TOMMY LEE: 'I'm Definitely Not Over Rock Music, I'm Just Taking A Break'

Miami New Times recently conducted an interview with former MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee and his Electro Mayhem Tour collaborator DJ Aero. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Miami New Times: So how long have the two of you been working on this specific project, and the remixes?

Lee: It's been since late '99, and we got serious about it probably earlier this year. When you start DJing and stuff you start to realize that you need your own original music to make some noise out there in that world and. We've recently started to — other than doing some remixes — started working on full-blown original stuff.

Miami New Times: When did you each get into dance music?

Lee: Probably around 2000 when I met Aero and I worked with some other DJs in the studio like Mixmaster Mike, the BEASTIE BOYS, Q-Bert. I've always loved dance music, or pretty much anything with beats, being a drummer; but that's when I started taking interest. I had seen it obviously before, and there were all kinds of possibilities. Then I met Aero and was watching him doing it, and then I got some turntables and started fucking with shit.

Aero: I got into house in 1991 when raves were happening in Los Angeles. I would go every weekend to the raves and stay up until 8:00 in the morning and dance and watch the lasers and trip out.

Lee: You know, I was in London — I guess it was when I was married to Pamela — and it was New Year's Eve, right when Josh Wink released "Higher State of Consciousness". I was at this club called Ministry of Sound. I walk in, and it's almost midnight, and at midnight, the DJ drops that track. And I was like, "What the fuck is this?" I run to the DJ booth and I'm like, "Who is that?" And the guy is like, Josh Wink, so I wrote the track down and immediately started trying to find it.

Miami New Times: So are you over rock?

Lee: Nah, I'm not over it. But for the last 3 ½ years I've been on tour, 2 ½ with MÖTLEY and a year with my new project, SUPERNOVA. And when you do something every single day for 3 1/2 years you're kinda over it for a while. For the soul, you've gotta switch it up.

I'm definitely not over rock, I love rock music. I'm just taking a break. This project will never be over. This isn't like a quick little, "I'm gonna play techno music with my buddy Aero for a minute." It's tattooed in. It's not going away.

Miami New Times: Would you say that's because you get the mixed crowd, with maybe a lot of curious rock people mixed in?

Lee: Oh yeah!!

Aero: "Mixed crowd" is an understatement!

Lee: You never know what you're going to get. You've got your serious rock fans. Your celltographers — people who want to have it just be a fuckin meet and greet. Your dance people who want to come check that out. And then of course you've got your token drunk people in the back who are there because it's fuckin' Thursday night!

Aero: Those are the people we like actually! They couldn't care less what we're doing. That's how it's supposed to be!

Lee: You're not supposed to sit there and stare at the DJ. What are you looking at, fuckin' tweaking knobs?

Miami New Times: But I've read your live sets are pretty energetic.

Lee: Yeah, we kinda go crazy and tear shit up in the booth. My favorite thing, what blows my skirt up, is when people are dancing and having a good time and don't give a shit who's DJing. To tell you the truth, there've been people who come up to me after a set and are like, "Dude, did you see me down there?" But I have no clue who's there that night. I go into a zone and I don't come out until we're done. I get lost in the music.

Miami New Times: That's funny, because DJing is so opposite of being in a huge rock band like MÖTLEY CRÜE, where everyone is there specifically to watch you.

Lee: Oh, it's totally the opposite! I guess if you were to watch us DJ it would be fun to watch, because we don't just sit there and stare at the ground. But it's really not the point of electronic dance music!

Aero: And, you know, we remix every song every night.

Lee: Yeah! Probably one of the coolest things I've ever heard from a promoter: He said, "Fuck, I didn't realize, you guys are basically just remixing everything on the fly live." We don't just put in a CD and press play and walk away. Everything you hear, either Aero or I got our little paws on.

Read the entire interview at this location.

Tommy Lee and DJ Aero in Toronto: