bad things. If you're overly trusting and you're in bed with the wrong people, you're definitely gonna get f*cked. But if you're fearful and bury your head in the sand, you might sabotage your career.

I've had enough success and enough misfires in a career that's lasted over 25 years that I can go back and draw on that experience, and I think that's helpful for the artists. When I go into rehearsal rooms and meet with bands, they're genuinely excited to be with me because of what I've done as an artist, not because of anything else. There's that whole celebrity rock star thing, and artists are into artists who have been able to achieve success their way.

You're in two bands, you're a songwriter, an author, you have the clothing line (Royal Underground) and all these other interests. How do you fit in "record label president?"

It's about infrastructure and using that infrastructure to take what it is you're working on and expanding on it. I don't need to be on every single phone call of every single aspect of tour support. At the end, I'll sit down and look at it and we'll figure out as a company what we can do to make sure a band stays on the road and how we can work with radio the best to keep the band in front of people because we believe in the band. The day-to-day stuff, the really grueling, hard, daily stuff, I don't do. It's something I know I'm not good at. I'm not good at sitting in an office. I have an office in my home, I have my weekly updates, and I work with the artists.

Is there any news on the new Motley Crue album?

It's just about finished. I've got to tell you, I've been writing songs for a long time, and there's something magical on this record. You make records, and you do the very best that you can do and you like them. And then sometimes you listen back and you go, "You know, about 50% of that album was really magical and 50% was just kinda jammin' and rock'n'rollin and it was cool." This is one of those albums that I just feel it in my stomach that something's happening with the band. There's a newfound energy in the songs. It's just a rebirth of that really dirty, rock and roll side of Motley Crue.

Read the entire interview HERE