Tommy Lee Recalls 'Creatively Dying Slowly' in Motley Crue

These days, Tommy Lee is in a healthy place alongside his bandmates in Motley Crue – but that wasn’t always the case.

In the past, Lee quit the band on multiple occasions, most notably taking an extended break from the group beginning in 1999. It was a tumultuous time for Lee personally and professionally, as the drummer recalled during a recent appearance on the Zach Sang Show.

"I was creatively dying slowly as just my personal musicianship and craft and stuff, and I needed an outlet,” Lee explained, looking back. “So I actually quit for a couple years, and that's when I started Methods of Mayhem and started doing some solo stuff because I had to switch gears. I wasn't (previously) able to creatively do anything outside of the Motley format.”

Methods of Mayhem found Lee embracing the rap rock sound that was popular at the time. Their self-titled debut album was a commercial success, allowing Lee to extend beyond Motley Crue. The drummer began releasing solo material in the early 2000s, and continued doing so even after returning to the Crue in 2004.

“With my own stuff, it was a place for me — I call it the adult sandbox. Like, literally anything goes. No genres, no style — it doesn't matter,” he explained. “We're doing whatever I wanna do and just have fun with it. Creatively I needed that, 'cause I was at kind of a bad place in my life.”

Tommy Lee Reevaluated His Life After Time in Jail

Lee’s break from Motley Crue came after the rocker served four months in jail for spousal abuse for kicking his then-wife, Pamela Anderson. It marked a personal low point for the drummer, but forced him to reexamine his life.

“I realized it sitting in jail,” Lee admitted. "I was, like, 'I gotta change something, 'cause obviously I'm here. I gotta switch it up because I gotta get happy and get out of here.'"

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The rocker surmised that creativity was the key to his personal happiness, an epiphany that led him towards his non-Motley projects.

"(Creativity is) such a big part of me,” he noted. “If you're not happy creatively and you don't feel like you're able to constantly evolve and create and do that stuff, that's dangerous.”

Lee will be back on the road with Motley Crue this summer. The band's Return of Carnival of Sins tour begins July 17.