by Vince Neil
I didn’t go back to the Whisky until I was like twenty-one or twenty-two. I walked in there and I looked around and I thought, Did you guys close in some walls or something? It’s kind of cool to come full circle, ’cause then my band played there. And for me that was a big, big deal. My band is called the Rock and Roll Junkies. I’m the singer. We’re a Mötley Crüe cover band. We play charity events called Crüe Fest. That’s where Nikki and them got the name Crüe Fest. But we’ve been doing that for eleven years now. They kinda stole our name. But that’s okay, ’cause I guess you could say we kind of stole all their songs.
To be honest with you, I never wanted to be in a band. I want to be the guy that goes in a plane and says, “You guys have it. I want to sign you.” I want to be that guy. I didn’t start doing a band until I got the charity idea. Now it’s the only reason I do the band stuff. If I make money from it, great, but I’d rather make money for the charity. The money my band makes gets donated. We don’t keep any of it.
Recently I moved to Las Vegas. I got laid off from my other job. It was Christmas and I texted my dad to say: “Merry Christmas and love you.” I might have called him, but I always text. And besides, I didn’t know where he was. And he texted me back right away and he’s like: “How’s everything going?” And I said: “I have a favor. Do you know anybody who’s hiring? I lost my job.” And I was like: “You can just give me a phone number of somebody just to call. I don’t expect a job from you. I don’t expect anything. I just need, you know, a lead.”
I didn’t hear anything back for a couple months. And my band was playing out here. Mötley Crüe was closing the joint at the Hard Rock. It was the last night and they were the last band to play. That same night, my band, the Junkies, was playing O’Sheas, where Vince’s tattoo shop is—we billed it like: “If you can’t see the real thing come see us.” We packed the place.
Anyway, so I ended up running into my dad. Now I live here in Vegas. He got me a job running the warehouse next door to the tattoo parlor. We do all the clothing for Vince Neil Ink, Feelgoods, and Count’s Kustoms. We also have our own line.
Living here is different. Last year I got to spend my birthday with my dad. That was the first time we’ve ever been together on my birthday. You know what we did? My band opened for his band for the first time ever at Count’s Kustoms, and it just happened to be on my birthday. We couldn’t play Crüe songs—they said we couldn’t, something about song rights and stuff—but it was the greatest for me. It was awesome. I’ll never forget it.
Elle Neil
Vince’s Daughter
I never felt like a celebrity kid because nobody knew who my dad was. When I was in elementary school and middle school I learned quickly not to brag about my dad, because kids that age never heard of Mötley Crüe. They knew ’N Sync and Britney Spears. If I’d said, “I’m Vince Neil’s daughter from Mötley Crüe,” they would have been like, “Who?” I’d look like a total poser. So, even through high school I’d just lie.
I went to a concert with a good friend a couple years ago. Somehow he found out I was Vince Neil’s daughter. Apparently he was the biggest Mötley Crüe fan in the entire universe. He fell over himself talking to me. I’m like, “Calm down, calm down; it’s cool. Don’t shake my hand. Just talk to me.”
So, on his thirtieth birthday I invited him backstage to one of my dad’s concerts. You should’ve seen the look on his face. He had this thin veneer of cool that could’ve cracked in an instant. I could see in his eyes that he was jumping up and down like a little boy. It was so darling.
Now that I’m older I meet more people my age who know about Mötley Crüe. I just play it off like it’s no big deal because to me it really isn’t a big deal. I mean he’s a musician, but I’ve met famous people and I see that they’re real people with real problems.
I don’t really have a sense that famous people are different because I know from personal experience that they’re not. They just have really cool jobs.
I thought about doing music for a while. There was some talk of me going to Juilliard and studying classical singing. But instead I chose the alternate path of writing. I’m just as good as anybody else out there, and I’m extremely stubborn and vain about my abilities. At least when it comes to writing I’ve got my shit together.
I call him Dad; we text each other all the time. Texting is easier for us. It’s hard to reach him and I know he gets really, really tired after a show. I don’t want to bug him. I just wait for him to text me whenever he has a sec.
I saw him for Thanksgiving last year. We had a really nice time. Whenever I visit him it’s at his house, a hotel, or a concert. It’s very rare that I just walk down the street with him. When I do, it’s weird for me because even though he’s not trying to be seen, he has sunglasses on and whatnot, people literally drive by yelling his name out of car windows. Then I remember: Oh yeah, that’s right. My dad’s famous.
Did I want my dad more in my life? Sure. But I also understood that my parents were human. I understood that he had his life to live and his things to do and that he wasn’t out of my life because he didn’t care about me. He wasn’t technically even out of my life.
