Sixx:A.M. Studios

Sixx:A.M.'s official videos -
Life Is Beautiful

Accidents Can Happen

Nikki Sixx (Bass)
Early Life Sixx was born Frank Carlton Serafina Feranna Jr. on December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California. He was raised by his single mother, Deana Haight, and her abusive boyfriend, after his father and namesake, Frank Ferrana abandoned the family. When he was six, he and his mother moved to Mexico for a short time, after which they moved to Jerome, Idaho, with his grandparents. The family moved several more times, to El Paso, Texas, then to Anthony, New Mexico, back to El Paso, and then returned to Jerome.While living in Idaho, Sixx became a teenage vandal, breaking into neighbors' homes, shoplifting and being expelled from school for selling drugs. His grandparents sent him to live with his mother, who had moved to Seattle. He lived there for a short time, and learned how to play the bass guitar after buying his first instrument with money made from selling a guitar he stole from a guitar shop.At the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles on his own; he got jobs at a liquor store and manufacturing plant and auditioned to play in a band called Sister with Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. before joining London, a local glam outfit whose major claim to fame to that point was that its singer, Nigel Benjamin, had sung with a late version of Mott the Hoople. Nikki soon left the band, convinced that his ideas for world domination would never come to fruition with Dane Rage and Lizzie Grey as his partners in crime. Soon after leaving London, Nikki formed Mötley Crüe with Tommy Lee and Mick Mars; soon after Vince Neil also joined the band. Mötley Crüe By 1981, Sixx had developed a plan to create the ultimate "theatrical" band for the new decade. He found guitarist Mick Mars, drummer Tommy Lee, and singer Vince Neil to share in this vision. The band Mötley Crüe rose quickly in the musical environment of L.A.'s Sunset Strip, although at first no label would sign them due to their erratic stage performances. They decided to self-record their debut album Too Fast for Love, which was subsequently released in November 1981 on the band's own Leathür Records label. After signing with Elektra Records they re-released Too Fast for Love. The album was re-released on a deal cut by the band, to save the album from being dropped by the new CEO of Elektra. Part of the deal was that the album have a less dirty sound to it. Too Fast for Love was released successfully with Elektra after the deal. The band then went on to record and release Shout at the Devil, raising the band to national fame.Like his bandmates, Sixx took advantage of the excess that rock n' roll allowed, surpassing the level of abuse of his bandmates by binging on alcohol, cocaine, and most notably heroin. Sixx has often stated that he would use his body as a human chemistry set, mixing excessive amounts of drugs on a regular basis to search for a new "high". On the night of December 23, 1987, Sixx was declared dead after an overdose, only to be revived by paramedics with two adrenaline shots to the heart (this incident was the inspiration for the song "Kickstart my Heart"). In an interview, Sixx states that after he was declared dead, the ambulance arrived, but one of the paramedics in the ambulance was a Motley Crüe fan. Apparently, the paramedic took one look at me and said, "He's not gonna die." On an earlier trip to London, Sixx overdosed at a dealer's house and, while he wasn't declared dead, he was put into a trash bin by the dealer, He was beat with a bat by this dealer to get the life beat back into him. Here is an excerpt from The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star."NIKKI: I had overdosed in London exactly a year earlier: Valentine's day 1986. We had played the Hammersmith Odeon, and the second we left the stage I caught a taxi with Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks. He took me to a heroin apartment in a real shabby neighborhood. I was drunk and I remember I was very impressed that the dealer had clean needles. When he offered to shoot up for me, I let him. Big mistake.The problem with street drugs is you never really know exactly how potent they are from dealer to dealer, so I OD'd