BY THOMAS BOND

When M�tley Cr�e played Phoenix last Decemeber, a near riot erupted when fans rushed the stage at the bands exhoration, and bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee were arrested for alledgedly assaulting a security staff member. Sixx discusses the incident, and talks about the band's new Greatest Hits and how the Cr�e are leading the charge for rock 'n' roll into the 21st century.

Get Out: Let's hear your side of the story from the last time you wee in town, with the arrest on assault charges.
Nikki Sixx: "Who cares? How's that for an answer? We're a rock band! We're the Anti-Hanson!"
GO:So, just another day in the life?
NS:"Dude, we're a rock band and we do what we do and we do it with f*cking pride. The bottom line is, we're there to play music and please our fans, not to fight with security."
GO:Many fans were quoted as saying that when the fans rushed the stage and security was trying to hold them back, you and Tommy Lee were trying to defend some people from security.
NS:"Without a doubt. Security has a tendency across the nation, to be too aggressive and too physical with the fans. I've seen situations with guys 200-plus pounds punching people that are barricaded in, they're hands down, and they're punching 'em and ripping at 'em and hurting them. Alot of those people are 100 pounds, 125 pounds, they're girl and (security) is like big football or big musclebound steroid-taking idiots who are venting their insecurities on these kids. That's uncool, they're there to have a good time."
GO: Is this something that you've run into throughout your career?

NS: "Without a doubt. We're one of the few bands that stand up for our fans and the word has spread -- you don't mess with M�tley Cr�e fans when the Cr�e's in town. The first thing that security says when we come into town is, 'Man, is there gonna be a problem?' And our head of security says, 'Not if you don't make one.' I don't want to attack somebody and I don't want to have to defend somebody and I don't want to have to defend myself against somebody. It's not about fighting, it's about playing music for people."
GO: Was there any fallout from the arrests?
NS: "There were alot of people -- ambulance chasers -- that got involved, which always happens. It was taken care of."
GO: I see. On the new Greatest Hits disc, there are no songs from the album you did with John Corabi. How come?
NS: "Legal issues."
GO: So how does this album differ from Decade of Decadence other than the songs from Generation Swine?
NS: "This is really an official greatest hits record. Decade was sort of a collection of tunes from a long time ago. This was also a great oppurtunity for us to get back out on the road and continue the momentum that we'd picked up for Generation Swine. It's a new enviroment out there, we'e talking some bricks in the face for rock 'n' roll."
GO: What do you mean?
NS: "Just being agressive and continuing to tour, not waiting out the storm. You know, you'll see, like, a Guns N' Roses just waiting out the storm. You don't see a lot of bands on the road because they don't want to take the beating. We don't care -- we're getting into the ring and going a few rounds."
GO: What kind of future do agreesive music and hard rock 'n' roll have in the new millennium?
NS: "We're right on the tip of it coming back, without a doubt. We are the underground that's about to explode -- it's 1990 all over again and we're now Nirvana."
GO: What do you feel like you have -- and had -- to distinguish yourself from all the other rock bands that have fallen by the wayside?
NS:"Nobody's talking about Poison or Warrant -- they're talking about us. We're the real deal. When other people were pouting into the camera, we were throwing up on the camera. It was all about trying to die, man -- death, destruction, and chaos. Our point ws never to be pretty, it was to be ugly. You can see Manson emulating the ugliness of M�tley Cr�e and that's the right message. The wrong message was Poison."