Tommy Lee: Methods of Mayhem is my 'adult playground'

© Gene Ambo ./Retna Ltd./Corbis

Never one to do things by halves, Tommy Lee really went beyond the call of duty when it came to putting together the new Methods of Mayhem record, A Public Disservice Announcement. The live wire drummer posted raw demo tracks online and invited fans to send in their own musical submissions, leading to what he calls a "worldwide collaboration". More than 10,000 entries and many months later, we caught up with Tommy to find out about the finished product.

It sounds like you had a blast putting A Public Disservice Announcement together

"I'm so pumped about it. I can't wait. We've got two weeks until the record comes out. It's one of those projects that I've put my heart into. I basically collaborated with the world on this one, which is insane when you think about it. But the work was well worth it. I think everyone's gonna dig this record because it's got something special about it. It's got a lot of innocence. We've got people from all over the world with parts on here."

There's so many different styles on the record, were there no boundaries?

"It's me and my crazy eclectic love for so many different styles. There's songs like 'Fight Song' that are the heaviest thing I've ever heard to some dirty, electro club s**t like 'Party Instructions' that I did with Deadmau5. That's just me, I'm all over the place. I love punk and pop and electronic, so Methods of Mayhem is like my adult playground. I just get to do whatever I want and let rip. It's exciting for me. For some people they might go, 'I dunno dude, this doesn't sound like Mötley Crüe'. Well of course it doesn't, it's not supposed to! It's basically one of those records that's eclectic and freestyle as hell. I love it."

It must have been a long process putting the album together

"That was crazy. I tell people that if I'd have known how much work would be involved before I'd started I may not have done it. But I'm glad that I did now because I think I've pioneered something. I look around and see bands like Linkin Park, Filter and Rob Zombie doing this. I don't blame them. What a great way to make music with your friends. It's awesome. I can't think of a better party. It was a crazy few months listening to over 10,000 different submissions, so you can imagine that on a daily basis I'd sit and listen to several hundred.

"People asked me all the time if I really listened to everything and I'm like, F**k yeah", because if you didn't do that an amazing part could be missed. We went through them with a fine toothcomb and there's some gems in there and they're on the record. I'm looking forward to taking it on tour because the 57 or so people that are on the record don't know that they're on there. They'll know when they see their names on it. As soon as the record comes out I'm going to contact them and when I go through their city/town/country I'm going to get them to come up and play. That'll complete the circle for me and for them."