Vicky Hamilton 2012

In 1981, Vicky Hamilton left Fort Wayne, IN and moved to Los Angeles, CA.  She played a part in the early careers of bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Poison, and of course MOTLEY CRUE.  Vicky was hired by original Motley Crue manager Alan Coffman as a ‘Management Consultant” for Motley Crue.  In Vicky’s role, she helped shop the bands first album “Too Fast For Love” to various record companies, helped promote some of the bands earliest shows, and also helped get the album in local music stores.  John Parks from legendaryrockinterviews.com (LRI) recently interviewed Vicky about her days working in the early 80′s L.A. music scene and what she is up to today.

Excerpts from the interview are below:

LRI:  So you made the move in 1981 and I know that one of the earliest bands you worked with was Motley Crue.  How did you get involved with those guys to begin with?  That was a really, really exciting time in their career.

Vicky:  I was a management consultant for them.  I had become friends with Nikki really early on, even before the Leathur Record and I was hired by their first manager Alan Coffman as a management consultant.  I helped shop them to the labels and did a lot of their display merchandising for the Too Fast For Love album.  I lived in Hollywood so I sort of babysat the band and helped out a little bit.  I was also a really, really big fan of the music and was a record store buyer for a store out here called Licorice Pizza so I bought a LOT of Motley Crue records and pushed them heavily through their 30 store chain which really helped their career early on.  The show that they really got famous off of at the Whisky I had set up a huge display in the window of the store to promote it and the album.  I had included a lot of their personal items and whips and chains and Vince gave me a pair of pink panties to include in it which, by the way, were NOT clean but I put those on the manniqiuns in the window too.  We had fluorescent painted the MOTLEY logo and you could see it up and down the street so all of that in addition to moving so many records in the store was ,I think,  at least some factor in helping them get signed.

Too Fast For Love

LRI:  I just think that is the most pure and effervescent record they ever recorded.  It’s poppiness has never been equalled and it’s  still my favorite.

Vicky:  Yeah, there’s a lot of cowbell!   (laughs).

LRI:  I know!  Did you have the sense that despite the rawness they were really tapping into something special?

Vicky:  Oh totally.  When Motley busted out it was all punk rock and European new wave stuff like Duran Duran or Psychedelic Furs.  So they just stood out with their duct tape, spandex and hair.   Nikki lit himself on fire and just everything about them was like “What is THIS???!!”  I was very curious by the time Nikki came into my record store and he had this German model girlfriend and I befriended them and started hanging out with them.  I was very curious about them in general and I just fell in love with the sound.  I think that being from the midwest is sort of a blessing and a curse all rolled into one, I don’t know if you’d agree but what it did for me was…My taste in radio was staunchly commercial.  I could see that despite the image and abrasiveness there was a commerciality in Motley Crue that was very different and new.  It was clearly marketable and I was ready to ride the train.  Nikki Sixx is a visionary and he knew from day one where this project was headed.  I think that I just really believed in him and knew that whatever he set his mind to was gonna work.

Nikki Sixx Raising His Hands To Rock

LRI:  Was it clear that Nikki had totally different influences than a lot of the other bands coming out around that time?

Vicky:  Oh yeah.  He was way into The Sweet, New York Dolls, Mott The Hoople and stuff like that.  He was into a lot of the European rock and roll template.  They were not afraid to put on a show or use makeup even if it meant Nikki getting his his ass beat a couple of times during that era because of the makeup and all that stuff.  What they were doing was really unique and totally a shot in the dark.  It was not guaranteed that it would work but Nikki believed and I liked that almost as much as the music.

Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil Getting Some Serious Head!

LRI:  So you feel that Nikki was really focused on what he wanted not only in terms of image but also music?

Vicky:  Yes, he was the guiding force and wrote a lot and Tommy and Mick were sort of a musical powerhouse  but really the entire band was thick as thieves and constantly together back in those days.  I mean, even early on, Vince and Nikki didn’t really get along very well.  I really doubt they get along that great now only because they  are really two very different personalities.

LRI:  When did you get out of the Motley consulting deal?

