In a recent interview with Bad Brad, Sixx:A.M. frontman James Michael shared his thoughts on the possibility of replacing Vince Neil in Mötley Crüe.
When asked about the idea of stepping in as lead vocalist for the band, Michael immediately responded, “Not a chance in hell.” He continued, “I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole now and I will say this, obviously, I know all those guys very well and I know John 5 very well. Wonderful guy and really doing a killer job as their guitar player.”
Michael acknowledged the tensions within the band, saying, “I know that there are issues between Mick Mars and the rest of the band. I love all of them separately. I know all of them individually and I don’t get into all of the differences that they have.”
He expressed his admiration for John 5’s work, stating, “I think that John 5 beautifully took over that role and I just can’t think of a better guitar player on the planet for that role but there’s something different about a singer replacing another singer.”
Michael further explained, “Even though I’ve got the range where I could do that, I would never make it sound like Vince. He just makes it sound like Mötley Crüe and I just think that I would think that it’s too risky of a job to try to take on.”
Despite his reservations about joining Mötley Crüe as their lead singer, Michael has had his own history with the band. In a 2022 interview with Chuck Shute, he revealed that Nikki Sixx once asked him to write songs for Mötley Crüe.
He explained, “I happened to be on the same label with Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe, who had a sub-label at this record label that I was at called ‘Beyond Music,’ and they had Mötley records which were kind of attached to Beyond. That’s really where my first introduction to Nikki happened. We became friends just because we’d pass each other in the halls of the record label.”
Michael recalled the day Sixx approached him, saying, “One day, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, I heard your solo record. I really like your writing. Would you be interested in doing some writing for Mötley Crüe?’ I said, ‘Of course. Absolutely.’ That was one of my first introductions into legitimately writing for a legitimately signed and successful band.”
Michael went on to write for Mötley Crüe’s 2000 album ‘New Tattoo’ and worked on their 2008 album ‘Saints of Los Angeles,’ both co-producing and contributing to the songwriting with Nikki Sixx and DJ Ashba.
