Modern Vintage is not just the title of the new SIXX: A.M. album, it is the spirit that infuses the entirety of the philosophy and approach behind the inspiration, creation and promotion of the music that has been produced by the talented trio.
Two years in the making, mostly because of the busy schedules of the triumvirate of musicians in the group, Modern Vintage is the third full-length studio album from the rock and roll trio that is comprised of veteran songwriter/producer/vocalist James Michael, current Guns ‘N Roses shredder DJ Ashba, and legendary Motley Crue founder and bassist Nikki Sixx. In live settings, veteran drummer Glen Sobel has been the primary skin basher of choice. It was released late in 2014 but still has traction on radio and social media as the band prepares for the next phase of its touring schedule. They’re just waiting for Sixx to wrap up the Crue farewell tour.
For Michael, the latest album is a benchmark in the short history of the band, following on the heels of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed 2007 debut album, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, and 2011s brilliant sophomore release, This Is Gonna Hurt.
“We think it’s our best record so far and the feedback has been really incredible, to be honest with you. When we put out the first single, Got to Get It Right, it was a daring choice for us because we had other songs on the album that were so much more what SIXX: A.M. fans are expecting. But because of how different this record is and how important it is to us, we wanted to put out a single that kind of set the stage for what is to come,” said Michael, in a phone interview from his home in California conducted around the time of the albums’ release.
“DJ and I were doing a bunch of press over [in Europe] and I was kind of blown away with how positive the reaction has been, because when you take risks like this you fully expect to get some pushback. But it has been wonderful so far.”
Modern Vintage, to Michaels, Ashba and Sixx, is about a feeling and vibe to the overall approach in composing songs and building an album that in some ways is a throwback to the music that first inspired them when they were young music fans.
“We wanted to make a record that was in the spirit of the type of rock records that we liked growing up from bands like Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, T. Rex – those types of records. And it wasn’t so much sonically that we were aiming for something like that, it was to capture the spirit of how those records were actually made back then. And that really speaks more to the performances and to the songwriting side of it,” he said.
“In this day and age what we have come to realize is that people’s perception of what makes a rock record, or what qualifies as a rock record has become very narrow recently. And we want to let people know that rock and roll is bigger than what is currently being peddled out there.”
SIXX: A.M. is first and foremost a group of friends who care about one another, enjoy being around one another and enjoy music together. The fact that Michael, Ashba and Sixx’s relationship has evolved into a potent and increasingly popular rock and roll project has been a welcome bonus.
“I have said this a lot, but it really is true: SIXX: A.M. is three friends that were brought together by music, but we’re absolutely not held together by music. SIXX: A.M. music is a by-product of this terrific friendship that has grown between the three of us,” Michael said.
The musicians came together when Sixx was looking for a unique way to promote his autobiography, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. He decided to create a soundtrack for the book, with much of the lyrical content and overall tone of the album gleaned from his book. A hit single, Life is Beautiful also came out of the recording sessions. The band ended up playing a few dates in 2008 in the USA, releasing an EP called X-mas in Hell and a Live EP that same year.
The guys enjoyed the experience so much that they reconvened in 2009 to start putting material together for the next album, This Is Gonna Hurt, which was loosely based on a book of photography released by Sixx.
“The music has been the only important thing for us, as well as connecting with fans. And sometimes it takes until the third album to get your message out and for people to gain enough trust in you that you are actually a band and that you do intend to keep making music,” Michael said.
“Any accolades that SIXX: A.M. gets to enjoy are secondary to people coming up to us and saying that our music has really connected with them. Ever since Life is Beautiful and then with Lies of the Beautiful People and songs like Skin, we have such brave fans who are willing to come forward and share their stories about how their life feels damaged and has needed repair. We found a real connection with people on a very human level and that’s what SIXX: A.M. really represents to us.
“At the beginning we started with Nikki’s story, and within that story there is heartache and pain and disillusionment and insecurity – and we all feel that. I believe that’s what speaks to people. It’s never been about us; it’s been about how we observed life whether it’s our life or someone else’s life. We have always loved to find the contrast between darkness and beauty, and finding the common ground between the two. Our songs have always dealt with pretty heavy subject matter, maybe dark moments in a person’s life, but always finding hope. All our songs have the underlying message of hope and triumph and that carries through on Modern Vintage.”
What SIXX: A.M. provides for the three talented musicians and songwriters is a creative outlet without borders, barriers, pressures or external expectations. They have the unbridled freedom to make the music they want to make.
“It’s the one time when all three of us can get together and break all of the rules that we are typically bound by in the rest of our music careers and that’s what’s so exciting about SIXX: A.M.: we really look forward to how the other guys are going to push the envelope. It’s always about what we can do that is exciting and is fresh and new and pushes us and challenges us and how can we come out better musicians at the end of the day than we were when we started the day,” Michael said.
Modern Vintage features the first-ever recorded cover song for the band – a breathtakingly moving version of Drive, originally recorded in the early 1980s by The Cars.
“We wanted to tackle a cover song so that we could find out who SIXX: A.M. is when we are interpreting someone else’s music. We had started tracking another song when one day Nikki called me and just started singing the opening line to Drive and it was like, ‘oh my God, how did we miss that one?’ When we looked at the lyrics we understood why it made such a huge impact on people. It’s such a beautiful song,” Michael said.
“And yet the message was so heavy and sad and very isolating – clearly it’s a sad story. But it’s a story that was captured in this kind of beautifully linear, very simple arrangement that had a hope to it. So it really spoke to us as a SIXX: A.M. song. And the way we approached it was very much us, so ironically the one song on the album that we didn’t write kind of ended up being the centrepiece of the Modern Vintage concept.”
As Sixx is in the midst of wrapping up Motley Crue’s extensive farewell tour, Michael said everyone is excited to be able to turn the focus on SIXX A.M. as a nearly full-time enterprise.
“It’s a very thrilling time for us. Motley Crue is doing its final tour and a lot of doors are going to open up for us. We are so excited to be able to put SIXX: A.M. at the forefront of all of our lives. For the first two records we weren’t sure we were a band. And now we are so excited with this new album and the future that we know we are – we truly feel the sky is the limit.”
And Michael has nothing but praise for his two bandmates, who he feels blessed to also call close friends.
“Everyone knows Nikki’s back story. But what a lot of people wouldn’t know about Nikki is that he is such an incredibly devoted family man and such an incredibly devoted friend. I am grateful on so many levels to be able to consider him a friend. We have gone through a lot of very similar personal issues and he was there for me and I like to think I was there for him. And he is also one of the busiest, hardest working people I have ever met in my entire life. I look at his calendar and his schedule and it makes my head spin,” he said.
And of Ashba, he said:
“Joining Guns ‘N Roses has been incredible for him. He is in a dream situation for any guitar player. And if you’ve never seen DJ in Guns ‘N Roses, he is phenomenal. Seeing DJ on stage, even if you only want to see Axl and Slash together, is unbelievable. To me it’s one of the great rock guitar performances out there. And I think people forget what a difficult role that would have been to take over that slot in that band. To learn those songs and stand there in front of thousands and thousands of people and play those songs that we all hold so dear and so sacred, and the courage it took to do that is incredible and says a lot about him as a person and a musician,” Michael added.
“I am so lucky that I get to make music with these two guys.”
For more information on SIXX: A.M. visit www.sixxammusic.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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