Chronological Crue - The History of Motley Crue in 2004

9/1/04
Nikki Sixx guests on the sports program Jim Rome Show and says he is focused on his Brides of Destruction band for the next six months, as the following two years will be full-on Mötley Crüe with the movie, soundtrack and farewell tour. There’s the possibility of the Brides making more music if they have staying power, while Tommy Lee is especially keen to make some new Mötley music for the movie’s soundtrack. The script for the movie is almost complete and they are pretty much at the point where they will soon start selecting actors. Nikki chats about a range of topics and says he has always been a Minnesota Vikings NFL fan. His mother dated Viking-great Carl Eller, who taught him how to play chess when he was about six years old. The producers say it was one of the best interviews they’ve ever had on the program.

10/1/04
Vince Neil attends the Twenty-first Adult Video News Awards event at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas with his fiancée Lia.

13/1/04
Brides of Destruction is currently writing new songs for their next record. They’re keeping an open mind while exploring all different styles of music and just letting whatever comes out flow. Amongst the contributions, Tracii Guns brings in a song along the lines of Funeral for a Friend by Elton John, while Nikki brings in a country-ish Rolling Stones-style song and a melancholy Queen-style song co-written with a friend Kevin Kadish.

14/1/04
Tommy sits next to tennis bad-boy John McEnroe at a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

19/1/04
In song-writing mode once again, Nikki says Brides of Destruction is aiming to write a double album. They currently have thirty-six songs of which they feel twenty or so are absolutely amazing. As the release of their debut album approaches, he says offers for the band to tour are coming in and he can’t wait to play.

Meanwhile, it’s reported that just days after R&B singer Blu Cantrell confided to her friend Pink last year that she was dating Tommy, Pink then stole her boyfriend right out from under her.

21/1/04
Nikki accompanies his wife Donna D’Errico to the screening of her new movie Comic Book at Laemelle Sunset 5 Theatre in West Hollywood with their boys Gunner and Rhyan.

31/1/04
Tommy signs autographs for two hours in the evening at the Art of Music Gallery in Desert Passage (Aladdin) in Las Vegas before stopping by Curve – the Aladdin nightclub – for the Hawaiian Tropic contest after-party. With almost a dozen Hawaiian Tropic contestants in tow, he also visits the Lassen Gallerie to chat with renowned marine artist Christian Lassen.

2/2/04
All Brides of Destruction band members spend the day doing interviews with press outlets from seven European countries. It seems the band will be touring far and wide over the next eight months with some killer bands that will be announced soon. They recently proofed their thirty-second advert for MTV, which is said to be pretty brutal and to the point. After the day of press, Nikki and Tracii check out the Brides of Destruction cartoon billboard that was put up on the front of the Rainbow Bar & Grill yesterday.

5/2/04
Korn singer Jonathan Davis tells the Sydney Morning Herald that the best friend of his eight-year-old son Nathan is Nikki’s son. He says he often runs into Nikki at their sons’ school and they talk about what classes their boys are taking.

It seems Pink’s relationship with Tommy ended when she returned to her ex-boyfriend, motocross rider Carey Hart, a few weeks ago.

8/2/04
Nikki says he has been spending time in New York over the last few months hammering out a partnership deal with a major company to take over his N.SIXX clothing line, as his partnership with Dragonfly is now over. After a good run with Dragonfly, learning a lot about the business, he plans on signing the deal with his new partner in the next thrity days so the line will takeoff where the current one ends.

Nikki also wishes Vince a happy forty-third birthday and says, “kick some ass out there on the road. Can’t wait for 2005.” Vince celebrates his birthday with fiancée Lia at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in South Beach, Florida. While lounging poolside, he gets a call from his manager and a VH1 executive who explain a concept for a new reality show in which he could star.

9/2/04
Brides of Destruction shoots performance scenes with director Paul Brown for their first video to the song Shut The F@ck Up.

11/2/04
Tracii Guns says Brides of Destruction is looking at a tour with Kiss in June. They are also talking about maybe going out with Slipknot, as well as considering AC/DC and Aerosmith tour opportunities later in the year. He says offers are sitting on the table right in front of them and they’re just waiting for a couple of things to come in before they confirm anything but the way it turns out, it looks like they may start touring a couple of days after the record comes out next month and be on the road a lot.

24/2/04
Vince is filmed in front of a live audience for an upcoming episode of Still Standing. He filmed most of his parts for his role as a tattoo artist yesterday. Produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, in association with CBS Productions, Still Standing is a comedy about a blue-collar Chicago couple working to raise their three children responsibly and not lose sight of their own youthfulness.

27/2/04
Nikki emphatically dismisses reports that Brides of Destruction will be touring this summer with Poison and Kiss by saying, “No way in f@cking hell would we ever, ever tour with a f@cking band like Poison. We have had talks with Kiss and I told them very clearly that we would not do the tour if they used Poison. That would be the death of us... I will not be attached to that kind of fake bullshit.”

29/2/04
Metal Sludge posts a transcript of an insightful interview with Tracii Guns conducted three days ago with BraveWords.com. He says Kiss manager Doc McGhee recently “called Nikki and said ‘you guys can stop calling me. You’ve got the tour! Then we found out it was with Poison and Nikki has something with Poison.” He adds, “There are other things that we are holding onto right now that within the next ten-to-fifteen days might come through. Then we’ll talk about what we’re going to do” in relation to who they will tour with. They plan on recording another two video clips before they hit the road, at which time JVC will come on board to make a high-definition recording of a few shows. This footage is expected to be productised with their existing sixty hours of rehearsal and recording studio footage in readiness for a DVD release by the end of summer. Following a summer tour, Brides of Destruction plans on recording every song they have written in September or October, with the idea of putting out two or three discs over a very short period of time, probably early in 2005. He also says he’d be very surprised if the Mötley Crüe farewell tour happens in 2005, saying the goal of having the Mötley movie completed in time for a 2005 release is impossible. He says he “may have to be involved in Mötley” and his honest opinion is that the Crüe tour will start somewhere nearing the middle of 2005. This points to Guns being groomed to step in for Mick Mars should his health not allow him to play any Mötley concerts.

Tracii also says if Brides of Destruction decides in the future to take on another guitarist in place of the departed John Corabi, James Michael would be his preference. For a couple of weeks now, John has been singing with guitarists Billy Duffy of The Cult and Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains. A debut live show at the Troubadour in Hollywood is tentatively planned for the beginning of March. Their set is expected to consist of originals and some cover songs, including AC/DC’s Back in Black.

2/3/04
Shedding further light on the Brides of Destruction tour situation, Nikki says, “Yes, Kiss’ manager told me we had the tour if we wanted it. I did explain to them it would depend on who is the special guest. I freaked when I saw it was announced that Poison was part of the tour because I told them that was not an option for the Brides. As far as my opinion, it isn’t personal. They’re cool guys and I have no beef with them as people. I just don’t wanna tour with the band.”

Nikki co-wrote the third song Stop ‘Til I Drop on the PBR Allstars: Buck & Roll 1 album of various artists performing rock’n’roll songs with country lyrics, released today. The album serves as the official soundtrack of the Professional Bull Riders as a tribute to the riders and the sport itself, capturing the spirit of bull riding.

4/3/04
The National Enquirer reports that Tommy stands to lose his $1 million-plus Malibu home if he can’t cough-up nearly $600,000 in delinquent mortgage payments, federal and state taxes. Tommy’s ‘Notice of Default and Election to Sell Under Deed Of Trust’ says his home “may be sold without any court action” unless he can quickly settle the debts.

6/3/04
Nikki confirms that Brides of Destruction has now passed on their opportunity to play on the Kiss and Poison tour in the U.S. although there is still an offer to tour Europe with Kiss in September. They are planning a headline tour of twelve-hundred-seat venues to start in April, while still in talks about some other possible opportunities. The Brides are confirmed for the Download Festival in England this June, which is being headlined by Metallica. Having finished a fifteen-hour day of press in New York the previous day, Nikki also says many radio stations prefer to play I Don’t Care instead of Shut The F@ck Up.

Tommy performs a drumming set with turntablist DJ Aero (real name Chester Dietz) at Ultra MusicFestival in Miami Beach, Florida – the annual dance-music gathering that recently joined forces with the Winter Music Conference. Tommy hooks up with supermodel Naomi Campbell and they are all over each other at a party at the Delano until 4am before hitting CroBar together the next night, resuming their public displays of affection. A rep for Campbell later said the two were simply pals.

8/3/04
Brides of Destruction plays Shut The F@ck Up live on the Jay Leno Show, before guesting on the national syndicate radio show Rockline. Tracii says he calls the bride caricature featured in the band’s artwork Edie, tipping the hat to Iron Maiden’s Eddie. Nikki says the band recently jammed on Chatterbox by the New York Dolls in rehearsals. London says he had angel wings tattooed on his face recently, which looks like pointed sideburns.

9/3/04
The debut album from Brides of Destruction titled Here Comes The Brides is released in the U.S. through Sanctuary Records. The last song on the album Only Get So Far was a song that Nikki penned with James Michael for country singer Faith Hill during April 2002, before Tracii gave it a facelift. James Michael also helped write the songs Brace Yourself and Natural Born Killer. John plays guitar on all of the album’s nine tracks and receives a songwriting credit on the track I Got A Gun.

