Lee: Oh no. Jeez, we would've loved to go in and make a new record. But it worked to our benefit to put the greatest-hits package together. We didn't have to sit in a studio and make a bunch of music.
WW: Do you think you've gotten enough credit for the music you've already made?
Lee: Just in the last year or two, it seems like we have been. I was talking to Billy Joe, the guitar player from Green Day, and that dude was going on and on and on about how Mstley CrYe was the soundtrack to his life. He said, "Tommy, 'Too Fast for Love' and 'Shout at the Devil'--those fucking tapes never left my car. I grew up on that. You don't even understand." And I felt like, "Wow," because that guy was telling me how, when he went to rehearsal or wherever he went, that tape was stuck in his car. And Marilyn Manson and that guy from Korn, Jonathan Davis--they're huge CrYe fans. More and more, I keep running into people who are like, "Dude, you guys fucking started this mess." You know?
WW: Does it bother you that a lot of critics still aren't fans?
Lee: Not really. I think people are their own judge--and I don't think they pay too much attention to what anybody says in print about a record or a concert. I mean, I never read it, and I'm still a fan. If I hear word of mouth on the street that something's good, I go buy it. I don't read a review to help me make up my mind. I let the music do the talking; I always have. So I don't mind that those people have never really said good things about us, or even about our musicianship, even though everybody's a great player in the band. They never give us props, you know, but that's cool. Well, I shouldn't say that. Hey, it would be really nice, but you know, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. That's for sure.
WW: Are you losing sleep over what's happening with Pamela? How are the two of you getting along?
Lee: We're not.
WW: On the new album, you thank her and Brandon and Dylan and then add, "God, please bring my family back together." But it sounds like that's a ways off.
Lee: Yeah, that's definitely not happening. I don't want to diss her, because she's the mother of my children, but Pamela has a lot of issues and a lot of problems to face and deal with that she's not. She's doing everything in her power for some reason--I'm still not sure why--to make it extremely difficult for me to see my children on the road. She's just really making things difficult, and really for no reason. There's no reason that the kids should be used as pawns now, and I'm afraid that's happening, and I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in her--very, very much.
WW: Are those things that you're hoping to work out with her, or is there no communication at all?
Lee: We're at the most pathetic stage of communication on the planet. We're talking through a mediator. Before that, we had two meetings. One went pretty well, but the second meeting she walked out of. She didn't want to hear reality. That's sort of her m.o. If she doesn't like what's going on, she just runs. And one of these days, she'll learn that you kind of have to deal with reality.
WW: Do you think the two of you need to have a cooling-off period?
Lee: Cooling off and getting some help are two different things. I would never go back into that relationship the way it is now. I've done my work, and I'm a very different person right now. Unless that was sort of evident on the other end, I couldn't go back.
WW: At the same time, your honeymoon videotape is all over the Internet. Does that make you angry to think that people are clicking on that all day, every day?
Lee: It doesn't make me angry. Well, yeah it does--but I have a handle on my anger now. I don't let it fucking tear me up. But I feel violated, you know.
WW: Is there a positive side to it, though? I mean, at least everybody knows how well-hung you are.
Lee: (laughing) Oh, fuck.
WW: Any jealousy from your fellow bandmembers in the men's room?
Lee: No. But that's pretty funny.
Motley Crue, with Laidlaw. 8 p.m. Friday, December 18, Mammoth Events Center, 1510 Clarkson Street, $22.50, 303-830-8497.
