Sixx: A.M.’s James Michael – For Now, ‘Hits’ Album Is ‘Good Way to Wrap This Up’
Sixx: A.M. will release their Hits compilation this Friday (Oct. 22), and during a chat with the Metal On Loud podcast (as heard below), singer James Michael suggested that the band is viewing the collection as a way to wrap their body of work ... at least for now.
After releasing a pair of albums and doing extensive touring in 2016, the band took an extended hiatus. However, the band returned in 2019 with "Talk to Me," penned to put a spotlight on the opioid crisis in America. And soon came word that new music was being written for their Hits collection as well.
But Michael says the return to activity doesn't necessarily mean the band is starting up again with more coming on the horizon. "I think for us, we really don't know what the future holds for Sixx: A.M. So for us, when we sat down and started doing these recordings [for Hits], it was pretty much, in our minds, 'Okay, this is a good way to kind of wrap up Sixx: A.M.'s body of work.' So we were kind of looking at it as 'This is the end, at least for now.'"
He adds, "That was also an important aspect to us going into the studio and doing this because we really wanted to be able to — for lack of a better way to describe it — wrap this up and put a nice bow on it and really feel like we've controlled this from the beginning to the end. So it was fun and it was exciting. And as I said, we never know what Sixx: A.M. is gonna do in the future, but for now, we're looking at this and saying, 'This is a good way to wrap this up.'"
Michael also stated that at present there are no plans to tour in support of the Hits collection, noting that Motley Crue's 2022 stadium tour is atop Nikki Sixx's to-do list. He also adds, "When we got off the road a couple of years ago, we were all pretty burnt out. And I think that we just naturally kind of made the decision that that might be it for Sixx: A.M. as far as touring goes. But you never know what time off does to somebody. So we'll see."
Sixx: A.M. first arrived on the scene in 2007 with Nikki Sixx recruiting Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba to help him record a corresponding soundtrack for his memoir The Heroin Diaries. Four years later, the trio reunited to create music for Sixx's This Is Gonna Hurt book. The band then followed with 2014's Modern Vintage album, and 2016's Prayers for the Damned, Vol. 1 and Prayers for the Blessed, Vol. 2.
You can pick up Sixx: A.M.'s Hits collection here.