To launch their album, the Brides play their first live gig with all four members, on Sunset Boulevard in-store at Tower Records during the evening in front of five hundred people. They commence their set with Natural Born Killer, followed by Shut The F@ck Up, Brace Yourself, and Life, before finishing with I Don’t Care and Nikki shoving his bass through the ceiling. They then sign autographs for fans from as far as Australia, Japan, Mexico and Denmark until 2:30am.

10/3/04
Vince is said to be in negotiations to star in a new four-episode VH1 series called Reality Sucks. Vince and his fiancée Lia would to be taken away from their usual lifestyle to manage a trailer park located in southern U.S.A. where they’d take on regular landlord duties such as collecting rent from the tenants.

11/3/04
Grammy Award-winning Jazz singer Norah Jones says she loved listening to Mötley Crüe and Poison as a teen with her neighbour. She also says she’d consider doing a tribute to ‘80s heavy metal at some point in her career.

12/3/04
Tommy is one of the co-owners of the much-hyped RokBar in Miami, Florida that was expected to open last Tuesday but has been delayed for about another two weeks. Inside decor includes oversized tattoos on the wall and Tommy’s drum kit perched high above the bar in a loft that’s accessible only to Tommy, who will occasionally jam in the late hours.

15/3/04
National Swedish TV channel Kanal 5 launches the second season of their documentary series High Chaparral with a one-hour special on Vince, filmed on the night of the Superbowl early last month. The show’s hosts Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson visit Vince at his two-story, six-bedroom home at 4980 Mountain Creek Drive in the gated Spanish Hills community of Las Vegas, where Andre Agassi and Denzel Washington are neighbours. They spend time with Vince, his fiancée Lia, his parents, and Cocker-spaniel dogs Cakes and Crackers. When Vince and Lia drive off to a Superbowl VIP party, the hosts hang with Vince’s parents, sharing a few beers with his father who says Girls, Girls, Girls is his favourite Crüe song, while his mother talks of Vince’s early days as an ice figure-skater. A drunken Vince returns from the party having lost $25,000 gambling and proceeds to slam Turkish pepper shots before stumbling upstairs to bed. When the film crew returns the next morning they are unable to contact Vince, with his manager instead calling them to say he has been taken to the emergency room and is more-or-less unconscious. They finally hook-up with him again a few days later at B.B. King Blues Club in New York where he explains backstage that he never went to the emergency room, but his fiancée wanted to take him there because he was so dehydrated after the previous day’s hard drinking.

Brides of Destruction performs I Don’t Care on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

Meg Ryan graces the cover of this month’s Jane magazine wearing a Mötley Crüe tshirt.

18/3/04
Brides of Destruction lands at number ninety two on the Billboard charts after selling 13,694 copies of their debut album in the first week. Nikki says he’d like to hear from fans what songs they’d like to hear from the band members’ past, if they were to do a couple of cover tunes at their forthcoming U.S. headlining tour and European festivals.

20/3/04
Following his guest appearance on the Dennis Miller Show yesterday, Nikki co-hosts MTV’s Headbangers Ball with his twenty-five-year-old Brides of Destruction vocalist London.

23/03/04
As Nikki puts together the set-list for the forthcoming Brides of Destruction ‘Honeymoon From Hell’ tour, he says he is feeling excited but guilty about leaving his family at home once again as he hits the road, this time after a four-year break from touring. The band goes into rehearsals this week as they prepare to play every song on the album live, plus some unreleased Brides songs and a selection of old Mötley and LA Guns. The band expects to choose their support and announce their full concert schedule soon. Nikki and Tracii then guest on the Rockline radio show.

29/3/04
Tommy attends the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style event honouring Tom Ford in Beverly Hills, hand-in-hand with Pamela Anderson. Two days ago Tommy and Pam were also photographed together at a media event to endorse Pamela’s new eyewear line at The International Vision Expo East 2004 in New York City. While on the east coast, the couple attended the Fifteenth Anniversary function for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida in Ft. Lauderdale. Reportedly looking very cosy with each other while they ate their teriyaki tofu dinners and held hands throughout the night, Tommy hijacked the lounge act’s drums and jammed a few beats.

Brides of Destruction is set to play legendary New York City rock club CBGB’s on May 5. Nikki says the gig was supposed to be unannounced but somehow wires got crossed. Nikki has always wanted to play the venue for its rich punk and rock history since 1973, helping to bring prominence to artists like Television, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, and Blondie.

7/4/04
Superior Court Judge Richard Stone grants a March 26 request to dismiss the misdemeanour battery case against Vince, after he completes more than one hundred hours of community service following his charge stemming from an April 2002 altercation with a record producer on the Sunset Strip.

Tommy reportedly says he has been going out with thirty-three-year-old supermodel Naomi Campbell for a little while, after they were introduced by rapper P. Diddy at a party several months ago. Meanwhile friends of Tommy and Pamela are whispering a lot about the duo remarrying, generating supermarket tabloid talk of imminent Vegas vows. They had apparently planned to re-marry last Friday in Las Vegas, but the couple changed their minds at the last minute. Representatives for the pair have refused to comment.

8/4/04
Tommy says he has “been cookin’ up all kinds of new stuff in the lab” as he works on a new CD of electronic dance music. He has twelve shows in Canada approaching, as well as some Californian shows in a couple of weeks. He says, “I’m doing something I’ve been waiting forever to do – I’m DJing/ drumming all my fave and original electronic music! Acid house, electro-tech stuff. It’s bananas! Come ‘n’ see!” He also says, “I’ll be doin’ Vegas soon too, then off to Europe for all the festivals and crazy raves!”

Vince pleads no contest to his misdemeanour battery charge on Moonlite BunnyRanch prostitute Andrea ‘TrixXxie Blue’ Terry after she accused Vince of grabbing her by the neck and throwing her against a wall in a Nevada brothel last July. Dayton Justice Court Judge Bill Rogers suspends a thirty-day jail sentence and orders Vince to complete anger management correspondence courses within sixty days. Attending court in person, he is also fined $1,000 plus court fees of $132 and has no comment when the judge asks if he has anything to say. His attorney Scott Freeman says afterwards that they wanted to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, but BunnyRanch owner Dennis Hof says he is sorry to hear that Vince felt pressured to enter a plea because in his mind the girl is an opportunist and he knows that Vince did nothing wrong.

9/4/04
Nikki says Amen and Living Things have been chosen as supports for the Brides of Destruction U.S. tour. The band’s new single I Don’t Care is receiving some great early support at rock radio as the band plans on touring through North America in May, Europe in June, and the U.S. again in July, before hitting Japan and Australia in August.

Pamela Anderson posts on her website that she is officially back with Tommy and she is happier than she’s ever been. Her new photo shoot will be on the cover of Playboy magazine next month, making it her eleventh Playboy cover.

12/4/04
Prostitute Andrea ‘TrixXxie Blue’ Terry files a civil lawsuit in the Clark County District Court against Vince, the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel and its owner Dennis Hof, seeking unspecified damages of at least $20,000 for lost wages and other costs stemming from the July 2003 incident there. Her lawsuit claims that Vince grabbed her by the neck, pushed her against a window and pulled her to the floor, after she refused to let her and another prostitute have sex with him until he paid $4,000 for each woman. Less than a week ago Vince pleade no contest to misdemeanour battery in the incident before being fined $1,000 and ordered to complete anger management classes. This new civil lawsuit claims brothel owner Hof was negligent because he didn’t call police and because the panic button in her room wasn’t working. Hof tells the press that he believes Terry made up the story about the assault, calling her an opportunist. Vince was at the brothel in the tiny Lyon County community of Mound House at Hof’s request to sign autographs a day after he performed with Poison at a Reno concert. Hof says Terry should have known that Vince would not have to pay for her services. “We don’t charge celebrities, we pay the girls ourselves,” Hof says.

John plays the Sweet Relief Musicians Benefit at The Troubadour in Hollywood with Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Billy Duffy (The Cult) and drummer Josh Howser under the name Cardboard Vampyres (named after Cantrell’s cats). John fronts the band on lead vocals while members of Puddle of Mudd make a special guest appearance with the band.

30/4/04
It’s reported that Ashton Kutcher, the star of That ‘70s Show and current beau of Demi Moore, has been approached to play Tommy in the movie adaptation of Mötley Crüe’s best-selling autobiography The Dirt.

Brides of Destruction commences a four-week U.S. headlining Honeymoon From Hell tour in New York.

6/5/04
Vince hosts the annual Skylar Neil Memorial Golf Tournament at the Malibu Country Club, California. The $100,000+ raised will benefit the Skylar Neil Memorial Foundation, which donates funds to organisations that help children suffering with cancer, AIDS, Down Syndrome and leukaemia. During a live interview yesterday with L.A.’s XTRA Sports Talk 690 Cannon Talk to promote the event, Vince says, “Today Mötley Cr¨¨e confirmed sixty dates for next year for our new tour with all the original members. It’s basically our farewell/reunited tour.”

