
Have you hung out with Keith Richards?
Yeah, man, I’ve hung out with him and Ronnie Wood a couple of times. One time in particular just absolutely blew my mind, when Mötley Crüe was opening for the Stones. The Stones guys sent their tour manager in to come and grab me, 'cause I wanted to say hello to the guys. This is literally five minutes before they’re about to go onstage. I walk in and Ronnie and Keith Richards are fucking wasted. I’ve played many shows wasted, but I’m talking about, these guys could barely walk, and they were about to go on. And I’m just sitting there going, “There’s no fucking way these guys are gonna be able to play. They can’t even find the stage, never mind playing the right notes.” And, dude, I was so blown away. What true professionals. Somehow they made it to the stage, and as soon as the house lights went off, it was just flawless. I was like, “I cannot believe what I just saw.”
When and where was the show?
It was in Toronto about five years ago, and it was on Halloween. It’s good to see those guys are still having fun, still just rocking it. I think that was the coolest part of that whole thing.
To be a rock star in your 60s, does that give you something to strive for?
Absolutely, man. I think about that actually every day when we play – I think “we’ve been doing this 30 years." And when I look out in the audience I see kids that are seven years old and I see people that are 57. It just makes me realize there’s a whole new generation of kids coming to see us play, which, to me, means that’s longevity, so we’ll still be doing this who knows how many more years. I get a big smile on my face knowing that we could be doing this as well and as long as the Stones or Aerosmith. Pretty damn cool.
Rolling Stone
Crüe opened Fall 2005 shows in Seattle and Portland...Toronto on Halloween not so much.
Perhaps the tale of just how wasted Keith and Ronnie were is equally apocryphal...