If Trent Reznor calls and says he needs a drummer for his tour... I'm there.
— Tommy Lee
I was never one for the passenger seat. I have always wanted my level of entertainment and showmanship to be the same as a frontman.
No, I don't have a problem with my temper.
It's been a while since I've studied: since high school. It's a lot of work, a lot of work.
There was a time when cowboys respected their horses instead of riding them to death just to show off for a crowd.
I'm constantly evolving as a musician.
It's so funny because no matter what you say, fans only read and hear what they want.
I really wanna get my paws on scoring a film.
The crowd is a pretty good indicator when it's good, because it's kind of a universal energy that gets passed around.
Whatever we do as a band, none of us can do as individuals. We all know that, whatever we have gone through with each other and as a band.
Going through life solo isn't very exciting if you can't share it with somebody, you know?
The New York Dolls are the only band that we grew up on that we haven't played with.
The drums are about gravity. Your hand naturally falls down on the drums as you hit them.
John Bonham was probably the most influential in terms of playing style and timing.
Whether I'm writing solo stuff, electronic stuff, or material for Motley, I just write to write. I come up with it and put things in different piles.
The older I get, the more I don't care what people think or what people say. I just do what moves me.
Drumming's pretty physical. We sit at the back of the stage getting beat up like a workhorse.
Most drummers are covered with a million drums, and everyone is like, 'What are you doing back there?'
I take the best of all the styles I like and put them together in one package.
I've always been kind of a - you know, I have my moments, where I can be Tommy, and then I flip a switch; when you're on stage, you turn into this other personality.
I didn't have the opportunity to go to college. I was busy touring since the age of 17.
I love touring Canada, and our Calgary fans are among the roughest and toughest.
Of course drums weren't meant to be played other than sitting on the ground. When you're upside-down, your feet don't want to sit on the pedals.
I don't need material things like gold and platinum records on my wall, Grammys or Hall Of Fame nods.
I don't know how much you know about me, but I kind of have my fingers in a lot of different pies.
When you're playing upside down, it takes twice the strength.
I wouldn't specifically say rock n' roll is dead, but I don't see a lot of charismatic performers in the way of new blood who are edgy and dangerous on stage, like Marilyn Manson, who you never quite know if he's going to make it through his own show.
The very first thing I look at on a woman is her toes.
Trust me: all of us walk around and look at each other, and without saying it, we all know we're thinking, 'Really dude? Were still here!' and pinch ourselves. Typically, careers have short life span, 10 years if you're lucky, so what we've done is amazing.
On our first record, man, I didn't know what I was doing. I was just playing. I was over playing. You're as green as you can be with no experience in recording or knowing how sometimes a song can work: when it's too much, when it's not enough, when it's not right.
I was always impressed by some of the progressive styles of guys like Neil Peart.
Playing upside down is insane. It's two or three times more difficult than what's normal. Your feet want to come off the pedals, your arms want to drop down - all of your body is fighting gravity.
I've always gravitated towards the beats, obviously. And when I was growing up, I always loved funk music or even - dare I say it - disco.
I'm always getting injuries like bruised and bloody knuckles from catching a cymbal or the edge of a drum.
Too many drummers sit at the back covered in drums, and you never see them.
I got really frustrated in jail, and I was like, 'Man, I love what I've done, and I love the mark I've made on rock n' roll history'... and I sat there, and I got really depressed, thinking, 'I gotta make a move... do something fresh and new.'
By the age of 17, for me, we had got an recording contract, and, boom, I was gone.
The horses forced into the chuckwagon races die of heart attacks, broken necks, broken legs, and other injuries. It'd be easy to get off on western tradition without this bloody spectacle. Dude, it's the Old West, not ancient Rome!
Drums isn't my one thing anymore. I love to produce. I love to make tracks, write tracks, produce tracks, and I can't just sit back as a drummer anymore.
I've loved roller coasters since I was a kid.
There was no way we were going to let this band hobble around on three legs. We chose the route that every professional actor, athlete and musician should do - leave the legend intact and bow out at the top.
There are things you do that just come natural, and sometimes those are amazingly in synch, and sometimes they're horribly out of synch, and you're like, 'Ooo! That wasn't very good tonight.' Most of the time, it's just on.
I'm driven by music. It's in my blood, and I've never been able to stay away from it for too long.
Our music will continue to have an impact in people's lives long after we finally call it quits.
One of my favorite things in the world is to be seeing two people that are really old, still holding hands, still kissing.
I'm still that rowdy dude who has after-parties in his dressing room with a concert-sized PA system blasting away.
Phil Rudd from AC/DC was someone I really liked a lot... Not because I was dazzled by his playing ability - he was just a rock, y'know?
I don't specifically sit down to write a Motley Crue song, so for me, that's how it works. The things that sound like they might be Crue, I put aside on my hard drive and keep them in that pile.
Every tour we do, everybody's always wondering, 'What's Tommy Lee going to do next? What new, wild and crazy thing is he going to come up with?'
Being a drummer, I'm always like, 'Oh, that's got a funky beat. That's cool,' and I like to dance.