9/5/04
Brides of Destruction is refused entry into Canada due to past felonies with a member of their band, forcing them to cancel their show in Toronto. Lead singer London leaves a diatribe on the band’s website, lashing out at Canadian authorities.

17/5/04
Vince’s solo band guitarist Jason Hook announces his departure to join pop singer Hilary Duff on her upcoming tour, and is to be replaced by Kerri Kelli who forgoes his own upcoming European tour dates with Adler’s Appetite to join Vince.

20/5/04
From his Brides of Destruction tour bus on the way to Denver, Nikki says the previous night’s show in Minnesota was a nightmare for singer London LeGrand who couldn’t talk when he woke up. After hoping it would pass during the day, he was taken to the emergency room at 6pm where a doctor told him not to sing as his voice was completely closed up and damage would be risked, before giving him a cortisone shot. Nikki called Vince who passed on a few of his tricks he has used when he’s been sick on tour. London eventually took the stage and gave it his all.

27/5/04
Tommy’s new night-spot Rokbar opens at 1905 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, Florida. Attendees at the grand opening party include Vin Diesel, Linley Edwards, George Zakk, as well as Tommy and his partners – Josh Woodward and Sean Saladino.

31/5/04
Two days before Brides of Destruction leaves for their European tour, Nikki says, “Now more than ever I’m excited to go make our new album. Playing live on your first album always defines what your second record will be like.” He says the next Brides album will be more focused and harder, less parts and more of a straight-to-the-point style. They want to keep the song lengths down and the tempos up, and have some killer new songs that they will probably start recording in the next four months. Nikki can’t wait to play shows in Europe with Alice Cooper, leaving him a message yesterday asking if he could play bass on the encores.

1/6/04
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Vince has signed on to begin a three-month extreme makeover for MTV’s version of The Swan. MTV is billing the show as The Remaking of Vince Neil and a recording contract and the opportunity to work with a top producer is at stake. Starting today, Vince will consult with a plastic surgeon and cut out his drinking, saying, “It’s not just for me, but for my career.” While the current Vince is in negotiations to reunite with Mötley Crüe in January next year, the new Vince is to be revealed on August 28, after seeing a lot of a trainer, a plastic surgeon and a lifestyle counselor.

Track ten titled Horny on OPM's second album Forthemasses features a sample of the famous Home Sweet Home piano intro throughout the song. The Californian trio is known for blending Latin hip-hop beats and conventional rock & roll riffs for an enjoyable pop sound.

7/6/04
The New York Post reports Vince has invited Tommy to join him on stage at Crobar in New York City tonight to “end their feud” during his appearance. Vince is appearing at the event as a guest at a joint birthday party thrown by singer Marc Anthony’s half-brother Bigram Zayas and club king Joey Morrissey, and is said to be receiving $50,000 for his performance from party sponsor Stella Artois. However, Tommy is currently spinning turntables on a string of Canadian concerts and does not attend.

Nikki is awarded a lifetime-achievement honour, dubbed the Spirit of Hammer Award, for his contribution to rock at the annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards 2004. Nikki accepts his award in person on a stage set up to look like a church, during the ceremony at the Hackney Ocean in East London. Metallica is named Best International Act, while Iron Maiden picks up the Best U.K. act award. The Darkness takes best video prize for Love is Only a Feeling and Slayer is named the Best Live Act.

8/6/04
John sings Hells Bells on a new AC/DC tribute CD from Rufftown Records called We Salute You. The disc features an all-star rock line-up, also including Tracii Guns, Bruce Kulick, Mark Slaughter, Joe Lynn Turner, Phil Lewis, Jizzy Pearl, Stephen Pearcy, Tommy Shaw, Ritchie Kotzen, Reb Beech, and Gilby Clarke. A bonus DVD is also included.

9/6/04
After hanging with all the guys from Drowning Pool, Hatebreed, Damageplan, Korn, Soil, Life of Agony, Ill Nino, Slayer, Silvertide, Slipknot and H.I.M. over the last few days in Europe, Nikki says he and the Brides have been having too much fun for one band. Nikki also had a photo shoot yesterday with Ville from H.I.M. and Dimebag, who was smashed when they started.

10/6/04
Vince is among the celebrities in attendance at game three of the 2004 NBA Finals between the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan.

12/6/04
Vince attends Maxim Magazine’s Annual Hot 100 Party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

19/6/04
Kerri Kelli plays his first show as guitarist in the Vince Neil solo band at Weirs Beach Drive-In, Laconia, New Hampshire.

20/6/04
Tommy DJs a Fathers’ Day party at Bellagio’s Light nightclub in Las Vegas. Sean Christie, the club’s Director of Marketing, later says Tommy “was playing lousy music; some of it was his own and most of it was totally unrecognisable, and the bottom line is, the crowd didn’t dig it. The last thing we were trying to do was embarrass the guy, so we told him to wrap-up his set and make a graceful exit. When he refused, we said we would just pull the plug on him, which is what we ended up doing.” According to Christie, Tommy started screaming obscenities into the crowd and pushing his Sanctuary management rep who had accompanied him. That’s when things got a bit out of hand, and Christie called for security officers who removed Tommy from the club. Tommy’s manager Carl Stubner then releases a statement to press denying Tommy’s removal from the venue saying, “Tommy walked out of the venue (with his personal security helping him with his gear) after thirty minutes into the show since it was clear that the ‘club’ management wanted him to play Top 40 hip-hop tunes for their lounge. People were dancing and enjoying the appearance. Tommy Lee will continue to successfully DJ for dance clubs, which is what he did, and did well.” Christie and the club were also annoyed that despite a rider detailing Tommy’s pay and extras, he continued to order $800 bottles of Cristal champagne and refused to pay for them – a claim that Stubner denies.

23/6/04
Nikki says Brides of Destruction has offers to play shows in Bangkok and Singapore, between their forthcoming concerts in Japan and Australia. Dates for the west coast of America are now being booked but he’s not sure what will happen after that point, saying there are huge offers for them to return for more shows in Europe during November and December. The band is keen to record and release an album, so time will tell.

29/6/04
To accomplish a Mötley Crüe reunion tour, an agreement is reached this month for the band to now be co-managed by Allen Kovac of Tenth Street Entertainment, Vince’s individual manager Burt Stein of B Entertainment, and Tommy’s individual manager Carl Stubner of Carl Stubner Productions (Stubner is also the individual manager of Mick Fleetwood as well as being a co-manager of Fleetwood Mac). Kovac and Tenth Street reduce their traditional 15% management commission to 12.813%, enabling Stein and Stubner to receive management commissions for services to Mötley Crüe at an agreed rate of 1.875% and 1.563% respectively. Mötley Crüe now pays a higher total commission so that each of the managers is responsible for the band’s management and subsequent successes or failures. Kovac acts as the band’s lead manager and supplies the resources through his company to execute the band’s strategy.

Mötley Crüe releases their next box set Music to Crash Your Car To Vol. 2 that includes the previously unreleased track Black Widow and a re-print of the Mötley Crüe comic book.

Brides of Destruction releases a new DVD-Audio version of their debut album Here Come The Brides. The new version is remixed into 5.1 surround sound, includes some extra photos, and contains two video pieces.

1/7/04
Upon return to California from Europe, Brides of Destruction guitarist Tracii Guns says the band will surely return for more shows in October/November. He says drummer Scot Coogan threw a complete hotel room’s worth of furniture, TV, plates, bathroom supplies and his own luggage out of their Chelsea hotel and then talked his way out of going to a London jail. Scot also did the most drugs, alcohol, etc. as well as got involved in a fist-fight on stage – not to forget setting a portable toilet on fire before it spread to six other portables.

7/7/04
As he takes his family on a ten day vacation, Nikki says he will be suing Dragonfly Clothing, as they have not accounted to him or paid monies owed, following millions of dollars in revenues grossed from clothing sales. He also says Brides of Destruction has decided to tour America and Canada on their next album instead of this year, to give them a chance to crack U.S. radio. Playing European festivals recently exposed the band to a lot of new fans and they plan to return there to headline two-and-a-half-thousand-seat venues this October or November.

20/7/04
Tommy is set to make a cameo appearance in the upcoming movie 10th & Wolf when shooting begins in Pittsburgh during September. Under the direction of Robert Moresco, 10th & Wolf will star Val Kilmer and Freddie Prinze Jr. as it tells the tale of a South Philadelphia family.

23/7/04
Vince is forced to cancel his performance at New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom after he is said to have broken his ankle in a car accident. John performs a rendition of Live Wire with Slaughter to help keep Mötley fans in attendance happy. Six months later, Vince discloses that the car accident actually occurred as he was cleaning the windows of his Ferrari. After slipping, he tried to brace his fall with the side view mirror but ripped it off the car’s body.

24/7/04
With his leg in a plaster cast up to his knee and unable to put much pressure it, Vince performs his show in Colorado on painkillers and crutches, sitting on a stool for most of the show. He has a separate stool for his beer and the crowd is appreciative of his overall performance.

27/7/04
Tommy is photographed leaving Joseph’s nightclub in Hollywood hand-in-hand with porn star Jesse Jane, the cover subject of Drowning Pool’s new album Desensitized and star of their latest music video Step Up.

