Motley Crue Bassist Has ‘Eye for Oddities’

"I've always had an eye for oddities," laughs Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx. "At least what other people call oddities. They've always felt like what's normal to me."

Sixx is known as the hyper-creative member of Mötley Crüe, writing much of the band's catalog while also finding time to work on various other side projects including the band Sixx: AM, a clothing line, a new radio show called 'Sixx Sense' and especially photography. Through photography, Sixx says he's able to "scratch an itch."

"Most lately, what I like to photograph is what I find normal and most people don't," he said. "Where it will go, I don't know. It started off as something I had to do and the passion has grown to the point now that I'm shooting wet plate photography, mixing my own chemicals, developing them on black glass that I have to cut myself or black tin ... and it creates a whole different dimension in the photography. I'm still really passionate about digital photography and manipulation of digital photography ... creating other worlds. To me, it's about transporting the person looking at the photo to another place."

Mötley Crüe will head to Europe this summer to play Sonisphere. In the meantime, the band is basically on a hiatus, taking a break from Crüe Fest and extensive touring. The break will give Sixx time to work on photography and 'Sixx Sense.'

"When I was a kid, I remember listening to Jim Ladd in Los Angeles and he would say, 'This next song, the bass line is so dirty and slimy it drives the song into the sunset,' and you'd be like 'What the f---?!' You'd turn it up and listen to the bass line. It was like 'He's playing this for me!' It was that personal. Radio can be that personal and the same thing with photography."

'Sixx Sense' airs Monday-Friday in the US. Check the official website for affiliate details and show times.