Vicky:  Well, Alan ran off with their advance money and they got pissed and hired Doc McGhee and Doug Thaler and since I worked for Coffman I was sort of out of it .

LRI:  They dedicated a song to the Coffman affair called BASTARD on the next album.  He’s been pretty demonized ever since, what were your impressions of Alan?

Vicky:  He wasn’t really a music guy.  He was a real estate and money guy who was very crucial to their early success because he helped finance Too Fast For Love and helped them procure equipment and gear and stuff.  He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a music business genius or rock and roll person.  He was just following his hunches.

Click here to read the full interview where Vicky discusses the early careers of Poison and Guns N’ Roses and why Bret Michaels (a.k.a BERT MIRACLES) was harder to deal with than Axl Rose.

Discuss this interview and more at the Motley Crue Shout Board HERE

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Mick Mars and Tommy Lee discuss the making of Too Fast For Love in the video below

On June 5th 2012, Showlight/IDS/Fontana North will be releasing “Kickstart Live 2011″. This full length DVD was recorded through out the bands trek across North America last year. This DVD is an unofficial release.  Track list is below.

Wild Side
Saints of Los Angeles
Live Wire
Shout at the Devil 1997
Same Ol Situation (S.O.S.)
Primal Scream
Home Sweet Home
Dont Go Away Mad (Just Go Away
Drum Solo
Guitar Solo
Looks That Kill
Dr. Feelgood
Nikki Talks
Too Young To Fall In Love
Ten Seconds To Love
Girls, Girls, Girls
Smokin In The Boys Room
Kickstart My Heart

Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars was recently interviewed by Martell at Welovemetal.com.  Martell spoke with Mick about Motley’s summer tour in Europe and their upcoming tour with KISS.

Below are some excerpt’s from the interview.

Martell: The big announcement right now is two of the biggest rock bands in the world taking the stage together.  Motley and KISS together – you must be pretty excited about it.

Mick:  Oh yeah, yeah.  We played with them once, more than one time but on a short tour with them, and it was crazy then.  And it’s going to be way over the top this time.

Martell: Are some of the elements from the Vegas shows going to be in there?

Mick: We haven’t really discussed everything.  I know that Tommy will most likely have the 360 with him, but as far as the theme and what we’re going to have we really have yet to work on that.  We’re just getting ready for our Europe tour, then we come back and hit the road with KISS, so we have to think of two things at once.  Production’s going to be different in Europe than here so it’s like doing two at once.

Martell: We’re all talking of Nikki’s mention of you guys in the studio.  How’s it going?

Mick:  Great.  Pretty good.  We’re getting some really good stuff out.  We’re coming up with some ideas and stuff.  We’re just running stuff by the guys and seeing what they think.  We’re going to put it in the Motley machine and see what comes out.  That’s how we’ve always done it.

Martell: It must feel like old times for the four of you to get together and record again.

Mick:  Yeah.  It’s really…I can’t even explain it.  It’s just great.  It is like old times, just sitting there bouncing ideas off each other and seeing how it works
out.

Martell: Have you reached a point in your career where that is where you write for the fans more than anything else?

Mick: Yeah.  When you get to a certain point, you grow and you figure out what fans really like.  There’s always been songs like Kick Start and Girls, there’s always songs like that.  And we want to continue doing that.  On those albums though there might be stuff that might not be so good (laughing).  You know, not up to par with Girls or Feelgood.  Becoming more mature with the music and growing as our audience grows, we just don’t limit ourselves by staying at the same level.  It’s hard for me sometimes to explain what I mean.

Read the full interview at We Love Metal, HERE.

*Note*-  Since this interview was conducted, Nikki Sixx has confirmed that Motley Crue has finished recording and mixing a new song, titled “SEX”, which will be released sometime before the summer tour.

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST ROCK BANDS ON ONE STAGE

SUMMER 2012

Rock ‘n Roll doesn’t get any bigger than this! KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE… On the same stage… On the same night. This spectacle of spectacles announced today, KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE are uniting to launch THE TOUR of 2012. The summer’s biggest, baddest rock tour will level 40+ cities nationwide starting July 20th. The Live Nation promoted tour will go on sale beginning Friday, March 23rd at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com. The KISS Army Fan Club pre-sales begin Wednesday, March 21st at 10am.

With combined album sales of almost 200 million, KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE are more than just iconic; they remain today as the dominant powerhouses of rock music tallying 30+ chart-topping hits, countless sold out tours and awards and accolades from around the world. Known for their elaborate and spectacular stage shows, each band plans to give fans the ultimate summer concert experience with the most impressive lighting and sound production ever and their signature over-the-top pyrotechnics. This is the first time KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE will share a stage since 1982.

These veterans of the music business are still at the height of their popularity. KISS is the juggernaut of them all, with 3,000 licensed merchandise products, including the KISS golf course in Las Vegas and a new album. KISS has broken box office records set by The Beatles and Elvis. MÖTLEY CRÜE is the first rock band in history to have just completed an epic sold-out Las Vegas residency at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The band is best known for continuing to reinvent not only their live show (with mind blowing elements such as Tommy Lee’s 360 drum roller coaster) and music (brand new song due out this spring), but remain on the cutting edge via social media interaction. MÖTLEY CRÜE’s New York Times bestselling book The Dirt is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. Last month, the band was featured in one of the highest rated Super Bowl ads of all time for the KIA Optima.

For tickets & VIP packages, including opportunities to meet KISS and MÖTLEY CRÜE, please visit www.KISSonline.com or www.Motley.com.

Tour Dates:

Jul. 20 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA
Jul. 21 – Farm Bureau Live – Virginia Beach, VA
Jul. 22 – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion – Raleigh, NC
Jul. 24 – Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
Jul. 25 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Charlotte, NC
Jul. 27 – Cruzan Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
Jul. 28 – 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheater – Tampa, FL
Jul. 31 – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre – Pelham, A\L
Aug. 03 – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Woodlands, TX
Aug. 04 – Gexa Energy Paviliion – Dallas, TX
Aug. 07 – Hard Rock Casino Presents: The Pavilion – Albuquerque, NM
Aug. 08 – Comfort Dental Amphitheater – Englewood, CO
Aug. 10 – Ashley Furniture Home Store Pavilion – Phoenix, AZ
Aug. 11 – Mandalay Bay Arena – Las Vegas, NV
Aug. 12 – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre – Chula Vista, CA
Aug. 14 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Irvine, CA
Aug. 16 – Sleep Train Pavilion – Concord, MA
Aug. 18 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA
Aug. 19 – Sleep Country Amphitheater – Ridgefield, CT
Aug. 24 – Rock Jam – Grand Junction, CO
Aug. 26 – BOK Center – Tulsa, OK
Aug. 27 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Maryland Heights, MO
Aug. 29 – Minnesota State Fair – Minneapolis, MN
Aug. 31 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
Sep. 01 – Klipsch Music Center – Noblesville, IN
Sep. 02 – First Niagara Pavilion – Burgettstown, PA
Sep. 04 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
Sep. 05 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI
Sep. 07 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL
Sep. 08 – Alpine Valley Music Theater – East Troy, MI
Sep. 11 – Allegan County Fair – Allegan, MI
Sep. 12 – Blossom Music Center – Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Sep. 13 – Molson Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON
Sep. 15 – Darien Lake PAC – Darien Lake, NY
Sep. 16 – Comcast Center – Mansfield, MA
Sep. 18 – Toyota Pavilion – Scranton, PA
Sep. 19 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ
Sep. 21 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
Sep. 22 – Nikon at Jones Beach – Wantagh, NY
Sep. 23 – Comcast Theater – Hartford, CT

VIEW PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW:

In what looks like to be this summers biggest tour with the hottest band in the world along with rocks most notorious band, KISS and Motley Crue will embark on a co-headline tour this summer.