The Crickets – the band that helped invent rock’n’roll with their singer Buddy Holly and cited as direct influences by numerous artists including the Beatles, the Hollies, and Bob Dylan – release their new album The Crickets & Their Buddies. It contains fifteen new tracks of classic songs featuring Vince singing I Fought The Law. Other friends and musical collaborators include Eric Clapton, Rodney Crowell, Waylon Jennings, Graham Nash, John Prine, Albert Lee, and Nanci Griffith.

3/8/04
John sings the song It’s Just My Life on the new album Transformer from his former Union band-mate Bruce Kulick, released through Perris Records.

4/8/04
Vince joins The Crickets on stage during their concert at the House of Blues in Hollywood to sing his rendition of I Fought The Law.

8/8/04
Brides of Destruction winds-up the last of their two Japanese shows at Osaka’s Summer Sonic Festival. Ginger from The Wildhearts joins them on stage for a rendition of Shout at the Devil.

12/8/04
Brides of Destruction kicks-off their three Australian shows in as many days at the Prince of Wales in Melbourne, with members of Jet and You Am I amongst the audience. It’s Nikki’s first performance in the country for over fourteen years. Half the band and crew members went to an Australian bush tucker restaurant the night before with Chronological Crue’s Paul Miles and dined on crocodile, wallaby, kangaroo, emu and buffalo, after Nikki worked on a new song during the day called Future Ex-Wife.

16/8/04
In New York last week, Vince told MuchMoreMusic during an interview that two weeks ago in Los Angeles, the four original Mötley Crüe members got together (Mick Mars by phone) with their managers and attorneys to see if they wanted to tour once again. With timing feeling right and everyone on board and ninety five percent committed, the upcoming tour is slated to last about two years, after a likely commencement in February 2005. It will be the first time the four original members will tour together in the twenty-first century.

18/8/04
Tommy takes his DJ show to the famous party holiday destination of Ibiza in Spain, before heading to Amsterdam for his next performance.

25/8/04
Tommy is to be the star of NBC TV’s latest reality show – a half-hour unscripted comedy with cameras following Tommy’s every move as he enrols in college and takes three or four classes per week. The creator of Bands Reunited and Wanda Does It, Eddie October, is behind the project, which is set up at NBC Universal Television and has a series commitment at the network. October and Tommy will executive-produce the untitled series along with Brian Transeau, Richard Bishop and Brad Wyman with Tommy’s manager Carl Stubner co-producing. The producers say he will do what normal college students do: root for the football team, study in the quad and have some good ol’ fashioned college fun. Two years ago MTV followed the experiences of a fraternity and sorority pledge class at The University at Buffalo but the institution recently declined to be involved in this new show.

26/8/04
Contest winners test their poker skills against Tommy, John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls and Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction/Red Hot Chili Peppers in the first Vegas Rock Star Poker Tournament and Sweepstakes at the Palms Casino Resort. Winners go through a poker tutorial before having dinner with Tommy, Navarro, and Rzeznik where they will get to know their fellow contestants. An exclusive private party for contest winners follows the all-in tournament, where the winner takes home $10,000.

2/9/04
James Michael says he’s been in Santa Monica for the last few days working with Nikki, Tracii Guns and Scot Coogan, writing some new songs for a Mötley Crüe hits record in the works. Three songs have been written as demos, ready to be tracked with completion likely by the weekend. Michael also says he and Nikki wrote a few songs with solo artist Marion Raven, formerly part of popular teen duo M2M. A couple of the songs they wrote for her are expected to be included on her forthcoming album on Atlantic Records early next year.

8/9/04
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that a Mötley Crüe reunion, of sorts, is to take place this week with Vince and Nikki recording four new songs at the Palms.

9/9/04
From Las Vegas where Vince is singing on some demos, Nikki says he’s been doing a lot of songwriting for both Brides of Destruction and Mötley Crüe. With no official plans for these songs at this point in time, he says it all starts with the music so time will tell. He adds that they’re loving the new tunes and having a blast, and Vince sounds and looks amazing as well. Nikki tells Chronological Crue the songs are titled Get Out, Black Roses, Entertain Us, and Another Bad Day.

11/9/04
Tommy has provided the grit for the ‘crunk rock’ mix of the Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz track Roll Call on their upcoming album Crunk Juice set for release on November 16 via TVT. Their previous album Kings of Crunk peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard 200 in 2002 and has sold just over two million copies in the United States.

12/9/04
As the final deposition in the Vans lawsuit is to have its day in court tomorrow, Nikki says the shoe company has offered settlements but they have all been a slap in the face and he can’t wait to take them to court and set straight that companies can not and will not be allowed to use celebrities’ images without permission.

Nikki says the direction of the new songs demoed last week are true rock ‘n’ roll and very Mötley sounding – perhaps Dr. Feelgood meets Shout at the Devil. He says Vince sang the best he’s heard him in years and they are looking at recording them properly in the very near future.

14/9/04
Tommy has a guest spot in the track Rap the Vote on a mixtape aimed at motivating the United States hip hop generation to register to vote. The mixtape, compiled by G UNIT’s DJ Whoo Kid in conjunction with non-profit, non-partisan youth voter organisation Rock the Vote, features twenty nine exclusive songs and freestyles from Pharell, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys, Jadakiss, G UNIT’s Lloyd Banks, Game And Youngbuck, Youngbloodz, Twista, Akon, Sleepy Brown, Bump J, Marvin Gaye, Monica, Jill Scott, Brandy and a track with the late Rick James produced by Kanye West. It also features other guest appearances from other celebrities including Halle Berry, Nas, P Diddy, and Mary J Blige.

Canadian punk band The Dayglo Abortions release their ninth full-length album titled Holy Shiite, which contains a 1:15 minute song called Vince Neil. The album cover artwork also features a Vince look-alike.

16/9/04
Vince’s sister says earlier in the day two police officers went to the house of Tommy’s sister Athena and told her they needed her to come with them to identify Tommy’s body. Athena called her mother Boula, who in turn called Vince’s mum who tried to calm Boula’s hysteria while Athena viewed the body and found out the facts. While in the police car, Athena asked the officers how many tattoos her brother’s body has on it and they replied none. It was apparently a different Tommy Lee that lived in Malibu who had hung himself. Vince called Tommy and let him know what had happened, who in turn called his family to let them know he was indeed alive and well. He was in fact spending time on Penn Avenue in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, on location shooting his acting parts in the filming of 10th and Wolf.

17/9/04
Production of the four new Mötley Crüe demo songs has now been completed by Nikki and Stevo Bruno from Klown Records and they are on their way to Bob Rock to get his input. Nikki feels really strongly about the songs and looks forward to re-recording them now that everybody will have a clear understanding of the direction of the music. Nikki’s attention now turns to finishing the writing for the next Brides of Destruction album while the release of his Heroin Diaries book draws nearer, following a new deal with Simon & Schuster recently being locked-in. Nikki says there will be a DVD featuring original music attached to the release of the book. He has also hired the top litigator he is using to sue Vans to also look at suing Dragonfly Clothing for monies owed.

18/9/04
Before his DJ gig at Moda in Cleveland, Tommy gets his bottom lip pierced at the Toproc Ink tattoo shop, wearing a silver barbell in it.

19/9/04
Vince leads the Chicken Dance during this year’s Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, hailed as the largest and most authentic Oktoberfest in the U.S.A. Wearing a t-shirt with the word Lucky emblazoned across it, he dances with two blonde girls in pigtails and traditional German outfits, before playing Don’t Go Away Mad and Kickstart My Heart and signing some autographs for fans.

20/9/04
Vince is presented with a special Rock ‘n’ Roll Award by Playboy model Taylor Kennedy at the twelfth annual Nightmoves Adult Entertainment Awards Show at Stormin’s Palace in Tampa, Florida.

22/9/04
Tommy attends the release party for his porn star girlfriend Jesse Jane’s new flick Island Fever 3 at Aura in Studio City, California.

28/9/04
Vince has collaborated with songwriting legend Desmond Child on a new song called Promise Me. A video for the track is to be filmed during Vince’s appearance at The Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas next week. The free event, which will serve as a Playboy party, will take place at The Palms Casino hotel pool and be filmed for Vince’s upcoming VH1 reality show.

Former The Cult touring bassist/current Doheny and Camp Freddy guitarist Billy Morrison says he is playing guitar for some new tracks with Tommy in Scott Humphrey’s studio The Chop Shop. Former Janes Addiction member Chris Chaney is laying down bass tracks. Once all the guitars are done, former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter will be doing the vocals with Tommy. Later in the day, the singer from Something Corporate, Andrew McMahon lends his vocals to another track with them. Morrison says it looks like Tommy’s next record will have a bunch of friends on it, and the tracks are sounding great.

1/10/04
Half a dozen songs into his set at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, Vince’s rotating stage is swamped by ladies mid-performance and they are met with little resistance from security. As one girl is removed by a security member, she yanks on Vince’s wrist, causing him pain. He cuts the show short due to the injury and heads backstage where he ices it up to reduce the swelling.