One of the greatest things about having him as a dad is that I never listen to anybody telling me I can’t do something. If somebody tells me something’s “a one-in-a-million shot,” I think, No problem, I got it. If Vince Neil could become a rock ’n’ roll superstar, being from such a humble beginning, I can do anything I set my mind to. He played the Viper Room and the Whisky a Go Go and he got famous. He did it. He was talented, ambitious, lucky, strong, and courageous. I think I can do it, too. Whatever I put my mind to I can do. Dreams can come true. You can do anything you want.
I’m actually going to New York in March to meet my dad. I can’t wait. I’ve never been there before.
By doing this book, I hope to accomplish… I don’t know. Nikki had a book. Tommy had one or two books. People have asked me why didn’t I have a book a long time ago. This seemed to be the right time. I think my voice needed to be heard because nobody has ever heard my side of things—people have pretty much heard only one telling of the story. So it was just kind of my time to be heard a little bit, I think. All through the years, Nikki and Tommy were always out there talking. They have always liked to hear themselves talk. And I have never really been a blabbermouth. I’m just more laid-back, you know, just a little Heinz 57 mutt of a SoCal surfer kid. That’s me.
One thing is sure. I think we’ll be remembered. Mötley Crüe started something in the eighties that’s still with us today. You can call it a hair band. You can call it the LA Sound. Other than KISS, before us, there was no such thing as arena rock, you know what I mean? And then all of a sudden we come out, we do it, and people emulate us. Presto: The arena-rock hair band was born. And it wasn’t just the hair. There was a certain sound that came up in rock ’n’ roll at a certain time and a certain place, and we were at the forefront. We were it. And to still be around after thirty years… that is pretty fucking amazing. Say what you want. When you look at all the other bands that came out of that LA scene, off the Strip and whatnot, where are they today?
Mötley Crüe still never got the respect I think we deserve. Why are we not yet in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Is there some question that we belong? I don’t think people look at achievements we’ve had. Instead they look at the other crap that we’ve become infamous for. The marriages, the arrests, the drugs, the bankruptcies—how we blew all our money and drank it away, how I had that accident that killed Razzle and how Nikki died of an overdose and came back. People remember every bad thing that’s happened to Mötley Crüe, but they don’t look at us like those guys who started this thing, who’ve sold this many records, who’ve had all these hit songs and are still out there doing it. People just look at the garbage that the four band members have created. And it’s a fucking landfill, man.
Mötley Crüe: We started something great. But we also created a monster
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Mike Sager wishes to thank:
Vince Neil.
Chief researcher Sohrob Nikzad, who was intimately involved in every step of the research and writing process. Never was an assistant more willing or able.
Rebekah A. Sager, who provided additional writing on deadline. She is a beautiful and estimable woman by any standard.
Shirley and Odell Wharton, Valerie Saucer, Neil Wharton, Beth Neil, Elle Neil, Sharise Neil, Heidi Mark, Lia Neil.
Skylar Lynnae Neil, RIP.
Nikki Sixx, Joe Marks, Robert Stokes, James Alverson, Jack Blades, Dana Strum, Jeff Blando, Zoltan Chaney, Bret Michaels, MC Hammer, Ron Jeremy.
Allen Kovac, Doc McGhee, Alan Koenig, Dina LaPolt, Doug Mark, Doug Thaler, Gary Negherbon, Jeff Varner, Peter Pappalardo, Reisha Roopchand, Tom Coppini, Tom Werman, Jerry Buss, Michael Peters.
David Vigliano, Ben Greenberg, Shawna Morey, Alan Light, Benji Feldheim, Aminata Dia, David Granger, Peter Griffin, Tim Heffernan, Chris Nilsson, Eric Sherman, Ben Epand, Roy Bank, Ron Ward, Michael Eller, Yvonne Negron, Josh Scheinker, Harlan Levy, Steven R. Cohen, Henry Schuster.
Miles Sager, Beverly and Marvin Sager, Wendy Sager, Lawrence Alfred, Ph.D.
Special admiration and thanks to: Paul Miles, curator of Chronological Crue, recognized world-wide as the ultimate Mötley Crüe historian. Neil Strauss, author of The Dirt.
ABOUT MIKE SAGER
MIKE SAGER is a best-selling author and award-winning reporter. He has been called “the Beat poet of American journalism.” A former Washington Post staffer under Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, Sager worked closely with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson during his years as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone. Sager is the author of three collections of nonfiction and one novel. He has served for more than a dozen years as a writer at large for Esquire. Many of his articles have been optioned for film. He lives with his wife and son in La Jolla, California. For more information, please see www.MikeSager.com.
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