FUSE TV - Fuse Q&A: Tommy Lee On His Facebook “Rant,” the Mystery of KISS

The Theatre of Pain meets Detroit Rock City this Friday when the co-headlining tour of Mötley Crüe and KISS kicks off in Bristow, VA. To prepare ourselves for this one-two punch to the eardrums, we spoke with Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and learned about his obsession with seeing KISS unmasked back in the 1980s, why he wrote that Facebook “rant” asking fans to stop hassling him for pictures and how much he loves the new album from punky-bluesters Band of Skulls. And while you marvel at the amount of obscenities one man can make, listen to our Tommy Lee Spotify Playlist on our Spotify app for the drummer's greatest hits.

So you're going on tour with KISS, which is incredible. You guys had a few shows with them back in 1982. What do you remember most about that time?

I just remember it being really quick: I was so bummed! I was like, "Wait, that’s it?" I was so dead-set on seeing what they really looked like. That was my thing. I was like, "Oh man, I’m finally gonna be able to see what these dudes look like in sound check and sh*t," you know? And of course, I never got to see that because when they did walk into sound check they had a scarf on their face or they were covered up, so I never did get to see what they looked like. In one way I was bummed, but in another way I was like, "That’s f**kin’ cool." You know what I mean? Just that surprise and mystery of it all is what I was infatuated with. More than the show or the music or learning anything it was just like, "What do they really look like?"

And now you can just turn on the TV and see Gene Simmons without his makeup.

I know!

Were you a big fan of them going into the tour?

I don’t think I’ll ever forget opening up Kiss' Alive II. You open up the album [on vinyl] like a book. The two sides open up into this big centerfold with all this fire and crazy sh*t and that’s when for me I was like, "Whoa, what the f**k is this?" Musically a little bit, too. I was such a huge fan of John Bonham and Led Zeppelin and that kinda stuff, but when it came to a show I was like, "Wow, this is it, now we're talkin'." So yeah, [opening for KISS] meant different things to me but it still freaked me out for sure.

Even in the last five years you guys have toured with a lot of incredible bands from Aerosmith to New York Dolls. What about this tour will be different from those?

Um… you know when you just mentioned we toured with a lot of bands, I just immediately rewound and thought about playing with the Stones and Aerosmith and Cheap Trick and all these bands that we grew up with. That’s weird. I haven’t really thought about that in a while and you just reminded me of that and I just got goose bumps. That’s awesome, thanks. Um… but what was your question? I spun out for a second.

Oh yeah, no problem. So for the fans who have been to the last few tours, what can they expect differently from you guys on this one?

You wouldn’t believe the scale of both of our shows. When we label it "the tour," it really is "the f**kin’ tour" to see both of these bands on one stage. As a matter of fact, I just got done redoing the whole roller coaster drum solo portion of the show and its f**kin' rad. Sometimes at this point in the game it’s hard to get excited about things, but this is definitely one of those things where I tell people, "If I wasn’t in Mötley Crüe, I'd be f**king going to this show anyway." It's quite the f**kin’ event. You’d probably see me standin’ on a chair with my f**kin’ fist up in the air and a beer in another hand going “F**k yeah dude!'”

Any chance your new "Sex" single is going to end up on a new Crüe album?

Well, you know, I guess you never really know. It was one of those where we wanted to have something new out there for the summer and it's really killer. And it's the first time we’ve ever given anything away as a free download. It’s a gift! It's some summer fun from us, you know? 

I'm surprised it’s taken you guys this long to have a song come out that’s just called "Sex."

You know, me too, dude.