2/10/04
Tommy is among over a dozen judges at the Twenty-second Miss Hawaiian Tropic International Pageant U.S.A. finals at the Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku, Hawaii on the north shore of Oahu. Over a hundred young women compete in the beauty-based event, centered on bikini presentation and also personality before they go on to compete in the final international Miss Hawaiian Tropic competition in Las Vegas this spring.

3/10/04
Vince drives a black-and-chrome Springer chopper from Count’s Kustoms up to the steps of the stage setup at the pool of The Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, while being filmed for the VH1 show The Remaking of Vince Neil. All the decals on the chopper depict Vince’s favourite tattoos. He unveils his new look of twenty pounds lighter and brown hair replacing his dirty-blonde locks, before playing a set and filming a video clip for his new solo single Promise Me. A Playboy party and competition of old Playmates versus new Playmates also takes place.

4/10/04
Tommy has reportedly been accepted into a Lincoln, Nebraska university, where he will soon begin filming his NBC reality series centered on his enrolment in college. Tommy is set to arrive in Lincoln in two weeks to attend the biology, chemistry, and two English classes that he has signed up for so far. Shooting is to last for five weeks, presumably with a short break in between for his Tommyland book-signing tour.

5/10/04
Mick undergoes full hip replacement surgery in a minimally invasive surgical procedure at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Mick has been struggling with the chronic, degenerative illness, ankylosing spondylitis for some time and hopes the surgery will ease the pain of the damaged joint. He was initially against having the operation but after seeing photos of Eddie Van Halen moving on stage following his hip replacement, Mick agreed to go ahead with the procedure. Following the operation, surgeon Dr. Brad Penenberg says, “The surgery went extremely well and I expect him to be walking with the help of a physical therapist as early as Wednesday morning.” Allen Kovac, CEO of Tenth Street Entertainment, the band’s management company, issue the following statement, “Mötley Crüe is a gang of musicians that climbed the mountain of rock to success. A healthy Mick Mars gives hope to all those who love one of rock’s most passionate and aggressive bands.”

6/10/04
Singer-guitarist-songwriter Stacy Jones of the Boston-based quartet American Hi-Fi has collaborated with Mötley Crüe on a demo song for the Crüe’s upcoming CD, according to an update sent out to the American Hi-Fi mailing list. “Vince wasn’t around, so Stacy cut the vocals while Nikki and Tommy were playing,” the message reads. “Dreams come true.” Bob Rock was reportedly in the production chair.

7/10/04
Former high school dropout Tommy Lee begins life as a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student for an NBC reality TV show in which he’ll take classes in chemistry, horticulture, literature and the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Tommy mingles with fellow Cornhuskers while flanked by two film crews and a twenty-person production team filming the month-long show documenting campus life. He buys books and Nebraska apparel at the university bookstore while a mass of onlookers strain for a glimpse. Steve Westenbroek, university bookstore Assistant Director, says producers planned the storyline involving Tommy’s first day on campus with University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials earlier this week, adding that producers purchased most of the clothes Tommy modelled on camera prior to filming. Tommy will wear the gear to Saturday’s football game and he will try out for the Nebraska marching band on Monday. If selected, he will perform during halftime in an October 12 football game against Baylor. Tommy squeezes in pictures with bookstore employees and signs autographs for student fans in the rare minutes between shots. Crews re-shoot scenes of the drummer holding his mountain of books because they want a variety of camera angles, and producers instructed students recruited from the crowd exactly how to act with Tommy during filming. Crew members spot Holly Fricke, a sophomore fashion merchandising major, among the crowd of students and wanted the ‘pretty girl’ to help Tommy find the textbooks for his courses. A cheering crowd of enthusiastic students greet Tommy as he carries his six over-stuffed bags of clothes and his $1,685.75 bill out of the bookstore. NBC hopes to get six episodes worth of footage for a series set to air in the middle of next year.

Whilst school officials have said the show is a way for potential students to learn about the university, using Tommy to get that message out is causing some trepidation among administrators. Chancellor Harvey Perlman sent an e-mail to UNL staff and faculty addressing concerns with the reality show, saying he did not approve of Tommy’s past behaviour, but Tommy agreed to follow the Student Code of Conduct while in Lincoln. Perlman says he hopes the show will help the university in recruiting, “We were convinced the show had a positive message and that it will provide considerable exposure on a national basis.” NBC representatives met with members of the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska yesterday to discuss Tommy’s presence on campus. President Katie Weichman says, “Tommy Lee will be a noticeable presence on campus. Having camera crews anywhere is always a distraction, but we want the university to be portrayed as the high quality institution we think it is.”

Nikki attends the City of Hope Spirit of Life Award honouring Van Toffler at Green Acres Estate, the home of businessman Ron Burkle. Bob Rock attends with him.

10/10/04
Nikki says he spent time with Mick today who is already walking around and cracking jokes following his recent hip replacement. Mick says to thank everyone for their well wishes.

11/10/04
Tommy auditions for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln marching band’s drum line at 7am, as part of filming his new reality TV show Tommy Lee Goes to College. After warming up by playing cadences, he keeps pace with the band as they blast out La Fiesta while doing formations. Carolyn Barber, Director of Bands, says Tommy made it into the marching band on a temporary basis, but he must prove he has mastered the half-time show’s marching and music to stay in the group for the next home game against Baylor University this Saturday. She was impressed with his whole demeanour and Tommy appeared to enjoy the two-hour practice, before walking out of the stadium to his red-and-white striped AC Cobra replica and giving bystanders a two-finger peace sign before getting in the car. Producers are declining to say what else the week has in store for Tommy but there is talk of him getting a red “N” tattoo as a memento of his time in college.

Meanwhile, film producer Brad Wyman says he discovered the reality show’s storyline as he collaborated with composer Brian ‘BT’ Transeau and former Journey frontman Steve Perry while creating the soundtrack to Monster, the 2003 major motion picture starring Charlize Theron. BT’s artistry and capacity for mixing musical compositions impressed Perry, who was contributing to the movie’s title song at the time, and BT told him that he went to college. Perry commented that ‘maybe if he went to college, he could learn something and be more inspired in his music.’ The exchange led to Wyman and BT uncovering a hit reality show in the idea of documenting an aging rock star returning to college. Realising Perry was not the right star for a reality show; Wyman remembered working with Tommy when he produced the film Barb Wire in 1996. Tommy’s magnetism for controversy and gift of maintaining the public’s interest made him the perfect candidate for the reality show’s premise. The pieces soon came together as they recruited Eddie October, television producer for VH1’s Bands Reunited (2003) and The Roseanne Show (1998), to direct the show, while the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s reputation and cooperative attitude with producers moved the university to the top of the short list of three or four schools being considered as a venue for the show. With a controversial celebrity, experienced director and preferred college, Wyman and BT spent a week pitching their idea to major television networks and NBC executives were the ones to jump at the show’s idea, immediately requesting an exclusive contract with the network.

12/10/04
Britain’s Metal Hammer magazine say the original Mötley Crüe is locked-in to play a string of five U.K. shows from June 14 next year.

16/10/04
Tommy joins the University of Nebraska marching band during the Nebraska-Baylor football game. He doesn’t march into the stadium with the band before the game, but joins them in the stands in full uniform, bobbing his head and playing along with the other drummers. During the half-time performance, Tommy plays a rack of five tom-toms carried over his shoulders. A cheer goes up from the seventy-seven-thousand-plus crowd when Tommy is shown on the stadium’s giant TV screens during a rendition of Stan Kenton’s arrangement of the melodic Cuban song Malaguena. When the half-time entertainment ends, the drummers gather on the northwest corner of the field, marching diagonally across the field to the stands. Tommy stays in perfect formation and on the regimented beat, then slaps hands and takes pictures with the other drummers when the formation reaches the sideline.

17/10/04
Tracii Guns says that while Nikki goes into Mötley mode during 2005, the rest of the Brides of Destruction members are planning on writing more tunes for the band’s next album, and playing shows under a different name with Steve Bruno on bass.

18/10/04
Nikki says it’s nice to hear that fans, bands, promoters and agents would like to see a Mötley Crüe tour, but right now he knows Vince is booking tons of live shows, Tommy is busy promoting a book and doing his reality show and Mick is in rehabilitation after surgery. “Who knows when and if he would feel up to it even if there was a tour. It takes four guys to do it and it hasn’t happened since 1999. All I know is all four of us haven’t been in the same room in six years, so in the world of Mötley I’d say don’t hold your breath.”

19/10/04
Tommy’s two-hunded-and-eighty-eight-page autobiography Tommyland is released by Atria Books, the hardcover imprint of Simon & Schuster.

22/10/04
Vince guests on the TV show American Casino, playing blackjack and judging a swimsuit beauty contest at the opening of Green Valley Ranch’s shopping complex.

Tommy guests on 20/20, before being interviewed by Dave Letterman on The Late Show.

