In a new interview with Bad Brad, Sixx:A.M. singer James Michael reacted to Mötley Crüe’s possible offer to replace Vince Neil.
“Not a chance in hell,” the vocalist replied when asked what he would say to an offer to fill in on lead vocals for Mötley Crüe. “I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole now and I will say this, obviously, I know all those guys very well and I know John 5 very well. Wonderful guy and really doing a killer job as their guitar player.”
Michael continued, “I know that there are issues between Mick Mars and the rest of the band. I love all of them separately. I know all of them individually and I don’t get into all of the differences that they have.”
“I think that John 5 beautifully took over that role and I just can’t think of a better guitar player on the planet for that role but there’s something different about a singer replacing another singer,” he further explained.
James added, “Even though I’ve got the range where I could do that, I would never make it sound like Vince. He just makes it sound like Mötley Crüe and I just think that I would think that it’s too risky of a job to try to take on.”
Although Michael is doubtful about joining Mötley Crüe as their singer, he had another role in Mötley Crüe. In 2022, Michael spoke with Chuck Shute and mentioned that Nikki Sixx had once asked him to write songs for Mötley Crüe.
He noted, “I happened to be on the same label with Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe, who had a sub-label at this record label that I was at called ‘Beyond Music,’ and they had Mötley records which were kind of attached to Beyond. That’s really where my first introduction to Nikki happened. We became friends just because we’d pass each other in the halls of the record label.”
“One day, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, I heard your solo record. I really like your writing. Would you be interested in doing some writing for Mötley Crüe?’ I said, ‘Of course. Absolutely.’ That was one of my first introductions into legitimately writing for a legitimately signed and successful band,” the singer also shared.
Michael wrote songs for Mötley Crüe’s 2000 album ‘New Tattoo.’ In 2008, he worked on their album ‘Saints of Los Angeles,’ producing it with Nikki Sixx and DJ Ashba. He also helped write songs for this album.
