TRACII GUNS: 'NIKKI SIXX Has Become The Best Friend I Have Ever Had'

BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION guitarist Tracii Guns recently spoke to Chicago Innerview about his partnership with MÖTLEY CRÜE's Nikki Sixx.

"It's really weird, I knew Nikki differently before we started talking about the band," he said. "He was like an acquaintance but we used to argue a lot. Just about everything, I don't know why. We always liked each other but it was always like, 'Who the fuck do you think you are, dude?' So, I called him up on the phone and said, 'hey I know you're not doing anything and I've got a record coming out but I want to do something else,' and he's like, 'Okay, let's do it.'

"Then I had to go on tour but very quickly we bonded like we'd known each other for 20 years. We'd talk every so often like every two years but we really didn't know each other until we started talking every day, getting together, going out to eat, writing music and stuff like that. It was like I knew him longer than I knew my best friend. It was really cool and just like through these two years, he has become the best friend I have ever had.

"The guy is amazing. He's very understanding. You know, a lot of times in a band everyone's got their own little problems and the other guys don't want to hear your problems, like 'We just want to rock, that's it.' And it's a lot more than that. Being in a band is a relationship and the way that bands have longevity is when they do listen to each other and understand each other, and then you can do it for a long time if you actually like the people as people. And so Nikki is really one of those guys and because he has, obviously, a lot of baggage too, there's always a lot to talk about. I think we're both fairly intelligent guys and we understand. And so, yeah, he's really become an amazing person in my life.

"When we first started talking on the phone I was a little bit in awe that we were doing this. I didn't sit and take it for granted. I was like, 'Wow, man!' I'd seen MÖTLEY CRÜE when I was like 16 at The Troubadour in L.A. and it made me reinvent my guitar playing. Because at that point I had pretty much already went through all VAN HALEN and Randy Rhoads and I was only playing punk rock, it was just like I didn't care anymore. And then I saw them. [laughs] And I was like, 'Oh my fucking god, that's the way to do it. You mix it all together.' So for him to actually say yeah, let's do it, you know, it kind of scared the shit out of me. Be careful what you wish for."

Read Tracii Guns' entire interview with Chicago Innerview at this location.