This is a tour that Live Nation has been trying to make happen for a few years now. Motley Crue last toured with KISS in early 1983. According to Motley Crue’s best selling book “The Dirt”, Motley Crue were kicked off that KISS tour after 5 shows for bad behavior. Bassist Nikki Sixx stated a few years after the tour that “They’re the greatest! We had a blast on tour! They taught us the importance of treating an opening act with respect and consideration”

Motley Crue lead singer, Vince Neil recently spoke to his good friend and entertainment reporter Robin Leach, regarding the KISS/Motley Crue pairing ““It’s going to be really cool because KISS is bringing their full stage show, and Motley will be bringing our full stage show, so you are going to see two huge headliners at the same time. It’s going to be one of the biggest tours of the summer, if not the biggest.- Vince Neil”

KISS is currently managed by Doc McGhee, who was Motley Crue’s long time manager during the 80′s until he was fired just before the release of Dr. Feelgood in August of 1989. During the recent KISS Kruise Q&A with Doc Mcghee, a KISS fan asked McGhee how managing KISS compared to managing Motley Crue. McGhee responded by saying “KISS is very business orientated while Motley was more of a gang” (See video below at 1:40 mark)

Look for the official announcement from KISS and Motley Crue sometime next week.

Discuss this tour here.
Or send us your thoughts on TWITTER.

John Corabi (ex- Motley Crue) made a facebook post earlier today, about the news that Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil is thinking about leaving the band to pursue other ventures.

Corabi posted the following on his official facebook page.

“Woke up today, signed on to facebook, and had about 50 emails asking about the Motley interview…1) I can honestly say, that barring the second coming of Christ, Motley has NO intentions of EVER asking me back, nor would I go back, if they did ask…Whats done is done!!!! I love those guys, and wish them the best, but I’m looking towards the future with my new record, and band…Have a GREAT Holiday everybody, and Love ya all…” – John Corabi

Official John Corabi Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/JohnCorabiMusic

John Corabi Official Website
http://www.johncorabi.com

“I’m having a great time here, I could stay a year! I’m sitting on my yacht, contemplating my future, and I’m not sure it will be with Motley Crue after Las Vegas. Great things are coming up and pushing me in another direction…….There are so many opportunities that are in front of me that I’m really excited about. I just don’t want to look back later in life and regret that I didn’t pursue them. I’m just not sure I can give these opportunities the time and effort I’ll need to and continue with the band. It’s been a great ride, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it, but being out here relaxing in this beautiful place has given me the chance to reflect on what direction I want the rest of my life to take. I’m really giving it a lot of thought.- Vince Neil” (read full article here)

Motley Crue’s residency in Las Vegas begins on February 3rd, 2012. Tickets can be purchased at Motley.com or Ticketmaster.com. Prior to the Las Vegas residency, Vince has a half dozen solo tour dates during the month of January.  The following dates are confirmed.

Vince Neil Solo Tour Dates – 2012
Jan 12 –  Chumash Casino, Santa Ynez, CA
Jan 14 – Honeywell Center, Wabash, IN
Jan 15 –  Northern Quest Casino, Airway Heights, WA
Jan 19 -  The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield, CT
Jan 20 – Patchogue Theatre, Patchogue, NY
Jan 21 -  Rapids Theatre, Niagara Falls, NY
Jan 27 – Grizzly rose, Denver, CO (Rescheduled from 12/02/11)
Feb 4-    Peppermill Concert Hall, Salt Lake City, UT

Motley Crue has officially announced on the Piers Morgan show on CNN that they will begin a 3 week residency in Las Vegas, NV (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) beginning on February 3rd, 2012. For more details, watch Piers Morgan’s interview with Motley Crue (Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars and Vince Neil ) tomorrow night (Friday, December 2nd) at 9pm EST/ 6pm PST.

Fans are encourage to buy tickets online at their Official Website at www.motley.com

Use presale code “SIN13″ to get tickets NOW!

Tommy Lee’s sister Athena Louise has been hard at work on her upcoming book titled ‘Coming in Second’. She is also part of a new TV show on VH1 called “Ex Wives Rock” featuring Sharise Neil (Ex-Wife of Vince Neil), Bobbie Brown (Ex-Wife of the late Jani Lane), and Susan Dixon (Ex-Wife of Warrant’s Jerry Dixon). Athena recently did an in depth interview with legendaryrockinterviews.com to discuss the new TV show, her recent divorce, and more. Excerpts from the interview are below.

