Sixx:A.M.: Hear ‘7’ EP in Full — Exclusive Stream

"I've always loved the concept of taking a song that is already successful and familiar with listeners, and doing something different with it to change its focus," says Sixx:A.M. vocalist/guitarist James Michael about '7,' the trio's new EP. Hitting stores next week, the disc features Sixx:A.M. (also featuring bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Dj Ashba) pulling apart, reconstructing, and re-recording some of their best-known songs.

Even though Sixx:A.M. won't be releasing '7' till next Tuesday, AOL Music has secured the exclusive stream of the entire EP. Listen to it here!

"The idea of this record works really well with Sixx:A.M. since our fans have really connected with the meanings of our songs. Whether it's the heavier stuff, or one of our piano ballads, they've always attached themselves to the words of these songs. I really love that about our fans.

"So what we did with '7' is present a bunch of our songs in different arrangements to give listeners a chance to maybe see them in a new light. It's us reinterpreting our own songs. What we didn't want to do is just take the songs and simply strip them down to an acoustic thing," Michael says of '7.'

Noisecreep asked Michael if there was any hidden meaning to the number 7 in the EP's title. "We've had a lot of fun teasing the release of this EP, but no, there isn't anything really about the number 7 besides the number of tracks on the release. It has nothing to do with the seven deadly sins or anything like that. If some our fans come up with a better meaning for the title, we'll gladly take it [laughs]."

Since Michael and his Sixx:A.M. bandmates went back to retool some of their own material on '7,' Noisecreep wanted to know if the band ever felt like these newer versions of the songs might be even better than the way they originally were recorded. "That's a great question. That part of it was really interesting for me.

"Take the song 'This Is Gonna Hurt,' for example. When we were tracking this new version, it gave me goose bumps. I never realized how heavy the lyrics were to that song when we recorded it for our last album. It's easy to get caught up in the loud drums and guitars, plus you're also producing the stuff. But yeah, it was really interesting to look at the lyrics from a different angle."

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