Guitar International.com recently conducted an interview with GUNS N' ROSES/SIXX: A.M. guitarist Dj Ashba . In the interview Ashba talks about the new Sixx: A.M. CD, This Is Gonna Hurt, how it’s tied to the book (and how it isn’t), producing and recording, and some fun Guns N’ Roses memories from the tours, as well as his Gibson Les Paul endorsement. Excerpts from the interview are below:

Guitar International: Did you write music/songs based on the photographs or vice versa?

DJ Ashba: “They happened both ways. We started originally writing a lot of the music when Nikki was on tour with Motley. Me and James flew out and hung out, we all sat in the hotel room and we wrote a lot of the record just sitting in a hotel room. Then I went on tour with Guns N’ Roses, and in between my breaks I’d come back in and get a lot done. Every song is different. You know, Sixx A.M. has never done things by the book; it’s always been – Nikki you know will, maybe, call me. I remember he called me one time and said, 'Dude, do you have a guitar close by?' I was driving down the freeway and I had a guitar in the backseat. I pulled off to the side and he was like hummin’ me a melody and I’m sittin’ there on the side of the freeway in my car with a guitar tryin’ to play. There’s been times I’ve called Nikki and goin’ 'Dude, where are you at?' or 'Check this fuckin lyric out,' and he’d be writing it down on a napkin at Coffee Bean. We don’t do things conventionally at all; we don’t rush things, we build off of inspiration. You just never know when you’re gonna be inspired, and with us it’s so random. We might be at Disneyland and think 'Oh my god, I’ve got the best song idea,' you know?”

Guitar International: You spent quite a bit of time with GNR and Axl. Did you come home with any hilarious or epic stories?

DJ Ashba: “Oh, there are so many funny times. Oh my god, I’m tryin’ to think, man – with all the chaos that went on, there are so many good ones.”

Guitar International: Did you pull pranks on each other?

DJ Ashba: “Definitely, yeah we do. I remember there was a time when me and Axl got in a bar fight. We kicked the livin’ shit outta this dude. [Laughing] First of all, he snuck into this private after show party that was just held for the band and the crew. So it was this drunk, obnoxious guy, big dude. He walks in and he’s telling everyone there he’s our manager and we’re like 'What the fuck is he talking about?' Anyway, he was asked to leave several times and didn’t. He actually turned around at one point and punched one of our tour managers. I saw it so I grabbed the guy by his throat and slammed him up against the wall and I said, 'You need to fuckin’ leave now!' I walked him over to the door, and he turned around and punched me in the face, so I just started unloading on him. Axl saw him hit me and flipped and jumped in, so we’re stompin’ this guy to a pulp, but it was all in good fun. Then, what was funny about it is, about three hours later we get done partyin’, went up and the guy’s a bloody mess sittin’ in the lobby. We walk up and he apologizes for being a douchebag and then he asks if he can get pictures with us and autographs. So we’re taking pictures with this guy we literally kicked the shit out of. It was all good; we all laughed about it at the end, he even laughed. He was like 'Yeah, it was my fault. I was bein’ a total dick.' It was one of those things where it was just a funny moment.”

Read the entire interview here.

This Is Gonna Hurt sold over 30,000 copies in its first week and gave the band their first Top 10 debut on The Billboard 200 chart. The 11-track CD is also the soundtrack to Nikki Sixx's New York Times bestselling book This Is Gonna Hurt – Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens, which debuted at #4.

See the video for 'Lies Of The Beautiful People' below: