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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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 Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:03 am
 Who is SiXX: A.M?
Nikki Sixx - Bass/Vocals
DJ Ashba - Guitar/Vocals
James Micheal - Lead vocals/GuitarSIXX: A.M. THE HEROIN DIARIES “You can’t quit until you try/You can’t live until you die/You can’t learn to tell the truth/Until you learn to lie…When you’ve lost it all/That’s when you finally realize/Life is beautiful.” “Life is Beautiful,” The Heroin Diaries soundtrack Most people know Nikki Sixx as the bassist and founding member in one of the most successful bands in rock & roll, Mötley Crüe. Others are aware of him as a member of Brides of Destruction, or a producer/songwriter who’s contributed to albums by Meat Loaf, Saliva and Marion Raven. Still others have read about him in the ground-breaking book, The Dirt, learning how he grew up with a single mom and her abusive boyfriend after his father abandoned him at an early age, then how he was shuttled to various homes, raised by his grandparents before becoming a teenage vandal - breaking into homes, shoplifting and finally expelled from school for dealing drugs. And while the Crüe song, “Kickstart My Heart,” recounts Nikki’s near-death experience after a drug overdose on December 23, 1987, The Heroin Diaries reveals the Sixx saga in a way that a so-called rock star has never done before, opening himself up and laying bare a point at which he’s at his lowest. On Christmas Day 1986, Nikki should have been enjoying the fame and kudos of being a multi-million dollar mega rock star. Instead, he spent the day alone, naked, cradling a shotgun and shooting up smack under a Christmas tree in a big empty mansion in Van Nuys, CA. The book recalls a harrowing year of addiction that led to Nikki’s spiritual death and re-birth, from Christmas ’86 to the fateful day when he had to be revived by paramedics. The writings all come from diaries he kept during those 12 months in Hell, with his own subsequent comments and clarifications added on. The Heroin Diaries is a devastating, first-hand and candid account of a troubled soul collapsing at the seams, a member of one of the most infamous and wildest rock bands in the world, a tale of decay told by both its tragic anti-hero and the people around him. It is also a story of recovery, of an abject figure fighting a crippling addiction and finally, somehow, emerging with his sanity bruised, but intact, an inspirational narrative, and one which should inspire anybody fighting the same terrible demons that consumed Nikki Sixx. This included all-night heroin and coke binges that would end with Sixx cowering in the walk-in closet to his bedroom; paranoid and hallucinatory delusions climaxing with desperate phone calls to police of security companies; violent and abusive relationships with family, friends, lovers and fellow band members; a love affair with the needle that would only end, on Dec. 23, 1987, when it literally killed him. Stumbling across his own journals several years ago, Sixx realized The Heroin Diaries would be a devastating antidote to any deluded kid who feels, as he once did, that heroin addiction is in any way glamorous or alluring. The Heroin Diaries, co-written by Sixx and music journalist Ian Gittins, published by MTV Books and Simon & Schuster, will be preceded by a soundtrack on Eleven/Seven Music inspired by it, as Nikki got together with another pair of producer/songwriter/ musicians, his good friends James Michael and DJ Ashba, to create a musical accompaniment to the text. “I obviously lived the book, but they read it,” says Nikki of the collaboration, which was so successful it blossomed into the band Sixx: A.M. “It was great to be able to sit down with these guys, who know me so well and are two of my best friends, but didn’t know me then and submerse ourselves in that time. “We really pushed, pulled and developed this together, each of us contributing in our own way, three guys with one vision. To be able to do that, with the egos taken out of it, and just follow the music wherever it took us, was great.” The result closely follows the outline of the book, a year-long cycle of heroin use and recovery, the 13 original pieces, one for each chapter, from the opening “Xmas in Hell,” with its heavy metal ode to the yuletide standard, “Carol of the Bells,” through the emotional crisis of the first single, “Life is Beautiful,” and the rueful acknowledgment of relapse (“Accidents Can Happen”) to the harsh condemnation of childhood (“Dead Man’s Ballet”), the painful steps of withdrawal (“Girl with Golden Eyes”), the acceptance of a higher power (“Permission”) and a celebration of ultimate spiritual rebirth (“Life After Death”). Together, Nikki, James Michael, who does all of the vocals on the album, and DJ Ashba, who provides the crackling, emotional undertow with his searing guitar work, come together to find the aural equivalent of The Heroin Diaries psychic underpinning. Nikki also reads excerpts from the book, accompanied by some of the most heartfelt and moving music he has written over the course of his remarkable career. “We never intended for this to be a band,” admits Nikki. “We didn’t plan on ever playing these songs live. It was never really about that. We were just three guys, and now, all of a sudden, we’re one. I love Mötley Crüe. They have been a huge part of my life - the most successful part - and I will continue to do it. But I needed to go over here for a while to exorcize the demons.” The three grew increasingly tight, with both James and DJ finding themselves applying what Nikki was going through to their own situations. “James is one of my very favorite singers and people,” says Nikki. “I didn’t push for him to be the singer on the project… It came organically. And it was just wonderful because James has been through a lot of his own stuff, and this turned out to be very personal for him as well. There are parts of songs that he would probably tell you were about his own childhood, or DJ who’s one of my very best friends and extremely talented artist, I’m sure could point out many aspects of the album that he can relate to his life as well. Because it came from one vision and three guys, you’re going to get some different interpretations. I’m curious to hear how the listener experiences that. It connects on a level that people can take and make their own. These aren’t our songs anymore... They’re everybody else’s. Like your own children when they grow up and have their own lives.” Sixx, who will donate a portion of the proceeds from the project to his own “Running Wild in the Night” initiative for Covenant House, which helps fund creative arts programs around the country focusing on music, says the experience of writing and recording The Heroin Diaries has “grounded” him. “This has helped me grow roots,” he explains. “I feel so in the honesty and reality of ‘that was then and this is now.’ My life is so different. I feel so connected. I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel very humbled and very grateful.” He’s not sure whether he’s found God, but he’s more than willing to share his experiences in hopes it will do some good for others who can relate to his situation. “Addiction is one of the biggest problems we have on this planet right now,” he says. “What I can do as a tiny, tiny part of this work is just to give back. Maybe one person gets it, maybe 100, maybe 100,000, maybe a million. I’ll never know. If I can pass my knowledge on without being a preacher or without getting on a soap box, that would mean something. All I’m saying is, this is my experience. Read it, or not. Believe it, or not. Absorb it, or not. I’m not telling anybody what to do. I’m just putting my experience out there and hoping you can learn something from it.” “For me, the word ‘God’ was always hard to swallow. But think Hare Krish-na, Budd-ah, G-ahh-d… We say ‘ahhh’ when things make us feel good. The monks use ‘ahhh’ in meditation. I’m in ‘awe’ of my life, that I’m even alive. I’m in awe that I get to have the opportunity to spread this message. When I think God, I don’t think Jesus Christ. I think of a complete spiritual safety net, being able to let yourself go. I’m happy to go through life, see what happens and be in ‘awe’ of, be able to enjoy, the moment… and stop worrying about expectations or trying to predict the future. These are things I couldn’t do in the past. “I’m powerless to do anything now, because people will have their own opinions after they read the book and listen to the soundtrack. My deepest, darkest moments are out there. If you want to live life on your own terms, you’ve got to be willing to crash and burn. I’m just very proud to have so many amazing people around me. The difference between now and then is I have a support system. I wasn’t able to stay off drugs then. I am able to stay off drugs now.” The Heroin Diaries—the most addictive rock & roll saga since The Dirt.
Bio taken from: http://myspace.com/sixxam
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:18 am
NIKKI SIXX was born December 11, 1958 at 7:11 a.m. (just like the White Trash Convenient Store, he says) in San Jose, California. In Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt, Nikki described his mom Deanna Haight as “an Idaho farm girl with stars in her eyes… witty, strong-willed, motivated and extremely gorgeous… with an untamable wild streak.” Like mother, like son.
Sixx was named Frank Feranna by and after his father, who would abandon the family after a few years. Nikki learned later he also had a sister, Lisa, whom he was told he couldn’t see because she was placed in a home for the mentally ill. Nikki wouldn’t lay eyes on his sister, who was born with Down’s Syndrome and blind, her growth stunted, until her death more than 35 years later.
Nikki lived with his mom in Hollywood for awhile, but was often shipped out to stay with his grandparents, who moved between Texas, Idaho and New Mexico while Deanna lived the life of a gypsy. At various points in her life, she sang back-up in Frank Sinatra’s band, dated Richard Pryor and was a card dealer in Sparks, Nevada. Today, Nikki insists his parents did the best they could with the tools they were given in life, but it wasn’t always so easy for him to wax poetic about his relationships (or lack thereof) with his mother and father.
While in high school, Nikki was taunted for his eclectic clothing style, a mix of glam and punk rock, which he reacted to with violent retaliation. His troubled upbringing came to a head, with Nikki eventually running away from home and getting kicked out of school. Looking back on that troubled upbringing has led to his compassion for other abandoned youngsters and his recent establishment of the “Running Wild in the Night” fund-raising initiative for Covenant House.
“Having experienced life as a runaway myself, I wanted to do something to help kids put in this position through no fault of their own,” said Nikki, who admitted that music was perhaps the single most important factor in saving him from an inevitable tragic death on the streets. He had to leave Seattle after getting arrested for selling drugs at a Rolling Stones concert. Nikki knew it was just a matter of time before he ended up locked up in juvenile detention until he was 21 which didn’t exactly sit well with his dream of becoming a rock star. “All I had was an Aerosmith tape, a stolen, beat-up boom box, a Greyhound ticket to Idaho and my dreams,” he says.
Back in Idaho, Nikki hauled irrigation pipe on farms while living with his grandparents. He used the money he earned to buy a fake Gibson Les Paul guitar in a gun shop for $109 before catching yet another Greyhound , this time to L.A. to pursue his destiny.
Cutting his teeth on L.A.’s late-’70s punk-rock movement with one foot firmly on the heart of ’70s English glam and the other in heavy metal, Nikki looked for the perfect partners to take on the world.
After a slew of auditions, false starts and a short run in a band called London, Sixx met drummer Tommy Lee in 1981. Responding to an ad in L.A.’s Recycler for a “loud, rude and aggressive guitarist seeking a band, the duo found what they were looking for in guitarist Mick Mars. Tommy then introduced them to a blond-haired surfer dude with a gnarly, high-pitched yowl named Vince Neil and Mars christened the resultant outfit Mötley Crüe.
Mötley Crüe played their first show together January 17, 1981. That same year saw them record a debut album, Too Fast for Love, on their own Leathür Records label. Twenty-five years and some 40 million albums sold later, it all culminated in this year’s “Red White and Crüe” and “Carnival of Sins” worldwide jaunt, named Pollstar’s #6 grossing concert tour of the year. At this point, it looks like no end in sight for the Crüe’s wild and colorful career.
Sixx has also participated in a pair of solo projects, in 58 and Brides of Destruction, releasing albums that showed different sides of his songwriting ability. He supplied several songs to The Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Rock ‘n Roll Musical and recently co-wrote hit songs for Meat Loaf, Saliva and Marion Raven, among others. Sixx helped co-write the N.Y. Times best-seller Dirt, the history of the Crüe, which has become a sacred text and “bible” for rockers all over the world and will soon become a major motion picture through MTV and Paramount Films. In addition, Sixx’s autobiographical The Heroin Diaries, compiled from his 1986-’87 writings during the height of his drug addiction, will be published by Simon and Schuster next year. Sixx plans on taking the concept of a book to a different level, and with Nikki, these words should not be taken lightly. As with all things Sixx, all we can do is wait and see.
The father of five.
Bio taken from nikkisixx.net
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:20 am
BIOGRAPHY - DJ Ashba was born in Monticello Indiana on the early Friday morning of November 10th. At age 1, The Ashba family moved to Fairbury Illinois, a small country farm town, raised by his mother, a classical pianist, who taught DJ about music at a young age .He was instantly obsessed with it. DJ started playing piano at age 3 and played his first recital at 5, performing Beethoven’s classic “Ode to Joy.” By age 6, he was studying drums, banging on garbage cans, pots, pans, buckets and anything he could get his hands on. Finally getting a real set, he studied rhythm. At age 8, DJ worked detasseling corn in the fields for one year until he was able to buy his first electric guitar out of the Sears catalog. The Harmony white Flying V was priced at $89.00. As he rode on the bus to the corn fields each day, he sat with a friend he made, an older guitar player from a local band. DJ would take his pocket knife and carve a fret board on the seat in front of them. His buddy would take the knife, poke 3 holes, and say “That's an A chord,” go home and practice that tonight. Everyday DJ looked forward to going to work so he could learn a new chord. DJ grew up in a 8 bedroom house with no TV, due to his religious mother. He would sit in his room and practice his new guitar 17 hours a day. At 16, he was taken to his first concert by his dad—the Mötley Crüe “Girls, Girls, Girls” tour. It was the night that changed his life forever. By 19, he packed his possessions in a van and drove to Hollywood, joining a band called Barracuda. As a solo artist, he released his first instrumental album, ASHBA: Addiction to the Friction, and earned six Best Guitar Player awards. DJ Ashba co-founded the band Beautiful Creatures, landing a major label deal with Warner Bros. Writing all the music, his song, “Ride” ended up in the major motion picture Rollerball, while “Wasted” appeared in Valentine and “1 a.m.” was used in the TV show Smallville and on Howard Stern. Beautiful Creatures opened for KISS on their farewell concert jaunt, then went on to perform on Ozzfest 2001, played with Marilyn Manson and toured Japan. The video for “Wasted” was featured on MTV and the band performed a full concert for HBO’s Reverb. The band also made appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn with Knock-Turn-Al as well as memorable performances at Sundance Film Festival and Denver’s Mile High Stadium. DJ Ashba is endorsed by over 15 major music companies. He has toured the world, blowing away audiences with his out-of-control stage performances. DJ has appeared in Rolling Stone and numerous other world-wide ads and videos. Ashba eventually teamed up with Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, opening an amazing, state of the art recording facility called Funny Farm Studios, were they have written and produced songs for many platinum recording artists. His latest project with Nikki is writing, producing and performing on the soundtrack to Sixx’s biography, The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star, which also includes producer/songwriter James Michael. Together, Sixx, Ashba and Michael make up Sixx:A.M. creating the sonic diary to the book. Ashba contributes fiery guitar solos that fuel such songs as “Accidents Can Happen” and “Dead Man’s Ballet.” “After reading the book, I was so intrigued and inspired, I thought to myself, this is such an amazing story, with such an important message. “I’ve lost so many close friends in the music business to drugs, I felt I had a lot to add to this musical journey.” “We dug so hard-core into the book,” he explains. “I constantly probed Nikki’s mind about heroin and addiction. I really wanted to get a good feel on how to bring this book to life, musically. When I listen to the album now, it gives me chills, but at the time, I was in such a zone. I just tried to be as honest and true to the book as I could be. “I’m so proud to be a part of,” he admitted. “It never entered our minds it would turn out to be a band situation. But everything good that happens in life happens naturally, just like this did. The magic is so amazing between the three of us, this will be one of many albums to come. What I love about this is there are no limits, no rules. We’re putting our hearts out there, and people are responding to it.” “While writing this, we didn’t think about radio,” he said. “It wasn’t about being in a band… it was all done for the song, the story and the message, and that’s why the final product is the way it is. Working with these two guys is a dream come true.”
Bio taken from myspace.com/djashba
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:31 am
BIOGRAPHY - While enjoying a successful career as a Multi-Platinum music producer, songwriter and mixer, working with such artists as Alanis Morissette, Hilary Duff, The Exies, Saliva, Motley Crue, Scorpions and Meatloaf to name a few, James Michael has once again joined forces with Nikki Sixx along with DJ Ashba to complete what is fast becoming one of the most talked about album projects of the year.
James Michael is not only the voice of the Heroin Diaries soundtrack but also lends his skills as a producer, writer and musician to the project. Michael is also mixing the album which is due to be released later this year. His Los Angeles-based studio is constantly buzzing with artists like John 5 (Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie), Filter, and a veritable who’s who of the rock world, as well as upcoming bands like Bang Bang Bang, who recently signed to Warner Bros, and are slated to be the next band that Michael produces.
Bio taken from myspace.com/jamesmichaelofficial
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:55 am
Tracklisting
X-mas In Hell
Van Nuys
Life Is Beautiful
Pray For Me
Tomorrow
Accidents Can Happen
Intermission
Dead Man's Ballet
Heart Failure
Girl With The Golden Eyes
Courtesy Call
Permission
Life After Death
Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the cofounder of the most legendary rock band of the eighties—Mötley Crüe—offers an unflinching and utterly gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction.
Few bands were as influential as Mötley Crüe in making the 1980s the heavy metal decade. Theirs is a cyclonic story of runaway success and its price, blending outrageous record sales and arena headline tours with smashed up cars, jail sentences, models, drugs, breakups, reunions and more breakups.
In this candid memoir, Nikki Sixx—Mötley Crüe’s bassist and main songwriter—recounts the band’s heyday. The Heroin Diaries takes readers along on one of the most breathless and harrowing roller coaster rides in the history of pop music. At its heart lies the author’s nightmare come true: a punishing heroin addiction that brought him and the band to the edge of losing much more than just their spot on the charts. Serving up snapshots of rock culture at its most manic, this insider’s look at triumph and tragedy is every bit as explosive as the musical odyssey it chronicles.
Nikki Sixx was born Frank Feranna in San Jose, California, in 1958 and grew up in Seattle with his grandmother. At the age of seventeen, he sold his guitars and took a bus to Los Angeles, where he began hanging out in local clubs and playing in bands. He founded Mötley Crüe in 1981 with friend Tommy Lee. Today he’s a family man with numerous projects in the works, including songwriting for other artists, a movie, a new band, a clothing line, and ongoing work with “The Crüe.” Ian Gittins has written about music and pop culture for The New York Times, The Guardian, Time Out, and The Daily Telegraph, among other publications.
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:56 am
Alrighty, introductions are over! Talk all you like about this amazing band, and this amazing soundtrack!
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Beautiful Sin Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:10 pm
Heroin Diaries = BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER!!! heart
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:37 am
Yes ma'am!
I LOVE Accidents Can Happen and Dead Man's Ballet!!
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:41 pm
Yeah, I havent heard it yet.. gonk
I'm more excited for the book than the music, actually. D:
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:18 am
I am in love with Girl With Golden Eyes and Pray For Me. <3
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Beautiful Sin Vice Captain
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Roses and Revolvers Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:24 am
Yeah, those one's are wicked good!
Van Nuys is beautiful too. James Michael has an amazing voice!
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:05 pm
Yay! <3
Van Nuys and Tomorrow are my favorites. =]
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:43 am
I walked half and hour to wallmart, search for an hour and then walk another 10 minutes to best buy to buy this. eek It was worth it though. XD I love tommorow, Life is beautiful, and Dead man's ballet!!
(Tis Blinky BTW)
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 5:50 pm
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Beautiful Sin Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:09 pm
extremly busy. xd I had a little baby boy. his name is Eric. whee
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