Nikki Sixx talks drugs, recovery

Last September, Nikki Sixx's memoir of addiction, The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star, debuted at No. 7 on the New York Times Book Review non-fiction best-seller list. A Million Little Pieces it's not, because in the case of Sixx, his anecdotes are all true.

A year later, and coinciding with National Recovery Month, the topic of sobriety remains dear to Nikki Sixx's heart. In a recent interview, the Motley Crue bassist says, "What can I say that will make people that are in recovery want to stand up and support Recovery Month? A friend of mine said, 'You know, the fact that you did a really honest book and it changed people's lives, that's something to talk about.' It's a year later and the book is still selling, and it's still changing people's lives.

"What I used to be told was,'What the fuck's wrong with you? Why can't you stop? Why can't you act right?'" he recalls, saying that his song Accidents Can Happen, from the book's accompanying CD, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, attempts to convey that "We all fall off the wagon. It's only one day, it's not the rest of your life. Pick yourself up and go again. And I think if someone had told me that at times in my life, it would have been a lot better than being ripped apart."

Leading by example

Sixx explains that the purpose of Diaries was to deliver an importantmessage to the masses. When it comes to his personal life, he tries to show by example that sobriety is, well, cool.

"I don't make it like a bummer," he says. "I'm in a rock band, you know. There's drinking, and when I'm onstage I see waves of people smoking pot. Can you imagine if I was like sobo cop and was like, 'I'm not going to perform if people smoke pot at my concerts?' It's like, 'Hey, man, do what you want to do, but if you have a problem, here's an answer, and here's some awareness."