on the spot. My lips turned purple: I was gone. The story I heard was that the dealer grabbed his baseball bat and tried to beat the fucking life into me. He couldn't so he flung me over his shoulder to dump me in the trash, because nobody wants a dead rock star laying around.Then I came to...and I guess I had yet another dark secret to never tell anybody."This incident was the inspiration behind the lyric "Valentine's in London, found me in the trash" from the song "Dancing on Glass."Soon after his overdose, he and his bandmates sought sobriety through rehab. It was then that the band would produce their most successful record, Dr. Feelgood, in 1989 with producer Bob Rock. The album would stay on the charts for 109 weeks after its release. When Mötley Crüe reformed at the end of 2004, Sixx declared himself sober. Whilst Mötley Crüe have received a large amount of criticism from the press due to their excesses, Sixx is often referenced in the same sentence as other legendary "live fast" rockers, such as Lemmy and Ozzy.Being the central creative influence of the band for much of the 1980s, Nikki wrote most of the Crüe's material. This is particularly true for the earlier period of the band's career, as Tommy Lee and Mick Mars were still developing as songwriters. Nikki penned such classic tracks as "Live Wire", "Home Sweet Home", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Kickstart My Heart" and "Dr. Feelgood". His songs are known for their distinct heavy and hard sound largely resulting from Nikki and Mick's instruments being tuned down and their fast (almost punk) tempo. The first album with John Corabi marked a move away from their classic 80s sound to a more alternative and experimental style reminiscent of Alice in Chains and alt rock movement of the early 90s. With a change in decade came a change in the songwriting duties for the band, with all four members contributing to the material on the albums. Many fans and music critics believe this to be the reason for the change in band's sound away from the style that had defined them through their career until then.As of 2006, Mötley Crüe have finished a reunion tour featuring all four original members. They've stated that they will record demos for a 2007 album. An exact target release date has not yet been set. Mötley Crüe also embarked on a 2006 tour co-headlining with Aerosmith, called "The Route of All Evil".[edit] Basses and equipment Nikki Sixx usually plays Gibson Thunderbird Reverse Basses, and had his own signature bass, the Gibson Nikki Sixx Signature Blackbird [1] produced (it was discontinued in 2003) which has recently been put back in production by Epiphone. His inspiration to use the Gibson Thunderbird came from Pete "Overend" Watts of Mott the Hoople and John Entwistle of The Who. Early on, he was sponsored by B.C. Rich, and used Mockingbird & Warlock basses (this can be seen in the videos for "Live Wire" and "Looks That Kill"). When Gibson weren't making Thunderbird basses to his preferred specification, Hamer made Thunderbird style basses for him. Apparently the mid '70s Thunderbirds have the sound he was trying to emulate with the Hamer produced models. After that he used Spector Basses during Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.During the 1990s, Nikki started using 12-string basses made in Japan by the Hiroshigi Kids Guitar Company; less than 30 were produced. Nikki owns at least five of them: a black one with red lettering and white binding, a black one with gold binding, a black one with white lettering and white binding, a red one that has "Helter Skelter" on it, and a green one. The red and green ones have dragon inlays on the body. He has also used Ernie Ball Music Man 5-String basses, most notably while on tour with Brides of Destruction and the 2 newly recorded songs for the 1998 Mötley Crüe album, Greatest Hits.He also has used Fender Precision Basses; when smashing basses at the end of a set, they are usually black with white pickguards Squier Precision Basses. He previously used Ampeg amplifiers, but has switched to Basson amplifiers.While recording The Heroin Diaries soundtrack, Nikki used a '59 Fender Precision which was amplified through a '64 Fender Bassman. The '59 Fender Precision is also his favourite bass for recording in the studio.
