Reuters.com spoke with MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars recently about a number of topics including the band's new album, Saints Of Los Angeles. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: Motley Crue's new album, Saints Of Los Angeles, is loosely based on your autobiography The Dirt (co-written with Neil Strauss and a 2001 New York Times best-seller). Why that approach?

Mick Mars: "I think that we all pretty much thought it was a good thing to do, the right thing to do, to tie everything together, to put everything in a package that would make sense to everybody. Because to people that read The Dirt and they heard (Saints Of Los Angeles) and listened to the lyrics, they're like, 'Oh, yeah, that was from The Dirt' and that kind of a thing."

Nikki Sixx: "It was loosely based on, thematically, on our story, but, in essence, isn't that what all songwriters do? They write about their experience. When you spread (ours) over a full album, you get this sort of story of like, 'Wow.' Where it started, where it was and where it's at now, and hopefully where it's going."

Q: Motley Records brings you full circle, back to when you self-released Too Fast For Love in 1981 on Leathur Records. How would you compare the Motley Crue of then with today?

Mars: "We're going to sell our albums in stores instead of out of the trunk of our car. (Laughs) That was big, man ... (those days) were fun because we were up-and-coming. It's like, 'Wow, we sold 1,000 albums in one night, out of the trunk of our car? It's all good. It was fun and learning and all that; we're much more business-savvy now and see how everything really works so we can market ourselves better. We learned from those days, and we're not so naive anymore."

Sixx: "We went from an alley fight to a professional fighter. And back then we would use a switchblade to win the fight. Now the surgery's done with precision from years and years and years of being in the ring. And we have the stamina, we have the experience, and we have the strength, and the only time that we fail is when we implode because we don't work together. And there's the hinge, the hitch to this band -- some say being exciting, some say being dysfunctional and some say just being insane. I never know what's going to happen with this band no matter how I try to help steer it away from the rocks. There have been times when it must just be destiny for us just to crash into the rocks. But for some reason, it never sinks. We get really close, but we never sink."

Q: Do you think Motley can go another 20 years?

Mars: "No. (Laughs.) No. Only because in 20 years I'll be 77. I don't want to be on tour when I'm 77. That's a bit too geezed-out to me. I'm always going to be playing. Always, always, always. I don't know how much I would be touring at that point, because I don't think I'm going to make a very pretty old man. (Laughs) But I'll always be writing and always be playing and writing for other bands or writing for Motley and just putting out records, if nothing else."

Sixx: I don't even want to think about that. Gives me a headache. (Laughs) I just want to have my camera bag and be in some dangerous situation in some foreign country taking pictures. That's what I want to be doing in 20 years. ... (Laughs) I'm just passionate about photography, passionate about art, the whole concept. I can't even imagine the idea of musicians on a stage playing their music for people in 20 years. It just seems there's going to be another way to reach people. Look how much has happened in 10 years. Imagine 20 years. We might be able to dial up and have Nikki Sixx in your bedroom. Not that in 20 years I could do much damage. (Laughs)"

Read more here.