24/10/04
A one-week auction of the private collection of Mötley Crüe’s first manager/producer – the late Allan Coffman – comes to a close with the final bids on over a hundred auction lots. His widow Barbara Coffman selected Backstage Auctions as the auctioneer to offer the unique and vintage items from 'The Early Years (1981-1982)' to fans and collectors, stored by her since Allan’s passing in 1992 from brain cancer at age forty eight. Ninety eight percent of the collection sells, which includes such rare items as hand-written lyrics to all songs from Too Fast For Love and the band’s first 7” single, posters, handbills, live and studio photos, complete financial records, signed contracts and management documents, pins, vinyl, tapes, video dubs, reels, acetates, promotional goods, t-shirts and many other truly one-of-a-kind, invaluable collectibles. Winning bidders receive a certificate of authenticity signed by Barbara Coffman with every item. Ms. Coffman says of the hugely successful auction, "I only wish that Allan was still alive to have experienced the auction because I know that he would have been so thrilled that fans around the world had the opportunity to own a piece of his collection. He always had a great appreciation for all of you – the fans – who were so important to Mötley Crüe’s success. Thank you for keeping the legend alive."

It's later reported that Nikki vehemently objects to the auction, divulging that Barbara Coffman tried to sell the memorabilia to him for ten thousand dollars, to which he refused on grounds that it was his property to begin with.

25/10/04
Tommy guests on the ABC TV show Good Morning America, before signing copies of his Tommyland book in-store at the Rockefeller Center Barnes & Noble in New York City during lunch time. He then guests on CNN’s Larry King Live program in the evening.

Meanwhile Vince plays the first of a string of Canadian solo shows.

28/10/04
Vince has told Launch Radio Networks that he’s been working on songs for his third solo studio album, but his constant tour schedule has been making it hard to really spend time on the project. He says he needs some time to get stuff together but there’s a lot of music floating around. They just need to get everything together and get out there and get it recorded.

Phoned into a Seattle radio program, Tommy says he’s heard talk about a Mötley Crüe reunion but “let’s just say, all four of us haven’t been in a room together and decided what the hell is going on, so it’s just a rumour.” After another in-store book signing, this time in Florida, he hosts a release party for his autobiography Tommyland at the Rokbar club in Miami Beach, of which he is a part-owner.

29/10/04
Tommy gives Rolling Stone magazine some further insight into his next solo album, saying these songs are probably the best he’s ever written in his life. “I’m making a really freestyle, collaborating record, all guest stars: I’ve reached out to Lenny Kravitz and Nikka Costa, and Nick Carter and I have a beautiful song we do together. Butch Walker came over. I’m hoping we can put it out in January. New Year, new record – Boom! Blam!” He also plans to record the University of Nebraska drum corp for possible inclusion.

Halfway through performing his third song of the night Wild Side, Vince leaves the stage at Iron Horse Saloon in Kingston after some people in the raucous crowd lob beer at him and his band. Security gets the crowd under control after about fifteen minutes and sets up a barricade to prevent the sound monitors from being pushed further back and to prevent people from being jammed up against the front of the stage. Three girls are pulled out, most of them with long scratches from being pinned to the plywood stage and one was nearly passed out.

30/10/04
Towards the end of his set at Gilley’s Dallas, Vince has issues with the sound level of his guitar and the soundboard operator Mike. After throwing his guitar down on stage, Vince walks over and leaps on top of the soundboard and reportedly slaps the soundman with an open hand, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the floor. Vince then leaves the stage, signalling a premature end to the show, while Dallas Police storm the area as paramedics arrive. Dallas Police say criminal trespass charges are being brought against Vince and he’s never allowed back on Gilley’s property. He was free to leave on his tour bus but detectives will be following up and he’ll be set a court date in Dallas to face the charges.

31/10/04
Vince headlines the Halloween KLOL Outlaw Masked Ball event in Houston, Texas at the Verizon Wireless Theatre. Vince takes the stage in his Miller Lite racing outfit while band members Brent Fitz and Keri Kelli perform as masked men, and bassist Alan Vine plays in a full Hooters uniform including the trademark orange shorts and large orange balloons under a white Hooters shirt. Earlier in the day, Vince met fans at the Hard Rock Café for the ZRock Crüe for the Cure Charity Meet and Greet with all the donations directly benefiting the Skylar Neil Memorial Fund and TJ Martell Foundation.

2/11/04
Tommy’s autobiography Tommyland debuts at number twenty eight on the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Bestseller list for the week ending November 7, reflecting sales for the week ending October 23. Scar Tissue, the memoir of Red Hot Chilli Peppers front-man Anthony Keidis, debuts at number fifteen.

3/11/04
After guesting on TV show Regis and Kelly earlier in the day, Tommy is interviewed on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien to promote Tommyland. Meanwhile MTV.com reports that a Mötley Crüe reunion tour is currently being planned and Tommy says he recently got together with Nikki and recorded a couple of tracks. Tommy also confirmed that two songs (one heavy, one mellow) that he originally wrote for Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter’s now-aborted solo album will end up on his own solo CD.

4/11/04
Nikki joins his wife Donna at the opening night reception of the 2004 California Independent Film Festival at the Zephyr Grill & Bar in the Livermore wine valley. Donna’s most recent film Comic Book: the Movie screens later in the night at the Vine Cinema as part of the film festival’s opening.

8/11/04
Ticket agents for Vince’s U.K. tour later this month email ticket-holders advising the dates have been rescheduled to December 2005. Vince is currently unable to leave the U.S. after being forced to surrender his passport, following the recent scuffle with a Dallas sound person nine days ago and subsequent charges being laid against him.

9/11/04
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, producer Bob Rock confirms he has cut four songs with the original Mötley Crüe members, quickly adding, “I didn’t say they were all in the same room at the same time.” Meanwhile Nikki says, “The new Crüe songs turned out f@ckin’ killer. Not sure where they will turn up, but like any good splinter, I’m sure they will work themselves out and break through to the surface sometime. Who knows, not me.” Nikki also says he has been hard at work ‘buttoning up’ his book The Heroin Diaries, as well as being locked in his home studio writing music for it, as it gets prepared for release next year. He tells fans that Mick is doing great and sends his love.

During a private book-signing at Simon & Schuster’s midtown offices earlier in the week, publisher Judith Curr of the Atria division congratulated Tommy, telling him that his autobiography Tommyland had just made The New York Times best-seller list. According to the New York Daily News, Tommy was so moved that his eyes welled up before he said, “This is totally awesome! Killer, dudes!”

11/11/04
More than six hundred people attend a free concert at a downtown Lincoln venue, hosted by Tommy as part of his reality TV series. He plays drums to open the ninety-minute show, doing three takes of a cover of the Beastie Boys’ 1986 party anthem Fight for Your Right for the film crew. Tommy and other DJs then spin techno records for the crowd from a platform built on the stage by the show’s set designers that is dominated by a red letter N in the centre and flanked by a pair of Blackshirts flags. The show also includes the members of the drum line from the Nebraska marching band with whom Tommy played at the Nebraska-Baylor football game. At the end of the show, Tommy thanks the crowd and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, saying he will be spinning records for the rest of the night at downtown Lincoln dance club Bricktop.

12/11/04
Tommy flies out of Lincoln having completed shooting for his NBC reality TV show. Tentatively titled Tommy Lee Goes to College, the show is scheduled to air on NBC sometime next year.

13/11/04
Vince plays the Key Club in West Hollywood at the first Legends and Prodigies concert: a new star-search contest that offers young, talented musicians (rock, R&B, hip-hop, Latin) a unique chance to be promoted via live performances and international tours together with legendary artists in their corresponding musical genres. The event is attended by an impressive roster of Hollywood celebrities, famous athletes, recording industry executives and international VIPs.

Meanwhile Michael Talbert, the Dallas soundman allegedly assaulted by Vince the night before Halloween, speaks to the press about the incident for the first time. After motioning for more guitar volume, Vince allegedly ran across the stage, leaped onto the soundboard and swung at the soundman. It seems he first tried to kick Talbert, but missed, before striking him with a closed fist, according to a police report. Talbert, who was looking down, saw only the monitor and Vince’s foot next to him before losing consciousness for about almost a minute after his punch knocked him to the ground. He says a CT scan revealed he suffered a mild concussion. “He clocked me pretty good on my eyeball,” said Talbert. “He just went cuckoo nutso.”

15/11/04
After guesting on the Kevin & Bean Morning Show on Los Angeles radio station KROQ, Tommy attends an in-store book signing at Tower Records in West Hollywood in the evening. To wind-out the day’s promotional activities, Tommy then guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

16/11/04
Tommy provides the grit for the ‘crunk rock’ mix of the Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz track Roll Call on their album Crunk Juice released today via TVT. Other artists to guest on the album include Bad Brains, Lil Scrappy, R. Kelly, Ludacris, Nas, T.I., Jadakiss, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Sugar Free, Trillville and Jazze Pha.

19/11/04
Nikki says all the band got on the phone over a week ago and it felt good as they talked about how a promoter in England came to them with all this info on how there’s a huge buzz on Mötley Crüe worldwide and push for them to tour. He says they all agreed to get together in the flesh and did a few things that we will be able to look at in a couple weeks. “No promises, let’s just see where this leads (I don’t wanna get your hopes up too high). Thanks, more to come.”

