MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has issued the following update:

"Well, the book and album are finally done. They fit together like a nice little puzzle yet somehow feel like the pieces were cut out of flesh with a razor blade. What I find interesting is that as much as I want them to mirror each other, they both stand on their own. They influence each other as much as possible yet each is strong and independent, from the visual stimulation in the photography to the lyrical content in the songs. To say that this project has been overwhelming would be an understatement. But the one thing that keeps tugging at my curiosity is that if I find beauty in all these places that most deem “Freakish” and “Macabre” then why do I also, at times, seek out beauty in what society calls beautiful? Am I contradicting myself or am I able to actually look beneath the surface when others sometimes can’t? This is a good question. Make no mistake when I refer to “The lies of beautiful people” I mean what I say but I am also saying look beneath the skin. I do not and will not attack the exterior of anybody but my intention is to pull back the veil on your internal truth. We need not worry if we are black, white, amputated, burned, maimed, a fashion model, or even have the face of Hollywood’s latest leading man… We are who we are… Either poisonous and evil or honest and willing… Willing to make a difference… I haven’t led the life of a saint nor do I intend on it now. That’s not what this is about. There were some things that needed to be said… Unbeknownst to me, they would spread across both a book and an album. I imagine that Sixx:A.M. and the book both stand to take a few shots in the jaw, a few bricks in the face. I know, speaking for myself, James, and DJ, that we welcome the feedback. Maybe, just maybe, everybody will take a hard, cold, eye opening look under the hood, so to speak as we have… Here we go…

PS. This morning when I looked in the mirror and I saw my own reflection, I felt like I could see my past, my present and my future all in one glance. I wonder when other people look at me what do they see and wonder what they see when they look at their own lives. I hope this book and album will redefine how people look at not only me, themselves and most importantly others."

On April 12, Nikki Sixx' SIXX: A.M. will publish This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx, the follow-up to his 2007 New York Times bestseller The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star. The companion album of the same name is due out on May 10th, while the first single, 'Lies Of The Beautiful People', is due out on March 1st.

Sixx describes the "This is Gonna Hurt" book as "very personal. It's definitely not an autobiography," he tells Billboard. "I don't write with an editor in mind or critique myself. It's just me shooting from the hip. Sometimes it's tirades and rants. Sometimes it's very focused. Sometimes it's very sentimental and soft and reflective. Sometimes it's brutal in is assholeishness. It's all my opinion, and I stand by it."

The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack has sold more than 300,000 copies while the single 'Life Is Beautiful' was the most played rock track of 2008. But Sixx says Sixx: A.M. is not worried about matching those achievements this time out.

"What's really nice is the fact no one in the band really cares about success," he says. "The band is set up to not really succeed but just to be self-gratifying -- a lot like my photography. It's definitely not about trying to fit in. The three of us have something that nobody else has and we feel very close to it and it's very emotional and we love what it is. But we don't know what it is at the same time, so we're kind of protective about it."

Read the entire interview here.

Sixx will be discussing his new book This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens and companion album on Thursday, March 10th at Canadian Music Week (Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto).