Mötley Crüe recently announced “The Return Of Carnival Of Sins” tour for 2026 featuring support from Extreme and Tesla. Bassist Nikki Sixx has been making the publicity rounds to promote the 33-date trek, and he talked about the evolution of his creative process with WTHR-TV in Indianapolis.
“You evolve as a person, as a lyricist,” Sixx said. “My evolution as a lyricist, it goes from the rawest of the raw to the most heartfelt. And that’s just as I grew as a man and my interests evolved. That changes the lyrics, but then that changes the idea of the song. The lyrics to ‘Home Sweet Home’ is way different than the lyrics to ‘Shout At The Devil’. And so as we go, we just keep evolving. And you might stumble upon some different ways of writing. I guess you just keep kind of chipping away at the stone, so to speak.”
Sixx said that Mötley Crüe approaches writing music and touring much differently than in the past. “We’re not in a rush ever,” Sixx said. “We don’t have to be in a rush. In my case, I’ve got a six-and-a-half-year-old who’s amazing. And so I wanna not be in a rush to work constantly so I can enjoy that part of it and then go out there and play for the fans. It’s about balance.”
Sixx also shared what he doesn’t like about some of his peers in the music industry. “Life changes, man,” he said. “It’s cool that it changes. The thing that I don’t like is when I see artists that are still trying to act 25 and they’re 65. I don’t think that’s cool for the fans. Evolution is evolution. We all age, we all change, we have different interests, and Mötley Crüeseems to have ridden that wave pretty good, just letting it be real.”
Check out Sixx’s full interview below.
