Tommy Lee: ‘I’m Constantly Evolving As A Musician’

After a career of more than 30 years and a reputation of one of the best drummers in his field, one would think Tommy Lee would rest on his laurels. But in a new interview, the Motley Crue drummer says there's still plenty to learn.

"I’m constantly evolving as a musician," he told Music Radar. "Drums isn’t my one thing anymore. I love to produce. I love to make tracks, write tracks, produce tracks and I can’t just sit back as a drummer anymore. I have to have my hands on it and say, ‘The guitar should sound like this, the bass should sound like this, this is how the drums should sound, the vocals would be really cool like this, this melody is not so good, let’s try this.’ I just have to touch all of it now. I just know too much!”

For Lee, a good deal of his growth as a musician came as a result of embracing technology, which began during the recording of 'Girls, Girls, Girls,' in particular the song 'Wild Side.' He continued, "I was f---ing with Digital Performer on my computer and going, ‘Wow, you can chop up the guitars and do this to them, you can put this drum sound on top of this drum sound and blend the two to make this, f---!’ My whole world just changed.”

Being on stage night after night also helped Lee. His ability to see how an audience reacted to a change in the rhythm gave him something to remember for the future. “Early on you’re also learning things that work live. A certain beat you’ll play live and think, ‘Wow, the whole place is moving to this.' Other beats maybe not so much...God, my views from the first and second albums on drumming are completely different now. I’m in a whole different place.”