DJ Ashba (Lead Guitar) DJ Ashba was born in Monticello Indiana on the early Friday morning of November 10th. At age 1, The Ashba family moved to Fairbury Illinois, a small country farm town, raised by his mother, a classical pianist, who taught DJ about music at a young age .He was instantly obsessed with it. DJ started playing piano at age 3 and played his first recital at 5, performing Beethoven’s classic “Ode to Joy.” By age 6, he was studying drums, banging on garbage cans, pots, pans, buckets and anything he could get his hands on. Finally getting a real set, he studied rhythm. At age 8, DJ worked detasseling corn in the fields for one year until he was able to buy his first electric guitar out of the Sears catalog. The Harmony white Flying V was priced at $89.00. As he rode on the bus to the corn fields each day, he sat with a friend he made, an older guitar player from a local band. DJ would take his pocket knife and carve a fret board on the seat in front of them. His buddy would take the knife, poke 3 holes, and say “That's an A chord,” go home and practice that tonight. Everyday DJ looked forward to going to work so he could learn a new chord. DJ grew up in a 8 bedroom house with no TV, due to his religious mother. He would sit in his room and practice his new guitar 17 hours a day. At 16, he was taken to his first concert by his dad—the Mötley Crüe “Girls, Girls, Girls” tour. It was the night that changed his life forever. By 19, he packed his possessions in a van and drove to Hollywood, joining a band called Barracuda. As a solo artist, he released his first instrumental album, ASHBA: Addiction to the Friction, and earned six Best Guitar Player awards. DJ Ashba co-founded the band Beautiful Creatures, landing a major label deal with Warner Bros. Writing all the music, his song, “Ride” ended up in the major motion picture Rollerball, while “Wasted” appeared in Valentine and “1 a.m.” was used in the TV show Smallville and on Howard Stern. Beautiful Creatures opened for KISS on their farewell concert jaunt, then went on to perform on Ozzfest 2001, played with Marilyn Manson and toured Japan. The video for “Wasted” was featured on MTV and the band performed a full concert for HBO’s Reverb. The band also made appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn with Knock-Turn-Al as well as memorable performances at Sundance Film Festival and Denver’s Mile High Stadium. DJ Ashba is endorsed by over 15 major music companies. He has toured the world, blowing away audiences with his out-of-control stage performances. DJ has appeared in Rolling Stone and numerous other world-wide ads and videos. Ashba eventually teamed up with Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, opening an amazing, state of the art recording facility called Funny Farm Studios, were they have written and produced songs for many platinum recording artists. His latest project with Nikki is writing, producing and performing on the soundtrack to Sixx’s biography, The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star, which also includes producer/songwriter James Michael. Together, Sixx, Ashba and Michael make up Sixx:A.M. creating the sonic diary to the book. Ashba contributes fiery guitar solos that fuel such songs as “Accidents Can Happen” and “Dead Man’s Ballet.” “After reading the book, I was so intrigued and inspired, I thought to myself, this is such an amazing story, with such an important message. “I’ve lost so many close friends in the music business to drugs, I felt I had a lot to add to this musical journey.” “We dug so hard-core into the book,” he explains. “I constantly probed Nikki’s mind about heroin and addiction. I really wanted to get a good feel on how to bring this book to life, musically. When I listen to the album now, it gives me chills, but at the time, I was in such a zone. I just tried to be as honest and true to the book as I could be. “I’m so proud to be a part of,” he admitted. “It never entered our minds it would turn out to be a band situation. But everything good that happens in life happens naturally, just like this did. The magic is so amazing between the three of us, this will be one of many albums to come. What I love about this is there are no limits, no rules. We’re putting our hearts out there, and people are responding to it.” “While writing this, we didn’t think about radio,” he said. “It wasn’t about being in a band… it was all done for the song, the story and the message, and that’s why the final product is the way it is. Working with these two guys is a dream come true.”
James Michael (Vocals) While enjoying a successful career as a Multi-Platinum music producer, songwriter and mixer, working with such artists as Alanis Morissette, Hilary Duff, The Exies, Saliva, Motley Crue, Scorpions and Meatloaf to name a few, James Michael has once again joined forces with Nikki Sixx along with DJ Ashba to complete what is fast becoming one of the most talked about album projects of the year.James Michael is not only the voice of the Heroin Diaries soundtrack but also lends his skills as a producer, writer and musician to the project. Michael is also mixing the album which is due to be released later this year. His Los Angeles-based studio is constantly buzzing with artists like John 5 (Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie), Filter, and a veritable who’s who of the rock world, as well as upcoming bands like Bang Bang Bang, who recently signed to Warner Bros, and are slated to be the next band that Michael produces.