20/11/04
Tommy is on hand to mingle with beauties as Bench Warmer Trading Cards celebrates Fall Fantasy the Release of the 2004 Trading Card Series at Bliss in West Hollywood, California.

25/11/04
Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro is the latest musician ready to guest on the forthcoming Tommy Lee solo album, as he prepares to record his appearance during December.

26/11/04
Hard rock radio personality Eddie Trunk announces on his Friday Night Rocks radio show on New York’s Q104.3 FM that he will be traveling to Los Angeles next weekend to interview the four original members of Mötley Crüe and cover the band’s reunion press conference for VH1. The press conference will apparently take place on December 6 on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. VH1 and VH1 Classic are expected to broadcast the highlights of the press conference as well as air portions of the pre-recorded interviews conducted by Trunk.

27/11/04
Mötley Crüe recently issued a casting call for a female lead to star in the band’s new video for a song called If I Die Tomorrow. Auditions for the role were held in Los Angeles on November 15-16 and the video producers were seeking talent specified as: “Brunette, female, Caucasian, light Hispanic or light mixed ethnicity (exotic), 18 to 24 yrs old, hot, great body, voluptuous. Must be able to act and must have curves. She will be in every scene of this video. Great exposure, VH1 is doing a behind-the-scenes show and launch for this.” Several music message boards are abuzz with reports that the band have been filming a video in Hollywood over the past few days and it is rumoured that the Crüe will play one or more warm-up gigs at the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood prior to the launch of their reunion tour.

30/11/04
MediaWeek in the U.K. says Mötley Crüe will mark their return to the fold with a major marketing deal with Kerrang!, Emap’s rock multi-media brand. The deal has been touted as a significant breakthrough for the Kerrang! stable at Emap and will include activity across the magazine, radio, television stations and online offering. Tickets for the band’s reunion tour of the U.K., earmarked for June 2005, will go on-sale on December 7 and be heavily promoted from November 30 for four weeks. The band will also host a special radio show on West Midlands’ FM station, Kerrang! 105.2.

1/12/04
Tommy is among the celebrities to appear on the VH1 Big in ‘04 event at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, sharing the stage with Jenny McCarthy.

Mötley Crüe’s much anticipated Deluxe Boxed Set of Shout at the Devil era live performance action figures by McFarlane Toys ships out to retail stores.

2/12/04
Mötley Crüe’s new single If I Die Tomorrow is scheduled to go for radio adds on December 6-7, immediately following the band’s press conference announcing their upcoming reunion tour and CD/DVD releases.

Meanwhile John’s authorised autobiography is reportedly finished and currently being bid over by several publishers. Co-author Jake Brown says to expect it to be released in the middle of next year.

3/12/04
Nikki says the Crüe wants to thank all the fans in advance for kicking the new single If I Die Tomorrow in the ass. He hopes we all love it as much as the band does. Nikki co-wrote the new track with the Montreal-based punk-pop band Simple Plan. Bob Rock recently produced Simple Plan’s sophomore album Still Not Getting Any. Nikki first came across Simple Plan when he took his daughter to see Avil Lavigne in concert and they played in support.

Nikki’s Brides of Destruction guitarist Tracii Guns airs his thoughts on the new Crüe single If I Die Tomorrow by saying, “OK, I am the biggest Mötley fan in the world and this new song sucks donkey’s ass, elephant’s ass and my mom’s ass. Vince’s voice has never been better and they made him sing this shit. I am embarrassed. Yes, Nikki’s my best friend, but I ain’t goin’ along with this one ‘cause I would look like a donkey’s donkey. Look at it this way... If I brought in a song like that for Brides, I would surely get fired and Nikki would be very vocal with his opinion as well. That’s what friends do. Unfortunately, friends don’t always listen to each other. On the flipside, I hope it is a major smash hit!”

4/12/04
Nikki says, “I think it’s fair to say we’ve been having a good time getting our feet wet. Thanks for the support on If I Die Tomorrow. We feel it’s a breath of fresh air for us. We’ve always been about doing the unexpected. So what’s next? Live?”

The Crüe certainly has been unpredictable over the years; and talk abounds that Darren Jay "DJ" Ashba played all guitars on the new Mötley songs while Mick was recovering from his recent surgery. Crüe management advises Chronological Crue, “That’s not the case, Mick cut guitars on those songs with additional guitars by DJ” who only assisted on the demo versions of the songs to get them tracked, as well as Nikki and Bob Rock. Nikki responds online to fans by saying, “When we tracked the four new songs, we weren’t all there at the same time. Tommy was doing a book tour (and his show), Vince was doing gigs (and his TV show) and Mick was in surgery. Welcome to my crazy world. This is how it had to work. We played the guitars (scratch tracks) until Mick was out of the hospital and he could do his own parts. Give the guy some respect. He is the man of steel. He’s had surgery, recorded new music, done photo sessions, interviews, a video, and is right-now playing like a motherf@cker. Amazing – I wish I had his strength. In fact, we’re writing music as we speak. I’d think there is something to celebrate for all four of us to be doing this, and the fact that we don’t do what people want or expect is the heart of Mötley Crüe.”

Nikki also responds to those fans who voiced their resentment of the collaboration with Simple Plan on the new single by saying, “I wrote a song with the lead singer and guitar player from a band called Simple Plan. No, we didn’t do their song. I also wrote with Bryan Adams and others in my career. I love to write with all kinds of artists, you would be surprised at the cool music I’ve been involved in when collaborating with others. I love it. Also, when Saliva did Rest in Pieces, did Mötley write their single because I’m in the Crüe? No. I also wrote with Stacey from American Hi-Fi recently.”

Mötley Crüe and Motley.com announce the return of the official Mötley Crüe S.I.N. fan club, along with ticket presales and packages for the Red, White and Crüe Tour 2005.....Better Live Than Dead! Fan club members will get access to a great new Motley.com website and exclusive content, including videos, audio and photos. An exclusive S.I.N. fan club t-shirt, designed by the band and more. The Better Live Than Dead tagline was created by Mötley’s movie screenwriter Rich Wilkes.

5/12/04
Brides of Destruction co-founder Tracii Guns has apparently been banned from posting on the Crüe’s online message boards after stating in a posting last week that the new Mötley Crüe single was shit. In a follow-up message on Metal Sludge’s Gossip Board, Guns says, “Nikki had me banned... HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA... It’s an honor to be banned by Nikki Sixx. How do I get hooked up with these egomaniacs???? I just WANNA ROCK!!!!” Responding to queries about Guns’ apparent banning from the Crüe message boards, Nikki writes, “Thanks for assuming, but I don’t have any idea. I’m not in the Brides. Maybe the webmaster had his fill of the bullshit.”

6/12/04
Nikki begins the day by telling fans, “Here we go, buckle up and hold on tight. The engines are engaged and the runway is clear for takeoff. Lights, action, rock ‘n’ roll. Here we go again on Dysfunction Junction Airlines. We only guarantee one thing, it’s gonna be unpredictable. God must love a drama, or he wouldn’t have created Mötley Crüe. Like going to the car races, so many of us hopefully will see a car crash. Macabre in nature... we expect to be entertained. We won’t disappoint. December 6th 2004. The journey starts here...”

The original members of Mötley Crüe then announce their reunion and a world tour – VH1 & VH1 Classic Present “Mötley Crüe: Red White & Crüe Tour 2005…Better Live Than Dead” – with a 6pm press conference at the Hollywood Palladium. The band plans to arrive by landing their Red, White & Crüe-emblazoned helicopter in the parking lot, but the Los Angeles Fire Marshall pulls the permit at the last minute, even though appropriate permits had been obtained and approved by the FAA. After circling the building in the chopper, the group lands at a nearby location and drives up to the venue in a custom black Hot Rod Hearse made by Count’s Kustoms, decked out for the Crüe with plasma screens and other A/V circuitry.

The two-thousand-strong fan and media crowd is warmed-up by Steve-O of MTV Jackass fame who cuts up his tongue and chest with broken glass, smearing blood on his cheeks like Nikki Sixx war-paint. The whole band is briefly interviewed backstage on CNN live national television by Larry King before they walk on stage and kick-off their set with Dr. Feelgood, followed by Shout at the Devil ‘97, If I Die Tomorrow, Girls, Girls, Girls and Wild Side. It’s the original Mötley Crüe line-up’s first live show together since the departure of Tommy in 1999.

The band says they are set to tour the world all through 2005, commencing with arena shows in the U.S.A. and Canada during February and March, followed by Latin American dates in May that will be announced shortly. The band will then play U.K. arenas with Killing Joke in support, as well as a string of European festivals in June, before a forty-three-date amphitheatre leg runs through North America during August and September. Dates for a Southeast Asia leg through Japan, Australia and New Zealand in November and December are expected to be announced soon.

In conjunction with the tour, Mötley Crüe also announces the February 1 release of a double-disc anthology collection titled Red, White & Crüe that chronicles the band’s musical career and includes three new songs. The first is the new single If I Die Tomorrow, which is supported by an autobiographically-driven music video that was shot over eight-to-nine hours. Also included will be a cover version of the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards-penned Street Fighting Man from the Rolling Stones’ 1968 Beggars Banquet album. Sick Love Song winds out the thirty-seven-track set.

