Mtley Cre’s Cre Fest has been one of rock’s biggest tours the past two years running, including a pair of packed stops at Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre.
Tonight, Cre fans will be treated to an intimate concert experience as Cre mouthpiece Vince Neil warms up for his forthcoming solo tour at Snoqualmie Casino.
And last month, he checked in from one of his homes in San Francisco to lay out plans for his next solo album and to let us know what to expect tonight.
A little “Piece of Your Action,” anyone? Hmmmm?
I read in Revolver that you’re not doing the next Cre Fest until 2011.
That’s not necessarily true, either. There’s no plans to do Cre Fest at all, as far as I know. If there is, it would be in ’11, but there’s no plans for it right now.
Oh, I just wondered if you guys made a conscious decision to take some time off.
We toured for 18 months, which included Cre Fest 1 also. So, I mean, we did the U.S. three times, including Canada, every country in Europe, Malaysia, Japan, South America and Mexico. I think it’s time to take a break.
Did it become a grind toward the end?
No, it has nothing to do with that. … Some cities we played three or four times. You can’t keep playing over and over again. The band’s still ready to go, but there’s nowhere else to play.
It’s been awhile since you’ve done a solo record. What felt right about now?
Mtley’s not gonna do anything, and the timing is just great. So it’s time for me to put out a record. It should be out in about March. I’ll do a nice summer tour following it and carry on.
I’m not on tour with my solo band right now. We’re just doing some one-off shows just to play and have some fun and just kind of keep busy. But the real tour will actually start after the album drops in March.
Are you gonna road test some of the new songs that you’re workin’ on?
No, not yet. … We really have no kind of set set list. We play, of course, some Mtley hits, you know, people wanna hear; and play some obscure Mtley stuff that Mtley never plays, and just some stuff off the “Exposed” album and some cool cover songs.
Give me some examples of old gems you’re gonna dust off.
Well, I mean, a song like “Teaser.” There’s one. “Piece of Your Action” Mtley never plays. There’s other ones. I can’t think of ’em right now.
What’s the side of Vince Neil that you get to show with your solo material that you don’t get to show with Mtley Cre? Are you doing something different you can’t do with the band?
No, I mean, I am what I am. I’m a rock ’n’ roll singer, and that’s what I sing. The one album that I did, “Carved in Stone,” which was a bit ahead of its time, was kind of combining … rap rhythms with rock ’n’ roll, and nobody got it back then.
And then three or four years later you have bands like Kid Rock doing the same thing and a lot of other bands. I missed it by a couple of years, but it’s all good. (Laughs)
Where in the process are you with the solo CD?
We start laying down tracks the first week of December, and we’ll have the first single out in January.
What’s it called?
“Tattoos n’ Tequila.”
That sounds like a Cre song.
Yeah, well, it’s rock ’n’ roll. That’s it. It has nothing to do with Mtley Cre. Tattoos and tequila is basically my life.
That certainly fits the image we have of Vince Neil. But what’s something that would surprise your fans? What, for example, is the most wholesome thing about you, or the least rock ’n’ roll thing about you?
The least rock ’n’ roll thing right now – actually, right now, this second, right before I answered your call and after I hang up, I’m putting up my Christmas tree because I’m gonna be gone. I leave tomorrow, and I’m gonna be gone for a week, and my wife wants it up. So right now I’m putting up a Christmas tree.
Christmas at the Neil house. You’ve gotta put out a Christmas CD or something.
(Laughs.) Absolutely. That’s pretty non-rock ’n’ roll, I guess.
Ernest A. Jasmin: 253-274-7389
ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com
See the show
What: Motley Crew's Vince Neil in concert
When: 8 p.m. today
Where: Snoqualmie Casino, 37500 S.E. North Bend Way, Snoqualmie
Tickets: $20, must be age 21 or older to attend
Information: 425-888-1234 or www.snocasino.com
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