LRI: Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us Athena. I’ve been following your career for a while and of course your brother’s, we’ve met Tommy but haven’t had the privilege to talk to you!! This is great for us….so many questions. I’ve heard you guys grew up in an artistic home where you were exposed to a lot of creative things but also had a pretty disciplined upbringing…is that accurate?

AL: Yeah, my dad was actually a Sergeant in the Army so there was some of that just in his personality. I mean, he never brought it home exactly and it’s not like me and Tommy were standing at attention or any shit like that (laughs). He was just extremely motivated and disciplined so we kind of had to be that way as well but for the most part the way we were brought up was just extremely NORMAL. We grew up in friggin Covina and had our little family and all that, mom was just AWESOME. You couldn’t ask for a better mom, she was perfect and my dad was strict but as we got older and they got used to being shocked by us so many times they just kinda wore down and got over it (laughs hard). I’m trying to explain it in the nicest way possible but I mean it was like, the first tattoo, the first ear piercing, the first of everything we did was kind of a shock but after that it was kind of like “Whatever!”.

LRI: One story that has been told before about you basically reads like a word for word re-enactment of the movie “Stepbrothers” where your dad had built a studio of sorts for Tommy to practice in and you would wait for him to go away and rub your balls all over his drumset.

AL: Oh hell no!!! (laughs hard again)….Yeah, that is pretty much it and he really didn’t know for the LONGEST time, he really didn’t because I had that shit down to a science, I really did. I knew EXACTLY where everything went so if I switched it around for me, I knew exactly how to switch it back before he got home and I always tried to know what time he’d be back. It all worked out so perfectly for the longest time and then finally he figured it out. I don’t even remember what year exactly but one year when he was in Motley I had asked him for some drums. I knew that they had a warehouse that was pretty close to our house and they had these kits, he had already left of course because they started touring when he was still in high school. He was well out of the house when I asked him for a kit. I know for a fact that when I asked him he was thinking for sure that I was just asking for fun to play with and something to do. By that time, he had already been onto me messing with his drums and just thought “ok, whatever”, and just let me mess around with them, he really just thought I was having fun and he didn’t care anymore. Then when he started leaving it really sucked because he would take his drumkit of course and I totally remember it because the first time he hooked me up with a kit it was the “THEATRE OF PAIN” kit, he gave me those Sonors and was so stoked and joined a band not even knowing what I was doing (laughs).

LRI: Thanks for talking to us, this was awesome!! Last question!!! What’s it like to work with this galleria of blondness you’ve assembled on your show. Were you guys all close friends before shooting the show?

AL: Thank YOU so much for taking the time and asking good questions. To answer that….YES! We all knew each other & were friends long before the show! BOOBY, whoops, I mean BOBBIE BROWN, SHARISE NEIL & BLUE BRITT are all amazing and beautiful women inside & out! I really am very proud to call them friends, that’s not ass kissing for show sake it’s the TRUTH! Without them & this show, who knows where my head would be right now! You will see how real and long standing our bond is when you watch it. We weren’t just thrown together in a reality tv meeting. It’s also very different from pretty much anything I’ve been seeing on TV because we’re NOT the Kardashians…We’re NOT millionaires…We DON’T hang out decked out & look fully “made up” straight out of bed & we DON’T make shit up just to freak out over for cameras or drama’s sake…What you see is what you get 100%..That’s the only way I would do it! It’s just LIFE and it fucking rocks!!

Read the full interview HERE at www.legendaryrockinterviews.com

EX WIVES ROCK- TRAILER

Ex Wives Rock – 14 x 30mins from Tricon Films and Television on Vimeo.

Motley Crue bassist/songwriter Nikki Sixx along with his SixxSense Radio show co-host Kerri Kasem stopped by to visit wounded warriors last Wednesday, November 16, during a trip to the Brooke Army Medical Center campus at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

“Kerri and I left feeling inspired and motivated, and have set the wheels in motion to come back and help raise money through ‘Sixx Sense’ for Fisher House and Center For The Intrepid,” Sixx stated.

Sixx’s radio programs are syndicated by Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, which recently raised more than $700,000 for Fisher House Foundation as part of a nationwide week-long campaign that culminated in a radio fundraiser on Veterans Day, November 11.

More photos of the event can be viewed here at Kzep.com