While the stage show is currently being worked out, Tommy says to expect something big, “Put it this way, we’re meeting with some very, very crazy people right now. They’re all as crazy as us, so I can’t tell you what the outcome is ‘cos I don’t have a crystal ball. But I can just pretty much guarantee when you get all these people in the same room, there’s going to be some f@cked up shit that’s going to happen.”

An after-party is held at the Whisky A Go-Go, which was originally going to be the location for the press conference until fan-based word-of-mouth swelled expected numbers and the City of West Hollywood disallowed them. Tommy performs a DJ set on stage for the invite-only crowd before DJ Ashba and his band rocks the party.

7/12/04
Nikki says If I Die Tomorrow will now be put into immediate Heavy Rotation across AOL Music and AOL Radio, based on its impressive stats from its recent First Listen campaign. More than one hundred and fifty thousand people heard the song across AOL Music and AOL Radio in the first twenty four hours it was available, helping to propel them to the number one most searched-for artist on AOL. Over the first three days, two hundred and fifteen thousand listens occurred. These numbers are comparable to recent First Listens from Tupac, Fantasia, Mick Jagger, and Sheryl Crow. All up, over forty five million across the network saw that Mötley Crüe is back with a new song. Eight seven percent of AOL members who voted on the song gave it a positive rating with forty nine percent saying “I loved it!”

8/12/04
Mötley Crüe presents the Digital Artist of the Year award during the 2004 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The introduction of nominees doesn’t run smoothly as Vince and actress Tara Reid both are unable to read the distant teleprompter. Tommy manages better and hands proceedings over to Nikki, whose parting comments are censored by the network. Mick coolly reads from a paper before pop rock act Maroon5 is announced as the winner. Security reportedly escorts the Mötley men out of the building immediately following their presentation as they brought along a documentary crew and had a few too many people in their posse.

Bassist Marty O’Brien says he laid down some bass in the studio for the upcoming Tommy Lee solo CD last week with Tommy and guitarist Phil-X, after watching Mötley Crüe rehearse earlier in the day.

Commenting about the on stage murder of Dimebag Darrell, Nikki says, “Dime, I will never forget all the times you made us laugh. I’m so happy we got to spend the day together in London recently. We should all live our lives as full as you have. I will miss you, as will all of us. This is a sad day.”

9/12/04
All Crüe members re-visit the site of the original Mötley house at 1140 N Clark Street, Hollywood for a photo shoot. The revovated residence is currently tenanted by British musical artist Har Mar Superstar.

William H. Larson, an original Mötley Crüe co-manager, passes away from cancer in Van Nuys, California, aged forty four. In 1997, Bill Larson was the first person to be interviewed by Paul Miles for Chronological Crue.

10/12/04
Nikki says he is disappointed in Tracii Guns for airing his opinion on the new Mötley Crüe song with such venom in public, when he knows how important this is to him and the band. “I put my heart and soul into the new Crüe. So there, I said it… disappointed in a friend. As far as heart and soul, I put it into the Brides too. I used every connection of mine for the band (got us a record deal, merch deal and world tour on my name), pulled favors and funded it myself. So do I believe in it? F@ck yes, or I wouldn’t have done that for us. Do I believe they can go on without me? Hell yes… and trust me when I say it will rock. Am I gonna do the Crüe the next twelve months? F@ck yes. What’s after that? Who the f@ck knows… cross that bridge when we get there.” Nikki also says he’s proud of the Brides of Destruction, “I want them to go on and kill the world. I respect Tracii as a player. We have a friendship carved in flesh with razorblades (sometimes painful and very human).”

Mötley Crüe performs their new single If I Die Tomorrow on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on ABC before closing the show out with Dr. Feelgood. This is their first television performance in six years and it’s simulcast live in New York’s Times Square. They also play Girls, Girls, Girls for the fans in attendance, which is not broadcast on the TV show. The band is again prohibited to arrive in their Red, White & Crüe helicopter.

If I Die Tomorrow is the number one most-added song on both Mainstream and Active Rock radio formats in its first week. The first date of the forthcoming tour to go on-sale is Toronto, Canada and it sells out within hours, prompting the tour’s promoter to try and add additional seats. Canadian radio stations in Winnipeg and Calgary, as well as stations in the U.S. and around the world, have started their own Bring the Crüe campaigns emulating what U.K. promoter Mags Ravell did to help bring the Crüe back together.

13/12/04
Simple Plan drummer Chuck Comeau, who co-writes Simple Plan’s songs with his singer Pierre Bouvier, says, “It’s pretty dope to be thinking that such an influential huge band chose to work on a song that we wrote, for their comeback, their greatest hits package and their reunion tour. It’s pretty amazing. It’s fun that we wrote the song and we loved it when we wrote it but it didn’t really sound like it belonged on the album. After our project, Bob Rock was going to work with Mötley Crüe on like four new songs and they were looking for people to write with and looking for songs, so Bob played them the song and they really liked it. Nikki worked on some stuff on it, changed a few lines, then they recorded it. It’s the original line-up that recorded it, and we’re really stoked about it.” Comeau also says Nikki didn’t alter much, just a few lines in the verse and some other minor things, but it was enough to give the band a piece of the publishing. “Anytime you write a song with anybody, you have to figure out how you split it up, and it was really chill with them and cool. They could have been jerks and said, ‘We’re Mötley Crüe. We gotta take this.’ But they’re not like that at all. They were always gentlemanly. It was awesome.”

Vince plays a private solo show at the Granada Theater in Dallas, opening the party for six hundred people with his performance. Attendees say it was a wild party and the best of the year.

14/12/04
Once Mötley Crüe is introduced at The Spike TV Video Game Awards, Vince and Nikki ride up onto the stage on choppers before Mick appears from below the stage and Tommy’s drum kit lowers into position from the ceiling. They commence Girls, Girls, Girls with a wall of flames in front of the drum riser and scantily-clad dancing girls swinging on strippers’ poles, both on stage and out in the audience. After Mick’s solo, more girls come on stage followed by the night’s host, Snoop Dogg, who raps sporting a Crüe t-shirt during a breakdown section. This extended section of the song throws the band out of timing with its sequencer and then each other. The technical issues continue into their next tune Dr. Feelgood as the band struggles through their performance as show credits roll on-screen.

Tracii Guns says, “I have had great talks with London and Scot and we have decided to move forward with the Brides of Destruction. We are gonna take it slow and make sure we get the right guy to fill in for Nikki. As you know Nikki has to leave for now and there is a possibility that he may not ever come back to the Brides, so whether or not the new bass player is temporary or not we have to choose assuming that he will be a permanent member of the Brides brotherhood. We are finishing up the new songs right now. As soon as we find our new brother we will go straight into rehearsal and recording. The wedding is over. Let’s get the reception cookin’.”

15/12/04
An arrest warrant for misdemeanour assault is issued for Vince, stemming from the altercation with the sound man at Gilley’s in Dallas during his October 30 show. The club’s soundman Michael Talbert was knocked unconscious by a punch allegedly thrown by Vince that forced him to the floor, before a CAT scan showed a mild concussion. According to a police report attached to the warrant, the singer motioned for more guitar volume but bolted across the stage as Talbert adjusted it. The affidavit said Vince jumped onto the soundboard, kicked at Talbert, and then punched him in the face. The soundman was knocked unconscious for about forty five seconds, the warrant says. Police gave Vince a criminal-trespass warning before he left the club and headed to Houston for a Halloween show. Dallas police and prosecutors say if Vince doesn’t contact them about the warrant, they probably will wait to act on it when he returns to the area. Mötley Crüe has announced a concert at Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie on March 17. If convicted, Vince faces up to one year in jail and a fine of $4,000.

17/12/04
Responding to a USAToday chat question about the support act for the forthcoming tour, Nikki says, “We are in the midst of looking for someone we respect and would be refreshing and cool, so it’s a little premature right now. Now that the shows are selling out, we’re looking for people to be a part of this tour.”

Mötley Crüe hits the number one position on the Pollstar Top 50 concert tours list in its first week, ahead of Duran Duran then Ashlee Simpson, who sports a Mötley Dr. Feelgood-era T-shirt in her latest music video for the song La La. The Eagles follow at four, ahead of last week’s number one Elton John, and Rod Stewart.

21/12/04
Crüe concert tickets continue to be hot property as shows sell out, including the band’s concert at the world’s most famous arena: the nineteen-and-a-half-thousand-seat capacity Madison Square Gardens in New York City.

31/12/04
Mötley Crüe performs on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to a huge, live national TV audience, including a simulcast on huge Sony screens into Times Square, New York City. As Leno introduces the band, he announces that, per intense fan demand, they are adding twenty five new dates to their Red, White & Crüe Tour 2005 ... Better Live Than Dead. The band rips through a tight performance of Girls, Girls, Girls with Vince wishing Tommy a “Happy F@cking New Year” mid-song. The band then plays Dr. Feelgood to bring the show and 2004 to a close. NBC edits out the offending word for West Coast viewers after airing live without a five-second delay to East Coast viewers.

On with the show